Going to the Chicago Pipe Show doesn’t really feel like going to a show at all. It feels more like going to a magnificent 3-4 day party where you get to hang out with your best friends that you haven’t seen in a long time. Sometimes I even experience a little post-show depression because you are on the highest high when you are there, and then it is suddenly over. However, I am still smiling thinking back on the show and enjoying all the goodies I brought home with me.

The official name of the show is “The 2011 Chicagoland International Pipe & Tobacciana Show”. It took place at the Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles, IL from Wednesday, May 11 though Monday, May 16. I was looking forward to a break from the hot humid Florida weather, but when I arrived in Chicago it was 88 degrees and humid … the exact weather I had just left. However, we had a perfect example of “watch what you wish for” as on Friday the temperature went down to 46 degrees with wind and rain. No matter what the weather is, the Chicago show is always a pleasure.

The Pheasant Run Resort is a great place. It is somewhat rustic and luxurious at the same time and I enjoy staying there each year. (Although, I was puzzled as to why they were still doing work on the outdoor pool since last year.) The resort is extremely accommodating to us pipe smokers. The staff is always exceptionally friendly and it’s obvious that they appreciate all the business the show brings them each year.

St. Charles, Illinois is a charming Midwestern town just one hour Southwest of Chicago. It has beautiful landscapes, canoes and kayaking, tempting boutiques, and restaurants in a quaint downtown. It is also the home of the Chicago Pipe Show at the exquisite Pheasant Run Resort. This is what brings us here. However, St. Charles is also the home of the Bull & Bear Tobacco Shop, and it is a shop that pipe smokers will enjoy. Their current inventory includes over 500 pipes from makers such as; Design Berlin, Moretto, Armellini, Charatan, Winslow, Ferndown, Servi Meerschaum, Savinelli, Parker, Butz-Choquin, Peterson, and several others.

Bull & Bear also has a wide array of pipe tobaccos to choose from including; Cornell & Diehl, Dunhill, Samuel Gawith, Mac Baren, Peterson, Esoterica, Dan Tobacco, Rattray’s, McClelland, Ashton and several more. As well, there is a large selection of bulk tobaccos to choose from. The 1,400 square foot store also includes a smoking lounge with the obligatory plush leather chairs and couches, a wide screen TV along with coffee and other beverages available on site. Store owner Zita "Z" Harmon tells us that she has a regular 3:30 crowd that comes in to watch Jeopardy while enjoying their smokes. She goes by "Z" since most people pronounce her name incorrectly. Her name is often mispronounced like "Rita", however the "I" is short, like in the word "sit".

This year’s “St. Louis Pipe Show” took place February 19, 2011, and PipesMagazine.com Publisher, Kevin Godbee was in attendance to cover the show. The show is remarkably in it’s 23rd year, and the official name of the show is, “The Gateway Area Pipe Show and Swap“. Organized by The St. Louis Pipe Club, the show was held at the Heart of St. Charles Banquet Center, in St. Charles, MO.

The well-appointed banquet hall was about a 15 - 20 minute drive from the St. Louis Airport. The show is a 1-day event on Saturday, but as you can imagine, it can evolve into a full weekend for many that travel and stay at the official show hotel; the Quality Inn & Suites. The hotel had smoking rooms and was just across the street making it a 15-minute walk, or a 5-minute drive to the banquet center. The hotel offered a free full breakfast with choices of eggs, sausage, waffles, coffee, juices, fruits and yogurts. The reasonable rates combined with the free breakfast certainly helped allow for a bigger budget for buying pipes and tobacco at the show.

On Friday night, the St. Louis Pipe Club had a Hospitality Suite that was filled with pipe smokers enjoying the camaraderie, which was lubricated not only with the relaxedness of the pipe smoking, but also the self-serve open bar. Prior to enjoying the hospitality suite, there were several restaurants within a minute or so walk, including a steakhouse, Chinese, Japanese, and the author’s favorite; Mexican cuisine.

