Forum member Maxx started a thread asking us how long we've been at this hobby. I replied with a long winded diatribe of my own trials and tribulations but it was a timely post for me to see and I wanted to share an encounter I had with a customer today.
A very elderly gentleman came hobbling into the shop today, leaning harder on his cane than I'd ever think any human should to buy some pipe tobacco. He had a tin of the "Bell's Three Nuns" clenched tightly in his grasp along with some pipe cleaners as he approached the register counter. A gleam came to his eyes as he saw the Karl Erik bent egg hanging from my maw and introductions were exchanged. He wasted no time informing me that he knew this tin he was holding was not what, as he put it, anything like the Hogsheads worth he smoked back in the day. I laughed and replied that I'd bet it wasn't.
His pipe collection at its apogee exceeded 600 pieces, all high grade, many commissioned from carvers like Bo Nordh, S. Bang, C. Chonoswich (sic), Iversson, Patent Dunhill's, over 30 Ferndowns, Barlings Make, you get the picture. He has long since sold off all but a handful but still smokes his pipes. He related a story of sharing a pipe show table with Rad Davis, being friends with Barry Levine, to say I was blown away would be an understatement.
John, if your reading, it was truly an honor and a pleasure to have met and talked to you today.
A very elderly gentleman came hobbling into the shop today, leaning harder on his cane than I'd ever think any human should to buy some pipe tobacco. He had a tin of the "Bell's Three Nuns" clenched tightly in his grasp along with some pipe cleaners as he approached the register counter. A gleam came to his eyes as he saw the Karl Erik bent egg hanging from my maw and introductions were exchanged. He wasted no time informing me that he knew this tin he was holding was not what, as he put it, anything like the Hogsheads worth he smoked back in the day. I laughed and replied that I'd bet it wasn't.
His pipe collection at its apogee exceeded 600 pieces, all high grade, many commissioned from carvers like Bo Nordh, S. Bang, C. Chonoswich (sic), Iversson, Patent Dunhill's, over 30 Ferndowns, Barlings Make, you get the picture. He has long since sold off all but a handful but still smokes his pipes. He related a story of sharing a pipe show table with Rad Davis, being friends with Barry Levine, to say I was blown away would be an understatement.
John, if your reading, it was truly an honor and a pleasure to have met and talked to you today.
