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Post by puffy on Jan 3, 2017 18:42:51 GMT -5
I buy just about all my tobacco online.It's cheaper that way.I'm retired so I save a penny where I can.So my last visit to the only smoke shop within miles of me went like this.Four guys sitting in chairs smoking cigars.Me and the guy behind the counter were the only pipe smokers in the place.All the bulk tobacco was in jars on the shelves on the wall behind the counter.No way for the customer to get to them to take the lid off and sniff the tobacco.So if you bought a blend for the first time it was a bit of a shot in the dark.The coffee was free.Every thing else was very expensive.I bought four ounces of tobacco and some pipe cleaners and called it a day.I'm not planning a return trip any time. soon even if they do say the coffee in free.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2017 19:27:24 GMT -5
I have a cousin who supports his local B&M regularly but my cellar was primarily built through on-line purchases. Our best B&M is downtown which I tend to avoid anymore in general since retiring myself. I pick up flints, butane and maybe a couple other items at my nearest B&M but that's it.
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Post by sparks on Jan 3, 2017 20:20:40 GMT -5
Back home I was a regular at my B&M. Though it was always cheaper to buy online, this was a pipe focused shop and it was more about the camaraderie than anything else.
I feel your pain though, Larry. Most B&M's these days are all about cigars with little interest in our little hobby.
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Post by papipeguy on Jan 3, 2017 20:27:52 GMT -5
Well, I'm a big supporter of our local B&M. The guys who work there tell me I'm the #1 customer. I'm not sure if that's an honor or testimony to how dumb I am. I do love the place and the cast of characters that hang out there. After 25 years I've become part of the furniture and it has become my Sancto Sanctorum.
It does cost me a few more bucks to buy there but I like to spend my money with local merchants when I can. If the place ever shut down I don't know what I'd do.
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Post by crapgame on Jan 4, 2017 13:29:24 GMT -5
I have bemoaned many times how the new ownership of my B&M has caused a wonderful tobacco shop where the tobaccos and pipes were displayed with pride and how sample were always available! If I wanted to try a blend a tin was handed to me with a hand shake and a smile. Most of my pipes are pipes the owner had in stock for a long time and he would sell me the pipe with a tin of tobacco at a huge discount. Now the shop has a few pipe..some Lane and Sutliff bulks that cost 6.50 per ounce! Captain Black pouches are over $10...50 gram frog morton tins cost $16 and 100 gram tins are around $25. The cigar selection is quite small and cost almost double what the local lottery/ciggie shop sells the same cigars for!
The shop is now a place where the customers come to buy glass pipes and bongs and other dope smoking devices. This is such a shame because a place I enjoyed doing business with does not care or want me to spend my money there anymore. If I ask the owner to special order me some tobacco he tells me" I don't have time for this shite" and walks away. I now buy most tobacco online but I did find the local Rite-Aid will be more than happy to order any STG tobacco for me so I can use the coupons I get in the mail. The local lottery/RYO smoke shop is also starting to expand by stocking some tins of tobacco and selling a few bulks by the ounce. Maybe there is a glimmer of hope for the pipe smokers in my area. Nothing will ever replace the old shop for the atmosphere and fellowship but hopefully this place will become a place where the local pipe smokers will be able to come and relax.
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Post by Lady Margaret on Jan 4, 2017 20:01:14 GMT -5
I have no idea what a B&M is, I don't believe we have any. We do have a wonderful independently owned tobacco shop in town. The bulk tobaccos are behind the pipe display case, but the customer is welcome to go behind and open all the jars and you get to bag your own tobacco. I really enjoy going there.
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Post by Yohanan on Jan 4, 2017 20:18:41 GMT -5
I have no idea what a B&M is, I don't believe we have any. We do have a wonderful independently owned tobacco shop in town. The bulk tobaccos are behind the pipe display case, but the customer is welcome to go behind and open all the jars and you get to bag your own tobacco. I really enjoy going there. Brick and Mortar, meaning a building you can walk in and shop, and Yes you do have one. Congrats!!! |
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pipesandguns
New Member
Posts: 9 
First Name: Michael
Favorite Pipe: Gabrieli, Ser Jocopo, Tolkien style long pipes
Favorite Tobacco: Black House, Penzance, John Cotton Smyrna
Location:
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Post by pipesandguns on Jan 9, 2017 8:08:35 GMT -5
I love shopping online. When I was a neophyte, I depended on the B&M shop (same as where papipeguy goes) where the previous owner really helped me out find my pipe smoking identity.
