I actually do this in a sense. For example ; a few months ago I saw a few Rattray's tins that are not always on the shelf. Having never actually tried the blends, I still picked up 10 tins of each at the time and thought that if I really didn't enjoy it, I'd be able to easily trade it for something I do like. I love the idea of trading tins of tobacco. Reminds me of the old days when I was a kid and we didn't have money. Had to trade cards, marbles, etc
What A Joke
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Overseas/Chinese buyers is what I keep hearing, whether true or not. I actually asked (e-mailed) a few larger volume resellers/flippers recently while picking up some hard to get items. Small sample size, 2 of 3 folks I asked, but they both indicated they resell/ship a huge majority of their tobacco to buyers in China/Asia (this is 5-10 high end tin deals, not 100's). I've also run into similar feedback from some of the bigger retailers as well (lot of overseas orders) as some very skilled artisans who I don't even sell here in the US outside of rare in-person events ("all our output goes to China").
It's all anecdotal and I've seen very little on the internet (at least recent articles) covering pipe smoking in China. It's been a decade since I regularly traveled to China on business, so who knows. I keep hearing it from a wide array of sources though...."you'd be shocked how much high-end stuff gets snapped up by Chinese buyers...". Like you/others have said.....it's odd to observe the amount of high-end pipes/tobacco that just gets gobbled up in seconds but falls off the radar in terms of domestic visibility. Maybe the overseas answer is too easy an out/unverifiable, but pipe/pipe tobacco (high end) demand and collection just fall off the map compared to all the internet/secondary action you see around cigars, whisky, knives, etc.
China has a very, very large base of luxury-good buyers; that's not exactly a cultural dig or insult. Whether true or not, or to what practical degree, beats me.....but I've repeatedly heard from professional retailers, resellers, and pipe makers that the Chinese market is insanely hot for high-end pipes/pipe tobacco. Or maybe I'm just miss-reading your snark.
It also has it's advantages - it keeps the tobacco producers in business! I think we would be in dire straights without having a large market in Asia, where it's still ok to smoke. I mean, other than us neurotic pipesters that build cellars of hundreds of lbs of tobacco, the overall volume of pipe tobacco sales in the US is probably fairly low. That means that some things are harder to get here but at least they are still being produced and exported.
I believe this for a few blends like Penaance and Stonehaven. However, I'm not believing the Chinese are buying up all the Virginia Flakes.
I believe there’s a significant market in Asia, but it strikes me as odd how few members we have on here from that continent. Given the percentage of Chinese people who can read and write English, I would expect at least a half-dozen or so regular contributors.
I’m sure they are not allowed by their government limited internet
I’m pretty familiar with the Chinese government’s internet censorship, but that doesn’t explain why I’ve never seen a member from, say, Taiwan either
I don't see any prioritizing here, one way or another. I'm not big on prioritizing people, except on the basis of ability. As for time spent, I spend no more time ordering from a B&M than I do flipping through an online site. The big benefit to doing what I've done is not only do I not waste much time, but, as an example, I've managed to cellar about 35 lbs of the various Esoterica blends that I like, at normal retail, instead of bupkis, which is what on line offers me. And now I don't spend any time, since I'm done.
As for on line stores policies towards satisfying the desires of wait llisted customers, SP could learn a lot from Iwan Ries. Earlier this year I got a notice from them that they were holding a bag of Penzance for me and that I had a few days to respond before they would release it to another party. It must have been a couple of years since I had set that notification request, and they not only notified me, but reserved a bag for me. I entered the site through the email that IR sent, which also allowed me to see other stock that would appear to be unavailable from the main site. I picked up a couple of bags of Stonehaven and other hard to find blends while I was at it. Kudos to Iwan Ries.
SmokingPipes, we are formally requesting some way to reserve or preorder out of stock or hard to get items. Thank you for your attention (and for all you do!)
haha I can't even imagine the mess that would be there.
Iwan Ries is a much lower volume outfit.
If I am to believe what several members here have messaged me privately over the last few years, they are involved in a lively business with Chinese purchasing agents living in the US who then send it on to their associates in China. And from the amounts claimed it adds up to thousands of tins selling through private transactions and heading overseas. Chinese aficionados will gladly pay a huge mark up to get the stuff.
I watched a Chinese guy at the Chicago Show two years ago. He was going to the various booths selling tobacco. Iwan Ries had a large booth and he didn't bother buying any Virginia Flakes there. He did however, spend several thousands of dollars (fresh $100 bills) on Penzance and Stonehaven.
The other part to this is, if people pay attention, they can buy all the Va Flake blends they want. I purchased 110 tins of Vauen No 14 in the past month. That blend hadn't been on the shelf for around 6 months. I filled out my cellar for a few other blends like F&T Cut Virginia Plug and Vintage. I could have bought over 100 tins of each had I wanted to. I wish it was 20 years ago when you could walk into a local B&M and pick up just about anything you wanted including Christmas Cheer, Penzance, Stonehaven and other so called Unicorns. It simply isn't like that now. However, if you pay some reasonable amount of attention and make it a priority, you can still accumulate just about anything you want. Or you can call a Waaambulance and complain about the shortage of blends.
