Secret Santa 2017 - BOB's Tenth (Wow!)

Brothers of Briar

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To begin, I must say that I am completely blown away by the generosity and creativity of my Secret Santa. I am semi-retired and did work today. I was having a sub-par day and my lovely wife messaged me to tell me that a package had arrived for me when she was home for her lunch break.

You'll have to forgive me but, my hands are still shaking from carefully unwrapping everything that was contained inside the package. My wife has always been supportive of my hobbies and when I shared with her, the idea of complete strangers sending gifts to one another, I know she was a little skeptical. I was never skeptical in the least but I will tell you this; in all my life I have never received such a wonderful bounty of tobacco, home made and crafted treats, gifts and last but not least, a hand crafted custom pipe.

Before the list comes the pictures of what awaited me ....




And now, before the final pictures, the inventory:

250g box of Samuel Gawith St. James Flake
1.76 oz of Dunhill's London Mixture
1.75 oz of Orlik Golden Sliced
1.75 oz of McClelland Tudor Castle vintage 2012
1.75 oz of McClelland Dark Star vintage 2005

Treats:

A box of Grubbs Premium Popping Corn from Santa's in-law's personal farm
One tub of delicious peanut brittle
A tin of homemade fudge
A bottle of home brewed Double IPA
A bottle of home brewed Scotch Ale
A really nice cigar ornament for the Christmas Tree




And the crowning Jewel: A handmade pipe that should be placed in a museum as a work of art along with a beautiful pipe bag that matches perfectly.








Also, and really most precious to me there was enclosed a personal handwritten note from my Santa to me. I will keep that a secret between us. But, that note will accompany the pipe that Santa hand crafted and sent to me. That pipe will never leave my possession and for now, I am having a tough time thinking about how and when I will light it and smoke it for the first time. I am thinking that Christmas Day would be the appropriate time for that.

My life has been very blessed both spiritually and materially. I never dreamed that I would receive such nice things. I remain humbled, grateful and to be honest, my hands are still shaking.

Santa, you know who you are (others probably do too), thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Merry Christmas!
 
Way to go Santa! And such fine briar work! Good thing they don't make those Priority Mail boxes any bigger than what they are. Or them postal employees would never be able to lift them.

Ho Ho Ho! :santa:
 
Well done Santa! Very well done!

A great year turnout. Good job every one!

:cheers:
 
Hot dang, Santas, that's one heck of a run! And that pipe is really something special, Scottie, that combo of plateau with your pencil shank is just gorgeous. I miss homebrewing myself--current apartment is just too small--but can't wait to get back into it as life allows.

Checking in at the old BoB always brings me cheer, especially this time of year. And Happy Hanukkah, if you celebrate!
 
GrampaGrossbart":68bpcdhs said:
Hot dang, Santas, that's one heck of a run! And that pipe is really something special, Scottie, that combo of plateau with your pencil shank is just gorgeous. I miss homebrewing myself--current apartment is just too small--but can't wait to get back into it as life allows.

Checking in at the old BoB always brings me cheer, especially this time of year. And Happy Hanukkah, if you celebrate!
And yes indeed! Happy Hanukkah! to our Jewish Brothers and Sisters! :)
 
Just have to say, I joined this forum a couple years ago, then fell off the radar for a bit and returned a couple months back. This is my first time taking part in the Secret Santa (at the suggestion of my buddy GrampaGrossbart) and I have to say, what a generous, wonderful community. I'm humbled to be a part of it.
 
GrampaGrossbart":i9zanpql said:
Hot dang, Santas, that's one heck of a run! And that pipe is really something special, Scottie, that combo of plateau with your pencil shank is just gorgeous. I miss homebrewing myself--current apartment is just too small--but can't wait to get back into it as life allows.

Checking in at the old BoB always brings me cheer, especially this time of year. And Happy Hanukkah, if you celebrate!
Thanks! I don't use plateaux on my pipes often but really felt that the tomato would benefit from it. Smoking pipes has a smooth tomato that I think will go up this week that has some plateaux on it too.

