Congrats to Steve, Marty and Rick for putting on such a great show. It was my first show and met a lot of great people. Unfortunately I didn't know the brothers were meeting up and didn't get a chance to say "hi" to anyone.
What impressed me the most about the show was seeing, face to face, how warm everyone in our little community is. I see it on this forum a lot, but it was even better experiencing it in person.
It was great to finally chat with the inimitable Marty Pulvers. I've bought several pipes from him and traded emails in the past, but it was so great to chat in person.
I chatted with Gary Schrier about his second edition of Confessions of a Pipeman and found out that he included a story I shared with him in an email in the book!!! Way cool!!!
Of course I fell prey to PAD, but I did stay within my budget... mostly 8)
I chatted with Jeff Gracik and Tonni Nielsen for a while. I picked up a beautiful blasted tomato that I had commissioned from Jeff. I also bought a blasted bent brandy from Tonni. Those two pipes were basically my budget, but man were they worth it. I went over the budget a bit and bought a long shanked egg from newcomer Steve Liskey. If you haven't seen his work, you should really check him out.
It was great to meet the legendary tobacco blender Russ Oulette and tell him how much I enjoy his Anniversary Kake mixture. He told me how a happy accident and some experimentation gave birth to this wonderful tobacco.
As mentioned before, I only went over my budget slightly.... buuuut... I did commission pipes from the amazing Bruce Weaver and Adam Davidson. Again, both of these guys are just great people as well as outstanding artists.
I encourage anyone who leaves near Vegas to attend the show next year. It's the only one we have out here to my knowledge and it's great to meet so many great pipemen!
