Yes, I was wondering about the date and he said it is not his guess, but a date provided by the suppliers. I was also hoping for an elegant story of how his grandfather was a wealthy silver tycoon in SF and passed down this enormous collection that has been perfectly stored for decades and only handled by virgins.... but that really isn't it.
Bruce has been selling these sticks for a long time. These days, he says he gets his supply from a "group of collectors", which is all I know. I asked if he ever checks out the auctions, but he stuck to his 'collectors' source. He said that many of the collectors got some of their stock from Dunhill in London pre embargo. When he had his old shop, I believe the sticks were from his own collection which he could probably offer some provenance for. While there earlier in December, I got a bit more in depth info about some other sticks in the pre embargo case which would be better discussed in PM.
Hahaha, well only a couple of the pre embargo sticks are in bags. I guess I misspoke when I said "Most of the ones I've seen" were in plastic bags, because only a couple varieties are in bags. Most of the other stuff he stores in his boxes or older boxes, but when I asked him if he ever bought some sticks in their OG boxes, he said he did not because the price would be doubled or tripled. (3500 box would then be 11000).
Edit: for formatting of quotes
