Chicago Pipe Show Report

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Winslow

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O.K. boys,I just got home from the pipe show and I'll share my impressions.
My back is killing me!I didn't sit down for hours what with walking about the
show floor and visiting most of the exhibitors.
Well,you couldn't smoke in the exhibition hall because of the anti-smoking law.
There was a big tent adjacent to the hall where you could smoke,it didn't bother me
personally that much,but some were pissed.
It seemed to me that there were about 10% less exhibitors than previous years-
only an impression of mine.Many pipes look much smaller when you see them in
person,the photos on the internet do deceive me in that way.
I didn't buy a pipe this year,now that my collection has about 40 good pieces I
am more particular about what I want to pay and for what.Many of the European pipes seem small and overpriced to me.Even with discounts of 20-25% the Italian
pipes that interested me were still too high.
I bought about 200$ worth of fine tobacco and got many,many samples that were
free.Got some of Pease's Key Largo,the next to be released from him.Samuel Gawith had a limited special edition of Squadron Leader [500 tins],I got several
because this has perique and a special colored and numbered tin.Samples from C&D
too numerous to mention,including their new blends.
A German company has come out with the damndest thing,individual plugs of tobacco wrapped like chocolates.You open the wrapper and there is a plug of tobacco within a clear plastic open ended sleeve,you just put it over the bowl and press it in!Fills up a group 4 right to the brim.

Winslow
 
Thanks for the report Winslow!

I admire you for your PAD willpower!
 
Funny thing I noticed;I was walking the floor for 3 hours and I didn't see
anyone buy a pipe.Now I'm sure that many were sold?But I didn't see any
transactions.
Another odd thought of mine--Samuel Gawith puts up 500 special tins of
Squadron Leader with perique at 12$ per tin.They say this blend will never be
offered again.Could it be to finance their boys trip over here and that there's nothing special about the blend?I shall crack open a tin this week and investigate.

Winslow
 
I would sure like to hear more about this special blend you talked about.. Let us know more after you smoke it. Much appreciated, Thanks :sunny:
 
Well,I don't know if anyones interested but if you send me an e-mail I've got
2 50gr. tins available for 12$ each plus postage to your address.The tin is green and
red,sort of like the old Lucky Strike package from WW2.It's marked with a serial #
and a limited edition label.Still has the old WW1 biplane on it.

Winslow
 
I sure would if I could. I am flat broke now and really don't have it. If its still around next month I will get a tim for sure. :(
 
Move the show to Traverse City Michigan. Specific Venue The Grand Traverse Resort and Spa. Owned by the chippewa Indians smoking regulations are not an issue. Plenty of ballroom space. Cheaper rooms, World Class golf Courses designed by Jack Nickalus and Gary Player, As well as world class food and a large casino.
 
There was talk that Myrtle Beach South Carolina was under consideration.Hmmm-
isn't SmokingPipes in that area?
You need many people that are deeply committed to make something like that work though.You tend to find that level mostly in a spiritual or religious program.

Winslow
 
Funny story about those new tobacco plugs. They are packaged like candy......looked like mints or chocolates. I walked by the table, picked one up, not paying attention to what it was. I was looking at a pipe while opening up the wrapper of this pice of "candy", popped it in my mouth and gagged!
My friend that was with me also thought it was candy was just about to do the same thing, and was very glad he saw my reaction when I started to eat me "candy?!
 
Winslow":cngznp6o said:
There was talk that Myrtle Beach South Carolina was under consideration.Hmmm-
isn't SmokingPipes in that area?
You need many people that are deeply committed to make something like that work though.You tend to find that level mostly in a spiritual or religious program.

Winslow
Myrtle Beach would be awesome! About a 3 hour drive for me.
 
Bruce":2brlyxmf said:
Funny story about those new tobacco plugs. They are packaged like candy......looked like mints or chocolates. I walked by the table, picked one up, not paying attention to what it was. I was looking at a pipe while opening up the wrapper of this pice of "candy", popped it in my mouth and gagged!
My friend that was with me also thought it was candy was just about to do the same thing, and was very glad he saw my reaction when I started to eat me "candy?!
I find that plug pipe tobacco and ropes make a very tasty chewing tobacco. At least some of them do. I can't speak for all of them.
 
First thing I noticed when I came in on Friday was that the bathroom in the Mega-Center was overly deodorized with some sort of heavy perfume-chemical smell mixture, and it became apparent why they didn't want any smoking near there - if anyone had lit a match next to that bathroom, it would have been a HAZMAT explosion that would have leveled the entire Chicago area and produced a crater twenty miles deep. Those bathrooms were sprayed so thoroughly with flowery Lysol, and those spray machines were under every stall with their deodorizing chemical, and then there was a guy who walked through AS I WAS INSIDE spraying some sort of Glade Fresh Scent. The combination of these thirty-to-forty different bathroom deodorizers was so intense, it made my eyes water just to go in that place. (Not to mention the apparent overuse of the mens bathroom at a pipe convention, which you can imagine was excessive given the hamburger lunches and stressed bowel systems caused by the smoking restrictions.) So the men's bathroom was a strictly venture-at-your-own-risk proposition.

