Briar and rod stock store IDEA

[larrysson]

I'm thinking about opening up a briar and rod stock "store". This will be a word of mouth business only, no web store. I have noticed some of you getting involved in rod stock group buys from SEM, as they require 35 meters minimum order.

My idea was to order 15 rods each of black, red marbled and green marbled, in 20 or 22 mm. I would offer a cut to size service and sell by the inch or 1/3 of a meter.

I also want to offer Mimmo briar for those interested in trying his briar without having to buy 10 blocks. The briar offered would be plateaux cut in normal quality and medium size. Normal quality is the grade below Super, offering nice grain (straight and /or flame) and is fairly clean, sometimes totally. These blocks are 1/3 the cost of Super grade. Interested individuals can buy up to 3 blocks at a time.

The briar side of things will be a not-for-profit service. I don’t get a discount, and the briar will be in transit two different times, eating up an already 0 profit margin. In fact, buying these lower quantities will average a slightly higher cost per block than buying 10 blocks direct from Mimmo. But hey, not everyone wants 10 or more blocks.

Of course, buying ten blocks from Mimmo IS the way to go. He will give you a good mixture of cuts to try, and it helps a new buyer to get to know the quality of his briar.

There is a word of caution about small batch buying. Say you buy only three blocks, one of which happens to have a mortal flaw. That’s 1/3 of waste for that order. However, one block in a batch of ten would be a 1/10 waste rate, which appears really good. Personally, I’ll often make 20+ pipes before running into a bad block.

Why am I bothering with the idea? One, it gives me a bigger supply of briar to choose from. I’ll hand pick all the blocks in Italy, so they will all be great blocks to begin with. Hey, there has to be a perk in there for me somewhere! Second, I’m counting on getting rod stock orders with the briar. If I can make a couple of bucks per order, I’ll be happy.

Now, I have already discussed this idea with Mimmo, and he his happy with it. His one word of concern was the briar waste example I explained above. Reputation is everything in this industry; you all know that. Flaws are always a possibility, and it is a part of pipe making.

So, all being said, are there any here that would be interested if I set up the “store”?

-Paul Hubartt
Larrysson Pipes
www.larryssonpipes.com

[me2cyclops]

as mostly a pen maker I'd love it if I could buy rod in less than full length from someone who would keep it in stock, also any briar that you get in with obvious flaws could be used for pens instead of pipes, filling voids and such are not such a big deal for pens as they are for pipes.
if you do this put a post up on IAP and the rod will sell itself

[Frank]

Sounds like an excellent idea, Paul.

Mimmo has a very good reputation for his briar and if pipemakers can save a couple of bucks buying briar and rod from you instead of commercial retailers, then I'm sure it'll work.

I think by now all serious pipemakers accept that there will be flawed blocks.

If you do go forward with the idea, I'd be happy to list you here: Pipedia

[jbpaul]

as mostly a pen maker I'd love it if I could buy rod in less than full length from someone who would keep it in stock

DITTO!!

[larrysson]

There is not much interest in this idea...so it is offically a no go. Some ideas are good, others not so!

Thanks,

Paul