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Customer service is the keystone of our business, so when we started receiving inquiries from European customers about the possibility of a Smokingpipes website in their own languages, with quicker European shipping, we took notice, and for the past two years have been working to establish a European branch.
Today, we're pleased to announce that those efforts are reaching fruition. In June, we will open an office in Dublin to bring our favorite pipes (new and estate), as well as a range of pipe smoking accessories, to a European audience. A unique, multilingual website will launch in late summer, complete with all the features expected from Smokingpipes.com.
We've explored numerous questions regarding the new branch, two of the primary being, "Will we sell tobacco?" and, "Where will the office be located?" On the former, the answer is no, because European tobacco regulations make doing so impracticable. On the latter, we considered a number of options where we had deep relationships with suppliers, finally settling on Dublin. Dublin is easily accessible from the US and Europe, simplifying travel between our offices and visits to pipemakers and other vendors on the continent.
There is much to prepare. In early June, a few folks from our South Carolina offices will transfer to new digs in Dublin. The indomitable Adam O'Neill, social media guru and photographer extraordinaire, his wife Chana, pipe whisperer and keeper of the tome of merchandising and shipping secrets, and I will relocate to prepare the European branch. We'll be joined by several European hires who, among other roles, will provide customer service in major European languages and generate translations for web content.
We're excited about the future, for ourselves, the company, and the pipe smoking community. We anticipate that Smokingpipes Europe will provide plentiful opportunities to better know our friends in Europe and that the new site will, of course, fulfill a growing need for plenty of fresh pipes and accessories.
Comments
Moving headquaters out of the U.S. will allow you guys to work around FDA regulations for admitting new makers to the site? Scandpipes for instance doesn't care when bringing on new makers wether or not they're registered because they're headquatered out of the US.
@Michael,
We're not moving HQ out of the US. HQ is staying in SC as it always has. This is our first full office overseas that will be its own full operation, with its own pipe and accessory inventory, warehouse, customer service team etc. Our other overseas offices are small branch-offices that provide translation and customer support in those countries.
Congratulations! I wish you luck!
@Jeff Madre Thank you so much, Jeff!
And the crowd goes wild!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That’s great as a American living in Germany, will I now get my beloved Ardor pipes sent to me without the hassle and expense of customs?
Regardless, good work, great news! If your going to open a German outpost, sign me up.
This is great news! Welcome to Europe!
Q: Will the prices be as attractive as they are at the American website?
Will you be offering more German pipe brands and can US customers order from the Dublin site for US delivery?
Looking for Schwartzwald and hunting/Alpen/folk type pipes.
@Perdurabo Haha, yes! We're excited too :D
@Swedish Pipe Enthusiast
Prices will be comparable. Given differences in tax structures and other factors, they won't be identical, but they'll be in the same on average: some things will be a little bit less and some things a little bit more (generally, pipes made in Europe will be a bit less and pipes made in the US will be a bit more, with VAT). Our goal is for them to match as much as possible.
@Michael We don't have any new brands planned as of right now, but one of the benefits of the new office is greater proximity to European brands, so it's definitely something we'll be exploring.
@Andrew Buzzi Our immediate goal with the site is to deliver the same quality of product, service, and expertise that we deliver on our US website, but with VAT paid at the cart and shipped from within the EU, thus removing any hassles that European customers might experience ordering from our American site.
This is great news! Welcome to Europe!
@Yiannos Kokkinos Thanks, Yiannos! We're excited to get started.
Congratulations on the move!
Q: If I saw a pipe on the EU Smokingpipes site, would I be able to order it from Canada and not be charged VAT? That is, I’m imagining the EU site would mimic current European sites that advertise their products at a certain price, but deduct VAT at checkout...?
@Rokerdepipe - Yes, absolutely. Shipments outside of the EU will be VAT exclusive.
Congrats! Best of luck!
@Brad Emery Thanks, Brad! We’re all really excited, of course, and appreciate the well wishes.
Really smart guys! Welcome to Europe. Sure you will make a great business.
@Ricardo R. Thanks, Ricardo, we appreciate the support!
EXCELLENT INITIATIVE! HOPEFULLY INCLUDING BUY/SELL AUCTION OPTION FOR PREOWNED/ESTATE PIPES AND ACCESSORIES...
@Hans Hopman Thank you so much, Hans. We're certainly excited about it ourselves. I'm not quite sure what you mean in regards to Auction (if you mean eBay style auctions, than probably not, no), but we will definitely be selling estate pipes and buying them for cash or store credit, much in the same way as Smokingpipes.com does now. I hope that speaks to your question.
You deserve congratulation for taking such a dramatic step. It’s a long way from the old B&M business model. It will be perfect if you can find a way to send some Condor plug stateside🍀
Great news. Can we be supplied tobacco from within Europe now?
Congrats on the impending move to the truly beautiful Emerald Isle - a hop, skip & jump across from my homeland in Wales. If you perform in Europe as well as you perform in the US your success is assured. As a regular customer of Smoking Pipes I thank you for such great service and I wish you every success in Dublin - the home of my favorite pipe.
P S : Yes - please get hold of some good old CONDOR tobacco for us
@Sophocles P. It is indeed! To your second point, as much as we wanted to (and that's a lot), the regulatory challenges in Europe were such that we decided to not carry tobacco. It was a tough decision, but one we had to make in order to see this endeavour through.
@KevinM Thanks, Kevin, we really appreciate the support.
@KevinM @Mike Wellings As far as Condor plug goes, that's a tough one. Not only would we have to either find a distributor or work out a distribution deal ourselves, but the recently(ish) imposed FDA regs mean that we would have to show its was for sale here in the US as of the predicate date (2/15/2007).
@Mike Wellings Thank you so much, Mike, we really appreciate it. Our aim, of course is to not only live up to the service here in the States, but to exceed it. A bold claim to be sure, but we're clearly feeling somewhat emboldened ;)
Congratulations, must be very exciting for you all!
At last we here on the other side of the pond have access to some unique models and wider arrays of pipe models which were to this day only available on the U.S and Canadian market, and all this without paying those inevitable import duties and taxes of which ordering from the States most always involves. Best Greets, and Success to Your Company,Paul
Good luck in your business. I'm a meerschaum master from Turkey. Producing wide range of high quality pipes different from what you are used to. Contact me if interested in samples and more info.
[email protected]
How awesome to work at a SP in Dublin?! Thatd be a dream come true. All the luck to you guys. Love SP's!