Then, you have the "smoking tent". I use that term loosely because although I think they could have done a much better job, it was a last-minute thing apparently so I am not going to critique it too much. But it seems to me that there really wasn't much of a freakin' difference between SMOKING IN AN ENCLOSED TENT WITH TABLES AND CHAIRS and SMOKING IN AN ENCLOSED ROOM WITH TABLES AND CHAIRS. So moving over to the tent to smoke was about as pointless in the grand scheme of things as moving from one side of the tub to the other so you don't get wet. I would also like to point out that the food from the tent was not too bad, I did feel as though the hamburger wasn't as bad as it could be. And the inclusion of the sofas and plush chairs was a nice touch, except that there weren't enough of them, but again it was last-minute.

On to the show. I don't know what to say about my expectations, but there seems to be a shift in shows these days from the "swap" style of old to what I call "pipe art exhibits". My favorite pipe on display, and I saw many of them, was called "Not for Sale". There were so many that you could "ooh" and "aah" at, but when it came time for me to pimp my estate pipes I wanted to trade for, I felt like I was selling steaks at a vegetarian convention. No one wanted to look at me after a while and I began to feel like I was crashing an exclusive meeting of the Obscure Scandanavian Pipe Carver Appreciation Society. It dawned on me that the pipe world is fast becoming (has become) a little too trendy for my tastes. Many carvers have far exceeded the realm of affordability, which is okay I guess, I would feel the same way if I had attended a Rolls Royce club, but I really don't remember pipe shows being like this.

So I have a solution. Next year, I am going to buy about 10 cheap pipes on Ebay, and buff the nomenclature right off of them and apply a name like "Jurgen Kierkegaard" or "Antonio Di Genovese". Then, I am going to polish them up nice and neat. Then I will place them inside bulletproof glass cases, and arrive at the show in a black limousine with dark sunglasses, a pinstripe suit, and have each pipe hand-carried to my table by armored guard. While the crowd around me parts like the Red Sea, I will acknowledge my adoring fans with a wave that will resemble Don Fanucci in "The Godfather" scene when he walks through the festival. Then, as my armored guards assemble them on my display table and affix price tags of $10,000 and up, I can conduct interviews from Switzerland on my laptop while my press agent fields orders for my exclusive 2009 line of pipes specially-crafted from exotic Bubinga wood found in the wilds of Uganda and Sierra Leone. Anyone caring to join me for a glass of champagne can meet me in the smoking tent.
 
Good rant!LOL!,yes there used to be more swappers tables as I recall.Some
of the tables were like museum displays,especially that guy from Russia? with
those pipes made out of steer horns.They looked like those old time Jewish bugles.
Sometimes I would pick up a pipe,ask how much?,then drop it like a hot potato
when the guy said 1200$.

Winslow
 
10-96 said:
So I have a solution. Next year, I am going to buy about 10 cheap pipes on Ebay, and buff the nomenclature right off of them and apply a name like "Jurgen Kierkegaard" or "Antonio Di Genovese". Then, I am going to polish them up nice and neat. Then I will place them inside bulletproof glass cases, and arrive at the show in a black limousine with dark sunglasses, a pinstripe suit, and have each pipe hand-carried to my table by armored guard. While the crowd around me parts like the Red Sea, I will acknowledge my adoring fans with a wave that will resemble Don Fanucci in "The Godfather" scene when he walks through the festival. Then, as my armored guards assemble them on my display table and affix price tags of $10,000 and up, I can conduct interviews from Switzerland on my laptop while my press agent fields orders for my exclusive 2009 line of pipes specially-crafted from exotic Bubinga wood found in the wilds of Uganda and Sierra Leone. Anyone caring to join me for a glass of champagne can meet me in the smoking tent.

You have me rolling on the floor, and hit the nail right on the head. Next year take a moment to visit my table and we'll do some trades. LOL You don't even have to wear your dark sunglasses :lol!: :lol!: :lol!:
Doc
 
Come on out to the TAPS Show next year and the upcoming Richmond Show. We're still old fashioned out here!

I am probably going to have a table at the Richmond Show in October.
 
10-96 I would expect nothing less from you! Once again you hit the nail on the head!!!! Next time though, tell us how you really feel....LOL

If his post does not make the Hall of Fame I will personally hack into this site and shut it down!!!!
 
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