Pipe club activities

I too have been left with the steering wheel of our pipe club. I am planning an ugly pipe contest for next month. I usually rely on the owner of the B&M for advice, and he gets us pipe makers and tobacco reps to come talk to us. But, sometimes it's just nice to try new blends and talk about pipe stuff, hiking, gardening, or whatever we find interesting. We are lucky to have some real characters in the club to keep things interesting.

I and a few others posted a list of ideas for pipe clubs on another thread a few months back. Take a look around posts. There are a lot of really good ideas on this forum.

Blind blend contest

Smoking contests

"Pipe 101" seminars for younger smokers where you pass on your experience

Silent auctions benefiting charity

Pipe Smoker of the Month

Ugliest pipe contest

Corn Cob Club

Everyone try one person's favorite blend

Pipe show road trip planning

Topless Swedish masseuse bounce house

Strip poker

Wait, what was this about?

I like the unstructured ones also. But, we've found that some of the younger guys tend to quietly come in, stay a short while, and leave. On days that we have something going on, we've been able to get these youngsters to engage with us gray beards and make them feel more a part of the club. Even just a short something that gives them some sense of structure tends to get them to open up and start interacting. Sometimes a room full old guys with pipes can make these young guys feel a little intimidated. Structure can level the field sometimes, and then you can kick back and just let it all fall into something more comfortable as the meeting progresses. Starting with something structured and then letting it fall into something more social is much easier than trying to tighten the group up after everyone has fallen into small groups social stuff. Just my observation.
IMO, you don't have to create a huge dog and pony show, just start with something, anything, preferably something to get people interacting, especially the newbies. They are the ones that stand the most to benefit from being in a club. Just my 2 cents.

I'm with Al on this. Our little club started with just 2 of us and now we get up to 10 guys. Someone usually has something different for the group to try and Sutliff has been very generous by sending us monthly shipments of blends to share but, mostly, we BS, eat, drink and laugh our asses off. Enjoying the company of a group of other pipers seems so suit everyone there and let's face it, for the guys still working sitting in another "meeting" isn't as special as calling it a gathering.

Also, the thought of having any kind of structure with woodsroad and Danny Chlebove in the same room is not in the cards. :D

I could see if it was a small club, but most nights we have about twenty to thirty guys. So, it is easy for a new guy to come in stand in the back, and slip out. But, even just a taste testing of a few blends could be enough. You don't have to dictate a bunch of structure. Hey, actually if it is very small, maybe just leaving it laid back is better.

I tried to interest John in a couple of community service projects for the club, but he has shown no interest at all.
"Pipes For The Homeless" would attempt to match the downtrodden, shiftless and itinerate problem drinkers in our town with an appropriate briar and blend. A short questionaire would help determine their taste in wine, cuisine and literature, and club members would then set to work in making suggestions for possible pipe and tobacco combinations. A good pipe can lift a man's spirit, and I'm certain that after a few contemplative bowls, they would all be back in the saddle as Captains of Industry in our little burg.
"Green with Dottle" would encourage pipe smokers to save their dottle for recycling. Every year, untold numbers of pounds of dottle get sent to the landfill. This is sad, since most dottle (with the exception of Ennerdale) can be recycled into fine shoe insoles for returning veterans. Smoke a bowl, save the planet and shod a vet. What could be better?
"Grandpa and Me". There's a lot of kids out there without granparents. That's sad. Even though some of our club members are younger than John's daughter, put a pipe in their mouth, and they all look like codgers. This program would have club members don an old sweater or "Members Only" jacket, spark up a bowl of "Mixture 79" and hang out in the lunchrooms and playgrounds of local elementary schools. We could regale kids with memories of rotary dials, cassette tapes and Republican presidents. We could pass out candy cigarettes and bubblegum cigars, and let the good kids have couple of puffs from Grandpa's Pipe. This kind of thing could make all the difference between a happy, obediant child and a whoremongering, crackhead ghetto surfer.
I just think that we need to do what we can to give back a little.