One of the many seminars that were held during the 2009 Chicagoland Int’l Pipe & Tobacciana Show was the Dunhill Focus Group. It was moderated by Craig Cobine and included guest speakers Rich Esserman, John Loring and Mike Reschke - all well-versed and well-known individuals in the pipe collecting community.

Each of the three gentlemen spoke in their areas of expertise at length and in detail. In this article we bring you a partial transcription of Rich Esserman’s presentation.

Rich Esserman is well-known in the world of pipe collecting and pipe smoking. He is perhaps best known as a collector and lover of Dunhill Magnums. For the uninitiated, and in the stereotypical vernacular of the Jersey Boys that Mr. Esserman and the author are, "Dem are freakin’ huge pipes!"

In the world of wine, a magnum bottle holds about twice as much as a regular bottle. In the world of pipes it is even more than double.

Magnums are very large pipes that were produced to be used for store display purposes.

(Note: The following discussion makes reference to Parker Pipes. This was a line made from "Dunhill seconds" that is no longer produced. There was a presentation on Parker Pipes prior to Rich Esserman’s talk on Dunhill Magnums.)

Rich started out with an entertaining story about collecting in general. His words follow.

Bjarne Nielsen, the owner and the founder of Bjarne Pipes, passed away in February 2008. The company was founded in 1973 and became Denmark’s largest pipe manufacturer of 100% hand made pipes. Bjarne Nielsen’s pipes are recognized as a great value. His goal was to make high quality Danish pipes at a reasonable price. Bjarne pipes are hand made of the highest quality Grecian and Calabrian plateaux briar. Get one of his excellent pipes while you still can.

This is a Viking pipe, made by Bjarne. This pipe measures approximately 5 1/2″ Long x 2 1/4″ High with a bowl diameter of 1 1/8″ and a maximum bowl width of 1 5/8″.

See a Listing of Bjarne Pipes for Sale Here

On Friday, May 1 at The 2009 Chicagoland Int’l Pipe & Tobacciana Show, Rob Cooper gave a 45-minute presentation entitled, "The State of the Estate Pipe Market in These Economic Troubled Times".

The Program for Rob’s talk read as follows; "Rob will talk about the current state of the pipe market. As a seller of high grade pipes around the world, he will talk about the typical demographic of the average global pipe collector and the relative economic insulation that they have due to that demographic. He has found that certain brands have slipped in price while others have sustained. He will talk about that as well as what he sees coming in the years ahead for our hobby. He hopes that the results, which many of you will find surprising, are to the positive."

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For your viewing convenience, we have split the presentation into 9 clips of 5 minutes each. We would like to thank the Chicago Pipe Collector’s Club for the exclusive rights of publishing their videos from the show.

You can also read two articles covering "The State of the Estate Pipe Market in These Economic Troubled Times" right here on the site:

Pipe Collecting on eBay - Rob Cooper’s Chicago Pipe Show Talk
Pipe Collecting on eBay - Rob Cooper’s Q & A

Video 1

This Video Series Continues Here

This smells like cake. No, not roll-cake tobacco. Rather sweet delicious, moist cake that is made from flour, butter, sugar, eggs and milk. Yeah, it smells pretty damn good. The other good news is that this tobacco is not the burn-your-tongue off stuff you find in drug stores, although it is obviously an aromatic.

Worth noting is in my last review of an aromatic, Peterson Gold Blend, I did not enjoy the tobacco blend. The point is that I do not just automatically praise every aromatic, but I have run across people that have a blanket opposition to any aromatic pipe tobaccos.

By: John St. Mark

The Napa Valley has a big reputation, but if you’ve been there you know that it is not such a big place. In fact, of all the wine grapes cultivated in California, less than five percent are grown in the Napa Valley.

So, what’s the big deal with Napa Valley wine? How did the Valley become known as one of the world’s premier wine producing regions?

There is some conjecture that indigenous people in the area may have used the native vitis californicus grapes to make some form of wine, but winemaking in the European tradition began in California with the Spanish missionaries, who needed sacramental wine for religious services, and also valued wine for nutritional, social, medicinal and eventually commercial purposes. The northernmost mission was established in Sonoma, just over the hills from the Napa Valley, in 1823.

We add another photo shoot to our pipe smoking women with the return of Melanie, our first pipe smoking woman to appear on the site.

