Are you looking for a new profit center to add to your upscale shop? Then, you should consider adding a pipe and pipe tobacco display. The centuries-old smoking vessel has withstood many surges of popularity and even in times when other smoking trends take center stage, the pipe has maintained a strong following.
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If you are contemplating trying your hand at pipes, pipe manufacturers and pipe tobacco companies have a few pointers for you. So don't let those local customers searching for a knowledgeable pipe shop down, build a proper pipe display and they will seek you out.
Getting started
The first thing retailers need to do is know their market, says Kevin Brackett, the U.S. distributor at Tobacco Pipe Exports, L.L.C. for Amadeus Pipe Co. If a retailer has decided to put pipes in and doesn't know his market, he recommends starting with a spread of lower-end basket pipes and then working toward the higher-end pipes of the chosen manufacturer's line.
Once you've established your pipe smoking clientele and discovered their desired qualities in pipes, you can begin stocking the mid-range and higher-end pipes. "Once customers have moved up to that level, they will never buy a lower-end pipe again," says Brackett. "They will stay at the same level as their collections increase."
Retail pipe prices can range from around $20 to $21,000, says Chris Felts, manager, pipe department at Music City Marketing, Inc. With ranges like this in the industry, he says, it is good to work with a distributor that offers a wide variety of pipes at different price points.
Depending on the needs of your specific clientele, he generally recommends starting out with a mid-range pipe like a Stanwell offered through Music City Marketing. Felts says the Stanwell will retail for around $80, but if a retailer is uncomfortable starting out with pipes that run in that range, he can offer the Brindisi line that retails for around $27. Music City Marketing is the exclusive distributor of the Italian Brindisi line of pipes.
Music City Marketing is also the exclusive distributor for Alfred Dunhill pipes. Felts calls these the "Rolls-Royce" of pipes. These high-end pipes are made using a superior briar and the company never uses filler. "Out of 10 pipes made, only two out of those 10 will make it as a Dunhill for sale on my shelf," he says.
Dunhill, available through nearly 70 authorized retailers across the United States, aside, Stanwell is Music City Marketing's best-selling brand.
Brackett says it is the faults in the wood that help determine higher-quality from lower-quality pipes. Less expensive wood showing many faults cannot be used with the more expensive finishes. "You need a better-quality wood for the more expensive pieces because if they use a lighter finish on the pipe, then you will be able to see the faults easier," he says. "Unless you are spending a tremendous amount of money, you are always going to be able to see faults in a pipe. It's the size of the faults, how they're covered and how they are worked that demonstrates the competence of the pipe carver."
The faults are not the sole determining factor in the quality of the pipes you purchase. Felts says retailers should ask what brand it is and what process was used to make the pipe-either handmade or machine-made-when determining quality also. Stanwells are made by a computer but a lot of hand work still goes into them, he says.
A machine can produce around 60 pieces per hour and a pipe carver will hand carve maybe one pipe a day or every day and a half, Brackett says. "The machine-made pipes have a numbering system most of the time like your Savinellis or Amadeuses," he says. "You can order a machine-made pipe from a catalog … like shape number 17 with a particular finish on it. One will be just about the same as the next."
Brackett says that pipe carvers create a following for their stylistic differences and price differences between pipe carvers may have to do with who the artist is. "Once you get into the handmade pieces, it's not a matter of looking for a pipe to smoke tobacco, you are purchasing a piece of art," he says.
As a retailer just beginning in pipes, the superior hand-carved pipes delve a bit further into the pipe industry than you will probably need to go unless you become a collector yourself or dedicate your shop to pipes and collectors' pieces. But it is important to know the depth to which this unique industry goes.
The right mix
When building your first display of pipes, Felts says you can't buy just six of them or you'll never sell one. Customers will choose pipes based on their personal style so keeping up with popular styles and shapes will help you appeal to a larger pipe audience. "I would say that you should have a minimum of 20," he says. "Restock and keep shelves filled, even if you have 12 pipes left, you need to restock those that you sold. You'll never sell down to zero."
Brackett says he has seen the recent pipe trend turning to less expensive pieces. "That's why I expanded our Gentlemen's Elite line," he says. "It's a very economical line and, previous to the IPCPR show in July, we only had one finish."
The Gentlemen's Elite line is now also available in red, yellow, blonde, natural and rustication. This line offers the same pipes, finishes and shapes with either a vulcanite or acrylic bit, although the acrylic will run a bit higher in price.
Brackett also stresses that the company unconditionally guarantees its pipes against burn-out regardless of the cause. "I let [retailers] know that regardless of whether a burn-out on a pipe is the customer's fault or it is a workmanship problem, we will replace it," he says. "I know when a customer comes in to complain that it is more important to keep that customer than the cost of the pipe. We guarantee the retailer that there are no burn-outs that we will not replace with Amadeus."
Felts recommends keeping the pipe display looking new and different by rotating merchandise. "If you keep rotating your stock, people will see that something is new there and they will end up buying things that have been there a half-year because it seems new," he says.
Both, Brackett and Felts, say that you should keep a soft cloth on hand to keep fingerprints off of the display pipes for the best presentation. "You want it to look like no one has touched it when it is sitting on your shelf," Felts says.
Know your tobacco
Once you have your selection of pipes secured for your new pipe center, it's time to look at pipe tobacco. Beyond the pieces designated solely as art by pipe collectors, there is really only one thing you want to do with a pipe and that would be to sit back and relax while enjoying a superior tobacco.
