North American Society of Pipe Collectors
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Kevin Godbee - Sep 9, 2011
- 2 min read
By Bill Unger
Founded in 1993, The North American Society of Pipe Collectors (NASPC) has since grown to over 1,000 members in almost every state of the Union, Canada, and many countries overseas. I am Bill Unger, NASPC’s treasurer and editor of its newsletter, The Pipe Collector (TPC).
TPC offers members interesting and readable articles on any and all aspects of pipes and tobaccos. I am particularly interested in offering as many new people as possible the opportunity to see their names in print and to be read. All TPC submissions-technical articles, personal essays, profiles, fiction, tobacco reviews, what have you-are written by the members. These are not just “posts” like you find on many pipe websites or chat forums. These are real articles, whether long or short, that you can sink your teeth into.
Few venues today offer carefully edited thoughtful content. TPC is a good read! It is professionally designed and professionally printed in black and white. Color pictures are too expensive for printing, but they are available in the pdf version. The August, 2011, issue of TPC was 56 pages, a new record.
Members of NASPC receive a subscription to The Pipe Collector. It’s available in print form to U.S. members for $18 annually, to Canadian members for $22, and everywhere else in the world for $35. A truly superb deal is the $10 annual membership – available anywhere. You receive an emailed pdf of every issue of The Pipe Collector! You can pay for your membership by check to NASPC (PO Box 9642, Columbus OH 43209) or by PayPal (bill@naspc.org).
We use "pipe collector" in both our name and our newsletter. However, we are really about pipe smoking in all its aspects, including collecting in the traditional sense. At one point in our past, we coined, as a bit of a joke, the slogan "If you have one pipe, you’re a pipe smoker. If you have two pipes, you’re a collector." Our purpose was to appeal to anyone with a pipe.
As an association (not a club-we don’t have meetings), NASPC is involved in the following activities. One, we produce a swap/sell show (125 tables max) in Columbus, OH at the end of August each year. Two, we print the bi-monthly TPC for our members. Three, we offer a pipe of the year to members only. It’s always a terrific bargain. Each issue of TPC contains a page listing B&M and internet businesses that offer discounts to NASPC members. Recently, we also established The NASPC Press. Our first offering was a volume containing Marc Dion’s collected essays from TPC and his fiction from Pipes & Tobaccos magazine.
I am an editor by profession, and I spend as much time as needed working with writers and making sure that all submissions are grammatical and contain no embarrassing errors.
NASPC dues are very reasonable for the value received. Because postage is a real killer, especially attractive for Canadians and anyone overseas is the $10-a-year membership, for which you receive TPC in an email pdf version.
Visit our website at www.naspc.org to see a membership form, information about the pipe of the year, and more. I invite you to "Like" us on Facebook and to communicate with us and other pipe smokers and collectors. Tell us what you think and discuss what you might contribute to the pages of TPC. I do invite you all to join us.
I will send a TPC back issue, either paper or pdf version, to anyone who requests one. Email me at naspc@wowway.com.
Written by Kevin Godbee
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Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 608. Our featured interview tonight is with Nathan Davis of Greywoodie Fame. Nathan has been known as one of the biggest fans of Kaywoodie, and now he owns the company. Nathan started as a collector of Kaywoodie, then became a dealer and launched his Greywoodie site. Kaywoodie is a 173 year old company owned by the same family for four generations until now. He goes by CrashTheGrey in the Pipes Magazine forums, and is also the organizer of the Capitaland Pipe Show, and has his own podcast. We’ll hear first hand about his exciting journey, and what he has planned for the future of Kaywoodie. At the top of the show, Brian will dispel some myths about the bottom of the pipe bowl.
