Father the Flame, PAD, TAD, and more!

Hey everyone,
My lady and I went up to Grand Rapids to meet up with the Gentlemen of the Briar and the guys who are doing the Father the Flame documentary yesterday at Indian River Tobacco Traders.
It was a great afternoon! As with most of us, I anticipated buying some tobacco to support the shop, but never anticipated this!
http://imgur.com/a/v3WYE
PAD struck me like lightning out of a clear blue sky. The pipe is from RobEsArt, who can be found on Etsy. I've watched his work for the past year, but never anticipated actually owning one. A super handsome rhodesian, half blasted, half smooth with a reddish stain and semi-clear acrylic inlay on the stem. Haven't smoked it yet, but plan to soon. It's well constructed, and lighter than it looks.
I bought all the Briar Pipe Wipe they had. It's no longer in production, and works more than passing well for a guy who doesn't have a buffing wheel. I bought the Capstan Blue and Three Nuns as I've never had it before.

I made these purchases in the first fifteen minutes of my arrival. I knew I had to have these things, and didn't prefer spending time mulling around the store when I could be chatting with other pipe smokers. That, and with other pipe smokers coming soon (I showed up early), I knew I had to buy what I wanted or kick the dirt later. Imagine an overprotective dog with a bone. The slaver running from my mouth doesn't factor into the metaphor.. much.
We chatted up the manager of the store/ president of GotB for a while and made our way into the lounge. The lounge is comprised of two different sitting areas, and is all plush leather. I packed a Teipen pipe with MacBaren VA Flake, and Gabbie packed a Posella with Dan's Blue Note (yes, ever the gentleman, I bought her ladyship a tin). After about 10 minutes, some folks from the club and community started filtering in. It was a strange scenario for a moment. Looking around, there were more women smoking pipes than men!
The guys from FtF came in, and began making trips to bring in their equipment. Their setup time took more than an hour. I lolled back, watching them at work. It was fascinating. Gabbie and I were lucky enough to be filmed in one of their two B-shots for the documentary.
Let me tell you-- this is no hokey production. From advanced lighting to red eye cameras, they were top notch for being a personal and crowd funded production. For what will probably be a 3 to 10 second B-shot in the film, we probably did a half hour or more of filming shots, and a good 45 minutes of equipment set up. These guys really care about making this thing come out right. And hey, even if our shot doesn't make the documentary, we both had fun doing it.
I had the opportunity to sit down with Chad and Rush last October to do an interview with them in an upcoming video series I'm working on. After the shots were done, we talked about both our projects. I expressed my apologies to him for not getting the interview out sooner, but I want my hokey little production to come out the best it can. He spoke about his recent trip overseas to visit Mimmo and a huge number of pipe makers, pipe tobacco manufacturers, and more.
He told me about how well he utilized his time there, and how exhausting it was. He would get shots in one location, and the whole crew would jump in a car, and go to another country to get another shot. This happened without stop for about two weeks, catching sleep in the car when they could. Chad expressed that he would like to make a book about some of the neat things they did over there, and the documentary as a whole. I gave him some information to get in touch with Gary Schrier at Briar Books Press. I hope they are able to see the book idea to fruition.
Here are some more photos from my day:
http://imgur.com/a/bXcUY
Chad (left) and Rush (right) are at the helm of the Father the Flame project. Gabbie smoking her Posella shortly after our filming. Shots of the lounge. Shots of some of the lighting equipment used. Shots of the interior of Indian River Tobacco Traders.
Chad also expressed that they would have a rough version of the documentary done by the Chicago Pipe Show, and will be finished with the project in the fall.
All in all, it was a great day.

Here's some general responses to what people are saying:
-The pipe is really slick. I've since smoked it, and I'm very happy with it.

-The Briar Pipe Wipe works like a charm. Great for doing some quick shining and spot maintenance.

-Hipsters? No. They're young people. Thirty-somethings. The whole crew has full-time jobs and they're doing this project on the side. Money doesn't come easily. I'd probably have to resort to crowd-funding the project as well. For all of them to be able to do what they did filming overseas lately is akin to herding cats. I think this movie is going to be really special, watching them work and talking with them; you can tell it's a labor of love. I doubt anyone will be that disappointed, and imagine it's probably very easy to sit behind a keyboard impatiently and judge. I recall Chad saying that on top of DVD sales, he was going to do some film festivals, and try to get it on Netflix as well. The overall impact that this movie will have is going to be considerable if things work out.

@smokeytay33- I thought that was an odd rule as well. If you ever wanted to get together and smoke, shoot me a PM. I'm in Holland, and my girlfriend smokes pipes as well. I plan on checking out one of their meetings, but think it's unfortunate that women aren't allowed. Women pipe smokers were certainly not a minority during my visit!