Corn Cob Pipes have many, many fans, probably way more than anyone knows. Of course, there are also those that treat the lowly corn cob pipe as if they were the Rodney Dangerfield of pipes … they get no respect. However, the history of corn cob pipes dates back to 1869 and over 3,000 are produced on a daily basis. Back in September 2009, we published the story of the Missouri Meerschaum company, the sole producer of the original corn cob pipe [Corn Cob Pipes, The Making Of at Missouri Meerschaum], which included photos showing the step-by-step process of how they are produced. Now, we have been granted the exclusive rights to re-publish a fascinating video originally produced by Aaron Mermelstein and published on HEC TV.

In the final video in our 3-part series on Mac Baren, you get to see the continuation of the process of producing high quality pipe tobaccos. The previous video showed the extensive handwork that goes into creating the spun tobaccos that are cut into coins. This video demonstrates some impressive machinery that greatly automates getting the tobacco blends into packaging and shipped out the door.

Of interesting note is that Mac Baren has transformed themselves from a factory that ran large production to create huge inventory stockpiles, into a just-in-time factory that produces to order. This was necessitated by the myriad different tobacco labeling regulations of different countries that Mac Baren exports to. This portion of the production process is quite technologically, and mechanically sophisticated and impressive. It is also extremely accurate.

Please enjoy Part 3 and the conclusion of our video tour of the Mac Baren Tobacco Factory, which runs about 13-minutes.

In Part 2 of the Mac Baren Factory tour we get to see more of the impressive factory and the different ways tobaccos are processed into finished, smokable goods. We start off with some large full leaves that are used as a wrapper, much like in the cigar production process.

If you watch closely, an intriguing future new tobacco coming from Mac Baren is revealed. You can see the production of spun tobaccos. Something that looks like a giant cigar is produced using a giant hand rolling machine that looks like a huge cigarette rolling machine. Per calls these giant tobacco rolls a "sausage", which is then cut into "coins".

The Mac Baren Tobacco Company’s roots go back to 1887. Today, they are one of the largest pipe tobacco production facilities in the world. Mac Baren is located in the beautiful town of Svendborg, Denmark and comprises several buildings on an incredibly large campus. Sykes Wilford of SmokingPipes.com, and I made the visit to Mac Baren together. As soon as we got out of the car in the parking lot, we could smell the delicious aroma of the tobacco being processed. We are instantly smiling before we even have both feet on the ground. I feel more excited than I did as a kid on my first visit to Disney World.

By Chuck Wright
We all know the story of the Kapp brothers and Charles Peterson so I won’t bore you with it. Most are also familiar with the Peterson system pipes, so the same will hold true there. I intend to focus on the classic Peterson pipes beginning with the entry level pipes like the Aran, Irish-Made Army, and then working up to the higher grades.

In it’s 2nd year, The West Coast Pipe Show is the new “Big-Small” show for west coast pipers. It’s small because it’s not so big that you can’t get to everything, and you have time to talk to almost everyone. Some shows are so big that you have to accept that you won’t see everything and you won’t get to talk to everyone. However, The West Coast Pipe Show is also big … or big enough. It is not so small that you are finished soon after you start. In fact, if you want to experience all the show has to offer, you will need the entire two days, and maybe more.

On the last day of the West Coast Pipe Show, as things were starting to wind down, we were finally able to corner Marty Pulvers, one of the show’s organizers. Marty has a long history in the pipe business. For nearly 20 years, he owned and operated the retail shop Sherlock’s Haven, in San Francisco’s financial district. His store was given the honor of being named one of the ‘10 Best Tobacco Shops In The World’ by Forbes Magazine online. He closed his store in June of 2006 and now operates an online store selling both new & estate pipes. Here is Cynthia Sargent’s 7-minute interview with Marty talking about what the West Coast Pipe Show offers to the world of pipe smokers and collectors.