Post #780204 by EnchantedTikiGoth on Sat, Sep 30, 2017 9:22 PM

For me, up here in the Great White North, it's not even the scalper prices that get me down. It's the shipping! In most cases, that alone doubles the price of a mug. Then there's the poor exchange rate right now, then the scalping...

Therefore I generally don't buy Tiki mugs online. I've also gotten more selective about what I do buy when one surfaces around here. I'm well past the "buy everything" stage and have been trying to curate my collection better. Mainly, I'm sticking to ones I really like aesthetically, or souvenirs of places I actually go to, and nothing at an exorbitant price I can't possibly justify. It does mean missing out on ones I'd totally buy if I had the chance (Three Dots and a Dash's sea urchin mug springs to mind) or that are priced too high for me to afford (I topped out at $100CAN for an Armada Geddon), but it won't make or break my quality of life.

I can't speak to the bar scene, since there isn't a Tiki bar scene around these parts. I'm just happy when my travels happen to take me near one. My wife and I are looking to go to Japan in the next year or two for her first trip and my second... The first time I went, Tiki wasn't really on the radar. Now you better believe I'm making plans for the Trader Vic's, just because it's there in Tokyo. Then my online scene is literally this place and the clandestine group of Canadian Tikiphiles on Facebook. I guess if there was a scene and the personalities that go with it you might have more of a political situation on your hands, but I found that even with the Goth scene it was only as political as you let it get.