Indianapolis B&M's

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Fight'n Hampsters

Fight'n Hampsters

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I am going to Indy in a couple of weeks and want to make the most of my time there.

I'm mainly looking for tinned tobac or bulk stuff I can get online if I need to. In other words I am not interested in house blends that I would only be able to get from a particular store.

I have been to Hardwicke's on the circle but not to thier other location. Does anyone know if the other one has a better pipe tobacco selection?

Anyone been to/ hear about the pipe puffer? ( http://pipepuffer.com/default.aspx )

Are there any other shops that have pipe tobaccon worth stopping at?
 
Take a trip south to Bloomington and visit the Briar & Burley. I use to visit Hardwicke's and the Pipe Puffer, both. Haven't been to either in years.
 
thedeep":ak0hro9o said:
Take a trip south to Bloomington and visit the Briar & Burley. I use to visit Hardwicke's and the Pipe Puffer, both. Haven't been to either in years.
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Exactly what I was going to say. Great little shop with a very good tobacco selection.
 
Good suggestion. The only problem is I will not have the time to drive two hours round trip (Indy to Bloomington and back).

Of the ones in Indy proper, which are best?
 
I have patronized both Hardwickes in Broad Ripple and Pipe Puffers in Greenwood. Both have a fair tobacco selection, but seem to put more emphasis on their cigar selection.

Of the two, I favor Pipe Puffers as they tend to stock more tobaccos that interest me, but Hardwickes seems to stock more of your old line European blends, while Pipe Puffers has a fairly extensive McClelland stock. Neither carry much in the way of Pease or C&D.

Hardwickes has the greater selection of pipes, with an entire wall of "house" pipes.

Good luck and hope you enjoy the trip. If you manage to get here before June 1, you will still be able to find a few pubs that allow smoking!
 
Check out Hardwick's in Broad Ripple. I'm not sure about the one off the circle in terms of pipe tobacco selection, but the Broad Ripple store is great - they even have free samples of their blends! :)
 
The Hardwicke's in Broadripple is a lot better then the one downtown. I make trip there about once a month. Take a look at their estate pipes too there are a couple hidden gems there. Also there is Carmack's in Noblesville, it's more of a cigar store he restocks his only pipe stuff about once a year so all his tins are aged.
 
As others have said, Hardwicke's in Broad Ripple is definitely superior to the downtown location. I was there the other day and they had a fair stock of Samuel Gawith stuff in tins (including FVF) and I bought some Squadron Leader. They have a fair selection of GLP and some C&D and McClelland, and lots of European stuff like MacBaren, Peterson, Dunhill, etc. They do have some stuff kicking around in tins that is definitely old if you like searching for aged tins.

The bad thing is that the tins are almost double what you'd expect to pay at the major etailers. Lots of nice pipes too, but again a bit pricey.

The Pipe Puffer is decent too on the south side. I've been able to score some nice aged tins and stuff like Balkan Sobranie (new production) and Penzance there, but the last time I was in they didn't have any of that. (Though they did have a tin of Brown Clunee that I suspect is 10+ years old.) Their tin prices are much better than Hardwicke's but still a few dollars over online prices in general.

Unfortunately, for pipe stuff it doesn't go much further than that in Indy. If you ever do have more time, heading down to Bloomington for the Briar & the Burley is a worthwhile venture (and Bloomington is a cool college town anyway).
 
[quot (and Bloomington is a cool college town anyway).[/quote]

Unless you want to smoke!
 
Yeah, it went well. I was delighted by the variety of tins at Pipe Puffer (Dunhill, Rattray, Esoterica, Orlik slices). The prices were good for a B&M so I picked up 100g of Old Gowrie and 50g of Orlik Slices since I've never tried either. Despite the name it really is a cigar shop that has some pipe toby. I'm not complaining just observing.

I went by Hardwickes on the circle but honestly thier prices were a bit pricey even for a B&M. I think it has to do with the prime location. Nice people though.

I called Hardwickes up north on Broad Ripple and asked what brands of tins they had but the funny thing was they wouldn't tell me! He seemed a little put out. He asked what I was looking for and I rattled off some brand names. He latched onto the last one I said and replyed "Yeah we have that one and some others."

It really put me off that he would not or could not simply tell me what brands they had so I did not take the time to go in thier shop.

All in all it was a great weekend and I liked the shops.
 
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