Ye Olde Tobacconist Shoppe, The Way Things Once Were (image heavy)
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Wow guys, thanks for all the positive comments, it brings a joy to my heart and makes it time well-spent to have such an enthusiastic reaction!
Thanks y'all!
Lawrence,
Appreciate you adding the tags, I always forget to do that!
Jason,
I've contemplated doing a blog-type thing, it'd have to be free as I can't afford to pay for a website, much less even make one, I'm pretty tech-illiterate and clumsy with that stuff.
I'm just too lazy to make a blog, I used to regularly maintain a freaky art/poetry blog and it was like a full-time job almost, I totally respect those who can keep such enterprises going and not run out of steam.
I'm content to have these pieces, pictorials for the most part with a small amount of writing, hosted here on PipesMagazine.com in this casual and comfortable atmosphere, if I were to attempt a serious archival effort I'd have to do it proper and provide a bit more meat on the bone to make it all interesting, as well as try to perform to a certain academic rigor, here I'm just some guy posting junk up inna thread LOL and it's all good.
Kevin Godbee is a genius and has groomed this joint to be the premier pipe/tobacco info site on the web, PM.com always get top-billing in the search engines and not only does it have the most fun 'n friendly pipe forum going, but its fill'd to the gills with myriad content and features, it is indeed a magazine, a glossy topshelf class act that cannot be matched.
And, I really dig the unique formatting of this forum, it allows for a long stream of continuous images, unlike most other forums.
Now I must mention some of the pipepeople whose stuff I enjoy, these pipe-bloggers really do an astounding amount of work and greatly add to our esoteric smokerporium:
http://www.apassionforpipes.com/neills-blog/
http://dutchpipesmoker.wordpress.com/
http://rebornpipes.wordpress.com/
http://glpease.com/BriarAndLeaf/
http://talbertpipes.blogspot.com/
http://www.neatpipes.com/blog/list/diary-of-a-mad-padster/&id=1
http://www.qualitybriar.com/blog/
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2010/01/big-heap-of-tobacco.html
I have started a small project, toes just dipping in, of collecting as many old Punch mags as I can and finding old tobacco adverts with the aim of compiling a bunch of 'em inna retro-tech xerographic 'lil zine thing, dunno if it'll ever materialize though!
LOL
scarborian,
I'd love to hear some firsthand stories from a veteran as yourself. I've only been with pipe for 2 years now so I don't really know a lot. I'm intensely curious about the profiles of some of the old Uk baccy, did you ever smoke any Exmoor Hunt, Redbreast, Aintree, Headway Flake, Airman, Digger, etc or stuff similar?
Bob,
The movie is Dressed To Kill (1946)
A great plot synopsis along with still shots and the complete movie also embedded, can be seen here:
http://www.mysterymoviesonline.com/2011/08/mystery-22-dressed-to-kill.html
Meanwhile, our femme fatale sets a trap for Holmes. She rifles his apartment and then leaves a planted clue, a cigarette.
Then Holmes makes a trip to the tobacco shop and traces the cigarette back to the owner.
Any skeptics that may scoff at that investigative technique must remember that in Doyle's time it was before the great Bonsack-machine mass production exoplosion of ciggy manufacture and almost all of the ciggies were rolled by hand at exclusive shops, usually emblazoned with a fancy printed makers mark.
And hey, there are still some great tobacconists left to bless us here in the States, this post was a romantic focus on the UK variety, so to balance it out a bit, here's a few from the New World, which y'all probably already know about, but it's good to know they're still there, the experience of a good B&M is unequalled.
http://pipesmagazine.com/blog/pipe-manufacturer-retailer-spotlight/smokingpipescom-bringing-a-nostalgic-pastime-to-a-new-era/
http://pipesmagazine.com/blog/pipe-manufacturer-retailer-spotlight/bennington-tobacconist-boca-raton-fl/
http://pipesmagazine.com/blog/pipe-manufacturer-retailer-spotlight/mccranies-pipe-and-tobacco-shop-charlotte-nc/
Here's a good thread about The Briary,
http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/pipe-shop-photos
...that's one I need to visit for sure, it's only about a 1.5 hour drive from me.
Iwan Ries of course,
http://newcity.com/2011/02/01/pipe-dreams-how-tobacconist-iwan-ries-survived-the-civil-war-the-great-conflagration-and-the-smoking-ban/
I want to visit this place too,
...and perhaps the best-named pipeshop of alltime,
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Pipe-dreams-Cigar-pipe-aficionados-take-refuge-2782370.php
And dig this tinshelf from the 70's, chockfull of UK tins, and on the bottom is a divine nest of cutter-tops!