I hadn't brewed any beer in about 4 years and then did two batches this summer so I would have beer for a party I had for my pipemaker buddies the day before the KC show this year. I plan on remaking the Scotch Ale this winter and tweaking the recipe just a bit. It's good, but it could be better ;)
 
WandererOfWeirdPaths":c3ifvkn1 said:
Just have to say, I joined this forum a couple years ago, then fell off the radar for a bit and returned a couple months back. This is my first time taking part in the Secret Santa (at the suggestion of my buddy GrampaGrossbart) and I have to say, what a generous, wonderful community. I'm humbled to be a part of it.
Amen Justin! Amen to that. Not being a pipe smoker herself, my Wife was completely overwhelmed by the entire idea of otherwise strangers exchanging gifts. But, as she munched on some of Scottie's home made peanut brittle, she started coming up with ideas for me to put into a Santa Parcel for next year already!

 
Santa just swung by my place and dropped off a box.

Here's the pics...

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And here is the list...

5 Cigars
Dewar's metal cigar box containing a cigar cutter
Stainless pipe stand
A pack of Zen bristle pipe cleaners

1.1oz Dunhill Virginia Flake
1.2oz Drew Estate Grand Central
1.4oz Sutliff Taste of Summer
1.3oz 4th Generation 1855
1.5oz Borkum Riff Bourbon

A really cool handcrafted deer hide tobacco pouch
And a great little paneled Brulor Grand Sport pipe from France apparently pre WWII; which I intend to light up just now.

Thank you, Santa! It's been a fun year. Looking forward to Christmas 2018; may all of us be here for it.  :santa:
 
Waiting to hear from one participant. I sent a PM. So, yes. We are real close to completion. The big day is going to be here before we know it.

Ho Ho Ho! :santa:
 
Hey all! Sorry for the late posting. A combination of work, school, and life has been sucking up all of my free time lately. Good news is I just completed my last final for the semester tonight, so I’m free! For a couple of weeks at least :(

This didn’t deter Santa from striking in full force here as well!

SS2017.jpg


Tobaccos:
Pouch of Peterson Irish Dew
Pouch of Peterson Wild Atlantic
Tin of McClelland Arcadia
Tin of McClelland Dark Star
Tin of C&D Speakeasy
Tin of Gurkha Rare Breed
Tin of Gurkha Urban Legend
Tin of Gurkha Retribution

Goodies:
2 wonderful Missouri Meerschaum cobs! Love these shapes and sizes
Awesome Michigan coffee mug
2 Ludington, MI postcards 1 with the Ludington Lighthouse and the other with the S.S. Badger
Vinyl pipe sticker
Ozark Trail Multi-tool
Pack of long pipe cleaners
Pack of long bristled pipe cleaners
Pipe nail tamper
P&C 2018 Calendar

Thank you again Santa! Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to all!
 
WooHoo! Way to go Santa! More tobacs I never heard of. And a nice, handy, multi-tool. Along with other goodies.


With that post, my spreadsheet says we have completed a Secret Santa in record time. If someone did not get their package from a Secret Santa, let me know. I could have messed up my record keeping. Or if more are on the way. Or if what fell from the sky was actually a bombing and the Secret Santa package hasn't actually arrived yet, let me know.

All y'alls generosity make this a most entertaining event. It's keeps our history alive as well. I honestly do not know how long it was going on prior to BoB's creation. I came upon it at the Knoxville Cigar Forum. Which was more about pipes and pipe smoking than cigars. But there were also Yahoo groups and newsgroups all active, and people migrating around as the technology shifted.

So, Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas! Have a Happy New Year! Happy Hanukka! Bah Humbug! Or whatever your flavor of seasonal greeting is.

Ho Ho Ho! :santa: :rendeer: :rendeer: :rendeer: :rendeer: :rendeer: :rendeer: :rendeer: :rendeer: :rendeer: :rendeer: :rendeer: :rendeer: :rendeer: :alien:
 
Thank you, Carlos for orchestrating this. Hope you have a very Merry Christmas!
 
Once again, thanks Carlos, for all the organization :rendeer: and good work to all my fellow Santas! :santa:
 
I concur with the others here. Thank you Carlos for putting this together and keeping track of things. And thank you to this small but, generous group of otherwise "strangers".

What I have witnessed in the short time that I have been here restores my faith in humanity.

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah! ???✝️
 
Thanks for putting this together Carlos, and well done Santas all.

Merry Christmas. :santa:
 
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