Tobacco Shop Bias

[cosmicfolklore]

I should have prefaced with a "not all pipe smokers" for my comment, because The Briary hosts the most classy of pipe clientele, most of the time. It's just that one guy in ten that becomes embarrassing, especially when I am setting with a cigar guy who is burning a twenty dollar bill while talking to me. But, yeh... there are a lot of things out of my price range. I just keep my mouth shut. Like the twenty dollar cigar. I've always wanted to know what one of those tastes like, but I don't get all butt-hurt because I probably won't ever have that luxury.

 

[voorhees]

Some here know this, but I work Saturdays at the local cigar shop here. I used to smoke cigars exclusively and now only have one occasionally. The family that owns it does not have interest in cigars/tobacco or pipes. The husband does however use dip.

His wife is really the one who runs it everyday for her father. He bought it for his son to run, but he bailed.

She has no knowledge of product/use/etc. She basically buys from a vendor marks them up and runs the cash register.

If anyone asks pipe/cigar related questions she tells them I work on Saturdays. They order bulk Altadis only and never carry many pipes except MM Cobs. They did buy 8 basket pipes before Christmas and they sold within a month and they did not order any more.

The shop is small probably 15' x 30' of usable space. A few weeks ago, a store across the street closed and is much bigger, but only $50 extra a month rent. The space would be an improvement and I suggested it could be converted with a lounge type area with a couple of big screen TV's and couches. Even placing a few tables outside for sunny days would be awesome.

I have little faith that they will pursue the opportunity and my opinion will probably do little to change that. I even mentioned picking up some extra hours if they decided to stay open in the evenings.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

It drives me crazy when a business owner fails to see the potential for making money and satisfying a niche in the community. Same thing with a hardware store here. He carried this one all organic bug killer that was the only thing that did anything to control the squash bug plague here, even better than the leading brand of non-organic, whatever that means. We all wanted more of it so bad that every time he ordered it, we emptied the boxes before he could get them on the shelves. Then, he just stopped ordering it. When I asked him why, he said that it sold out too fast.
Idiots!! The strife for mediocrity is what causes this sort of retarded-ness.
Vorhees, you should get a small business loan and start that tobacco shop. Show them how it's done.

 

[voorhees]

Exactly, but this town has a penchant for running goods businesses off and keeping the riff-raff. People tend to go elsewhere for high quality goods and services. Even though the city slogan is "Smart Move". As for the cigar shop, it might work, but they will never take the chance and I have little faith in the people of this town to support something good.

 

[gloucesterman]

My pipe smoking habit spans over 50 years now and all are quite right in suggesting the focus of our local tobacco shops is now focused on their "money crop" the cigar. But there is more to it than just cash. The sheer number of available blends boggles the mind even for an experienced pipe smoker and is expanding yearly. No small volume shop can hope to be able to stock all that is out there. When they don't have what we are looking for we turn to one of a number of excellent on-line venders that provide the exact product we want in a matter of days. The net is that even less of the local shop's total dollars is derived from pipe smokers so they reduce their inventories even further and it spirals down. Along with it goes the expertise all beginners need. Even with our ranks expanding some, I doubt we will ever see the day when pipe smokers are ever again a group big enough to exert pressure on the local tobacco shop. What once was is gone forever. Sad but true. That's what makes a place like this so important. We preserve that concentrated knowledge of old shop owners through our 'collective" experience and willingly share it with each other.

 

[warren]

Very well said. There was a time when we smoked what we could get at the local shop. Now, we can shop the world. If I discovered a new blend on a trip and reported back to the local proprietor, requesting he stock some. I would have to make a great case, even promising to buy all 5 of the tins he'd have purchase if others did not. That store was around and prosperous for 40 some years because the owner was very careful with inventory management. He stayed focused, knew what paid the rent and was very conservative with regards to inventory. Everything in his store had to pay it's way, he couldn't afford to have stuff sitting around taking up expensive space.

