I just searched ebay for "sealed tins" and then went to the Tobacainna section. To my surprise I found 137 listings, most of them pipe tobacco, but some little cigars, and yes...sadly some we're cigarettes( will those numbskulls ruin it for the rest of us yet again?).

I've never bought any tins on ebay. Luckily I've been able to trade/buy a lot of great tobacco with BoB members. There are many that seem reasonably priced and some astronomically high. Many are vintage tobacco and special offerings that aren't available anymore.

I was curious what people thought of this and wether they had good experiences with getting tobacco on ebay or if it's worth avoiding altogether? I understand supply and demand but I don't know how some blatant profiteering effects our hobby. What do you think?

Peace-Mike

I guess it´s fine if you´re really into aged tobacco and price is no object. I don´t buy tobacco there, only estate pipes. Even if you get it for a resonable price the shipping is the coup de grace. I prefer to just buy a lot from etailers so that the shipping hurts less. A lot of places offer free shipping over a certain amount too. Somewhere around $100. Besides, store bought new tobacco ages pretty nicely at home, not just on ebay.

Like on the other thread, it could be problematic that currently available products are being auctioned there. I´m not up on the specifics but I do think that using ebay as a loophole probably will negatively affect us all. Much like the RYO cigarette tobacco being marketed as pipe tobacco by etailers. It makes sense to avoid taxation by vendors, but until there is some legal definition of the difference between the two it´s just interpretation. ALL of it is fair game for tax hikes then.

I'm just pissed off a losing all the auctions of 8oz foil bags of Penzance lately. I' just won't pay those kind of prices. 3X retail prices is raping people with no complimentary Kotex given out with your purchase.

:sleep:

On ebay, you have people who are willing to pay almost anything for things that they want (we're talking old money kind of people), leaving us out. The teachers and workers and fathers and students.

I'm with hobiedog and I hate to see people gouging the price of good tobaccos to make insane profits from mansion-owners.

I've been tempted by tins on EBAY, but then I remind myself of the folly of spending big on a combustible, perishable item that probably won't give me that much more enjoyment than any other readily available blend. That's not to say that temptation won't eventually get the best of me. I rarely say "never"!

Isn't it all just supply and demand? Can only find Penzance or FLF on ebay? It goes to the highest bidder. I don't see any problem with that at all. That being said I wouldn't pay the prices that things are going for. But thats just me...it doesn't mean that there is anything wrong with it for somebody else. Just my 2 cents...

I'm glad a few caught my concern before my thread got jacked last week. The loophole is stretching wider than a whore's um, repertoire. Now that there are even Cuban cigars being openly proffered, I think I'll thin my herd of (Dominican) sticks while I can before the magic window of opportunity slams shut forever. Do ziplock bags count as "sealed"? Sure, why not?

I do take dark pleasure in seeing current production tins go for less than the sellers paid for them originally a week before..

I don't understand the concerns expressed here. Nobody is forcing you to buy if you don't want to. It's a legal product so what's wrong with that? And you have to be an adult to use Paypal to pay for the items.

I have bought a few tins on eBay but it certainly is getting harder to get any kind of a deal. If you think $30 is exhorbitant for a tin you should look at what tobacco costs everywhere else in the world.

I like to think those guys selling those coveted tobaccos at astronomical priced are the guys scavenging the etailers every hour and on the half, hoarding every ounce that shows up. And with the money they are making, I can't blame them. By purchasing from them I feel as though I'd only be supporting their endeavors. So I choose not to pay. But hey- it's your money. i

My local B&M has quite a pile of the new Dunhill stuff that doesn't seem to be flying off the shelves. Maybe I'm lucky and there aren't any oppurtunists scavenging there yet.

I just got some Dunhill stuff from Smokingpipes, and some JackKnife plug from 4noggins, should I turn around and put them on ebay for 2X what I paid? I could, its legal.

I don't necessarily have any concerns about vintage stuff, if you bought it and kept it good for you, trade it or sell it as you like.

I just think that the attitude of someone solely in it to make a buck is wrong. It goes against what sites like BoB we're created for.

I remember a quote from Rick Newcombe's book Pipe Dreams we're he talks about estate pipes and says, " I don't buy pipes to make money, I make money to buy pipes". I feel the same way about tobacco. Peace-Mike