Is there Two version of Las Vegas Chip Assembly ?

On Hocus Pocus ad.
The Las Vegas Chip Assembly is a Hocus Pocus Exclusive, which means you'll only find it here, and nowhere else! Please note that this is a non-discounted item and is not subject to any said sales, discounts, etc.

But Hank Lee also have it on sale . Is it has two different version ?

Anyone know about it ?

There have been numerous issues regarding Hocus-Pocus's "exclusivity" on items.

I'm guessing their response is going to be similer to "We'll have it in stock 2 days before Hank Lee, so we are the exclusive pre-release dealers", or "Someone bought some, but something happened and Hank Lee has 20 units for sale, but its still exclusive to us".

Buyer Beware.

Greetings,

Daegs, you're WRONG, way wrong! Before posting comments about ANYTHING, you should probably do your homework!

When we say we have an "exclusive", it means that. We do not put that in our add copy just to look good. It's obtained via contract between us and the manufacturer. Hank contacted the manufacturer AFTER we put these products on the website, and obviously put the images on his website WITHOUT permission!

If you have doubt, here is a reply to an email that I just got from Mr Tabby Crab:

hi hank,

Hocus Pocus has given me a lrge chip order to gain an exclusive on the
chips, the light bulbs and a couple of other things. Before we go any
further with this I'll have to decline your kind offer of selling my stuff
at this time.

thanks again,

-=tabman

If you wish to place your order with Hank, be my guest. However, you'll be waiting a longtime for the product to arrive.

Dages,

You are right.

Because of "Exclusivity" Hocus Pocus Calassified this is a non-discounted item and is not subject to any said sales, discounts.

Hank Lee now having a 25% discount sale event and will give 25% off on this item. My order will go with Hank.

Greetings,

One more time, Hank will NOT have the product! Please re-read my post above.

Jason,

Thanks for make us clear about this. Is the Chips ready in stock to ship now ?

How about the Mathieu Bich DVD ? I already waited for a week .

Thanks

Hi Yuji,

Nice to hear from you! We should be getting a shipment in about 1 week. Tabby makes all these himself, so he's working as fast as he can. If I hear sooner or later I'll post here.

As for the Bich DVD, please read my post here http://themagiccafe.com/forums/viewtopic......1&11

Thanks!

While you are ordering the Las Vegas Chip Assembly from Hank Lee, you might want to order a set of Gazzo Street Cups from him as well. He didn't have those in stock when I ordered them from him back in October of last year. His "elf" said that they had them in stock when I asked him to check on them. They didn't. They have them drop shipped from Chef Anton. Chef Anton doesn't stock them any more, either. After much haggling and speaking to the head elf, himself, Mr. Lee (Vee), I finally got a credit for my order.

But I know from direct communication with tabby that Hank Lee DOES NOT HAVE THESE IN STOCK.

BTW, I normally give a much higher discount than that on things I don't have in stock.

Hank Lee here.
Just so it is clear, we did email Tabby Crabb about the items he is making. It had nothing to do with them being on the HP site.
Tabby offered to sell them to us, and we accepted his offer. Apparently he has now changed his mind. So be it.
We will have Tabby's items once he has filled the HP order and can send some along to us.

Sure, Hank, I believe you! NOT!

Theres two sides to every story. In this case, there's yours and the truth. Rest assured, you won't be getting my money.

Have a nice day!

Greetings,

Hank, your story is not quite true. You emailed Tabby and TOLD him you were putting the images on your website. Tabby knew nothing about it, and did NOT give you permission to do so. I know because I spoke with Tabby on the phone. It wasn't until I informed Tabby that you had put the images on your website that he knew about it. Yes, Hank, I watch yours just like you watch ours.

If need be, I'll post my email conversations that I had with Tabby. I'm sure that would clear things up quite quickly.

http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......orum=109



I'm not saying that Hocus-Pocus isn't a great shop, in fact I've always gotten great service and fast shipping, however I also feel that this issue of exclusivity has come up multiple times, and seems to be a re-occuring issue.