8O
Thanks y'all!
Lawrence,
Appreciate you adding the tags, I always forget to do that!
Jason,
I've contemplated doing a blog-type thing, it'd have to be free as I can't afford to pay for a website, much less even make one, I'm pretty tech-illiterate and clumsy with that stuff.
I'm just too lazy to make a blog, I used to regularly maintain a freaky art/poetry blog and it was like a full-time job almost, I totally respect those who can keep such enterprises going and not run out of steam.
I'm content to have these pieces, pictorials for the most part with a small amount of writing, hosted here on PipesMagazine.com in this casual and comfortable atmosphere, if I were to attempt a serious archival effort I'd have to do it proper and provide a bit more meat on the bone to make it all interesting, as well as try to perform to a certain academic rigor, here I'm just some guy posting junk up inna thread LOL and it's all good.
Kevin Godbee is a genius and has groomed this joint to be the premier pipe/tobacco info site on the web, PM.com always get top-billing in the search engines and not only does it have the most fun 'n friendly pipe forum going, but its fill'd to the gills with myriad content and features, it is indeed a magazine, a glossy topshelf class act that cannot be matched.
And, I really dig the unique formatting of this forum, it allows for a long stream of continuous images, unlike most other forums.
Now I must mention some of the pipepeople whose stuff I enjoy, these pipe-bloggers really do an astounding amount of work and greatly add to our esoteric smokerporium:
http://www.apassionforpipes.com/neills-blog/
http://dutchpipesmoker.wordpress.com/
http://rebornpipes.wordpress.com/
http://glpease.com/BriarAndLeaf/
http://talbertpipes.blogspot.com/
http://www.neatpipes.com/blog/list/diary-of-a-mad-padster/&id=1
http://www.qualitybriar.com/blog/
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2010/01/big-heap-of-tobacco.html
I have started a small project, toes just dipping in, of collecting as many old Punch mags as I can and finding old tobacco adverts with the aim of compiling a bunch of 'em inna retro-tech xerographic 'lil zine thing, dunno if it'll ever materialize though!
LOL
scarborian,
I'd love to hear some firsthand stories from a veteran as yourself. I've only been with pipe for 2 years now so I don't really know a lot. I'm intensely curious about the profiles of some of the old Uk baccy, did you ever smoke any Exmoor Hunt, Redbreast, Aintree, Headway Flake, Airman, Digger, etc or stuff similar?
Bob,
The movie is Dressed To Kill (1946)
A great plot synopsis along with still shots and the complete movie also embedded, can be seen here:
http://www.mysterymoviesonline.com/2011/08/mystery-22-dressed-to-kill.html
Meanwhile, our femme fatale sets a trap for Holmes. She rifles his apartment and then leaves a planted clue, a cigarette.
Then Holmes makes a trip to the tobacco shop and traces the cigarette back to the owner.
Any skeptics that may scoff at that investigative technique must remember that in Doyle's time it was before the great Bonsack-machine mass production exoplosion of ciggy manufacture and almost all of the ciggies were rolled by hand at exclusive shops, usually emblazoned with a fancy printed makers mark.
And hey, there are still some great tobacconists left to bless us here in the States, this post was a romantic focus on the UK variety, so to balance it out a bit, here's a few from the New World, which y'all probably already know about, but it's good to know they're still there, the experience of a good B&M is unequalled.
http://pipesmagazine.com/blog/pipe-manufacturer-retailer-spotlight/smokingpipescom-bringing-a-nostalgic-pastime-to-a-new-era/
http://pipesmagazine.com/blog/pipe-manufacturer-retailer-spotlight/bennington-tobacconist-boca-raton-fl/
http://pipesmagazine.com/blog/pipe-manufacturer-retailer-spotlight/mccranies-pipe-and-tobacco-shop-charlotte-nc/
Here's a good thread about The Briary,
http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/pipe-shop-photos
...that's one I need to visit for sure, it's only about a 1.5 hour drive from me.
Iwan Ries of course,
http://newcity.com/2011/02/01/pipe-dreams-how-tobacconist-iwan-ries-survived-the-civil-war-the-great-conflagration-and-the-smoking-ban/
I want to visit this place too,
...and perhaps the best-named pipeshop of alltime,
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Pipe-dreams-Cigar-pipe-aficionados-take-refuge-2782370.php
And dig this tinshelf from the 70's, chockfull of UK tins, and on the bottom is a divine nest of cutter-tops!
8O
K
klause
Guest
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Speaking as someone who WAS around to see at least a small portion of this, I think that perhaps it's even more painful to KNOW what is past, never to return, than to simply imagine it ...
