• Hi Guest - Come check out all of the new CP Merch Shop! Now you can support CigarPass buy purchasing hats, apparel, and more...
    Click here to visit! here...

Getting to know pipe smokers on the web...

T

tobaccoleaf1

Billboardtobacco.com Webmaster
Joined
Apr 13, 2004
Messages
548
I'm trying to get a sense for the demand for pipe tobacco online and I was hoping to ask a few questions...

What kind of pipe tobacco do you regularly smoke?
How much do you pay for it?
Do you normally buy just 1 brand or do you like to switch it up?
Do you smoke blends or pre-packaged tobacco?

The pipe tobacco sales in my retail store have been dropping off and I was just wondering what everyones take is on the matter.



Ian Hannah
Billboardtobacco.com
 
Well I will add my experience to this. I usually stick with aromatics but will smoke any if it pleases my sense of smell. It can range from $6'ish a tin to as $13'ish a tin. But since I have 10 years under my belt and have tried many different pipe tobacco's, I just tend to stick with the ones I've enjoyed since cigars offer me anything else I may want.

As for brands. I generally stick with 3 of my tin brands, but will try other house blends from cigar shops here and there. The house blends I can get for as low as $1.50 to around $2.50 a ounce. SOme specialize pipe tobacco for $6.50 an ounce which is usually very potent stuff and is in a rope shape.

I usually never ever order off the net for pipe tobacco. Sure, I can get it cheaper off the net and many places cut throat each other. But in all honesty, I'd rather get my pipe tobacco from the 2 B&M shops and support them. I can get any pipe tobacco I want from my old B&M shop. :thumbs: But always open for new things.
 
I generally smoke English blends, Burley's, very few aromatics. I probably have about 20-30 blends currently in the cooler or on shelves. I definitely skip around. Locally I pay around $10/tin + tax. Online I pay less per tin but it gets made up in shipping. If I buy in bulk, then the price is definitely more competitive on the net.

I DO shop on the net, because my 2 local B&Ms (a Tinder Box and an independent) carry a very limited selection of tinned tobacco.

I do buy some tins from the B&M, but most of my purchases are made on-line because of the much greater variety available, both in house blends and commercial tins. And all of the shops I deal with are local B&M's that have branched out into internet operations as well.

Despite claims of a resurgence of younger pipe smokers, I think this is not likely to become widespread or ongoing. Like many of the folks on alt.smokers.pipes, I've stopped buying pipes and am trying to stockpile tobacco before it becomes a) illegal or b) prohibitively expensive.

"Do you smoke blends or pre-packaged tobacco?" I'm not sure what this means since nearly all tobacco is a blend. If you mean by this a shop blend vs. something like McClelland or Pease, it turns out that many "shop" blends are simply renamed bulk from Lane, McBaren, Altadis, etc.

It may simply be, Ian, that your area just doesn't have the customer base of pipe smokers it used to have. We are generally an older group, and I think we're dying off faster than we can be replaced. ;)
 
We continue to sell tons of this stuff in 1lb bags.


smok-p.jpg


tp.super%20value.jpg


Most of our customers have sgreed this is, for the most part, all I need to carry in the store.


Ian
 
Those listed in the picture are not the type of aromatics I smoke. After seeing them tho, I decided to try Wild Cherry in my cheap Meersham pipe. Its not to bad I guess.
 
i have smoked the "smokers pride" it is definitly a
gentle tobacco, im new and it works great for new pipe smokers. i dont see my self buying it in a month or two though when i get more experienced and i want to try better stuff.
 
I currently have about 40 pipes in my collection, Formers, Winslow, Barbi, Castello, Radice, DunHill, Viprati make up much of my collectio. I like a lot of different blends, just not cased tobacco.I love GL Pease, Esoterica, Dunhill, Escudo, Rattrays,Orlick Dark Strong Kentucky and Golden Sliced, Two Freinds, Astleys 109, and others I cannot think of at the moment. I have a lot of tobacco aging in their tins. I do on occasionn buy bulk tobaccos.

I go through periods where I won't smoke my pipes for months at a time and then get back into it and smoke way less cigars. I buy all my pipes and pipe tobacco on line from avariety of vendors. I do enjoy shopping around and seeing who has what. I do have a local store who does some of his own blending and when I go there to have my pipes cleaned I'll pick up some bulk from him.

I made a very large purchase of tins of Dunhill and Rattray product from JR when he had a huge sale going on a few years ago, Elizbthean was 5 bucks a tin so I bought about 20 of them, same with Escudo and others.They have been aging for about 4 years now.
 
I mostly smoke blends of any combination of virginias, burleys and perique with some english (latakia) blends also. My favorite blend is from my local B&M shop. It is a flake blend burley, virginia and turkish he buys from a danish manufacturer and then renames to Harvest CutRiegel's Pipes and Tobacco. I smoked aromatics in a former life, but have begun trying them again as a result of my free Altadis shipment.

Like some of the previous posters, I buy from the internet because of the huge variety of tinned tobaccos available. I have purchased tins of McClelland, Rattrays and Balkan Sasieni.
 
I would like to recommend some tinned tobaccos, of various types, that are incredibly wonderful and worth letting set on the shelf for 5 years as bait for a gourmet. they won't get worse, waiting, and while you'll sell little, those who appreciate the finest quality will tell their friends about 'this little hidden shop that has the BEST stuff'..

Do take advantage of the great reputation a few fine tins have..

