THURSDAY: On Thursday Carl Staudenmyer, Club President, and I began our journey to Columbus, OH, for the NASPC Pipe Show. The trip is about 680 miles and we started off at 7:30AM CDT. Once we entered Illinois the amount of road construction really ramped up and Indiana was unbelievable. We were able to navigate all the road construction without any great difficulty, but noticed that eastbound traffic was all but at a standstill in some areas.
We got to the hotel at 6PM CDT (it was actually 7PM EDT as we went through a time change). No problems checking in. The hotel staff was very friendly and helpful.
Rather than unpack we took off for Smoker’s Haven to meet with Premal Chheda and others. Premal is one of the best people in the industry. Unlike most smoke shops in America Premal’s is mainly a pipe shop. He has cigars but that’s not why he is there.
Already at the shop were carvers Bill Walther, Jesse Jones, Nate King, Micah Redmond and Premal. Later we were joined by Joe Nelson and Scott Thile.
Premal’s shop is a smoking establishment so there was plenty of smoke in the air. It was great to have some quality time with the guys. I didn’t realize that Jesse Jones had moved from Texas to be part of Premal’s staff in Columbus.
Nate King was showing off his latest Gear Punk pipe. It was not as large as some of his previous GP pipes, but even for a traditionalist like me I had to admit it was gorgeous. I wish to hell I had a real camera but had to make do with my cell phone.
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Nate King's Latest GearPunk Pipe
After visiting for a bit we decided to go out to eat. We went to something called the Crest that advertised itself as an organic pub. They were even growing their herbs on the roof of the building. The menu was rather of the foo-foo variety so most of us ate a burger. At this point we returned to Smoker’s Haven for another bowl of the best.
About 1AM EDT we journeyed back to the hotel to sleep the sleep of the dead.
FRIDAY: Obviously we slept in on Friday. We finally got in gear and got back to Premal’s at noon. As part of the overall NASPC show he was having a big do at his place. There was a ton of people there. I got a chance to meet and talk to Neil Yarm. He is out of Long Island New York and probably the maker of the most desired pipe stands in the business. He is a real story teller, too.
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Neil Yarm
While at the shop I was clever enough to pick up a couple tins each of Exotique and 20th Anniversary that are private Smoker’s Haven blends. They are extremely good and have some “oomph”.
Premal Chheda & Son Dillon
Premal also carries a wonderful selection of pipes by American carvers including Michael Lindner, Joe Nelson, Jesse Jones, Nate King, Micah Redmond, Bill Shalosky, Premal himself, Bill Walther, and Scott Thile, etc.
About 4PM we journeyed back to the hotel as the NASPC had made a change on the timing of events. They were going to open at 4PM to let the vendors set up and then at 6PM they were going to let the public in. I was a little confused as to how the public was supposed to know we were open, but c’est le vie.
First thing we found out was the NASPC had sold 114 tables, but 39 of them were outside in the hall. You know how fond we are of tables outside of the main hall. It is a great problem to have when that many people want to come to your show. On the other hand having over a third of your customers in the hall is not a good thing. The NASPC may be staring at a venue change or having to reduce the number of tables they sell.
Anyway Carl got the table set up by 6PM and we waited. We weren’t real excited where we were located. We were actually out in the hall and around the corner from the main entrance to the exhibit. This didn’t bode well.
Seems like the visitors were going in to the hall and then when they came out they just turned right and followed all the exhibit tables around to the left. This is where we were. So we have no complaints about the foot traffic we saw. Now if you were out in the exhibit hall on the left side of the main entrance it was not a good thing. Once people got done with the main hall and then following the tables outside to the right they just wouldn’t go down to the tables at the other end.
Saturday: At 9AM the show doors opened to the public. Even early there was pretty good turnout. This wasn’t terribly surprising as Columbus us just a couple hours away from Cincinnati and Cleveland. Gives them a nice population base to draw on.
I first task was to hook up with Shirley Hando. Three years ago I wrote an article titled “The Pipe Carver of Bataan”. That was about Shirley’s Dad John. She had wanted to display her memorabilia at least once at a pipe show and I had told her the Columbus show would be best as it is well attended and only three hours from home.
When she contacted me about attending the show I told her the show was sold out bit the KC club would give her a third of our table. I then told her to call Jeff Knoll (Shoe Honcho) and see what he could do. He had no tables but was able to get CoRPS (whose table was next to ours) to also give up a third of their table for her. Turns out CoRPS couldn’t make so we kept our table and Shirley got one of her own.
This first photo is a picture of the memorabilia she bought. None of this material is from WWII as none of that stuff survived 3-and-a-half years in a Japanese POW camp. The photo doesn’t really do it justice. The best thing she had was all the clippings and letters she had in her notebook on the table.
Hando Display
Her Dad continued to carve pipes after the war with what we would today consider pretty primitive tools. You can see below in the photograph that he had some pretty serious skills.
John Hando's Pipes
I was gratefully surprised at how many people stopped and talked to her about her Dad’s memorabilia. At times some eyes got pretty damp.
The photo below is Shirley holding her Dad’s uniform. The medal in the center bottom is a Bronze Star. There is also a WWII Prisoner of War medal.
Sheely Hando & Her Dad's Uniform
If you didn’t see the original article and would like to just email me and I will email it back. Well worth the read.
About 10AM the show hosts began announcing raffle winners. The prizes were generally modest but a ticket only cost a $1. They also began selling this year’s Hobbit tobacco. They had 175 tins each of Red Goblin and Brown Goblin. I had always figured these tins sold like hotcakes considering the value they command on eBay. But they don’t. By mid-afternoon the two tin limit was removed and you could buy all you wanted. I figured 9 tins of each was enough.
