Custom-Bill Pipes from NASPC

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tennsmoker

Lifer
Jul 2, 2010
1,157
7
I just received my Custom-Bill pipe, named in honor of the late William E. Unger, Jr., the longtime Secretary/Treasurer and editor of the North American Society of Pipe Collectors newsletter.
Dr. Bill Unger, Ph.D., English, Ohio State University, loved the old Custom-Bilt pipes by Tracy Mincer and even wrote a scholarly book on the now defunct company, The Custom-Bilt Pipe Story.
A year after his death, the NASPC, which Bill helped to originate, decided to have carver Rich Lewis of Minneapolis, MN., carve one of Bill's favorite shapes in the style of the Custom-Bilt. He did and the beautiful pipe is called the "Custom-Bill" to honor the memory and contributions to our hobby of Bill Unger.
I met Bill only once and that was in Richmond, Va., at the C.O.R.P.S. pipe show. After we chatted he asked me if I wanted to join the NASPC. I told him to give me the address and I would send a check, but it would be later, since I was spending all my budget then on pipes and tobaccos.
Sadly, I didn't get around to buying a subscription to the extraordinary newsletter until right before Bill died. I'm still sad about that.
But now I get to honor Bill in a special way: purchasing one of the 25 hand-carved Custom-Bill pipes by one of America's premier pipe carvers.
And, oh, yes, I'm smoking "Bill's Blend" pipe tobacco, a small run of tins of Bill's favorite tobacco by McClelland Tobacco Co. The McClelland "2015" is a blend of orange and red Virginias with a touch of St. James Perique in a flake. It was Bill's all-day smoke.
What a wonderful tribute to one of pipe smoke's great men.
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