————————
The question now becomes, what does ‘Grossly Overpriced’ mean to everyone? ?
Maybe another way to look at it is "What type of game do you want played in your vice market of choice?". Any limited supply/popular vice has a game to it. Price is always the easy villain....those dastardly snobs throwing their money around, stealing products that should be in the hands of 'real fans'. But there are a lot of games in limited supply vices....'ye old boys club' is one too.
You think all the folks on the various forums who land hard-to-get blends every drop do it by luck and pluck? Beat the phone lines in some far-away BM with the sweat of their brow? Horse-plop. It's established buyers from the days before demand shot up, buying from places that won't give a newer customer the time of day on a hard-to-find blend. It's the private/invite-only tobacco forums where inside tips on release times, or group buys after a bot-raid, get divvied up. It's the three layers of 'PM buddies' that cycle release tips. You see something posted on here in the open...you aren't even late to the game...you're late to be late. Is there anything 'wrong' with that? I'd say no....that's just the way of the world in 'luxury' vices. I benefit from this in the whisky market where I've spent $15K+ a year for 20 years. I have my retailers that hook me up with cases that others wait for a chance to wait for a lottery on. I usually tag a few buddies in who can grab a bottle....and you can be damn sure they head to all the bourbon tater blogs and start humble bragging "YoU See iF yOu MAke AN EffORT You CaN GET WHat You WaNT". Harmless, sanctimonious bull-plop
My 'in' for pipe tobacco is a place that has my cigar business for the last decade....again that's not even about $ because there's 20 guys behind me with the same DI, it's that 've been a spender for a decade with them and all businesses value forecastable revenue on two legs.
So again, money/price is always the easy villain. But to me, high-price is an open game at least...you have the $, you can grab it. Why is that "worse" than a situation where you sign up for an Instagram alert to a Facebook post that signs you up for an e-mail to a release at 2PM that's sold out at 2:01PM....but gee-whiz
somehow the usual suspects all got a piece while you were still trying to get X in your cart. Probably it's a Venn diagram between how much time vs. money a person has on picking your poison of preference. Overall popular tobacco is going to be a zero-sum game until demand dies down....and for sure there's honest luck/right place+right time.....but a big dollop is either going to be higher prices or ye old boys (or bot) club.