Below are Joe Nelson and Scott Thile with the charming Kate Jones in the background.
We got to the hotel at 6PM CDT (it was actually 7PM EDT as we went through a time change). No problems checking in. The hotel staff was very friendly and helpful.
Rather than unpack we took off for Smoker’s Haven to meet with Premal Chheda and others. Premal is one of the best people in the industry. Unlike most smoke shops in America Premal’s is mainly a pipe shop. He has cigars but that’s not why he is there.
Already at the shop were carvers Bill Walther, Jesse Jones, Nate King, Micah Redmond and Premal. Later we were joined by Joe Nelson and Scott Thile.
Premal’s shop is a smoking establishment so there was plenty of smoke in the air. It was great to have some quality time with the guys. I didn’t realize that Jesse Jones had moved from Texas to be part of Premal’s staff in Columbus.
Nate King was showing off his latest Gear Punk pipe. It was not as large as some of his previous GP pipes, but even for a traditionalist like me I had to admit it was gorgeous. I wish to hell I had a real camera but had to make do with my cell phone.
Nate King's Latest GearPunk Pipe
After visiting for a bit we decided to go out to eat. We went to something called the Crest that advertised itself as an organic pub. They were even growing their herbs on the roof of the building. The menu was rather of the foo-foo variety so most of us ate a burger. At this point we returned to Smoker’s Haven for another bowl of the best.
About 1AM EDT we journeyed back to the hotel to sleep the sleep of the dead.
FRIDAY: Obviously we slept in on Friday. We finally got in gear and got back to Premal’s at noon. As part of the overall NASPC show he was having a big do at his place. There was a ton of people there. I got a chance to meet and talk to Neil Yarm. He is out of Long Island New York and probably the maker of the most desired pipe stands in the business. He is a real story teller, too.
Neil Yarm
While at the shop I was clever enough to pick up a couple tins each of Exotique and 20th Anniversary that are private Smoker’s Haven blends. They are extremely good and have some “oomph”.
Premal Chheda & Son Dillon
Premal also carries a wonderful selection of pipes by American carvers including Michael Lindner, Joe Nelson, Jesse Jones, Nate King, Micah Redmond, Bill Shalosky, Premal himself, Bill Walther, and Scott Thile, etc.
About 4PM we journeyed back to the hotel as the NASPC had made a change on the timing of events. They were going to open at 4PM to let the vendors set up and then at 6PM they were going to let the public in. I was a little confused as to how the public was supposed to know we were open, but c’est le vie.
First thing we found out was the NASPC had sold 114 tables, but 39 of them were outside in the hall. You know how fond we are of tables outside of the main hall. It is a great problem to have when that many people want to come to your show. On the other hand having over a third of your customers in the hall is not a good thing. The NASPC may be staring at a venue change or having to reduce the number of tables they sell.
Anyway Carl got the table set up by 6PM and we waited. We weren’t real excited where we were located. We were actually out in the hall and around the corner from the main entrance to the exhibit. This didn’t bode well.
Seems like the visitors were going in to the hall and then when they came out they just turned right and followed all the exhibit tables around to the left. This is where we were. So we have no complaints about the foot traffic we saw. Now if you were out in the exhibit hall on the left side of the main entrance it was not a good thing. Once people got done with the main hall and then following the tables outside to the right they just wouldn’t go down to the tables at the other end.
Saturday: At 9AM the show doors opened to the public. Even early there was pretty good turnout. This wasn’t terribly surprising as Columbus us just a couple hours away from Cincinnati and Cleveland. Gives them a nice population base to draw on.
I first task was to hook up with Shirley Hando. Three years ago I wrote an article titled “The Pipe Carver of Bataan”. That was about Shirley’s Dad John. She had wanted to display her memorabilia at least once at a pipe show and I had told her the Columbus show would be best as it is well attended and only three hours from home.
When she contacted me about attending the show I told her the show was sold out bit the KC club would give her a third of our table. I then told her to call Jeff Knoll (Shoe Honcho) and see what he could do. He had no tables but was able to get CoRPS (whose table was next to ours) to also give up a third of their table for her. Turns out CoRPS couldn’t make so we kept our table and Shirley got one of her own.
This first photo is a picture of the memorabilia she bought. None of this material is from WWII as none of that stuff survived 3-and-a-half years in a Japanese POW camp. The photo doesn’t really do it justice. The best thing she had was all the clippings and letters she had in her notebook on the table.
Hando Display
Her Dad continued to carve pipes after the war with what we would today consider pretty primitive tools. You can see below in the photograph that he had some pretty serious skills.
John Hando's Pipes
I was gratefully surprised at how many people stopped and talked to her about her Dad’s memorabilia. At times some eyes got pretty damp.
The photo below is Shirley holding her Dad’s uniform. The medal in the center bottom is a Bronze Star. There is also a WWII Prisoner of War medal.
Sheely Hando & Her Dad's Uniform
If you didn’t see the original article and would like to just email me and I will email it back. Well worth the read.
About 10AM the show hosts began announcing raffle winners. The prizes were generally modest but a ticket only cost a $1. They also began selling this year’s Hobbit tobacco. They had 175 tins each of Red Goblin and Brown Goblin. I had always figured these tins sold like hotcakes considering the value they command on eBay. But they don’t. By mid-afternoon the two tin limit was removed and you could buy all you wanted. I figured 9 tins of each was enough.
Below are Joe Nelson and Scott Thile with the charming Kate Jones in the background.