137 "sealed tins" on ebay, Where do you stand?

[Jazzman]

I just searched ebay for "sealed tins" and then went to the Tobacainna section. To my surprise I found 137 listings, most of them pipe tobacco, but some little cigars, and yes...sadly some we're cigarettes( will those numbskulls ruin it for the rest of us yet again?).

I've never bought any tins on ebay. Luckily I've been able to trade/buy a lot of great tobacco with BoB members. There are many that seem reasonably priced and some astronomically high. Many are vintage tobacco and special offerings that aren't available anymore.

I was curious what people thought of this and wether they had good experiences with getting tobacco on ebay or if it's worth avoiding altogether? I understand supply and demand but I don't know how some blatant profiteering effects our hobby. What do you think?

Peace-Mike :cheers:

 

[MisterE]

I guess it´s fine if you´re really into aged tobacco and price is no object. I don´t buy tobacco there, only estate pipes. Even if you get it for a resonable price the shipping is the coup de grace. I prefer to just buy a lot from etailers so that the shipping hurts less. A lot of places offer free shipping over a certain amount too. Somewhere around $100. Besides, store bought new tobacco ages pretty nicely at home, not just on ebay.

Like on the other thread, it could be problematic that currently available products are being auctioned there. I´m not up on the specifics but I do think that using ebay as a loophole probably will negatively affect us all. Much like the RYO cigarette tobacco being marketed as pipe tobacco by etailers. It makes sense to avoid taxation by vendors, but until there is some legal definition of the difference between the two it´s just interpretation. ALL of it is fair game for tax hikes then.

 

[hobie1dog]

I'm just pissed off a losing all the auctions of 8oz foil bags of Penzance lately. I' just won't pay those kind of prices. 3X retail prices is raping people with no complimentary Kotex given out with your purchase.

 

[Obelus]

 

[Maiser]

On ebay, you have people who are willing to pay almost anything for things that they want (we're talking old money kind of people), leaving us out. The teachers and workers and fathers and students.

I'm with hobiedog and I hate to see people gouging the price of good tobaccos to make insane profits from mansion-owners.

 

[Harlock999]

I've been tempted by tins on EBAY, but then I remind myself of the folly of spending big on a combustible, perishable item that probably won't give me that much more enjoyment than any other readily available blend. That's not to say that temptation won't eventually get the best of me. I rarely say "never"!

 

[talrmn35]

Isn't it all just supply and demand? Can only find Penzance or FLF on ebay? It goes to the highest bidder. I don't see any problem with that at all. That being said I wouldn't pay the prices that things are going for. But thats just me...it doesn't mean that there is anything wrong with it for somebody else. Just my 2 cents...

 

[GCook]

I'm glad a few caught my concern before my thread got jacked last week. The loophole is stretching wider than a whore's um, repertoire. Now that there are even Cuban cigars being openly proffered, I think I'll thin my herd of (Dominican) sticks while I can before the magic window of opportunity slams shut forever. Do ziplock bags count as "sealed"? Sure, why not?

I do take dark pleasure in seeing current production tins go for less than the sellers paid for them originally a week before..

 

[yvesmary]

I don't understand the concerns expressed here. Nobody is forcing you to buy if you don't want to. It's a legal product so what's wrong with that? And you have to be an adult to use Paypal to pay for the items.

I have bought a few tins on eBay but it certainly is getting harder to get any kind of a deal. If you think $30 is exhorbitant for a tin you should look at what tobacco costs everywhere else in the world.

 

[19Volks71]

I like to think those guys selling those coveted tobaccos at astronomical priced are the guys scavenging the etailers every hour and on the half, hoarding every ounce that shows up. And with the money they are making, I can't blame them. By purchasing from them I feel as though I'd only be supporting their endeavors. So I choose not to pay. But hey- it's your money. i

 

[Zeno Marx]

Isn't it all just supply and demand? Can only find Penzance or FLF on ebay? It goes to the highest bidder. I don't see any problem with that at all. That being said I wouldn't pay the prices that things are going for. But thats just me...it doesn't mean that there is anything wrong with it for somebody else. Just my 2 cents...

Agreed. 100%.

I like to think those guys selling those coveted tobaccos at astronomical priced are the guys scavenging the etailers every hour and on the half, hoarding every ounce that shows up.

But this does bother me. New Nightcap is a good example. But like I said in a thread about the new Dunhill, the average smoker is likely to be every bit as much to blame when they buy a couple extra tins to sell on eBay or to sell on message boards, bleeding their own kind to cut into their own costs. The business folk actually bother me less than the smokers who do exactly that.

