PCA Magazine 2022 Show Issue

PREMIUMCIGARS.ORG VOLUME 2 2022 | PCA The Magazine 49 re-salemarket. The longer a tin remains unopened with a good seal, themore it goes up in value. Fortunately, accurate dating of tobacco tins is generally not as much of amystery as it used to be. McClelland’s led the way in dating their offerings unambiguously. You didn’t need some purpose-built web site for looking up how to interpret the dates with whichMike andMaryMcNiel stamped their products; and it is well known that the buying public appreciated that extra touch. So it came to pass that other manufacturers began coming into line with the practice of factory-dating their tins. Laudisi dates their tins. Sutliff has been dating tins for a number of years. Mac Baren now carries clarified dating. Even the phlegmatic tobacco houses of Britain’s Lake District, Samuel Gawith and Gawith- Hoggarth, put date information on their tins. Youmight need a decoder ring and amath degree to correctly unravel the sticker’s meaning, but the information is there for the deciphering. There are still some industry stragglers, but by and large, standard business practice is responding to consumer preference: Factory tin dating is now becoming commonplace. This raises an interesting possibility when it comes to your inventory’s database: If you are not tracking your tobacco tins’ date stamps, perhaps you should consider adding that datum. As a retailer, it is in your interest to be cognizant of what’s on your shelves or in your storeroom, including tin dates. Fine restaurants know very well what wines they have in stock that have reached a magical (and pricey) age, so why should you let your better-aged tobacco treasures go out the door for a song? By way of illustration: One day about eight years ago I visited a tobacco outlet along Interstate 95 where I found an aisle of McClelland’s tins gathering dust on the shelves. (Obviously, this was whileMcClelland’s was still producing.) I was thunderstruck. The dates on some of these tins proved that I was looking at products that had, unaccountably, been languishing unsold for many years. They even still bore the original, low-ball price tags that had been affixed when they were first brought into the store. Clearly, the proprietors took little interest in their pipe-related inventory. They weremainly a cigarette retailer, with some fine cigars and accessories thrown in, and had no idea what a treasure trove they had unknowingly curated. All of this is to say, the store owners didn’t knowwhat they had. I left that day with a shopping cart filled to the top with tins for which I’d have willingly paid hundreds of dollars more. Don’t let this happen to you! Software can alert you when a tin has reached whatever age milestone you designate, and you can price accordingly. A tin of Virginia carrying eight years of age is objectively worthmoremoney than a tin fresh from the factory. If you have tins that carry no dating information from themaker, thenmark those tins yourself with whatever date you check them into inventory, and enter that information into your software. Additionally, once you’ve got a dating systemestablished, start squirreling away some items you deem promising for later sale at premiumprices. True, it costs money to store inventory, but as previously noted, quality tobaccos under vacuum seal appreciate in value. Also, be sure to let your customers know that you are taking this interest. Cultivating your clients’ knowledge concerning better-aged tobaccos can only kindle their engagement with the hobby; and the more they know, themore they are apt to spend. (All of this advice applies to boxes of cigars, too.) Zach Provost, storemanager at Tinderbox Charlotte, points out that every retailer would need to evaluate their own inventory software to see how amenable it is to incorporating a dating scheme. But he did agree that becomingmore conscious of themanufacture dates in a store’s tin inventory brings intriguing potential. “Knowing the age of the tobaccos you have in stock — andmaking sure your customers are briefed about it — could alter a business’s philosophy toward pipe tobaccos,” he says, “and this would bring a change for the better.” Seeking change for the better is howwe grow any business. ” T H E P I P E Cultivating your clients’ knowledge concerning better-aged tobaccos can only kindle their engage- ment with the hobby; and the more they know, the more they are apt to spend. (All of this advice applies to boxes of cigars, too.)