St. Louis Pipe Show - A Spender's Recap

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lifesizehobbit

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 23, 2015
913
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While I didn't take any photos of the Pipe Show itself, I am posting a few pic threads in the Pipe Talk forum for the massive PAD Attack I suffered. EMT's were called, but it was too late as I suffered a 4-Pipe Event.
Friday (yes, Friday):

My wife and I set sail for about a 6+ hour ride to St. Louis give or take a few gas and food stops (note, those two are not related). There was an approximate 30mph cross wind on the freeway for almost the entire trip and the soft top on the Wrangler was flapping like Grandma's bloomers clinging to a clothesline on an Illinois farm. We arrived about 4pm and stood in line at the hotel amongst the other pipers checking in. The interior of the elevator was already peppered with handbills announcing which rooms would be open with their glorious briar offerings. I acquired a 12-pipe rack so I can stop using an end table as the gathering place. It was this night that I succumbed to two PAD attacks. The first was a Nording "calabash" style briar that I found in Tony Maddox's estate layout. Tony really does a nice job prepping his pipes and while I don't normally gravitate to that style, something about that pipe called my name. Before the night was over, Tyler Huckfelt snagged me for one of his Huck's Piples - a smaller black stain rusticated chimney. Tyler is a gifted young man and his pipe table almost sold out during the show. I know for a fact that before Saturday dawned, Tyler had sold three pipes in the hotel alone.
Saturday:

We arrived around 9am and the venue was already buzzing with activity. At the welcome table, we were asked if we were Members or Vendors. I clarified that we were Spenders who drove from Ohio just to attend the event. This was met warmly, dare I say with the same vigor as your favorite hound welcoming the master home. We felt easily accepted. This was our first official pipe show in about 15 years (the first being a curiosity more than serious interest) and we enjoyed the routine of making a casual fly over to determine what was where, a more close approach for honest review and then the target run to get pipes. Here I suffered PAD twice more for a Missouri Meerschaum Diplomat; the interesting point about this pipe was that the MM folks had found a barrel of Vulcanite stems in their storage and put them on a limited number of pipes. I of course, called "dibs." Before the day closed for us, we spent time at the Savinelli/Cornell & Diehl table staff by two dapper gentleman with wide smiles. I simply could not walk away without the Savinelli 207 Miehle Honey offering; what a simply beautiful pipe. The deal netted me some C&D samples, an offering of Pete's Briarworks tobacco and a C&D Beard/Banjo T-Shirt.
A note about the Venue:

The hall was very nice and the St. Louis weather cooperated in the most outstanding manner with 78 degrees. Yes, you read that right - 78 degrees and sunny on February 20.
All in all - what a fun time we had not only perusing the wares but meeting some really great, friendly and welcoming people. One can read about the closeness of the pipe community on a Forum and only experience the virtual version. But go to an event like the St. Louis Pipe Show, and you live that camaraderie. Our thanks go out to the folks at the St. Louis Pipe Club, Bob Metzler for making sure the details were posted, and to all of the great people making the event a success for this Spender.
I hope that we'll see you next year!

 
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