Milwaukee Pipe Show
- Thread starter hauntedmyst
- Start date
SmokingPipes.com Updates
Watch for Updates Twice a Week
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
Site Sponsors
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
- Status
Yes. I have a table. I am looking forward to the Show. The Milwaukee show is a great event, always a good summer event in the pipe world. I urge everyone to try to attend.
Milwaukee Show is tomorrow. Let's all go and smoke there. Buy a pipe and some tobacco. It's a great show and a good time will be had by all!
It was my first time at the Milwaukee show and it was an interesting somewhat bitter sweet experience. The only other pipe show I've been to is Chicago and I figured well, Milwaukee is about 30% the size of Chicago, the show will be about 30% the size of Chicago but my estimate was far off. It was a very small show. I'd guess they had 30 tables, only about 15 of which were occupied. Pipe & Pint was there, as was Hermit Tobacco who both had nice spreads of pipes. Another person who I didn't know was Mr. Can who also goes by that name on ebay and he had a very nice range of pipes. Another couple was there who can a nice range of new pipes and an even nicer range of tobaccos. They had 3 tins of Caminetto Lombardo and I snagged them all. Aside from that, the rest was personal collections for sale or trade. The sweetest part of the show was that I was able to trade a pipe for a gorgeous Dunhill group 6 Shell bulldog. The bitter part for me was that I think at the time, I was the one of if not the only visitor and this was in the middle of the show. If this show is any barometer, then our hobby is in more trouble than I thought. Perhaps it was just my expectations and perhaps this was their biggest show yet and had a huge crowd when the show opened and by noon when I arrived, all the locals had gone home. If not then financially I can't imagine that at best any of the vendors did much more than break even. I'll go back next year to see if I can make any more interesting trades and be happy to be with more brothers of the briar.
It's not easy to organize a pipe show, and market it and promote it. I don't think you can gauge the barometer of the entire pipe market by a local pipe show.
While there are definitely threats to the hobby, such as anti-smoking and tobacco tax legislation, the good news is that it does seem to be in a slow growth mode right now.
Personally, I am quite passionate about growing the hobby and have several plans in the works to do so. There are some big challenges, but they only strengthen my resolve.
Not to highjack a thread about the Milwaukee Pipe Show, but your concern about the hobby struck a chord.
More specific to pipe clubs and pipe shows, PipesMagazine.com is in the midst of allocating resources to work more closely with pipe clubs and to promote pipe shows.
Without airing dirty laundry, I will tell you it is waaay easier said than done.
While there are definitely threats to the hobby, such as anti-smoking and tobacco tax legislation, the good news is that it does seem to be in a slow growth mode right now.
Personally, I am quite passionate about growing the hobby and have several plans in the works to do so. There are some big challenges, but they only strengthen my resolve.
Not to highjack a thread about the Milwaukee Pipe Show, but your concern about the hobby struck a chord.
More specific to pipe clubs and pipe shows, PipesMagazine.com is in the midst of allocating resources to work more closely with pipe clubs and to promote pipe shows.
Without airing dirty laundry, I will tell you it is waaay easier said than done.
- Status