Frog Morton On The Town , Penzance, Charles Fairmorn Dark Fired Shag, Charles Fairmorn Red Virginia, Peter Stokkeby's Turkish Export, Peter Stokkeby's Amsterdam Shag, Hermans Pressed Cigar Leaf, a tinned Latakia (several to choose from) and a tinned Navy Cut.. possibly Lancer's Slices .. NOT AROMATICS.. no point in aging them. The pure English blend lovers and the RYO folks, and the people who want a taste of the best, and the flagrantly curious, all like to have a 'best of show' collection to browse. It won't be bulk, but it won't hurt your reputation and you'll provide a valuable service to the handful who insist on quality. PLEASE keep a dozen fine tins, or twenty, and avoid most Perique blends and stay towards Virginia/Latakia types.. as they benefit most from aging and are the primary choice of the affluent pipeist.. i'll likely never purchase from you.. i'm pointing at the idea of a SINGLE shelf.. it's only a plea for the unknown gourmet that may encounter you in future..

thanks..
 
A very good idea as to what's selling can be found here :http://www.smokingpipes.com/tobacco/tinned/bestsellers.cfm
 
relativelly new to the pipe world...but heres my $0.02.. i smoke english blends
preferablly something loaded with latakia (esoterica penzance,dunhills my mixture 965 or nighcap, c&d's pirate kake, etc etc 7-10 bucks a tin)
but i dont think the problem is your selection i think its a dwinddling supply of pipe customers.. the only other pipe smoker i personally know likes the same as i do but he will smoke anything if its cheap enough..hope that helps
 
It is possible that some of the customers you've lost have started leaning towards the tinned tobaccos like the ones mentioned above. If you begin to carry a shelf full of them, you may regain those customers and then some. Personally, I never buy those bulk aromatics. It certainly won't break your budget to give it a shot, and as was mentioned before, they will age fine on the shelf.
 
I smoke a very large variety of tobaccos, ranging from traditional English to some aromatics. While years ago I bought primarily tinned tobaccos, now I find that I prefer bulk, usually from hand blenders like Cornell and Diehl, Mel Feldman, or LJ Peretti. It's nice to know that I can call the blender and tell him exactly what I'm looking for and he'll make up a blend or adjust an existing blend to my request.

At my preferred local B & M there's a wide variety of bulk and tinned tobaccos, but the owner, it appears, shares your dilemma. The vast majority of sales are inexpensive aromatics. He related that he does a significant business in, what could be called, roll-your-own bulk cigarette tobacco sold to pipe smokers, who apparently blend it with flavored pipe tobacco. While he used to carry an inventory of beautiful high grade pipes, he allowed that to very slowly sell off, and now carries few pipes that retail over $30.00.

The shop is located not far from three local colleges, serves free coffee to customers, and has wifi. No cigarette smoking is allowed in the shop. Consequently, there's an adequate number of young pipe smokers who come in for a smoke, coffee, and to use the internet portal.

With the exception of who I see in the local B & M, I rarely see another pipe smoker, and when I do see someone, he's 60+ as I am also.
 
i was wondering how pipe tobacco and cigars differ, and how they are similar, and how one would get into pipe smoking?
 
bigvinnysd said:
i was wondering how pipe tobacco and cigars differ, and how they are similar, and how one would get into pipe smoking?
Click to expand...

Wow, it's always the simple questions that result in huge answers. :D

I'll try to avoid this. Cigar tobacco is untreated beyond being aged and allowing any natural fermentation to take place. Pipe tobacco can be simply aged, pressed, stoved (heated), cased (flavors added to the tobacco before they are aged, pressed, stoved), topped (flavors added to the tobacco after being cut and mixed).
Then there are the types of cuts: Flakes (sliced from pressed cakes), cubed, long cut, shag, discs (slices from spun ropes).
Then there are the different blends: aromatics (flavored), English, Balkan, Scottish, Va/Perique.
As you can see, there is a lot more variety to pipe tobacco than cigar tobacco. The smoking experience is quite different as well, but both are more conducive to quiet contemplation and appreciation than cigarettes.
If you're lucky enough to have a good, full-line tobacco and pipe shop near you, I'd suggest you go in and ask for advice (look for the old guy/proprietor).
A good web source is www.aspipes.org, as is the usenet group alt.smokers.pipes.
Your first pipe (unless you're independently wealthy) shouldn't run more than $30 or so, $50 tops. You can also start out with cobs, which are really cheap and provide a decent smoke.

OK, this is already getting longer than I'd planned. :blush:
 
anyone here willing to part with an estate pipe or perhaps anything that would help a newb pipe smoker get startedddddd????
thanky!
 
My tastes are limited to VA, VA/Perique, and Burley. I shop online and buy both bulk and tinned, paying from $25 to $60 a pound.

Everything gets aged at least a couple of years before making it into my rotation. Bulk blends get home canned and put up by myself.

Doubtfull if I will ever get into creating my own blends, there are just too many great blends available.
 
i usually make my own blends with cigar tobacco and whatever strikes me as a good idea.
 
bigvinnysd said:
anyone here willing to part with an estate pipe or perhaps anything that would help a newb pipe smoker get startedddddd????
thanky!
Click to expand...

Get a cheap meershaum off Ebay for as little as $5 to 25'ish range. Those are a great starter pipe and really doesnt require a break in like a Briar. Breaking in a pipe is a treat within itself but can be a pain staking process. I also break in my Meershaums just to get the bowl comfortable with the heated temperate it goes through as you smoke. But I do not buy used pipes cuz I want them to break in how I smoke not someone else. But plenty on Ebay to be had.

See i am 33 now and have been smoking pipes for over 9 years now. I have to agree I dont see many younger pipe smokers but have ran into a few at some of the Cigar Events at the B&M in KC.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top