Selling your McClelland's?

[Zeno Marx]

I’ve boughten some Christmas cheer, a couple McClelland tins and some McCrannies. I’m coming to the realisation that if I pass away my wife won’t now the “real value” of the tobacco I have. I’m middle aged and coming to the point where I’m thinking about selling a lot of my tobacco, I’m just too lazy to put it out there for sale.

I know a lot of people in various forums use Pipestud as a “price guide” to sell their tobacco and it’s “going price”. While I think the price of a tobacco is what anyone is willing to pay for it.

We have seen a emergence lately as younger pipe smokers have taken up the hobby and missed out on McClellands, which I believe is what’s increasing its price.

I think this is why a will (legal document) is so necessary these days. People could very easily throw out thousands of dollars worth of tobacco, especially in jarred form. Can't imagine how many pipes have been thrown in the garbage because, "Who would want someone's smoked, grungy, gross pipe?" or "Nobody smokes a pipe anymore." This goes for safety razors, sneakers, old skateboards, and any number of things. People collect sneakers. As an example, someone could throw out some original John Woodens and not realize they just tossed a couple hundred dollars in the trash. Or a scratched up old skateboard, but that deck, trucks, or wheels could be worth hundreds of dollars. Or even a Gillette safety razor is like throwing anywhere from $20-500 in the trash. Hunting clothes (old wools especially). Old tools with some rust on them. Or old cookie jars. Or salt/pepper shakers. The list goes on and on and on.

Not that long ago, some guy inherited a collection of James Upshalls his dad had picked up being a professor in the UK, and he sold the entire lot of 12-14 pipes for $250BIN on ebay. I was a little strapped for money at the time, so I thought about it for just a few minutes, but by the time I went to buy them, someone had smartly snatched them up. These were original Upshalls from before the brand was turned into a farce by new Upshall owners. Each of those pipes was probably worth $125-250. The son had no way of knowing.

 

[Swede]

My wife and I have been talking about this. We've an un-started plan to scale back a lot of miscellaneous stuff by selling on ebay or somehow before an heir has to handle things. It would really help us all. I guess I'll need to put something down about my tools, bikes, pipes, etc., so somebody will know. I've got a Gran Fors Bruks splitting axe at a good deal years ago that goes for $200 plus now. I'd hate to see that go for 30 bucks! I'd rather it go to a son in law or grandson.

 

[Niblick]

Here is a link to a new online pipe and tobacco auction site for anyone interested. Not completely sure how long they have been up and running (week or 2) but remember reading about it coming out 6 months or so ago.

https://tinbids.com/

 

[Carlos]

Tinbids. Now that's curious. Reminds me. I should do another wanted ad in the The Trading Post. Maybe offer up trades.

 

[Zeno Marx]

I always wish new ventures like that the best of luck, but... Wasn't there a pipe auction site a few years ago? Maybe I'm making that up in my mind? I seem to remember hearing about one for a short time, and then after the initial energy and hellaballoo, I never heard another thing about it. Maybe it was for a music selling site? One of my hobbies took a stab at this. I'm 90% sure of it.

Holy Cow! Two Christmas Cheer tins, and already $275. Two Frog Morton tins at $300. Has Pipestud been a bargain? Not to be negative, but my poor business intuition would say that isn't a good thing. If it turns into only a rich person's game (probably already is...and historically has been in great part), the traffic numbers will be smaller.

 

[ftrplt]

Ouch!!!!! That be some prime 'baccy bein' auctioned on that site!!!!!! FTRPLT

 

[Carlos]

And a lot of it still in production. Availability sucks. But looking at that, should I list an 8oz blue bag of GL Pease Renaissance, I should expect no less than 10 grand, or a bit more.

 

[Zeno Marx]

We have seen a emergence lately as younger pipe smokers have taken up the hobby and missed out on McClellands, which I believe is what’s increasing its price.