What that quote basically says is that "It is exclusive to hocus-pocus but we agreed to allow Hank Lee to sell 6 of them".(which is no longer exclusive)

This may not be the case(obviosuly) with the Vegas Chip Assembly, but it has happened in the past and I feel that my post was valid at the time.

There have also been issues where even though hocus-pocus claims exclusivity, that is only for the US release, and you can still order the product from other online stores and have it shipped to the US in no time, so again, not exclusive.

I think that Hocus-Pocus acts in good faith with these matters, but it seems, one way or another, that spome of their exclusive products end up non-exclusive...

Greetings,

Again, we've never had any problems with exclusivity. When we get an exclusive, it's in the United States only! This means no other DEALER in the UNITED STATES can sell the product until the contract between supplier and the vendor of the product expires. HOWEVER, if a supplier in Europe is selling it, you can buy it from them too. To my knowledge, we've never had a worldwide exclusive.

As for the DWS goes, that topic is old, very old. That fact that you went back and brought up old news is obtuse. However, Daegs, you seem to keep track of what products we have exclusives on. In which case, would you like a job?

Hi again!

I am sorry to further go on a tangent, but I'd like to clear a few things up:

I like hocus-pocus as a magic shop and their service. I simply think that, from what I have seen(other corraborate this), that they have had issues with "exclusive" items showing up at other dealers.

I also want to say that I don't keep track of anything, nor do I harbor any ill-will towards hocus-pocus, I simply wanted to post a possible explanation about why an "exclusive" item was being sold at Hank Lee. In this case, it seems to be hank's fault, but that isn't to say it hasn't happened in the past.

Sorry for the DWS, but I did a search for "hocus pocus exclusive" and that was one of the things that came up, and is a direct instance of when an exclusive item was being sold also by Hank Lee.

Here are some items marked as exclusive to hocus-pocus, and are also being sold at other dealers around the United States:

Spooked, by Nicholas Einhorn
A.E. by Peter Eggink
Explicit Content by Sean Fields

I don't have a list anywhere with details, but this is a quick list from memory of popular effects that seem to go against your "exclusive" contracts. If you didn't know about them, perhaps now would be a good time to talk to the dealers selling said items and get them to take them down. If for some reason, you can't get them to stop, then I think that having "exclusive" on the item would be confusing for your customers.

Also, please relize I am not trying to debate the ethics involved, the right/wrong of the situation or anything like that, but simply notify people that in the past, correct or incorrect, there have been issues regarding hocus-pocus's exclusivity, and I felt that it was appropriate to give a responce when the questioned asked whether or not it truly was exclusive.

I still think you should buy those items from Hocus-Pocus, exclusive or not, because I think it is a pretty good magic shop in its own right.

Thanks

-Daegs
PS I am actually really busy performing and also I don't live near Fresno California, so I would have to turn down the job, but if I ever move out there and am in need of work, I'll remember the offer. Thanks for understanding, Jason.

Jason,
I'll take the job (I'd never pass up the chance to work at a magic shop)!

I know that when Jason talks to a manufacturer or creator he always tries to get an exclusive. I would too.

Once an exclusive is granted, there are other shops who will try their best to go around that, and do whatever they can to carry the same product - ethical or not.

Years ago, I had a marketed effect, and dealt exclusively through Murphy's. Another dealer approached me (the name is not important), and asked if I would sell directly to them. I saw that they had put it on their site as an exclusive - even before they contacted me. Despite the facts the claim remained on the site.

Bottom line, you can't always believe what you read (unless it's in the Enquirer - the only print the truth). It's comes down to 3 options (in my opinion):

1)Possibly buying before everyone else

2)Possibly saving a few bucks

3)Buying from a dealer you know and trust - regardless of option 1 or 2.

I guess this thread has gotton off track, so allow me to redirect:

Jason,

I know others will ask, so I will ask here. In YOUR opinio, how does this play? Have you used it? Is it close up, or will it play for stage? Complicated slights?

