My sincerest apologies as I have been a member here for some time and from the very beginning did not introduce myself.
My name is Randy Evans, I have been a pipe smoker off and on for eighteen years. Pipesmoking, for me, started about a year after I got married. My wife and I were talking about starting a family and for some reason I had the “Father Knows Best / Leave It To Beaver” picture of fatherhood in my head. Naturally, shows of that era had no issue with portraying men smoking pipes as an everyday thing. I liked the idea, but where to start?
At the time, I lived in the Washington DC area and Fair Oaks Mall was a quick drive. I ended up at John B. Hayes Tobacconist on a Saturday afternoon. It was amazing...the different smells of the tobaccos, everyone was very friendly, and you could actually smoke in the store..WOW!! I was like a kid in a candy store with a pocket full of money! Needless to say..within a couple of hours, I had picked out my first pipe, (Savinelli De Lux), my first tobacco, (LL 1Q), and all of the little “toys” that went along with it. And with that, I entered into the wonderful world of pipes.
Soon, I became a fixture at JBH. I couldn’t get enough, and before I knew it, I was working there part time. It was also at this time, the store manager, told me about this “new” pipe smokers club that had just started. It was called CAPS, (Capital Area Pipe Smokers), and it met every other month at a local restaurant in Fairfax. JBH and another local tobacco store, (Old Virginia Tobacco Company), were sponsors and would often donate pipes, tobacco, cigars and other “goodies” to be raffled. I went to my first meeting and had a great time. We sampled various tobaccos and I believe that night, Gary Pesh of OVTC, brought in Eric Nording as our guest speaker. By the time the meeting ended, I was into pipes more than I had ever imagined. I wanted to know all about them, history, present, and future. I wanted to know all about tobacco, or should I say tobacco’s as I soon learned that there were so many different blends, that it would be easier to try and count the stars than try to count all of the different blends.
Fast forward four years, and I became President of CAPS, I had one desire, to have a pipe show in the Washington DC area. I had been traveling with Matt Hayes and we had been doing the Pipe Show circuit. During that time, I had the good fortune to meet many of the pipe makers that are spoken about so highly on this forum. I had worked with some of the top retailers in the country and had endless discussions with whoever would listen about a show in DC again. In 2002, we had our first show, followed by two more in 03 and 04. They were a blast and we were fortunate enough to have the top talent at them, (both in pipe making and pipe retail). In 05, I stepped down as club president and moved from the DC area. It was also around this time, that I went gonzo with online pipe shopping. Most of the folks that I had met during the shows, also had website’s and man, it was so easy to pull the trigger on a pipe and pretty soon I had amassed a collection of well over three hundred pipes. I had no less than thirty Dunhill ODA’s and countless other high end pipes. I had pipes that retailed well over the 3K mark and I couldn’t get enough. I was always on the search for the “next trophy” or “conquest”.
That last part was not said in order to boast or brag, it was said as a lead in to 2010. I was sitting in the “man cave” looking at the pipes in the huge pipe rack on the wall and it hit me. I had lost the original concept of “why” I had picked up a pipe in the first place. Pipes, for me, had turned into nothing more than the next acquisition. It had lost the charm and I had become a pipe hoarder. (I mean that literally) I then made a decision that I had to step away from it completely. I sold almost all of the pipes. I did keep three for their sentimental value, a Dunhill that had been a gift from my wife and daughter, a Karl Erik that had been a gift from my parents, and a Sam Learned CAPS ‘04 POY. The rest went. I did not look at a pipe, smoke a pipe, attend a pipe show or really have anything to do with a pipe. (Other than occasionally read the forums)
That was three years ago. Now I have picked up the pipe again. Not to collect, not to hunt for the next “trophy”, but to sit back, relax and enjoy the moment of actually smoking a pipe again. I don’t do it all of the time, I may not smoke a pipe for two or three days at a time. I still have the three pipes that I kept and have added one, a Dr. Grabow. I smoke a cheap, LL cherry/vanilla blend that can be picked up in most local drugstores, (and surprisingly, it has a really good flavor). I am also enjoying the pipe in a way that I had forgotten existed. Maybe it’s me, a lot older, a little wiser - (those that already know me would probably say that’s debatable), and a bit more relaxed.
Well, that’s who I am and I do enjoy reading the posts here, and although I do not post a lot, will try to make sure that when I do post, it will hopefully, add to the conversation and not detract.