Besides big Chinese money, I can believe this. When you're accustomed to spending $1K on a phone, $300 on a pair of jeans, $700 on handmade boots, $400 for a jacket, $300 on a safety razor, $XXX on custom pipes...it's not all that crazy to think $150 for a tin.

Sorry, I got a notification that this was from yesterday, the 30th. I thought it was a new post. I'm confused by the dating of posts on the site.

 

[Zeno Marx]

I haven't ran into many sales of McClelland bulk. I've wondered about that market. Checking another board this morning, I noticed someone selling various blends for around $30+/oz. It's surprising to see someone selling .5LBs for $250. It doesn't appear to have immediately sold, and only having sold 4oz so far. In case anyone else was also curious about where things are.

 

[jmorgan]

I agree about bulk sales...I think I saw the post you are referring to. So much money!
I would love to get my hands on some more 5100...ugh emm if anyone knows anyone!

 

[Butsiethesungo]

Yeah, I would hold onto any McClelland blends that I have. Its now considered the "Holy Grail" by some and I think I would regret parting with it.

 

[user 2027]

Yeah I don't have much McC's left. Was able to the Butera version of Dark Star on pipestud and look forward to that arriving tomorrow. TinBids has gone nuts on Esoterica with fresh bags of Stonehaven going over $500? Guess someone in Taiwan and/or China really wants this stuff. Not going to sell any of my pile.

 

[Zeno Marx]

I used to think all this cellaring of tins was pretty much reserved for those with a lot of discretionary money, but as I have frequented other boards more in the past couple months, I've realized that there's almost no chance of losing money, so why not just pile it up in the closet? What I'm really trying to say is that I'm blown away with how much people are getting for tobacco still in production, but with only a couple years of age on them. $15 tins sold for $50 in three years. Nobody is getting rich, but that's a pretty decent return on your money. Every time I think, "Whoa! That's a lot. Nobody is going to buy that. They can buy that for $13." WRONG. Very, very little doesn't almost immediately get snatched up. Should be the start of another thread, but I don't feel like it. And you can't blame it all on the Chinese market. A lot of these guys doing private sales only ship to the US.

I wonder how many hobbies are like this now. I think of wet shaving and the guys who have 100+ tubs of soap and still buying. They'd have to live to be older than Yoda to use it all. It's obviously not about use and is about something else. I think I read the other day that a guy had over 100LBs of tobacco, and they were still buying it like it would all be gone tomorrow.

 

[Zeno Marx]

It was an odd day at Pipestud. Is it because the spending season pushes money elsewhere? Has he finally overpriced? I'm surprised the jars of perique have gone unsold. Same for the two Ashtons. $75 for an oz is pretty steep, and $130 for Ashtons is up there. Just strange to see them still being available. I'm not his market, but when I click onto the blends out of curiosity, I'm used to them being sold out.

 

[Rasher-Roll]

It was an odd day at Pipestud. Is it because the spending season pushes money elsewhere? Has he finally overpriced? I'm surprised the jars of perique have gone unsold. Same for the two Ashtons. $75 for an oz is pretty steep, and $130 for Ashtons is up there. Just strange to see them still being available. I'm not his market, but when I click onto the blends out of curiosity, I'm used to them being sold out.

I think a lot of folks need to prioritize their spending elsewhere this time of year. I've seen a beautiful estate Peterson (I won't say what model or where....) that I have passed on because I'm still working on Christmas shopping.

When I started pipe smoking, McClellands blends were everywhere, and I really enjoyed FMC and Christmas Cheer, with a particular fondness for the latter. I was a young man, and couldn't afford much, so I had no cellar to speak of. McC closed down during a hiatus from pipe smoking for me, so by the time I was back in the game, they were already gone.

As much as I miss the nostalgic memories of McC, I just can't justify the prices. For the price of 100 grams of theirs, I could get 2 pounds from the Country Squire. Someday I'll find a tin for the right price and pick it up, but in the meantime there's plenty else out there to smoke.