What Info is Interesting from Consumer & Business Perspective Pipe-wise?

[admin]

At the Chicago Pipe Show, I will be making a brief presentation on Friday night, 9pm, in the smoking tent.
I'd like your input on what you want to know about the pipe smoker market, both from a consumer and business point of view.
Below is what I submitted for the show program, and now I need to fill in the details:
State of the Union Address

Kevin Godbee

Publisher & Editor-in-Chief of PipesMagazine.com
You might be surprised to find out where our centuries-old, pipe & tobacco hobby stands today, in the year 2012. Find out from the perspective of an individual that has had the unique opportunity to participate in both the hobbyist community, and the business-side of pipes & tobaccos.
As the Publisher & Editor-in-Chief of PipesMagazine.com, Kevin Godbee has visited, and interviewed several major industry participants including; Mac Baren, Cornell & Diehl, Scandinavian Tobacco Group, Todd McCranie, Erik Stokkebye, Sykes Wilford of SmokingPipes.com, Mark Ryan of L.A. Poche Perique, Joel Sherman of Nat Sherman, Gregory L. Pease, and many others. He also participates in the online forums and smokes a pipe on a daily basis.

 

[pipeinhand]

Hey Kev, make sure someone videos it. I would like to see it here in the forums.
How about how the age old tobacco industry is looking at it in a new light, medicine, and bio-fuel?
::

 

[papipeguy]

Kevin, thanks for asking for our input. From a consumer perspective I'd like to know what's shaking with the Lane Ltd./Stokebbye deal. The owner of our local B&M has had no communication from Lane and his current distributors are totally in the dark. His usual bulk Stokkebye blends have been backordered for months.

So, for me, the topic is- Is the industry consolidation heading in the right direction for pipe smokers or is it the 'same-ole' with just another name at the top of the letterhead?

I've seen an increased interest in our hobby from younger people over the past couple of years but inattention, back orders and no answers could bput these new guys off and that would be a shame for the entire hobby.

On the other hand, the smaller blenders are stepping in to fill the voids; towit, McClelland with their Blue Mountain, Altadis with their Dunhill copies and innovators like Russ O. and Craig Tarler creating new and exciting products.

Hope springs eternal and the medium sized and smaller batch blenders apperar to be driving the market.

 

[tokerpipes]

Being informed is the Priority on my list. With the constant change in the indusry concerning taxes and distribution dealing with pipes and pipe tobacco I think it fair and honest if we are fully informed on all topics. Takeovers in companies, ending of a tobacco line, quality of pipe components, ingredients in tobacco blends etc.
The way the government is attempting to put a stop to the flavoring and blending of tobaccos, it may come down to just raw components and leaving the consumer in the dark about how to get the just right blend of tobacco that they want to enjoy. I dont forsee this as an issue right away but it could come to this.
Just my 2p.

 

[lordnoble]

As a consumer?

Supply of high-demand blends which leads to hoarding and will we see this trend tail off? Or what are tobacco manufacturers doing to combat this trend? Sure they're selling out of a blend or blends, but they could increase production at least a little.

What are manufacturers doing to market new products to such a niche market and is it working?
I guess both those questions could go either way (i.e., for consumer side or business side). I guess I'd like to be reassured that the pipe smoking hobby isn't going anywhere. from my limited view of it on this site it's not. In fact the reverse, but locally I'm not so sure.
-Jason

 

[spartan]

+1 Lordnoble
This has been very irritating for me as well. If it's always going to be out of stock then I'm just not going to bother looking for it.

 

[admin]

I don't think tobacco is going away any time soon. There are the Schizophrenic Tobacco Tax Laws, but the government, both at the Federal and State levels love the tax revenue more than they hate tobacco.
Thanks for the input so far.

 

[johninkc]

Taxation and regulation.
Sales of tobacco over time. We claim there's been an uptick, it's time to prove it.
Estimate of estate pipes sold per year, and estimate of new pipes sold per year.
Where are we in gender acceptance of the pipe? Lots of anecdotes that it's improving, but are we really getting there?

