Who Are The Real Tobacco Snobs?

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HawkeyeLinus

Lifer
Oct 16, 2020
5,816
42,068
Iowa
That is more than a little frightening looking. Tillamook Chuckie.

And people were beating each other's nonexistent brains out over buying one for their kid, who would have been very happy with a lot of other options.
It’s the one doll our girls never experienced! My wife couldn’t stand them, lol. But Barbie Roberts and American Girl hit the pocketbooks a little hard for a time - oh well, hard to complain. Johnny West and GI Joe came out when I was pretty young. The girls turned my vintage GI Joe Jeep into a Barbie Jeep - the horror!
 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
20,704
48,977
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
I don't care what anyone else does about it, but paying 4 times the retail for stuff from less than a year ago does not compute.
It does when one considers that many, if not most, of the buyers are from other countries where access to "retail" doesn't exist. Often, these blends are shared amongst a club to enjoy, or given as a gift.
 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
20,704
48,977
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
It’s the one doll our girls never experienced! My wife couldn’t stand them, lol. But Barbie Roberts and American Girl hit the pocketbooks a little hard for a time - oh well, hard to complain. Johnny West and GI Joe came out when I was pretty young. The girls turned my vintage GI Joe Jeep into a Barbie Jeep - the horror!
I had a Fanner 50 and that was about it. My folks didn't spend money on this kind of merchandise. Sports gear, clothing, sure. Toys, forgedaboutit.

I lost a fortune to Lego sets, better known as Arm And A Lego sets
 

HawkeyeLinus

Lifer
Oct 16, 2020
5,816
42,068
Iowa
It does when one considers that many, if not most, of the buyers are from other countries where access to "retail" doesn't exist. Often, these blends are shared amongst a club to enjoy, or given as a gift.
Yep. I acquired some Xmas Cheer from Steve and tried some other blends I found I like via him that are discontinued. Liked them and got some more. And yep, enjoy sending some aged blends as Secret Santa gifts or otherwise to members here on occasion. My “real” cellar only dates back to 10/22 and nobody wants that, haha.
 

dunnyboy

Lifer
Jul 6, 2018
2,574
32,073
New York
I think morality is something our "modern" sensibilities have becomes desensitized too either addressing or acknowledging.

Whether it is moral or not is not something I am ready to commit to providing an answer. But I do think the question of morality of taking advantage of a selling situation to create a shortage and drive up one's ability to make a profit is something that lingers in the minds of more than a few people. Because we as modern people are adverse in calling out our moral beliefs - and describing the exchange of goods and services only in terms of economic theories and principles - it is a question that may linger in the minds of people but can not express itself as such. So, what we get is outrage, anger, and platitudes. Your responses in this thread have been spot on and sympathetic to many points of views.

One question that is worth asking is "Do other pipe smokers get to determine what is an essential need for other pipe smokers?"

"Who determines what is essential for other people?"
I agree with your first paragraph. Perhaps it's because too many people confuse taking a moral stand with moralizing, which has a way of degenerating into self-righteous indignation and moral preening. We have too little of the former and too much of the latter.

I'm no economist (clearly!), but if I understand the central argument of the Chicago School correctly, it's that the price of a good or service as decided by the market is not just the most efficient way to determine its value but also the most moral. Perhaps it's hard to find a truly free market in reality but it's hard to come up with a more democratic and less coercive, i.e. less unethical, way of determining price. Not everything should be decided by the market of course. Pipe tobacco should be an entitlement!
 

dunnyboy

Lifer
Jul 6, 2018
2,574
32,073
New York
I'm on a waiting list to send Steve some blends from my cellar that I know I won't smoke but that he believes will sell. The rest of the stuff I've culled is listed on the Tobacco Sell/Swap/Search thread and guess what, nobody has offered to buy it! The market at work.
 

alan73

Part of the Furniture Now
Apr 26, 2017
667
657
Wisconsin
And on a funny note from the beginning of this thread I thought Mr. Fallon should charge more money, especially for the tins I have a deep cellar. I think the market can bear it. Maybe it takes 5 minutes to sell out . Haha .
 