Marty Pulvers' place (below) was the last truly great pipe shop that existed in San Francisco ... I spent more than a few late afternoon hours in his shop smoking and just soaking up the ambiance ... there are a few shops such as this that remain, but they are fewer in number with each day that passes ... it's a difficult and painful realization to know that we'll never see the like of these again ...
In this photo, about half of Marty's walk-in cigar humidor is visible ... the pipe display was every bit as awesome, if not more so ... and Marty himself was nothing short of a national treasure ... one of the two most fantastic tobacanists it was ever my pleasure to have met ... it's still possible to buy a pipe from him online, but interacting with him and being able to see and touch the merchandise is missing in that process ...
Great photos and a wonderful Christmas present MrLC, thanks. Is it just me, though, or is it a little weird that in all those great shots not one of the tobacconists is smoking? Wonder if it wasn't encouraged on the job.
scarborian,
Thanks very much for taking the time, you're very lucky to have experienced Balkan Sobranie fresh off the shelf and I doubt myself would wander too far from its divine attributes if it were easily available to me, even amongst the myriad choices of different blends, at least you found THE ONE, rightfully recognized to be the supreme of all time, an unequalled archetype.
It's such a different world now, I was born in 1970 and everything has altered pretty dramatically in the cultural context as well as the general qualities of life. Now we live much of our interactive lives in a hyperreal virtual world and self-documentation is a nearly mandatory exercise, an infinite online diary of everyday experiences.
Back in the day, most folk smoked what they smoked and that was that, with perhaps some discussion amongst like-minded pipemen on certain qualities of certain tobaccos, but when one is existing in a particular time, one often cannot fully grasp the transient nature of things and the inevitable oncoming change just around the corner where those once so familiar things are lost to the fog of nostalgia, never to return.
Nobody really thought it necessary to document personal interpretations of specific tobaccos as they experienced them in nuanced detail, it probably would have been seen as a curious activity back then, an eccentric enterprise.
I wish the UK tobacco producers would have survived through the hostile political climate and still provide us with the magic of their special processing techniques, but I'm glad and celebrate the fact we can still enjoy the offerings from the Gawith houses and JF Germain, their intense popularity with many pipesmokers underscore the fact that UK tobacco production is of nearly unmatchable quality, and I also celebrate how certain blenders, especially GL Pease, has embraced that tradition, enhanced it and made it available to us contemporary pipesmokers.
Perhaps the Golden Age is gone, but just maybe now we are in a sort of Platinum Age, with the finest pipes ever known to man being produced today, as well as an incredible variety of very fine blends.
Although, I am saddened by the fact of the hostile climate in many other countries where the anti-tobacco forces are mighty in number and influence, as an American I feel in this country we are living in a glorious time to be a pipesmoker, but all that could change as early as 2014 as we seem to veer closer in parallel to more eurocentric political policies.
I'm just glad I picked up the pipe and I'm glad I can talk to you folks on here and I'm glad we can share all our personal joys and gain insight from the more experienced hands who generously take the time to navigate these waters and share their wisdom.
Thanks very much for taking the time, you're very lucky to have experienced Balkan Sobranie fresh off the shelf and I doubt myself would wander too far from its divine attributes if it were easily available to me, even amongst the myriad choices of different blends, at least you found THE ONE, rightfully recognized to be the supreme of all time, an unequalled archetype.
It's such a different world now, I was born in 1970 and everything has altered pretty dramatically in the cultural context as well as the general qualities of life. Now we live much of our interactive lives in a hyperreal virtual world and self-documentation is a nearly mandatory exercise, an infinite online diary of everyday experiences.
Back in the day, most folk smoked what they smoked and that was that, with perhaps some discussion amongst like-minded pipemen on certain qualities of certain tobaccos, but when one is existing in a particular time, one often cannot fully grasp the transient nature of things and the inevitable oncoming change just around the corner where those once so familiar things are lost to the fog of nostalgia, never to return.
Nobody really thought it necessary to document personal interpretations of specific tobaccos as they experienced them in nuanced detail, it probably would have been seen as a curious activity back then, an eccentric enterprise.
I wish the UK tobacco producers would have survived through the hostile political climate and still provide us with the magic of their special processing techniques, but I'm glad and celebrate the fact we can still enjoy the offerings from the Gawith houses and JF Germain, their intense popularity with many pipesmokers underscore the fact that UK tobacco production is of nearly unmatchable quality, and I also celebrate how certain blenders, especially GL Pease, has embraced that tradition, enhanced it and made it available to us contemporary pipesmokers.
Perhaps the Golden Age is gone, but just maybe now we are in a sort of Platinum Age, with the finest pipes ever known to man being produced today, as well as an incredible variety of very fine blends.
