I only realized after reading this that I missed the entire first page of this conversation. What a great amount of satisfaction you must have, realizing as you do that you truly championed this idea and that it actually came to fruition. That doesn’t happen too often, and we all thank you and Mark and Shane and Sykes and everyone else.
Thank you!
A cottage industry, like scalping tickets. It's always been gross.
I have mixed feelings. It does give folks the opportunity to buy one that missed the opportunity at Smokingpipes.com. Is it any different than selling tins of tobacco for many times their original retail?
I feel it is on a brand new item. It gets arbitrary when then trying to apply a time frame on it, though. I acknowledge that. Brand new items that sold out in minutes or hours isn't cool. The couple I found on ebay sold items sold for retail (I think), so I don't have a problem with that at all. That seller, or sellers, isn't milking the hobby for additional gains. If they're bloating the original retail price in an immediate way, it's scuzzy. Part of this does fall on Peterson, though. They created this nonsense with limited editions. This is certainly a consequence of such an approach. Everyone loses, especially their customers. They do something cool and interesting, and then they wrap it all up in a problematic situation. Leaving a foul taste is almost something of a bygone era, though. Today's public almost expects to be taken advantage of, by either companies/corporations or their peers. Nobody really cares, as long as they get theirs. It's sad. It's a whole other discussion that feeds into this situation.
That's the Heritage Brown. It's dark, but it's brown. The bottom one is Ebony.
I’m on board with all of this. I haven’t historically been all that excited about Peterson special editions. They often seem gimmicky. This year, and I could be wrong, but it seems like they came out with a very limited, very special edition every couple of months. I don’t quite understand the marketing strategy behind that, because people who love Petersons probably aren’t super excited about dropping down a couple hundred bucks every month or two just to complete their collection. It feels a little grabby on Peterson’s part to me.
This is the model for many collector/hobby businesses. The music industry is driven by this now. Limited editions for Record Store Day. Instant, "full" financial returns as everything sells out within minutes at best, or days at worst. No back stock and warehousing. Demand far outnumbering supply, so prices can easily be manipulated in favor of business. Creating a frenzy and a constant watch of a website or brand. Psychological warfare with the customer base, which in turn, sets customers against customers. Customers picking up multiple copies for resale as a possible way to offset the gouging. I imagine this is happening with knives, pens, guns, clothing, sneakers, beer/liquor, and just about anything with a brand-minded, hobbyist market. Turning people who aren't collectors into collectors for a sense of rarity.
100% agreed. And if they don’t participate, they get left behind. Or something.
My goal was regular production of the 4AB. Shane Ireland wanted regular production, too. I haven't given up on working on them to do that. I told Shane from the very beginning, and several times after - and he agreed with me - that when it was released, they needed to make more than a thousand because they'd sell that many the first day. "You guys could make a fortune with this pipe." Shane agreed. Unfortunately, it wasn't his decision to make, but I know he tried. As hard as that stem was to make (there was no mold for it, so they were hand cut), I guess a super large amount was too much to hope for. For now, anyway. I have hopes we'll see it made again.
Comic book companies and baseball card companies started doing that in the 1980s. It's nothing new as you say. Unfortunately.
Is there somewhere where I can find out the explanation for why the stem is so difficult to make? My layman‘s eyes are insufficient to understand it from what I’ve seen. Also, now that they’ve tackled that challenge, is it also a continued difficult process to continue producing, or was the R&D the hard part? I hope that’s the case, because like you said, it would be great if this was a regular production pipe again.
Maybe Mark Irwin can answer your questions. I figure the R&D was the hardest part. Try contacting Mark at his Peterson Notes site, and ask him. I'd love to hear what he has to say about it.
On it!
Sweet wife, sweet pipe!