PCA Magazine Summer 2022

48 PCA The Magazine | VOLUME 3 2022 PREMIUMCIGARS.ORG doesn’t carry it, and you do, when someone comes in to buy that tin of tobacco, now there’s a chance they’ll buy their cigars from you too, because there’s almost a three in four chance that they also smoke premium cigars,” says McKenna. Another major stumbling block for potential pipe sellers is a lack of product knowledge. If you’re not well informed about your merchandise, you won’t feel comfortable talking about it. Storeowners who stock pipes should speak with their vendors or sales reps to acquire some basic information about the pipes they’re buying, such as: • In what country are they made? • What material are they made from, i.e. briar, meerschaum, corncob etc. • Is a curved stem preferable to a straight? • What is the difference between a smooth finish versus a sandblast? Having the answers to these questions will build the confidence that can enable the retailer to close the sale. Equally important is firsthand experience: “Every store that has more than two employees needs to have at least one pipe smoker,” advises Chuck Levi, owner of the tobacco retailing giant Iwan Ries & Co. in Chicago. This is especially important for educating and retaining new pipe smokers: “Anytime we get a new smoker we show them how to fill the pipe, so they don’t quit smoking a week later. Most new smokers quit because they can’t keep it lit.” Levi, who boasts an inventory of more than 10,000 pipes, also emphasizes the importance of carrying a wide range of pipe tobacco: “If a customer asks for ‘XYZ’ tobacco and you say ‘I don’t have it, why don’t you try one of ours that’s similar?’, that customer does not hear you. But if you put XYZ in his hands, and then say, ‘Maybe you’d like to try a pipe full of one of ours,’ at least they’re listening to you.” Once one has mastered at least a cursory understanding of pipes and tobacco, the next important key to success is knowing how to merchandise and present the product. Levi advises: “Selection is very, very important. We used to say it takes 50 pipes to sell one. We will leave 10, 12 pipes on the counter, so the customer can see we’re not concerned that they’re going to steal it. And we don’t rush them. Pipe smokers want to relax.” At this point it should have dawned on you that pipe smokers are a breed apart. It’s not so much that they’re more discriminating than cigar smokers, it’s more that the very act of filling, lighting, tamping and re-lighting a pipe, not to mention the leisurely pace of puffing, inclines toward a certain temperament, one of slow, deliberate contemplation. This is where being a patient, tolerant merchant can earn dividends. If you can cultivate this type of buyer, you’ll have a loyal customer. Catering to the pipe smoker is a sales technique well understood and put into practice by veteran tobacconist Marty Pulvers, former owner of Sherlock’s Haven in San Francisco and current proprietor of estate pipes website Pulvers Prior Briar. He sums up his insights into proper selection this way: “If the customer can look over many dozens, because having a small selection is not going to create a proper pipe environment, you’re much more likely to end up with a sale.” Pulvers also emphasizes the technique of allowing the pipe customer the freedom to “INVESTING YOUR TIME AND MONEY IN MERCHANDISING PIPES AND TOBACCO CAN SET YOU APART FROM THE COMPETITION.”