Hello to all of our Smokingpipes.com family!!!! It’s me, Mark from Customer Service. I have to tell you I am probably one of the worst people to have been asked to sit down and write about something, but here I go, listening to my all time favorite rocker chick, P!nk. Well, she maybe my favorite of today’s female singers; we can’t forget the ‘Goddesses of Rock’ Stevie Nicks and Pat Benatar. Yes, I am an 80s rocker that refuses to leave the era. P!nk would have been cool then too.

Hmm… Maybe the obsession comes from the fact that, being from Southern New Jersey, she’s from right outside of Philly. I’m not kidding! When she was supposed to be divorcing Carey Hart, I wanted to go to Doylestown, PA to see if she went to visit her mom. But then they got back together and I was depressed for weeks. Of course, I was still living up north then. It would have been an interesting road trip from where I live now in North Myrtle Beach, SC. I guess I have it pretty good here, though: I live a block from the beach and work at the largest pipe tobacco E-tailer in the world. Not bad for a Jersey boy from the sticks.

Okay, onto the real reason for this. Today I am going to talk about what is known as “exceptions” in our order system. For all of you reading this, that means we are out of stock on something. Now, as any of you who have had the misfortune of ordering something that we are out of stock on know, you usually get an email or phone call from me informing you that we are out of stock and when, approximately, it will be back in. Occasionally, due to vendor back orders, we really don’t know when to expect it. (Hint: Certain blends from overseas that surprise us upon delivery only every six months or so.) My answer to this is “Whaddaya want from me?” Oh sorry, off track again. (That would be an Adam Lambert song that P!nk wrote.)

Most times, the majority of our out of stock items do come in within a week or so and we ship the orders out right away for you. There are those occasions where it will take up to a month for certain things, but our Purchasing Manager, Susan (AKA my work wife) does her best to help get them stocked in a timely manner. I usually blow up Susan’s phone extension or her email with questions about when something is coming back. “Is that on back order? Any word on this? Did we hear back on that?” Luckily Susan and I are friends as well, so instead of beating me with a branch from the huge oak tree outside the building, she helps me.

So, dear customers, please know that whenever we are out of stock on something, we are doing our best to get the items in and out to you. P!nk would be proud. Until next time!