We hope that all of you will attend the 2014 Chicago Pipe Show! This year the Show is on May 3 and 4, 2014. We will have over 300 exhibitor tables and spaces; it will be a great big pipe show! All of the 2014 Show’s tables have been sold out for weeks, but if you still want one, contact me ASAP to go on the waiting list for an exhibitor table. Every year we have a few last minute cancellations due to illness, family emergencies, etc., so we sometimes are able to provide a last minute table to those on the waiting list.
The Show starts on Wednesday the 30th of April and we have many activities before the big show on May 3rd and 4th.
Over the next several days I will be posting here about some, but not all, events at the 2014 Show:
This year a NEW event will join our Show. The Chicago Bowl.
The Chicago Bowl will be an annual award for the favorite blend in the tobacco category of the year. The winning blend will be chosen by pipe smokers attending the Chicago International Pipe & Tobacciana Show.
The first year, 2014, the category will be English blends.
The blenders were given the choice to submit one of their existing blends, or to create a new blend for the contest.
Twelve of the blenders who attend the Chicago Show chose to enter this year, and it is a great line up. In alphabetical order, the contestants for 2014 BEST ENGLISH BLEND are: Arango Cigar Company, Cornell & Diehl, Daughters & Ryan, G. L. Pease, Hearth & Home (Pipesandcigars.com Russ Ouellette), Hermit Tobacco Works, Iwan Ries & Company, L. J. Peretti Company, Mac Baren Tobacco Company, McClelland Tobacco Company, Scandanavian Tobacco Group of Lane, Ltd., and Sutliff Tobacco Company.
Contestant blends will not be identified to smokers by company name or blend name during the contest. All blends will be identified by a random number. After the contest, the winning blend will be identified by Company and Blend name. All other names will be identified to the public so that individual pipe smokers will know which blend was their personal favorite. No ranking will be given except for the winning blend, so there will be no second place or last place blend.
Blends will be available for tasting from 8 AM Friday until 3 PM Saturday in the smoking tent, and from 10 AM to 3 PM on Saturday in the (non-smoking) Mega Center Show Hall.
Forms will be available for pipe smokers to choose their one favorite blend from all of the contestant blends. Instructions to pipe smokers will provide that a pipe smoker can only choose one blend, and can make their choice only one time after smoking the contestant blends. When the contest ends at 3 PM on Saturday, the results will be tallied by the Show and the winner will be announced at the 7 PM Banquet Dinner on Saturday night. The Chicago Bowl trophy will be awarded to the winning blender at 12 Noon on Sunday in the Mega Center Show Hall.
The Sutliff Tobacco Company is the Sponsor of The Chicago Bowl, and has made a generous grant to the Chicago Show in order to defray the costs of the contest, and will also be a contestant. The Sutliff Tobacco Company will have no special advantage or disadvantage in the contest because their blend will not be identified until after the contest.
All tobacco not smoked during the contest will be identified with blender and blend name, and will be available for sampling Saturday night and Sunday in the smoking tent.
Please add this event to your “must do” list for the Show. This is going to be great fun! Twelve blends, from twelve great blenders, and YOU are the judge.
The Show starts on Wednesday the 30th of April and we have many activities before the big show on May 3rd and 4th.
Over the next several days I will be posting here about some, but not all, events at the 2014 Show:
This year a NEW event will join our Show. The Chicago Bowl.
The Chicago Bowl will be an annual award for the favorite blend in the tobacco category of the year. The winning blend will be chosen by pipe smokers attending the Chicago International Pipe & Tobacciana Show.
The first year, 2014, the category will be English blends.
The blenders were given the choice to submit one of their existing blends, or to create a new blend for the contest.
Twelve of the blenders who attend the Chicago Show chose to enter this year, and it is a great line up. In alphabetical order, the contestants for 2014 BEST ENGLISH BLEND are: Arango Cigar Company, Cornell & Diehl, Daughters & Ryan, G. L. Pease, Hearth & Home (Pipesandcigars.com Russ Ouellette), Hermit Tobacco Works, Iwan Ries & Company, L. J. Peretti Company, Mac Baren Tobacco Company, McClelland Tobacco Company, Scandanavian Tobacco Group of Lane, Ltd., and Sutliff Tobacco Company.
Contestant blends will not be identified to smokers by company name or blend name during the contest. All blends will be identified by a random number. After the contest, the winning blend will be identified by Company and Blend name. All other names will be identified to the public so that individual pipe smokers will know which blend was their personal favorite. No ranking will be given except for the winning blend, so there will be no second place or last place blend.
Blends will be available for tasting from 8 AM Friday until 3 PM Saturday in the smoking tent, and from 10 AM to 3 PM on Saturday in the (non-smoking) Mega Center Show Hall.
Forms will be available for pipe smokers to choose their one favorite blend from all of the contestant blends. Instructions to pipe smokers will provide that a pipe smoker can only choose one blend, and can make their choice only one time after smoking the contestant blends. When the contest ends at 3 PM on Saturday, the results will be tallied by the Show and the winner will be announced at the 7 PM Banquet Dinner on Saturday night. The Chicago Bowl trophy will be awarded to the winning blender at 12 Noon on Sunday in the Mega Center Show Hall.
The Sutliff Tobacco Company is the Sponsor of The Chicago Bowl, and has made a generous grant to the Chicago Show in order to defray the costs of the contest, and will also be a contestant. The Sutliff Tobacco Company will have no special advantage or disadvantage in the contest because their blend will not be identified until after the contest.
All tobacco not smoked during the contest will be identified with blender and blend name, and will be available for sampling Saturday night and Sunday in the smoking tent.
Please add this event to your “must do” list for the Show. This is going to be great fun! Twelve blends, from twelve great blenders, and YOU are the judge.