Pundit is a pipe smoker who never sleeps. No, that’s not right. Pundit is a pipe smoker who is always thinking about pipes and tobacco. Even in his sleep. Well, that’s close enough. It’s May. Blooming flowers, weeds, trees, and grass, have taken over the yard, and pollen scatters and sprays like rain. We asked for spring, and we got it in barrels. But this is also a time when thoughts turn to new pipes and new tobacco blends. It’s like that runaway elephant when it freed itself recently from a circus show in Butte, Mont. The Pundit herd rules, but it is too large, despite thoughts and urges for more pipes and more tobacco. What to do? If you are like Pundit, you eat, sleep(less), and think pipes and tobacco blends. Right now, everywhere, all pipes, all the time. Call it pollen-crazed mind. And just so you know, Pundit has already set aside a stash for new pipes. We’ll just let the herd run amok. It’s the Butte syndrome. Now that we’ve settled the weather and runaway elephants issue, it’s time for a couple of Pipe Lessons from the Past: Do take your pipe when you go fishing, say. Your pipe pal tends to calm the nerves when the big one takes the bait, doncha know. I once hooked a large brown trout while fly fishing a pristine Missouri trout stream. Its waters glimmered in the early morning dawn and trout were rising to a variety of emerging bugs. Mouth open, pipe drops to the bottom of said stream and heads out toward somewhere in Missouri with the rest of the brown trout. Leaning over to quickly grab the disappearing pipe, my brand new German-produced Puma trout knife drops from the leather sheath dangling from a leather strap around my neck. Don’t become wildly flailing with excitement when you hook the big one and lose a pipe and knife worth more than said fish, hand-tied trout fly, line, and rod and reel! Patience, as in pipe smoking, pays off. Do keep your precious pipes clean with regular pipe cleaners and solutions. I used soft and bristly cleaners with alcohol (50 percent isopropyl). In some cases, it took stronger stuff, grain alcohol, or even special pipe sweetener found at pipe and tobacco brick and mortar shops and online. Uh, I hope it doesn’t need to be said that you don’t drink grain alcohol. A dab on a bristly pipe cleaner will do. Do not ream out the inside of the bowl with that hard-won cake buildup with a pocket knife. Pundit ruined a beautiful Peterson with a pocketknife, ala Jack the Ripper. You can find great tools for that job. In fact, for newbies and veterans alike, check out the Smokingpipes.com “How to Clean a Pipe.” It is a Master Class on the proper way to clean a pipe, inside and out. Do store your treasures in pipe racks. It keeps them safe and out of harm’s way. Refrain from tossing pipes into an old shoe box or drawer. That’s the heartless approach. Do not try to move your pipe racks if fully loaded with pipes. Invariably you will come down with a case of the jitters, like yours truly. Pipes will rock and roll like Elvis and invariably one or two will hit the floor. I broke the stem of a one-of-a-kind Pete, and the tenon out of a wonderfully carved Danish. Mind you, this was in one big rattle-and-roll. And one more final painful lesson learned from the past: If you drop a beloved meerschaum on the floor, it being composed of ancient sea critters and sea shells, will shatter into a thousand and one shards. One of my treasured meers hit the floor and scattered like so much white dust across the floor. Pipes are my BFFs. I have learned over time they deserve attention and TLC. Ok, time for a note or two from Pipe Smokers of the Past : One fellow who was rarely seen without his pipe is Harold Wilson, two-time former United Kingdom Prime Minister. He ran the political show from Oct. 1964 to June 1970, and again from March 1974 to April 1976. Wilson was born March 11, 1916, in Huddersfield, West Riding, Yorkshire, and died May 24, 1955, in London. He was looked upon, politically speaking, as the people’s Prime Minister who smoked a pipe and was down-to-earth, just a regular guy. I’m an optimist, but an optimist who carries a raincoat—Harold Wilson And one from America’s tinsel town, Glenn Ford, a longtime actor not only famous for his roles but also for his pipe smoking. He loved Dunhill pipes, naturally. Glenn Ford, Gwyllyn Samuel Newton “Glenn” Ford, was born May 1, 1916, in Sainte-Christine-d’Auvergne, Quebec, and died Aug. 30, 2006, in Beverly Hills, Calif. Ford’s movie and television career began in 1937 and lasted until 1991. He won a Golden Globe Award as Best Actor for his performance in Pocketful of Miracles in 1961. If they try to rush me, I always say, I’ve only got one other speed and it’s slower—Glenn Ford And a Pundit parting thought: Pipes and books are two good friends to have.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 607. Our featured interview tonight is with pipe maker Brian Laurent. Brian has worked with his hands since he was 14-years old. He’s been a woodworker for over 20 years. After he became a pipe smoker, he started making pipe racks, and then graduated to making pipes. He also enjoys painting, working on hot rods, cooking and baking. For his regular job he is a dental technician, implant specialist, and full mouth reconstruction specialist. At the top of the show we will have an Ask the Tobacco Blender segment with Jeremy Reeves. Jeremy is the Head Blender at Cornell & Diehl, which is one of the most popular boutique pipe tobacco companies in the USA.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 606. Our featured interview tonight is with Per George Jensen. Most pipe enthusiasts know Per as the longtime Mac Baren Tobacco Company spokesman. Last year he made some changes in his life. He got married, moved to Germany and parted ways with Mac Baren, but not with the tobacco business. He is consulting with Sutliff Tobacco Co., and he created the popular and unique signature tobacco series, “Pipe Force”. Tonight’s discussion will include details on Per’s line of blending tobacco, which has something for everyone. You can smoke them straight, but if you want to blend tobaccos, we will have some good advice on this episode. At the top of the show, since it’s springtime, Brian will discuss seasonal tobaccos and answer two questions that come up often.