 

[jchaplick]

I like jasons idea as well

 

[tokerpipes]

Tips on how Pipe smokers can attract the opposite sex? Just a shot in the dark. :rofl:

 

[lonestar]

johninkc has a good question. Can we add up numbers from as many source as possible, and come up with some numbers of pipes sold in a recent year ? How many new pipes were sold from all the sources we can get solid numbers on? For instance, how many pipes did Smokingpipes Uptowns P&C and other big outfits sell last year? How many estate pipes were sold by the big sellers ? Is there any way to calculate the number of estate pipes sold on Ebay for a given year ?

Sure, theres no way to find a complete number but just the numbers we could add together would make a powerful statement on the direction pipe smoking is headed.

 

[winton]

I think you should also bring up some of the demographic info that you shared a few months ago. I am thrilled that there are so many young people picking up the pipe. You might want to talk about the people outside of North America that have joined this site.
I will certainly be in attendance for this talk.
Winton

 

[roguefox]

Thanks for thinking of us Kevin. I'd like to know if B&Ms that stock pipes and pipe tobacco are increasing. If pipes and pipe tobacco are in more tobacco shops, that is a huge way to get people into the hobby.

 

[brian64]

+2 lordnoble's post.
And on a side note, I'd like to see the industry eradicate the word "consumer" from its vocabulary. We are customers...human customers.

 

[winton]

Brian64, I agree with you that I am a customer, but the consumer term is not going away. Marketing is largely broken down into two camps, business to business and business to consumer.
Kevin, how long do you get to talk?

 

[jpberg]

Kevin, a specific question to Arango - were they responsible for Germain pushing BS back on the market (for as far as I can see, buzz and hype and no other good reason) to the detriment of other Germain blends?

I understand that profit is the name of the game, but I feel a lot of distributors aren't paying attention to the wants of most pipe smokers. Ask 100 pipe smokers if they'd rather have some mix called BS, or have the Smokers Haven Blends available and I think 90+ percent would tell you make SH blends.

That's a small example of a bigger situation. Is Arango in this for a quick buck or for the long haul? If it's the latter, get some input from some people who have been buying tobacco for a while.

Since this BS re-introduction circus, I've ignored Germain altogether, as they have become less available than ever.

 

[orionpyoung]

+1 roguefox, I'm also interested in the stats relating to how well the B&Ms are holding up.
I'm interested in weather or not there is enough data to show how the market has fluctuated in the last ten years, in regards to pipe production? Are more pipes being produced by factory or has the rise of small scale pipe makers had an effect on the big boys?
brian64 there is no reason to attach negative connotations to the word consumer. You are a customer to online retailers, B&Ms and any other company you deal with directly. But the businesses creating the products are not dealing with you directly and are mostly concerned with how much of there products you are consuming via sales to the distributors, therefore they consider you a consumer, no hard feelings from them, just a different perspective.

 

[leonardw]

Papipeguy: regarding the Stokkebye transition: I sent 1,000 direct mail pieces about the change to B&Ms and another 300 or so to distributors. Granted, the mailer didn't go out until mid March, and I'm sure I didn't hit every shop in the country. The good news is we started shipping to distributors last Monday the 2nd (over 5000lbs shipped in the first 3 days), so hopefully everyone will be back in stock soon.

 

[admin]

Thanks for the response Leonard.
@brian64

And on a side note, I'd like to see the industry eradicate the word "consumer" from its vocabulary. We are customers...human customers.

There is no dehumanization in the word "consumer".
It is a clarifying term, where "customer" is less so.
When C&D ship tobacco to SmokingPipes.com - SmokingPipes.com is C&D's "customer" - a business-customer at that.
When SP.com ships your order to you - you are SP.com's "customer" - a consumer-customer.