Translation: "SP, I want a way to make sure I can purchase everything I want at my leisure." Of course you do, we all do. What benefit would there be to SP to jump through hoops to do this when they sell it all out in minutes as it is? And what if you don't get in at the front of the line in reserving tins to purchase? You could wait years until your ticket comes up. The reality is, demand on a number of blends far outnumbers the supply right now. And likely for the foreseeable future.
I started smoking pipe again around October 2017. I had less than a pound of tobacco in my possession at that time. Dunhill had already announced they were getting out of the tobacco business. By April 2018, McClelland was done completely, the shelves were bare. Since that time, I have accumulated a cellar of around 450 pounds, primarily Va Flakes, Va, VaPer and VaOr blends. I also find the time to run 3 businesses and have 2 children and 2 grandchildren I spend as much time with as possible. And golf. And hang out with friends.
My point? I'm nothing exceptional. I simply put a bit of focus on acquiring a cellar to see me through an optimistically long life. I spent my energy finding what I wanted to purchase versus posting about how the retailers need to change their selling practices. I am guessing most people would be happy acquiring 10 to 50 lbs. With just the slightest amount of focus, that should be so easy it would be boring.
Yet in the reality I have never ever seen Chinese smoking a pipe in contemporary world
The reality is that there were unicorns then, too. Bell's Three Nuns had just disappeared. Balkan Sobranie, gone. I'm sure there were others I can't think of.
There are tons of killer tobacco available and some are currently hard to get. More will come and go. I'm with you that you have to buy what you like when it's available or spend the time hunting it if it's important to you. BUT if IR is willing to hold a bag or tin of X for you then more power to them. SP may not need to do that but since they are one of the places I prefer to shop, I don't mind putting the thought out there. It hadn't occurred to me that a shop might do that.
Slightly edited, that's where I was going to with my previous post.
Essentially my understanding is that it doesn't really matter WHAT it is, as long as it is considered "high end" by Europeans/Americans.
Talking drinks, cigars, violins, yachts, watches, fungi, pianos, cars, clothes, furniture, flats in London... Doesn't matter, they are trying to outdo each other with the latest hot/rare purchase whether it's a pipe where Tutankhamen's mummy was smoked in, a pen Ian Fleming used to stab Hitler's eye, Champagne from the Titanic, or a Bosendorfer Vienna grand.
I may sound salty, but it's not because I can't have the tobacco I want, it is because it rubs me very wrongly to see things bought with no understanding about what the hell they are, as long as someone else considers them high end.
A decade ago I did a lot of business in China and never saw anyone smoking a 'western' style briar pipe. I can't find any articles on the internet talking about Chinese (modern/western) pipe smoking......but there's been a huge growth in the last decade in the general 'luxury' spend' audience there and I don't think there's any doubt that *pipes* flow to that market in large number (tobacco buying, ala' what Sablebrush wrote above, is all anecdotal for me). Just five minutes ago I was browsing Blue Room Briars and caught this in an artisan header:
"It's not hard to spot a Rosengren pipe. Jonas has a unique aesthetic that is very much his own. Some of his signature shapes are the globe and his unique take on the blowfish. The fit and finish on his pipes is simply immaculate, as good as anything we've seen on the market or better. Jonas mostly uses high quality ebonite and Mediterranean briar, but the adornments can range from horn to many varieties of exotic and precious woods. Jonas makes truly heirloom pipes.
Most of Jonas' production has been going to the Chinese market, which has gleefuly gobbled up just about everything he can produce. We were lucky to get our hands on a few."
...I've heard that a lot from artisan makers/retailers non-stop for the two years I've been back in the pipe world. The dude above pipe's go for $1K+ for reference.
Note...none of this is stating it's keeping me from getting/buying what I want. I've got no issue there, and strictly personally....I'd tell new pipers to not even bother chasing rare blends. Pipe tobacco is such a subtle 'taste'...influenced easily by so many other factors....that frankly 'biggest name' blends rarely squeak ahead (if at all) of 'common' blends in taste/experience. Really it's down to personal favorite vs. availability....and I've found variations in blend/batch can be even more a stumble than straight availability. My points around the Chinese market is simply that either there's a sizable non-domestic demand for higher end pipes/pipe tobacco or this hobby is unique in having folks keeps keep expensive hauls under the radar (no social/secondary market to scale compared to other vices). I've seen dozens of $500-$1K+ pipes fly off sites weekly for two years now....that's some real-deal $ demand for a hobby that typically you don't encounter off of a few specific message boards or a local club.
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