I just realized that there were several responses, and I didn't realize. Sorry for the delayed response!
But yeah, Brian is a friend of mine. We met through church and our local cigar shop. A few of us get together weekly and have a smoke. In fact, we were smoking at his place yesterday...
The name is Alan, and I've been smoking a pipe for about 10 years. Recently decided to spend a little more money and bought a slightly nicer pipe than the cheap ones in the basket at Tinderbox.
But this week, I bought a pipe (the Gray Ghost) from Growley Pipes, and he highly recommends...