So yesterday I was walking through a part of town I don't usually do and saw this small B&M I have never noticed before. Al wooden panels, old, kind of decadent.
I cross the street to look at the window. There's a small display of pipes. Old pipes. Attractive pipes.
A couple of antique bamboo Stanwells, two free hand Jeantets -never seen a freehand by them before- and some 3 other good old pipes.
I decide to go in.
I ask the attendant about the pipes in display. He brings them over to the counter and gives me a brief history of each single pipe together with pricing.
The pipes are nice and the pricing is a bit on the high side, but every single pipe is unusual in its own way and very difficult to find down here.
I ask him if by any chance he happens to have any Petersons. He says he only has one left and that it is an old one.
He goes to the back room and after some noisy fumbling comes back with a red "The Return of Sherlock Holmes" box. I think, "well, not a treasure, but it might be interesting..."
I open the box and my heart skips a beat while I rapidly blink.
I close them for a second and open them again. Look at the pipe in the box. Reach for it and stop just short. I'm afraid it'll disappear once I touch it.
I've been looking for this pipe since I started smoking early in 2015. I know it is not very long but I had a burning desire for this pipe.
It is a Peterson 1997 Special Edition. The first ever Special Edition pipe.
It is unsmoked and in pristine condition.
I reach for it. It is #296 of 1000.
I doubtfully turn it around. And yes, it is in perfect condition.
I hesitantly ask for the price in what I thought was an assertive tone. The guy says a number. It is a high number but not a crazy one. I utter a single word, a lower number, and wait. The guy scratches his head and says "why not. Deal".
I want to run out of there and take my find home and spend some time just looking at it.
I´m suddenly exhausted and excited at the same time.
After paying I turn around and start making my way to the door. As I am about to reach it, the man says "hold on for a second sir...". I freeze. He has changed his mind...
He then says that if I have a couple of minutes to spare he could probably find the original box in the back room.
I almost jumped back to the counter and almost shouted "yes, please!"
He returns with a gray cardboard box, with black stripes and a golden Peterson logo and smoking man and, in his other hand, a wine colored hardshell case, the ones used for modern Turkish meers.
He says that while looking for the box he found this other pipe which might interest me. He had forgotten he had it.
I open the case. It is a 1905 Patent Military Mount Straight Billiard, the only other Original Antique Collection pipe -besides the 1910 Bulldog- I care for.
He says a number.
This time I don't try to bargain.
I walk out, smiling, with this two very special pipes.
Cheers,
J
]
I cross the street to look at the window. There's a small display of pipes. Old pipes. Attractive pipes.
A couple of antique bamboo Stanwells, two free hand Jeantets -never seen a freehand by them before- and some 3 other good old pipes.
I decide to go in.
I ask the attendant about the pipes in display. He brings them over to the counter and gives me a brief history of each single pipe together with pricing.
The pipes are nice and the pricing is a bit on the high side, but every single pipe is unusual in its own way and very difficult to find down here.
I ask him if by any chance he happens to have any Petersons. He says he only has one left and that it is an old one.
He goes to the back room and after some noisy fumbling comes back with a red "The Return of Sherlock Holmes" box. I think, "well, not a treasure, but it might be interesting..."
I open the box and my heart skips a beat while I rapidly blink.
I close them for a second and open them again. Look at the pipe in the box. Reach for it and stop just short. I'm afraid it'll disappear once I touch it.
I've been looking for this pipe since I started smoking early in 2015. I know it is not very long but I had a burning desire for this pipe.
It is a Peterson 1997 Special Edition. The first ever Special Edition pipe.
It is unsmoked and in pristine condition.
I reach for it. It is #296 of 1000.
I doubtfully turn it around. And yes, it is in perfect condition.
I hesitantly ask for the price in what I thought was an assertive tone. The guy says a number. It is a high number but not a crazy one. I utter a single word, a lower number, and wait. The guy scratches his head and says "why not. Deal".
I want to run out of there and take my find home and spend some time just looking at it.
I´m suddenly exhausted and excited at the same time.
After paying I turn around and start making my way to the door. As I am about to reach it, the man says "hold on for a second sir...". I freeze. He has changed his mind...
He then says that if I have a couple of minutes to spare he could probably find the original box in the back room.
I almost jumped back to the counter and almost shouted "yes, please!"
He returns with a gray cardboard box, with black stripes and a golden Peterson logo and smoking man and, in his other hand, a wine colored hardshell case, the ones used for modern Turkish meers.
He says that while looking for the box he found this other pipe which might interest me. He had forgotten he had it.
I open the case. It is a 1905 Patent Military Mount Straight Billiard, the only other Original Antique Collection pipe -besides the 1910 Bulldog- I care for.
He says a number.
This time I don't try to bargain.
I walk out, smiling, with this two very special pipes.
Cheers,
J