His grandfather came to the US with a $50 gold coin in his shoe, opened up a cigar shop, and his most famous customer was Babe Ruth. He holds the record for the longest slow smoke in the world at over 24 hours, and he is the only man who stopped Chuck Norris from round-house kicking the Nording Pipe Statue. The most interesting man in the world, Jonathan Goldsmith, stopped by the Chicago Pipe Show this year to get kissed on the cheek by Neal Osborn. Wait, what? OK, I kid. Jonathan came to honor his friend and fishing buddy Steve Norse of Vermont Freehand at the annual Doctors and Masters of Pipes award dinner. Steve was one of the two recipients of the Masters of Pipes award and asked Johnathan to show up and add some color to his acceptance speech. Slightly overshadowed but no less important! Jay Furman was also honored as this year’s hobbyist Master of Pipes, joining me and a pipe-star-studded list of great contributors to the hobby and profession of pipes. 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I want to thank Jonathan Goldsmith for taking a few minutes to sit down with me and being gracious enough to snap pictures with many of us at the show; it was a ton of fun and made this year’s show even more memorable! This year, the Chicago Pipe Show kicked it up a notch with a new location, new signage, new pre-registration and payment system, new show executive staff, and lots of new surprises. Now, Tim Garrity, President of the Chicagoland Pipe Club, tells me that over 400 attendees were at the show, but they are still tabulating the numbers too, so this is subject to getting updated and expanded. We do have our dates for next year at this same location – the first weekend of May at the Hyatt Regency, Chicago O’Hare. Of course, like any good Chicago show, there was plenty of room hopping and the announcement board. The signage this year was super helpful in knowing where to go when to go, and what tables our favorite vendors were at. While the show was jam-packed, the spacing of the tables allowed everyone to move around freely and didn’t feel over-crowded as the tables and isles were spaced out to allow room for vendors and collectors to stretch out. The smoking tent was hopping all the time, but luckily, air flow and some great air purifiers by Lake Air kept it fresh. As usual, there was a great sample table with tons of things to try in the tent, and on your way to the tent, there was a conveniently placed cash bar. This year the tent was 25% bigger than last year, although you wouldn’t notice because there were more people at the show! Kaywoodie is under new Management. At the show, I chatted with Nathan “Greywoodie” Davis about how he came to take over the 173-year-old company. Tell me how this happened. Nathan: This month is my 5th anniversary of Greywoodie opening. I was friends with Bill and had a huge collection of Kaywoodies – I approached him about having them available outside of brick and mortar. He had no online presence and didn’t sell direct. He said if I wanted them to be more available, the best thing I could do was quit my job and sell them myself. He was mostly kidding because I had a really good job in the legal profession, but I wasn’t happy so one day I did give him a call and said “hey whats your minimum order,” and he said “You didn’t just quit your job because I was joking?” I did and I started out that way as an online retailer. So, in working with him, we did exclusives, and I learned about pipe making from him, both production and hand-made. We brought back some historical lines as well, and soon enough, I was helping to make the pipes I was buying from him. It was great for him to get my labor […]
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 605. Our featured interview tonight is with Pete Prevost. Pete is a pipe maker and the President of the BriarWorks pipe factory in Columbia Tennessee. BriarWorks is a a pipe maker co-op with several other pipe makers, including Todd Johnson, who co-founded it with Pete. Brian and Pete will be talking about what’s new at BriarWorks, and how they are getting ready to attend the Chicago pipe show. (This was recorded before the show that took place last weekend.) At the top of the show, Brian will give his report of his travels and what happened at the Chicago show.
Thank you for posting this article. I’m absolutely going to supporting these guys. And for $18 a year to get a monthly issue of The Pipe Collector who wouldn’t sign up for this? I look forward to my first issue!
Signing up for these guys 🙂
Joining the NASPC was the smartest move I made as a budding collector–the discounts I’ve received have paid for it many times over.
I just sent off for a copy of a back issue of TPC. We’ll see…
sounds good and i am thinking that when i have some spare cash i too will sign up
I’ve been subscribed for several years and TPC has been one of my favorite reads.
The Pipe Collector is the ticket. Wouldn’t be without it.
Just joined NASPC a few minutes ago, so as of this writing, (10:40 pm, October 19,) I’m the newest member. It looks like it provides a wealth of info, and I’m looking forward to enjoying my membership
Just signed up — what a deal!