 

[19Volks71]

Isn't it all just supply and demand? Can only find Penzance or FLF on ebay? It goes to the highest bidder. I don't see any problem with that at all. That being said I wouldn't pay the prices that things are going for. But thats just me...it doesn't mean that there is anything wrong with it for somebody else. Just my 2 cents...

Agreed. 100%.

I like to think those guys selling those coveted tobaccos at astronomical priced are the guys scavenging the etailers every hour and on the half, hoarding every ounce that shows up.

But this does bother me. New Nightcap is a good example. But like I said in a thread about the new Dunhill, the average smoker is likely to be every bit as much to blame when they buy a couple extra tins to sell on eBay or to sell on message boards, bleeding their own kind to cut into their own costs. The business folk actually bother me less than the smokers who do exactly that.

I'm glad you mention the new Dunhill's. I had those in mind when I was writing that more than Penzance or any SG's. When those come in, someone is going to be stockpiling them and creating demand where it doesn't belong. Yes, they have every right to do so, but this artificial demand is going to wreak havoc on small operations like Esoterica should they ever beef up their output. Any comic book fans out there saw what this did to that industry. Pipe tobacco is far more of a niche than comics.

 

[Williamson]

My local B&M has quite a pile of the new Dunhill stuff that doesn't seem to be flying off the shelves. Maybe I'm lucky and there aren't any oppurtunists scavenging there yet.

 

[Jazzman]

I just got some Dunhill stuff from Smokingpipes, and some JackKnife plug from 4noggins, should I turn around and put them on ebay for 2X what I paid? I could, its legal.

I don't necessarily have any concerns about vintage stuff, if you bought it and kept it good for you, trade it or sell it as you like.

I just think that the attitude of someone solely in it to make a buck is wrong. It goes against what sites like BoB we're created for.

I remember a quote from Rick Newcombe's book Pipe Dreams we're he talks about estate pipes and says, " I don't buy pipes to make money, I make money to buy pipes". I feel the same way about tobacco. Peace-Mike :cheers:

 

[MisterE]

I just think that the attitude of someone solely in it to make a buck is wrong. It goes against what sites like BoB we're created for.

I tend to agree with you, that´s why there´s regulation on minimum posts etc on BoB before selling stuff. Ebay is full of all kinds of folk with disparate levels of integrity. There´s less "love " there. As the sayng goes, Caveat Emptor...

I simply purchase what I like and want and will trade stuff from time to time. It wouldn´t feel right to hoard popular, hard to get stuff just to get a premium from desperate Brothers. But that´s me. People who do that are in their right. I don´t lose a lot of sleep over it, nor would I go out of my way to stop them- I just don´t participate.

I kind of get a kick watching the hype-trends on the boards though. I just consider myself lucky that no single tobacco is so important to me that I can´t do without it. There´s plenty of other good stuff out there that´s readily available.

 

[Harlock999]

I just think that the attitude of someone solely in it to make a buck is wrong. It goes against what sites like BoB we're created for.

I kind of get a kick watching the hype-trends on the boards though. I just consider myself lucky that no single tobacco is so important to me that I can´t do without it. There´s plenty of other good stuff out there that´s readily available.

Well said!

 

[Jazzman]

All also agree with Mister E.

The irony here is that today my 8 oz bag of Penzance arrived. I got in a trade with Maiser, oz for oz, of Chelsea Morning. It's good to have Brothers. Peace-Mike

 

[MisterE]

All also agree with Mister E.

The irony here is that today my 8 oz bag of Penzance arrived. I got in a trade with Maiser, oz for oz, of Chelsea Morning. It's good to have Brothers. Peace-Mike

THAT´S what I´m talkin ´bout. :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:

 

[cachimbadeoro]

Heeschen seels a pipe for $500.00 which is as identical as two pipes can be to a Lars Ivarsson pipe which he sells for $6,500.00. I guess that makes Lars a rip-off artist!!! I realize that the comparison isn't exactly proper but what is central to this discussion is the free enterprise system. Simply put, a product doesn't have an inherent value, its value is established by the marketplace.

 

[Jazzman]

"Heeschen seels a pipe for $500.00 which is as identical as two pipes can be to a Lars Ivarsson pipe which he sells for $6,500.00. I guess that makes Lars a rip-off artist!!! I realize that the comparison isn't exactly proper but what is central to this discussion is the free enterprise system. Simply put, a product doesn't have an inherent value, its value is established by the marketplace."

I agree with that statement completely. I would only add that PEOPLE establish the marketplace of which you speak. I personally, don't want to help establish a marketplace where 2oz of Penzance is $30, so I leave it alone. I'm still curious as to those who do, which is why I started this thread. We've still yet to hear from those people.

Peace-Mike