My name is Randy Evans, I have been a pipe smoker off and on for eighteen years. Pipesmoking, for me, started about a year after I got married. My wife and I were talking about starting a family and for some reason I had the “Father Knows Best / Leave It To Beaver” picture of fatherhood in my head. Naturally, shows of that era had no issue with portraying men smoking pipes as an everyday thing. I liked the idea, but where to start?
At the time, I lived in the Washington DC area and Fair Oaks Mall was a quick drive. I ended up at John B. Hayes Tobacconist on a Saturday afternoon. It was amazing...the different smells of the tobaccos, everyone was very friendly, and you could actually smoke in the store..WOW!! I was like a kid in a candy store with a pocket full of money! Needless to say..within a couple of hours, I had picked out my first pipe, (Savinelli De Lux), my first tobacco, (LL 1Q), and all of the little “toys” that went along with it. And with that, I entered into the wonderful world of pipes.
Soon, I became a fixture at JBH. I couldn’t get enough, and before I knew it, I was working there part time. It was also at this time, the store manager, told me about this “new” pipe smokers club that had just started. It was called CAPS, (Capital Area Pipe Smokers), and it met every other month at a local restaurant in Fairfax. JBH and another local tobacco store, (Old Virginia Tobacco Company), were sponsors and would often donate pipes, tobacco, cigars and other “goodies” to be raffled. I went to my first meeting and had a great time. We sampled various tobaccos and I believe that night, Gary Pesh of OVTC, brought in Eric Nording as our guest speaker. By the time the meeting ended, I was into pipes more than I had ever imagined. I wanted to know all about them, history, present, and future. I wanted to know all about tobacco, or should I say tobacco’s as I soon learned that there were so many different blends, that it would be easier to try and count the stars than try to count all of the different blends.
Fast forward four years, and I became President of CAPS, I had one desire, to have a pipe show in the Washington DC area. I had been traveling with Matt Hayes and we had been doing the Pipe Show circuit. During that time, I had the good fortune to meet many of the pipe makers that are spoken about so highly on this forum. I had worked with some of the top retailers in the country and had endless discussions with whoever would listen about a show in DC again. In 2002, we had our first show, followed by two more in 03 and 04. They were a blast and we were fortunate enough to have the top talent at them, (both in pipe making and pipe retail). In 05, I stepped down as club president and moved from the DC area. It was also around this time, that I went gonzo with online pipe shopping. Most of the folks that I had met during the shows, also had website’s and man, it was so easy to pull the trigger on a pipe and pretty soon I had amassed a collection of well over three hundred pipes. I had no less than thirty Dunhill ODA’s and countless other high end pipes. I had pipes that retailed well over the 3K mark and I couldn’t get enough. I was always on the search for the “next trophy” or “conquest”.
That last part was not said in order to boast or brag, it was said as a lead in to 2010. I was sitting in the “man cave” looking at the pipes in the huge pipe rack on the wall and it hit me. I had lost the original concept of “why” I had picked up a pipe in the first place. Pipes, for me, had turned into nothing more than the next acquisition. It had lost the charm and I had become a pipe hoarder. (I mean that literally) I then made a decision that I had to step away from it completely. I sold almost all of the pipes. I did keep three for their sentimental value, a Dunhill that had been a gift from my wife and daughter, a Karl Erik that had been a gift from my parents, and a Sam Learned CAPS ‘04 POY. The rest went. I did not look at a pipe, smoke a pipe, attend a pipe show or really have anything to do with a pipe. (Other than occasionally read the forums)
That was three years ago. Now I have picked up the pipe again. Not to collect, not to hunt for the next “trophy”, but to sit back, relax and enjoy the moment of actually smoking a pipe again. I don’t do it all of the time, I may not smoke a pipe for two or three days at a time. I still have the three pipes that I kept and have added one, a Dr. Grabow. I smoke a cheap, LL cherry/vanilla blend that can be picked up in most local drugstores, (and surprisingly, it has a really good flavor). I am also enjoying the pipe in a way that I had forgotten existed. Maybe it’s me, a lot older, a little wiser - (those that already know me would probably say that’s debatable), and a bit more relaxed.
Well, that’s who I am and I do enjoy reading the posts here, and although I do not post a lot, will try to make sure that when I do post, it will hopefully, add to the conversation and not detract.