The first thing you and your staff should do, just like you did for every other part of your business, is learn everything you can about the pipe tobaccos that are currently on the market. Everyone one working in the store should be as knowledgeable as the next. You don't want to lose a customer because the one staff member that doesn't know your products inside and out is asked a question they can't answer.
Craig Tarler, owner of Cornell & Diehl, Inc., says, the Internet can be a valuable resource for retailers looking for information. He recommends Tobaccoreviews.com and SmokersForums.org as sources on pipe tobacco information online. "Take a look at what people are saying," he says. "Do a search for the manufacturer and see what they are saying about the manufacturer's products. It's about educating yourself on the manufacturers and how they are received by the pipe smoking community. The Net is a wonderful thing to look at. We watch it ourselves to get a feeling of what people are looking for."
However, no matter how much research you do, it can only guide you so far. Erik Stokkebye, president of VilligerStokkebye International, says, "Like everything else, it is often personal taste."
Acknowledging that space is almost always limited in tobacco shops, Tarler says to try offering the largest variety you can in pipe tobacco. While you are trying to lock in what tobaccos will sell well in your shop, he says a good solution to offering variety is sampling. Cornell & Diehl offer trial packs for stores and they have been found to be very successful. "My advice would be, to someone going into this, to buy small amounts from the different manufacturers and try them on their customers," he says. "Have a wide variety to start with and narrow it to what moves, but don't overstock-and this is universal to all retail operations."
With new products coming on the market regularly, retailers should acquire a small amount to try out on their customers to see how it would be received as a regular offering. Too often Tarler sees retailers ordering what is preferred by the store rather than by the customers. He says retailers need to be aware that they should be allowing the pipe smoking customer base to help lead them in their choices for pipe tobacco.
Another smart way to educate yourself on pipes, pipe tobacco and pipe displays is to leave your market area. "The best thing a retailer, who is not familiar with pipe tobacco, can do is leave his own area of the country," says Mary McNiel, McClelland Tobacco Company. "Leave your city where your competitors are because they aren't going to want to share their secrets with you. Find yourself a really good retailer who knows his pipe tobacco and ask him to help you."
The company has also produced a pipe smoker's guide that it offers to shops. It describes the flavors of the various individual pipe tobacco components in a blend and that's been very helpful, McNiel says.
There are key characteristics to look for when you are ready to compare pipe tobaccos on your own. She says, high-quality tobacco should have depth of color and a supple, not thin or shattery, texture. The cut of the tobacco should be nice and even with very little dust, in a bagged tobacco, and unless it was meant specifically to be ragged it shouldn't be. She also says to make sure it is free of stems and flags. Most important, though, is the taste. "You want a tobacco that has flavor that will last beyond the initial burst," says McNiel. "If the leaf is of good quality, it will last throughout the smoke and develop because the leaf itself has character and sugar that will be released as the cells burst due to burning. If the tobacco is not of good quality when the cells burst, there is nothing there and it has to rely entirely on the flavors that have been applied to it. You don't want that."
A selection of what's available
VilligerStokkebye sells under the Peter Stokkebye name. "We sell the Peter Stokkebye blends loose, to tobacco stores, in bulk," Stokkebye says. "In all, we have about 30 different blends."
Three of the most popular tobaccos at VilligerStokkebye are the PS24 Nougat, the PS31 Optimum and the PS3 Cherry. "They have spent many years on the market and have developed a strong following among pipe smokers," he says.
Stokkebye says the company recently introduced a prepackaged pouch pipe tobacco called Stanwell. This new tobacco is available in Vanilla and Melange.
Retailers interested in learning more about pipes, tobacco or the company will find pointers, tips, sales materials and pamphlets on the company's Web site www.vsicigar.com.
"Our signature pipe tobacco would probably be our matured Virginias such as the No. 27, Christmas Cheer, Anniversary, Black Wood Flake and Dark Star," says McNiel of McClelland. "During the fall of the year, our Christmas Cheer is our best-seller because it is a limited-edition vintage product.
"We do have best-sellers in other categories as well," she says. "In the Latakia mixtures it is FrogMortons and, in the Aromatics, they are Best of Show and Captain Cool."
The newest additions to McClelland Tobacco Company are the Grand Oriental series, which features the celebrated Oriental or Turkish tobaccos from the regions where they became famous. "Turkish tobaccos are grown in several places now, but never so perfectly as in the original areas in Greece, Macedonia, Thrace and into Turkey," McNiel says.
Tarler says Cornell & Diehl has several hundred blends and that they vary by season. Some of the heavy blends are saved for winter and popularity depends on the immediate desires of customers. "What's popular this month, may go down next month because of a weather change or because something new has come on the market," he says.
The company is primarily known for its English blends and Burely blends, says Tarler. "We also manufacture and distribute the G.L. Pease line of tobacco," he says. "The newest additions we came out with are a series of flakes called the Simply Elegant series of Virginia flakes and another flake called the Exhausted Rooster."
Pass it along
Once you've chosen pipes and prized tobaccos for your new display, there is one more important task on your shoulders. It is not only important that you and your employees be knowledgeable about pipes and pipe tobaccos but customers new to pipe smoking also need to be properly educated about their new smoking endeavor. "Make sure the smoker knows how to smoke a pipe, pack it, light it, keep it lit with tamping, clean it and rest it," says McNiel. "Pipe smoking is essentially a hobby and lifelong pleasure but it's not easy to master. Mastery has to precede real pleasure and it's only through real mastery that the smoker gains appreciation and the ability to differentiate the character and quality of the different pipe tobaccos and pipes he encounters."
Show them your pipes with pride. Let them see that you have become an expert on pipes and tobaccos so they feel secure that they have found the best local resource for all of their pipe needs. Enditem