Pipe Smoking with Melanie - CLICK HERE FOR FULL GALLERY

Share your photos of your pipe collection right here on PipesMagazine.com. Upload your photos for free! Get a FREE account here.

Here are some of my pipes.

Bjarne Sandblast Red Made in Denmark

Sasieni 4 Dot Bulldog Made in France

Dunhill Rubybark (4110) (2007)

See all of my pictures here

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If you already have an account, just go to your own profile page on http://pipesmagazine.com/

1. Look at the top left of the screen in the grey bar for My Account
2. Mouse over it and select Album –> Upload Picture.

John Sterling Light Bent Apple Pipe. This pipe measures approximately 4 7/8″ Long x 1 5/8″ High with a bowl diameter of 1 1/8″ and a maximum bowl width of 1 3/8″.

Order this Pipe Now - Click Here!

Can’t tell Burley from Cavendish? Don’t know what is so special about Latakia or Perique .. or don’t even know how to say it? Or, maybe you do, but you have had the misfortune to walk into a cigar or pipe store to have the clerk behind the counter feed you some rubbish you know isn’t true. Hopefully those days will soon be over thanks to Tobacconist University.

Tobacconist University is a unique organization with the mission of educating both consumers and tobacconists. (Disclosure: The author and owner of this website has provided web development services to the Tobacconist University website.)

TU is committed to helping brick & mortar tobacconists succeed while helping bring credibility to the luxury tobacco industry.

More than 40 professional tobacconists from across the country have qualified to become Certified Retail Tobacconists by Tobacconist University, the official curriculum resource of the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association.

Those receiving their CRT accreditation include:

Delaware

Joseph McDonough and Gary A. Griffith of Cigarette City, Inc. in Newark, Delaware;

Georgia
Jim Luftman and Michael J. Cain of Blue Havana II in Alpharetta, Georgia and Allan Buelvas of Smoking Joe’s Cigar Company in Marietta, Georgia;

Illinois
Peter J. Worth of Kaw Kaw’s Cigar Society and Ron Carroll of Iwan Ries & Co, both in Chicago, Illinois;

Maryland
John J. Vanore of Titan Cigar in Gambrills, Maryland;

Missouri
Kevin L. Baxter, Tim Claytor, Dirick Matteson, Bradley Oldham, and C. Scott Powell with Outlaw Cigar Co in Kansas City, Missouri;

New Jersey
Jorge Armenteros was named Certified Master Tobacconist and the designation of Certified Retail Tobacconist went to Aly A. Badran, Jeffrey A. Davis, R. Sloane Franklin, John T. Richardson and William P. Harvey. All are with A Little Taste of Cuba in Princeton, New Jersey;

Ohio
James C. Wilson of Sandusky Bay Cigars in Sandusky, Ohio;

Pennsylvania
Lee S. Lavinson of Holt’s in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Jonathan Rebmann of Puffs N Stuff in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Kathryn L. Bellando, Nathaniel Chase, Christian R. Fernandez, Dennis E. Guevara and Charles Stockton with A Little Taste of Cuba in New Hope, Pennsylvania;

Texas
Jimmy Edwards and Jose R. Torres, Jr of C.I.G.A.R. in San Antonio, Texas;

Virginia
Kevin Edmiston with Winston’s Humidor in Richmond, Virginia;

Washington, D.C.
Jordan Baines, Andrew Chase, Edward W. Guehm III, Walter Gorski, Yoon Robert Kim, Adam K. Levy, Michael F. Nolan, R. Adam Shepherd, and Zeke M. Williams with Georgetown Tobacco in Washington, D.C.

Selected professional tobacconists are awarded CMT or CRT recognition after participating in an academic curriculum and testing process that enables them to achieve superior technical and marketing knowledge about premium cigars, pipes, loose tobacco and related accessories.

So you’ve been thinking of trying a pipe but you’re not sure of which tobacco to try? Perhaps it’s time to stop pondering which tobacco to use and just take the plunge and buy something that the tobacco store clerk recommends.

You see the fact is that the type of tobacco that a pipe smoker uses ultimately comes down to their own personal taste and what suits them. Just about every one of us has started off with a tobacco that was recommended by someone else but I would wager that almost none of us are still smoking that brand or blend of tobacco that we first started with.