What is your dream B&M?

[mso489]

For smoking lounge stained wood grandiosity and decadence, lots of leather chairs, Iwan Ries in Chicago. For urbane understated but totally impressive elegance, Nat Sherman in Manhattan. For low-key down-home but totally saavy pipemanship, with wide plank floors and a pleasing curiosity shop undertone (dart set, walk-in hand-built humidor, bags of artisanal coffee beans by the pound, and a grand old grocer's scale for weighing the tobacco) it's Pipes by George on Hillsborough in Raleigh, N.C., just east of the NCSU campus, by the tattoo parlor and bike repair shop. If all of those could be magically combined ... ideal.

 

[huntertrw]

"For me, it would be a combination of two, now long gone, tobacconists that I used to frequent. Copley's, where I was introduced to the pleasures and arcane mysteries of the pipe, and Gus' Smoke Shop."
I was familiar with Gus' Smoke Shop from the images of its facade and interior in Richard Carleton Hacker's The Ultimate Pipe Book on Page 88, but never heard of Copley's. Where is (or was) the latter located?
I was also familiar with Toby Jugs (see her picture below):

 

[anthonyrosenthal74]

5. A cork for the curly mustached wizards anus.

I just choked on chili, Fitzy :rofl:

 

[fitzy]

:lol:

 

[mso489]

jazz, +1, no Christmas music.

 

[deathmetal]

It would be important for me to have this magical B&M be either within walking distance, or nearby to a route I regularly drive, with abundant parking.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Yeh, no music, just the clinking of glasses, cups, and mugs, and boisterous laughing and backslapping.

 

[deathmetal]

I wish more places would obey that rule anyway. There is no genre of music that everyone likes.

 

[ssjones]

I'm fortunate, I live 20 miles South of Boswells. It's hard to imagine a better shop experience. We had a meet there yesterday. Comfortable lounge, excellent ventilation. Terrific tin and bulk selections, friendly staff. And, you actually encounter pipe smokers at this shop.

 

[jpmcwjr]

The B+M that is closest to perfection for me is James J Fox on St. James' Street, London. This is the upstairs where the pipe club meets; below it is a fully stocked store.

 

[stickframer]

Great pictures!
Al, that lounge looks like it could be someone's living room. Looks like my kind of place.

 

[winton]

My dream B&M would be accessible by striking a match. Then you appear in the lobby. Here you can purchase any blend or cigar ever sold. For a premium, you could add a decade of age to the blend.
Then you can choose from a variety of lounges to enter and enjoy your smoke. Do you want easy chairs, discussing philosophy and politics with professors and theologians, Or do you prefer pirates? How about cowboys coming off the dusty cow trails?

Perhaps a sports bar, showing the greatest games and prize fights.

 

[5star]

First of all, it would be close. The nearest decent tobacco shop is 150 miles from me.

Second, it would have a terrific selection of cigars & pipe tobacco and accessories.

Third, it would be on Indian tribal land so customers wouldn’t have to pay the outrageous state taxes.
Anything beyond the above would be a bonus. A comfortable place to smoke & talk with others would be appreciated. Local brews on tap and coffee in your preferred configuration would be nice too.

 

[leacha]

The tobacco I want, the pipes I want, the accessories I want, prices comparable to online vendors and no putative tax rates.
Oh well, I'll stick with online purchases.

 

[wasnsfisher]

One that comes to my House 1-2 times a week with all their wares, and brings a Pipe Babe with them. Oh, almost forgot, first they call the house and make sure the Wife is gone.

 

[brian64]

no putative tax rates.

Amen to that. Simply eliminate punitive taxation and the dream B&M's will likely reappear.
I suspect tax-free internet sales have been permitted to continue in order to help put B&M's out of business...now that they're nearly extinct the internet crackdown can’t be far off.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

dream B&M's will likely reappear

Nope, the wholesalers are also the distributors now. This kills many B&M industries, and it happens all the time. You guys all already think that $10 for a tin is normal. Now, any key-stoning to pay mortgages, bills, employees, and to pay yourself is going to look about like what you see now with B&M pricing. Heck, you guys thing doubling or tripling the price is gouging, but if you had known that this is called key-stoning and has happened since the beginning of business.

 

[deathmetal]

Cosmic has a point. The businesses are paying for tins what we are online. However, they are also getting hit with massive taxes:
https://comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/tobacco/cigar-tobacco.php
$2.44 for anything over two ounces, and it goes up radically over 15 ounces. Not to mention the $200 a year fee and any compliance costs.
P&C is content to sell tins for $7.50-$8.50 on sale, which tells me that they are getting them for $3.50 approximately. The rules do not change that much for an online business, which manages to dodge some local taxes if it's in an unincorporated area, but now has to hire a much bigger staff to fulfill orders.
The same tin is $19-$25 at our local B&M, where much of that is rent. However, $5 of that is also taxes, plus any regulatory compliance costs. In addition, this B&M has chosen a high-rent area and so it is expected that prices would be 30% higher than anywhere else.
So now we have to consider market influences. If B&Ms were a rising concern, instead of a dying one, there would be a larger market for wholesale tobacco. Instead, the wholesale-retail model has taken over. If a B&M were paying $5 for those tins, without the taxes and regulation, a normal price to expect would be $10-$12.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I hate to say it, but if I was going to open a new business again, I would look for exclusivity and treat it more like a country club, eliminating those who would otherwise b itch about pricing. Like private clubs in Birmingham where you pay a $3-6000 a year membership and then again, you pay to eat or use the location. Every year at my birthday, a friend takes me to a private restaurant that he belongs to. The steak still costs $120, but the exclusivity and attention (you get your own private attendant) on a balcony overlooking Birmingham from Red Mountain, where I can smoke while eating, and... ohhhh, the aged prime rib... to die for.
But, if I were to do a pipe and cigar lounge, I would rather cater to the top end, than to ever hear one person complain about the price of something. I like the magical matchlight also, taking you there like a secret room of Hogwarts. Both seem about as likely. ::

 

[mikethompson]

Much of what is want has already been mentioned, but I agree that it would make no business sense at all to open it.
There's so much online sales now for everything I am surprised there are as many brick and mortar stores as there is.
The local one to me is The Village Cigar and Barbershop

pics
which comes as close as you can get around here these days, but very much focused on cigars not pipes or tobaccos