tragic workshop fire --> insurance money shopping spree

[Benton]

Hey everyone,

I have not been on the board recently because we had a fire in January that wiped out my workshop, including my pipes and tobacco. I spend the spring and summer cleaning up and overseeing the reconstruction and now it's time to spend the insurance money. :cheers:

Next Monday I'm going on a shopping spree to spend the insurance money -- $50 for tobacco and $525 for pipes. The tobacco money doesn't go very far, but I'm not a heavy smoker, so that's no big deal. Picking out $525 worth of pipes is a is going to be fun, though.

Maybe you all can help me think through the strategy . . .

. . . first I'm figuring out how many pipes I need. One (at least) for heavy latakia blends, two for burley/VA blends (my favorite kind), one cheapie for Carter Hall and one for Butternut Burley.

That's five, two nice pipes and two cheap ones. I'll probably want one more for exploring oriental-heavy blends. Last winter I was enjoying Squadron Leader and wondering if the pleasant "toasty" flavors were characteristic of the oriental tobaccos. If so, then I want to do a lot more exploration in that direction.

This fall I've found a cigar that I really like (Rocky Patel The Edge Maduro), so I might try some of the cigar leaf blends. Doesn't seem to justify another pipe just for that, though.

Straight VA flakes and VA/pers are not for me, so I don't need a dedicated pipe for that. Haddo's Delight, Exhausted Rooster, and Barbary Coast are as close as I can come to a VA/per without tongue bite. Seems like I need at least some burly in a blend to make it work for me.

Any suggestions on how to split up the pipe fund?

 

[Justpipes]

Sorry to hear about your workshop burning up. Hopefully no one was injured and you now have a new workshop.

 

[Benton]

Sorry to hear about your workshop burning up. Hopefully no one was injured and you now have a new workshop.

It was a spectacular fire, but no one was hurt. The shop is about 100 yards from my house.
When this picture was taken the first fire truck had already showed up, but they only had enough water to keep the propane tank cool so they hadn't started puting the fire out.

 

[puros_bran]

Wow.

 

[Benton]

Wow.

Yeah, that's what I said. Only I was brushing my teeth and looking out my bedroom window when I first saw it, so there was toothpaste on the window screen the next morning.

My pipes & tobacco were in a cabinet 2' to the left of the door. Maybe I could have saved them when I first ran out there, but there were already shotgun shells going off somewhere in the shop, so I just moved my truck out of the way and watched it burn until the fire company arrived.

All that's behind me now. I'm focused on next weeks trip to Mr. John's in Lynchburg, VA. It's supposed to be a very good shop.

 

[puros_bran]

If it were mine to do I would skip Mr Johns. B&M's are awesome but for maximum bang for the buck (which is what you need) an Etailer is the only way to go...

I'd go to www.smokingpipes.com or the like..buy 3-4 Stanwell or Pete estates and dump the rest into tobacco..

But that's just me.

 

[hillikus]

I'm not entirely sure where you are at in VA but if you're feeling like a drive you could always come up to J.M. Boswell's in Chambersburg, PA. Its right off highway 81 which goes straight through VA into PA. Great group of guys up there and in my limited experience they make some damn fine pipes at exceptional prices.

-H

 

[Benton]

...snip...
I'd go to www.smokingpipes.com or the like..buy 3-4 Stanwell or Pete estates and dump the rest into tobacco..

But that's just me.

I'd like to do that, but to get the maximum amount out of the insurance company, I have to spend the money on pipes rather than tobacco.

 

[Benton]

I'm not entirely sure where you are at in VA but if you're feeling like a drive you could always come up to J.M. Boswell's in Chambersburg, PA.
...snip...

I would certainly stop at Boswell's on my next trip through Chambersburg, but they are closed on Sundays. I always drive through on one Sunday and back the next.

Besides, the shop in Lynchburg is supposed to be a very good one.