P&C Doubles Prices of Esoterica Bags

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I sell tooling for a living. I get a lot of heat for a 3-5% increase in price. I would be put out of work with a price hike like this.
 
I have noticed that P&C has not sold out of any of the newly listed Esoterica blends they posted since the price hike. I've never seen that before.
 
JimInks":ku7xaste said:
I have noticed that P&C has not sold out of any of the newly listed Esoterica blends they posted since the price hike. I've never seen that before.
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That's a good thing, maybe they'll have the same stock next year. :D 
 
JimInks":7953jmia said:
I have noticed that P&C has not sold out of any of the newly listed Esoterica blends they posted since the price hike. I've never seen that before.
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Not terribly surprising. But PT Barnum had a great phrase for this!

;) 



Cheers,

RR
 
Brewdude":szvpqayz said:
JimInks":szvpqayz said:
I have noticed that P&C has not sold out of any of the newly listed Esoterica blends they posted since the price hike. I've never seen that before.
Click to expand...
Not terribly surprising. But PT Barnum had a great phrase for this!

;) 



Cheers,

RR
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And sadly he was right
 
I see we're back to bashing P&C, this time over a small brand with a handful of blends, most of which are available because they don’t sell. So this brings us to the two blends this is really about -- Penzance and Stonehaven. My estimates are that a third is picked up by the B&M retail shops, shop employees and friends. The second third by people who buy up Stonehaven and Penzance as a investment (like me), to sell them for profit. The last third are pipe smokers that actually smoke these blends themselves.  For some reason other "retail" vendors are mentioned who allegedly haven't raised their prices on Esoterica, but few, if any of them have any in stock. Some people here claim inside information from vendors saying there won’t be a price increase on Esoterica. Show me who has Penznace or Stonehaven on their shelves now, or when it's restocked for under $30 and I will buy every bag.


Bashing P&C, as I have seen in this thread -- A vendor that has done more than any other company, in so many ways, saddens me.  P&C offers us what no other company does.  They sell more pipe tobacco then all the others combined. They take back orders locking in the price, shipping back ordered items as they come in with no extra charge for shipping. I know that two of my orders for $100 required three shipments, with P&C taking a loss completing those orders.  They have more brands and blends than any other vendor.  Many posts on this forum mention Russ Ouelette as a great Master Blender and Russ' hand blended Hearth & Home pipe tobaccos with over 80 blends, all at great prices, who also became the backbone and the face of P&C to many of us.  Russ stayed with P&C as the company was sold and relocated from NY to PA.  So the price is raised on a small brand that actually is two blends for most of us, available a couple times a year in small quantities. What about P&C for a while now offering Hearth & Home Signature Series blends at $24 a pound  (buy two 8oz. cans, the third is free, mix or match)?  BTW, this sale is good until tomorrow (Nov. 14) just in case you want to buy some, even if a blend you want is on back order. In December all H&H brand, cans or bulk, is 20% off.  P&C constantly is running one or more promotions on brand name pipes and pipe tobaccos, brands that most of us actually smoke and enjoy.  Their customer service, which in all my purchases have had two problems that were from production, nothing under their control. Did I need to send the product back first?  No.   Replacement items were sent out the next day postage paid along with a pre-paid shipping label to return the problem tins. When I was unhappy with this large multiple tin buy, all it took was an Email and a five minute phone call. I received much more in dollar value to make up for this; they even sent along a surprise. I had a problem with my order and P&C took care of it -- My word was good enough.


So there is my rant thread on this “big viral” attack on P&C. I don't believe we should all jump on a band wagon because of a few people making a mountain out of $25.  If Esoterica makes your blend and it's sold at some B&M or online vendor for less, buy it, that’s what most people do.  I've delineated a bunch of reasons why P&C is my #1 choice for pipe tobacco.  No vendor is perfect, but P&C has gone the extra mile for me, I love their back order policy with no additional shipping, so I am and will remain a loyal P&C customer.


Craig
 
Well Craig, I reckon you won't be buying it for Profit from them anymore. :lol: 
 
TBH I've not run into any issues with P&C personally, and I've put many orders through with them. I've also spoken to some of their more prominent staff in person, most recently at the Richmond Pipe Show...they seem like great guys.

Now, I know they've changed ownership recently so I'm not sure how that's affecting things...and if they took an order from me, but prices raised and they attempted to wiggle out of an agreed upon deal I would take a very dim view of that, even if it was for understandable reasons. Sometimes you just have to suck up small losses as the price of doing business.

Again, none of these things have happened to me. The worst thing I've ever had to say about them is that for a time they had some fairly clueless folks who clearly knew nothing about tobacco answering their phones...but I'm pretty sure they remedied that.
 
Craig, are you affiliated with P&C? If so please say so now, because your post reads as if you are, but claim not to be.
 
Quite a first post. I think the point of the general consensus here is that a retailer who claims to be a friend of the hobby, but marks down what he can't easily sell while gouging us on what we actively seek out, is being met with some suspicion to his taken position as friend to the community.

But, to be fair, a guy who openly admits to being part of the problem by buying up and hoarding the stuff we actually would like to smoke so he can make a profit isn't going to be met with much enthusiasm either. Personally, I hope you hoarders buy it all up and the bottom falls out of the pricing and you're stuck with it. That, IMHO, would be justice.
 
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I doubt this will surprise most of you, but a friend from another pipe forum called Esoterica's distributor and was told there was no price increase.
 
That's right Rev. I don't see what the fuss is, if you don't like the price don't buy it. This is America, well the remnant of it anyway.
 
Of course P&C does some things right. But we aren't addressing that. Instead we have been analyzing what to the group wisdom feels is gouging. If there was any legitimate business need for them to double the price on a line that includes two highly-prized tobaccos, the other online retailers would have already done the same. But they aren't, and Jim has verified with the distributor that their costs have not risen. So what we come back to is that this maneuver is neither in the best interests of P&C nor those who love these blends.
 
Craig,

Point taken, but I think you might have missed out on a couple bags of Stonehaven while writing that. ;) 
 
Mods can check the IP to see if Craig is posting from Bethlehem, PA. :twisted: 
 
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