 

[settersbrace]

My limited experience has taught me that there must be balance if there's going to be any hope of making money in the business of selling cigars, pipes and tobaccos. A cigar shop that only stocks a few junk basket pipes and 5-10 pipe tobaccos has no hope of ever building a dependable pipe customer base. I've seen shops like this and leave scratching my head and asking, why bother? At the same time you couldn't expect a business to carry a huge inventory of mid to high end pipes along with the hundreds of pipe blends and accessories and then have a small cabinet of cigars and hope that the cigar customers will pour through the doors.

Maintaining a better than average amount and diverse supply of pipe tobacco along with often hard to find pipe smoking accoutrements are more important to the shops pipe smoking customers than an endless array of new pipes. Pipes will be fondled and drooled over but they don't move very fast. Tobacco and accessories however, rotate in and out with regularity. Having just enough of the right pipes in the right price range is the tricky part from what I've observed.

 

[supdog]

The b&m near me charges too much for tobacco ($6.50 oz for PS and Lane), so I just buy pipes and accessories. They do however give free tobacco when you buy a pipe. They also give free samples if you bring in your pipe, which is how I became hooked on latakia (PS English Oriental Supreme).

 

[pylorns]

We've been working with our local shop to help us with our pipe club - we have two, and one has the most space but the least amount of pipe knowledge - in the past year they have stepped up though and hosted a trunk show for us, and have given us a discount and started rotating new stock of tobacco and pipes - it's taken some serious time though.

 

[tarak]

I think it will be very hard to keep a B&M open catering to pipe sales. HOWEVER- its getting to be where there is almost no place to smoke a pipe. Once it gets cold here, I stop smoking for the entire winter.
I wonder if having smoking lounges, with cover charges or membership, that also happen to sell pipe tobacco, is the way to go.
If there was a place here that I could go spend $20 to smoke pipes for an evening I would probably do it.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Tarak, do you not have smoking lounges? We have almost a cigar place on every neighborhood, where there are poker games till the wee hours, church services for smokers, and is always full when Alabama or Auburn plays. We do have several shops that are almost all pipes, but the Briary is the largest with almost all high end pipes. It is possible. The Briary is my favorite hang out, but in a pinch there are a few cigar places that stay open later, or they host games that I want to get a piece of. I just assume the whole world is like this. Ugg, on days when I really want to get out of Alabama, I keep reminding myself about the tobacco... and all of the girls in skimpy clothes all summer long, and we have very long summers. ::

 

[shaintiques]

Several shops in Bham that are mostly pipes? Where else is there besides the Briary?

 

[nickinthevalley]

Hey Brass,
Have you been by John B. Hayes Tobacconist in Fair Oaks Mall? They've been selling pipes and pipe tobacco for decades. His son, Matt Hayes, opened a shop in my neck of the woods in Winchester, VA. He definitely knows his tobacco as that's the first place I went to get advice when I started smoking a pipe a few weeks ago.
Nick

 

[saltedplug]

I should say at the outset that this is only one person's perspective and thus subject to the deadly error of a singular perception.
My local B&M is a great place to go. Very clean, upscale, great humidor but maybe only 20 or 30 pipes on hand. This is in the location they moved to 5 years ago or so. Proprietors very friendly, one specializing in cigars and the original owner in pipes. In the old store he had a lot of display cases for pipes and a lot more pipe tobacco. He has a wife and two kids and I'm sure he wants the best for them. He used to be very friendly. You could engage him in conversation at any time about pipe smoking, and he didn't seem to feel that it was a waste of time.
My feeling is that when he moved he also reconfigured his business toward profit. Both of them are still available and very friendly, but now there is a crispness about theirt interaction that didn't seem to be present before. They seem to be constantly thinking about the next five things they have to do, and they hustle to get it done. They want to make the money. If I was in business I would want to do the same.
But I certainly preferred the old shop and the old ways of doing business.