Greetings,

Cylinder and Coins is a close up effect. What Tabby has done is taken a stack of coins that is normally used in the routine, and changed it into poker chips. Also, instead of using a leather cylinder to place the coins in, he has taken a phony 1000.00 dollar bill and uses that as a cylinder. He also uses dice instead of cork. Same effect different props.

Are there complicated sleights? Yes. It took me well over a year to learn the routine. I have not used Tabby's props yet, but I love the concept. I would suggest trying to find the original routine from John Ramsay. However, numerous other magicians have some great work on this classic effect. R.Paul Wilson, John Carney, Tim Conover, and Bob Kohler to name a few. I've seen all of the above perform this effect and it looks like real magic. I don't think you'll find Kohler or Conover's version in print, but Carney has a DVD out on this effect. R.Paul Wilson has a routine with the new set Joe Porper and he have released that's a killer.

As far as the Matrix goes, I have not seen the routine, so I cannot give a review. But, we should have the props by the middle of next week.

I was being sarcastic about the job comment. No hard feelings, Daegs. We do appreciate all the nice comments you said about us.

Regards,

I don't care either way about the poker-chip exclusitivity thingy, but seeing as this thread has taken a turn, I'll toss in my 2 folding cents on HP.

They are, simply, the pinnacle of quality. They do NOTHING halfway. With all their products, you get both form and function. By 'Form' I mean that many of their items are so well-crafted and nice-looking, you could use them as decor in your living room. By "Function' I mean that these effects take a lickin' & keep on trickin'. It's almost scary how these gimmicks are built to last and NEVER jam-up or go wrong on you. If you want a perfect example, compare 'Justincase' to 'RinkeyDinkey'. The Rinkeydinkey would be like a cheap .38 caliber snub-nose revolver---sure, it'll kill it's target, but the accuracy is lousy, it's unsafe, jams occasionaly, and only holds 5 rounds. The Justincase is like a Glock-9mm with a 16-round clip, a silencer & a laser-sight.

Of course, the DOWNSIDE to all this is that these advantages are all reflected in the PRICES of HP's effects, but what's to do? You get what you pay for.

(But just for the record....I STILL say that $4500 D'Lite routine is ludicrous)

Um.... Mighty Fool... I don't know how to break this too you.


HP doesn't really have many "Hocus-Pocus" tricks. I don't even know if they have *any*. I know they exclusivly sell products from some creators and don't list their names, but HP is a dealer, and not a creator/manufacturer of magic.

All of the "well-crafted", "Nice-Looking" items can be found at other places, because they are not hocus-pocus's...

Hocus-Pocus actually does carry RinkeyDinkey, and JustInCase is a Pete Biro / Joe Porper creation, and AFAIK Hocus-pocus has nothing to do with it.



Again.... those aren't HP effects, but mearly effects that HP is carrying. The prices are the same at other dealers.

A decent analogy I think would be praising a grocery store on the quality of their toll house cookies or prairy farms milk.... They are simply the store that you buy it from, not the originators.

Greetings from the tabman-

I'm afraid I created the confusion with Hank and Hocus-Pocus and Im sorry about that. I have given Hocus-Pocus exclusive rights to the tabman stuff they want to represent. As a maker I have supplied many dealers over the years. Dealers like Tannen's. Steven's, Hollywood Magic, Al's, Hank Lee, Daytona Magic and many others. I have had good relationships with them all. My problem is that I can't say no to my friends thus the mix up with Hank whom I've known for many years. This is not Hank's fault nor Hocus-Pocus. I caused the confusion, its all on my shoulders. Now in this new millenium the guys at Hocus Pocus come highly recommended to me and I am comfortable with this new relationship.

My chip sets are made with clay casino chips. Not all casino chips have steel shims in them. I have drilled holes in all kinds of chips and the composite chips seem to be the ones with the shims. I don't think this has anything to do with casino security but to add weight to the lighter weight composite chips.

You can visit my website at http://tabmantables.com to see a little of what I've been doing in magic since the 1970s. Thanks everyone for your interest in my chip sets and in magic in general. You can normally find me on the Genii Magazine forum if you're looking for me.

-=tabman