Mark Tinsky's new tobac shop www.tobac.com
Mark Tinsky
Being involved in the tobacco industry for the last 20 years I 've seen a
lot of sides of the business. I think I 've always nursed the dream of
having my own little retail shop where I could make pipes in the back and
sell them out front. The shop would be necessarily dusty and have things
that I thought interesting in them. Pipe lovers would search it out because
they knew what they were looking for. We could sit around and discuss the
merits of shapes, brands , and pipe tobacco's. I 've been to some shops
sort of like I envisioned, George Allen had one in East Stroudsburg, PA ;he
made and repaired pipes. Sounds like Danny Boswell has something like it in
Chambersburg, Pa.
I enjoy shops where you can come in and sit down and talk with other
familiar tobacco enthusiasts. Chief Catoonah in Ridgewood, Ct the Oakwood
Kettering Smoke Shop in Kettering, OH come to mind. The former even had
barber chairs to sit in! The reality of the retail environment and what
works for me are two different things. For one I don t like working
established hours; retailers tend to work long consecutive hours, they don
t get to take naps in the afternoon or work out in the middle of the day or
be home when the kids come home from school. So while having a shop would
be a cool idea I realized it wouldn't t suit my personality.
Well.....
The internet has changed that in a big way. I 've gotten tremendous
pleasure corresponding with pipe lovers through my web site without leaving
my workshop. I can answer my E mail when it s convenient. Its been the best
of both worlds. I talked about this with John Hayes, a great friend,
premier tobacconist and fishing buddy. He suggested we establish an on
line tobacco shop combining my on line computer experience and his line of
tobacco products and expertise. We fooled around with the idea for a few
months and gradually the idea built momentum. It helped to have a computer
programming whiz for a brother and between the four of us, the fourth being
John's eldest son Matt; we have built a tobacco store on the web. Its not
completely stocked yet, there s still a lot of work to be done. The art
work isn't completed , we still need to add some pipe pouches, books etc.
However, the there's a good amount of estate pipes, new pipes , tinned and
loose tobacco's and cigars to peruse. We 'll be adding new products and
inventory as we evolve.
We 're offering a box of Peterson Cigars valued at $175. or a pound of
tobacco and pipe of similar value to the person who finds the most mistakes
and reports them to us. As I m a horrible typist, even with a word
processor, there are probably lots of mistakes to be found. As a second
prize they'll be some sort of tobacco related tie. The date the contest
ends will be noted soon on the web page.
John is one of the finest tobacconist's I 've known. His store has a
reputation for excellent service, product knowledge and quality. I happened
into his shop the weekend it opened. Its a long story which I 've
documented on my web page. We hit it off well from the start . Fifteen
years later Mary Ann and I consider their family as part of ours. His
support has been instrumental to my being a pipe maker today. I can t say
enough good things about John Hayes. I hope you will take the time to look
at the store. Its at www.tobac.com
Please feel free to get back to me with comments of what you like, don t
like or what you d like to see added. Keep in mind its just a beginning for
us and the aesthetics will improve with time. We offer a secure credit
card link for safety in purchasing.
I recently read with great pleasure that Bill Gates is sending up a bunch
of satellites that will revolutionize the web . I "m sure he 's going to
make a ton of money doing it but anything that will make downloading time
faster is to be applauded! Hope you enjoy the store. Mark Tinsky
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