Nowadays, with time constraints and kids and all that, I don't really have the time to go up there. I do most of my buying through P&C, which is in my area so I feel I'm supporting a local business (thanks Russ!).
I would go to the local B&M for a pipe show.
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Post by Motto on Jan 9, 2017 9:31:55 GMT -5
I have no idea what a B&M is, I don't believe we have any. We do have a wonderful independently owned tobacco shop in town. The bulk tobaccos are behind the pipe display case, but the customer is welcome to go behind and open all the jars and you get to bag your own tobacco. I really enjoy going there. Brick and Mortar, meaning a building you can walk in and shop, and Yes you do have one. Congrats!!! Hi, Bricks & Mortar  , that is a new one, I thought you were all referring to a chain of "B& M shops " like a new "old tobacco" version of Walmart. But here in my neck of the woods , our local city centre B& M has opened a wonderful new shop the best in the North West of England , Turmeaus at the Albany , with a cigar lounge , unfortunately restricted by the town council,  , which I hope to support more perhaps. Bye. |
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Post by oldcajun123 on Jan 9, 2017 10:40:52 GMT -5
Went to one in Lafayette La, not too friendly, cordial, saw a guy I had known who was a cigar smoker and the ice melted, bought a few things but it really was geared to cigar smokers. I agree Pap if you can financeally help do so, unfortunealy most retired people have been hit by the no interest on savings , bad fiscal policies by Administrations, both Rep and Demos. Maybe a light at the tunnel now.
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Post by Motto on Jan 9, 2017 13:58:14 GMT -5
G'eve, lunted with my chum Pop , some raindrops with a fullish moon high towards the east, with 1817 in a Liverpool BC, after feeding us, TG, bye for now.
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Post by Motto on Jan 9, 2017 15:04:41 GMT -5
G'eve, lunted with my chum Pop , some raindrops with a fullish moon high towards the east, with 1817 in a Liverpool BC, after feeding us, TG, bye for now. PS, pardon me the wrong thread  |
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Post by Baboo on Jan 9, 2017 15:48:48 GMT -5
Sadly, all few (there were only 2 or 3) B&M's closed over 25 years ago here in sunny south florida. Cyber-shops are the new B&M's, yet with the addition of warm & fuzzy pipe forums such as The BriarPatch, a bit of the old comfy feeling can be had like we did when sitting in the shop puffing over the local politics and sports. B&M's - thems was the good ol' days... long gone but never forgotten.
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Post by Lady Margaret on Jan 9, 2017 17:58:07 GMT -5
I have no idea what a B&M is, I don't believe we have any. We do have a wonderful independently owned tobacco shop in town. The bulk tobaccos are behind the pipe display case, but the customer is welcome to go behind and open all the jars and you get to bag your own tobacco. I really enjoy going there. Brick and Mortar, meaning a building you can walk in and shop, and Yes you do have one. Congrats!!!
oh, awesome! I thought B&M was a particular chain or something. lol, silly me!
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Post by crapgame on Jan 10, 2017 15:09:31 GMT -5
I love shopping online. When I was a neophyte, I depended on the B&M shop (same as where papipeguy goes) where the previous owner really helped me out find my pipe smoking identity. Nowadays, with time constraints and kids and all that, I don't really have the time to go up there. I do most of my buying through P&C, which is in my area so I feel I'm supporting a local business (thanks Russ!). I would go to the local B&M for a pipe show. I agree..the former B&M owner really influenced me and directed to the better blends that come in tins and away from the Lane bulks ( and there is not a thing wrong with them) he had next to the cash register. Now I shop online and depend on the advice from the great people here to advise me and offer feedback to me as to what tobacco I may want to to try based on what I already smoke and what style of blends I enjoy. |
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Post by papipeguy on Jan 10, 2017 17:24:41 GMT -5
The odds are stacked heavily against small family owned shops. We had one long time shop close last Fall; not because business was soft but because the Pa legislature put a tax on loose tobacco and the "floor tax" bill to that owner was about $10,000, payable by 10/01/16. Rather than drain his savings he simply closed the business. A real loss since it was very heavily pipe centric shop.
So the state didn't get the money and many of his customers are buying online from out-of-state. Another fine example of the genius work done by lawmakers.
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, that is a new one, I thought you were all referring to a chain of "B& M shops " like a new "old tobacco" version of Walmart. But here in my neck of the woods , our local city centre B& M has opened a wonderful new shop the best in the North West of England , Turmeaus at the Albany , with a cigar lounge , unfortunately restricted by the town council, 
, which I hope to support more perhaps. Bye.