Although, I am saddened by the fact of the hostile climate in many other countries where the anti-tobacco forces are mighty in number and influence, as an American I feel in this country we are living in a glorious time to be a pipesmoker, but all that could change as early as 2014 as we seem to veer closer in parallel to more eurocentric political policies.
I'm just glad I picked up the pipe and I'm glad I can talk to you folks on here and I'm glad we can share all our personal joys and gain insight from the more experienced hands who generously take the time to navigate these waters and share their wisdom.
Well said Mr. LC. I would suggest that the Platinum Age we are experiencing, as you so well described it, is nearly entirely due to the Internet. In regard to how people tend not to grasp the transient nature of things in the present, we have undoubtedly been living through the Wild West days of the Internet, which will one day not long from now be just another nostalgic memory.
I would also suggest that it is not necessary or inevitable that we lose good things...it is simply the result of failing to preserve them.
I know there has been a little disagreement on when the "Golden Age" of pipe smoking really was. I know that some argue that now is the golden age, since we have online retailers to choose from thousands of tobaccos, and forums like these to tell about which tobaccos are best or which brand of pipe or artisan they like. And, in some regard, I agree.
Pictures like these create a story about a different "golden age" and that this one might be more important. Smoking was socially acceptable, and practiced by most adults to certain degree. Cigarettes were hand rolled and contained special blends of tobaccos (unlike today).
It seems that those of us who enjoy fine tobaccos as a leisurely activity (rather than a vice) have had to move underground. Off the radar. Only to pop up on occasion at pipe clubs, or randomly as solitary pipe smokers. We get scolded for our lifestyle or hobby by those who believe the junk science and propaganda the establishment perpetuates. In this regard, I cannot agree that today is the "golden age."
I find myself hiding my hobby from others (on a professional level) since I am involved with athletics and healthcare. For fear of being scrutinized and having my authority and abilities called into question because I partake in an activity that is so "detrimental to my health." Enjoying a smoke in the morning would necessitate a shower before leaving for work. A smoke after work would cut into time with family, or sleep. I find myself torn between 2 worlds most of the time. Makes my time with a pipe all the more special, but I still wish I could find more time with it.
Pictures like these create a story about a different "golden age" and that this one might be more important. Smoking was socially acceptable, and practiced by most adults to certain degree. Cigarettes were hand rolled and contained special blends of tobaccos (unlike today).
It seems that those of us who enjoy fine tobaccos as a leisurely activity (rather than a vice) have had to move underground. Off the radar. Only to pop up on occasion at pipe clubs, or randomly as solitary pipe smokers. We get scolded for our lifestyle or hobby by those who believe the junk science and propaganda the establishment perpetuates. In this regard, I cannot agree that today is the "golden age."
I find myself hiding my hobby from others (on a professional level) since I am involved with athletics and healthcare. For fear of being scrutinized and having my authority and abilities called into question because I partake in an activity that is so "detrimental to my health." Enjoying a smoke in the morning would necessitate a shower before leaving for work. A smoke after work would cut into time with family, or sleep. I find myself torn between 2 worlds most of the time. Makes my time with a pipe all the more special, but I still wish I could find more time with it.
Steve Laug wrote this short story about visiting a fictitious tobacco shop at the turn of the century. It is a fun read. I was not familiar with an "Electrolier"
http://rebornpipes.wordpress.com/2013/02/12/saturday-at-the-old-pipe-shop/
http://rebornpipes.wordpress.com/2013/02/12/saturday-at-the-old-pipe-shop/
Just another magnificent post. You may want to think about gathering up all these threads and putting them into a single collection.
I really enjoyed the pictures from the past. I understand that a very large percentage of English tobacco shops were destroyed during the bombings of London.
Just found this neat old advertising card, with a nice interior shot and a funny 'lil poem verso, circa 1924.
...a few more:
I was watching Hichcock's Blackmail last night, many of the scenes involved a tobacconist
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackmail_%281929_film%29
I decided to take some screen shots, take note of the Edgeworth being on the shelf, apparently the Brits did indeed enjoy of glorious burley! Also, a scene featured a guy lighting his cigar with an electrolier, as Al pointed out in the linking for Steve Laug's blog, pretty interesting...
I was watching Hichcock's Blackmail last night, many of the scenes involved a tobacconist
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackmail_%281929_film%29
I decided to take some screen shots, take note of the Edgeworth being on the shelf, apparently the Brits did indeed enjoy of glorious burley! Also, a scene featured a guy lighting his cigar with an electrolier, as Al pointed out in the linking for Steve Laug's blog, pretty interesting...
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