K.E. Powell

Part of the Furniture Now
Aug 20, 2022
590
2,185
37
West Virginia
Like Cosmic or others have said, given that tobacco is not a necessity in any stretch of the imagination, it would be hard to make a moral argument against selling old tins at high prices. There is no harm or coercion at play, no laws or reasonable social norms being ignored, nor deception at play. (Also, as an aside, Pipestud's review of Royal Yacht on tobaccoreviews.com convinced me to try the blend, and it has become a favorite of mine, so he's alright in my book.)

But I do want to comment that that something being a necessity isn't the only grounds for whether secondary markets are themselves ethical. If by the creation of a secondary market one were to effectively destroy a man's livelihood through surreptitious means, or to infringe on or to, in effect, steal their property or rights, then one would have valid criticisms as to the ethics of those secondary markets given the observable impacts they have. I think we are so conditioned to take this quasi-libertarian approach to business ethics where are our concerns are largely relegated to mere legality or to yielding to poorly defined "market forces" as somehow being an arbiter of both fairness and morality, that we avoid broader and arguably more important questions of whether a particular business is actually good for the community, and therefore by extension, ourselves.

That all being said, I don't get the impression Pipestud is doing anything crazy at all. Man has some baccy that people are willing to pay top dollar for, and his means of coming about it were honest as far as I can tell. If people want to spend big money on some old Esoterica, by all means. I'm staying on the Yacht. :sher:
 

Arthur Frayn

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jan 8, 2023
200
840
66
Sonoma county, Calif.
Two things come to mind on this issue.

These are the 'good old days' -when people look back on us, they will moan at our wastefulness. Today will be someone's Golden Age.



Those rare and hard to obtain blends were easily purchased in their time. I remember similar talk around efforts to obtain 'real' Syrian Latakia'. Scarcity created the increased demand as supplies dwindled.

Right now, I am doing my best to try and find the blends that I enjoy. When I find one that I really like and if my budget allows, I try to cellar some quantity of it. I have had the pleasure to smoke some of the blends mentioned. Some I enjoyed and others were not my cup of tea. No biggie. That does make the bad. In fact, I have noticed that my tastes have changed quite a bit over time. However. Scarcity does not equal excellence. As the scarcity of a particular item increases, or course the demand will increase. Demand drives the price upward. Price discovery changes. Would i rather have these little green pieces of paper with pictures of presidents or would i rather have a tin on delightful, mellow smoke?

Each pipe smoker has his own preferences and budget. I begrudge no one who has the funds and the willingness to obtain what he wants. Likewise, the seller who has the item and wishes to maximize his profit as far as the market will bear.
 

Papamique

Part of the Furniture Now
Mar 11, 2020
792
3,967
Ever had that feeling that everyone understands you and your intentions? Yeah, that's totally gone now, thanks @canucklehead & @Ahi Ka

Nomad-orb :LOL:

This lost made me spit my pipe out laughing out loud! Well done! Thanks for breaking it down too because up until this I couldn’t figure out what it meant either.

On a different note my coworker said that before his wedding he told his wife (then fiancé) that he didn’t have a pianist. She said that was concerning. I damn near spit my coffee out laughing. When I regained my composure I asked if that was an old joke he knew or if he just made it up. He replied-no, it actually happened. I lost it -coffee everywhere. Gotta love this shit.
 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
20,704
48,977
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
Yep. I acquired some Xmas Cheer from Steve and tried some other blends I found I like via him that are discontinued. Liked them and got some more. And yep, enjoy sending some aged blends as Secret Santa gifts or otherwise to members here on occasion. My “real” cellar only dates back to 10/22 and nobody wants that, haha.
I always include some McClelland 2015 with my Secret Santa shipment and some years back I used to do a holiday season Stonehaven giveaway, an ounce each to eight different people who wanted to give it a try and couldn't score any.

It's just tobacco, and no matter how one tries to tart it up, it's still just tobacco.