STOLEN PIPES from Chicago Pipe Show

admin · May 10, 2018

This is an unfortunate PipesMagazine.com PSA:
Several pipes were stolen before the opening of the Chicago Pipe Show. A list and some pictures are below. If you see one or more of these pipes on the internet, at a pipe show, or offered for sale anywhere, please call St. Charles, Illinois Police Detective Bauwens at 630-443-3825.
Pipe, Description, Approximate value
B. Nordh Sweden, Sandblast tomato, $8,000

Jess Chonowitsch, Fish, $6,000

Sixten Ivarsson, New Oliphant, $6,000

Sixten Ivarsson, bent billiard, $3,000

Sixten Ivarsson, bent billiard horn insert, $3,000

Jess Chonowitsch, Bamboo Brandy, $3,000

Comoy's Extraordinaire, Ginat bent with silver inlaid, $800

Comoys Super Magnum, New silver inlaid, $2,000

Comoys 800, Paneled, $700

Dunhill Magnum, Shell bent, $2,500

Dunhill 842, Shell tall billiard, $800

Tokutomi, Fugu Fish, $2,500

J. Chonowitsch, New tanshell poker, $3,000

8 Barlings Make, EXEXEL Billiards, $3,200 (aprox $400 each)

2 Dunhill LB, Root briar, $700 ( $350 each)

2 Dunhill LB, Shell Briar, $500 ($250)

Cornelius manz A, NEW fish, $3,000

P. Hedegaard, Bamboo billiard, $350

bluegrassbrian · May 10, 2018

I saw the top 4 mentioned on Instagram. Had no idea the actual lot was so big. That's a devastating loss. I hope they can get recovered before they end up in China or someone's black market basement.

cosmicfolklore · May 10, 2018

That sucks!! Was this all in one swipe, or was this from various vendors throughout the show?

admin · May 10, 2018

I think a hotel room was broken into before the show started. That's a lot of trust in just a hotel room door lock. These should have been locked in a safe that's too big to run away with.
And if they went to China, they're likely gone for good.

pappymac · May 10, 2018

You would think the hotel would have a little better security since this seems to happen each year.

tbradsim1 · May 10, 2018

That's horrible, disgusting, but where the venue is in close proximity to Chi town, lucky some of you weren't shot. No Honor in this world anymore.

briarblues · May 10, 2018

Good Day All;
My understanding is that the owner was "mugged / robbed" in front of the hotel, in the parking lot. A large amount of cash, which is most likely what the thieves were after, was taken, plus a pack sack with the pipes.
I suspect the pipes were tossed into a dumpster ( which makes me cringe at the loss , as the thieves probably had no idea what the pipes are worth.
This was not a room break in.
Regards

Michael J. Glukler

admin · May 10, 2018

Wow! That's much worse. Thanks for the clarification, Mike.

cosmicfolklore · May 10, 2018

Uggg, that makes it worse, assuming they all just got tossed.

Pipes really just don't have any value to anyone but the 1-2% of the population who has ever even heard of Dunhill, much less any of those other carvers. Yeh, before I ever went inside a real pipe shop, I would have just assumed a pipe was about $10-30.

jvnshr · May 10, 2018

Sorry to hear that. I just hope they will be found.

scotties22 · May 10, 2018

Yeah, he was rolled in the parking lot as he was coming back from the bank. It's a bit fishy and sounds like someone at the bank may have had a hand in it. More than likely they were after the cash and got a nice surprise in the pipes.

georged · May 10, 2018

It was not on the hotel grounds, Mike. Rodrigo got jumped while on foot not far from the bank where he'd just withdrawn $40K. The bad guys took his entire backpack---money and pipes. The pipes seem to have gone along for the ride.
The $40K withdrawal had been arranged a week in advance (that much cash requires arranging), meaning the investigation is looking hard at the chain of communication at the bank, not the show.

mso489 · May 10, 2018

briarblues report on the hotel parking lot mugging changes the whole picture. When i read down the list of pipes, I thought, boy, these thieves really knew what they were after, an inside job. This raises the remote possibility that they'll turn up at the local pawn shop. brad, St. Charles/Pheasant Run, is a ways from Chicago, and the crime scenes that suggests, but it could be big city muggers. Maybe security cameras caught the action and the local law enforcement will take some time, given the value of the loot. Great pipes. It's like the art heist at the Elizabeth Gardner Museum in Boston years ago, major works of art, still unsolved. This is the pipe culture version.
georged's post popped up after I wrote that ... the story evolves. No parking lot mugging. Big bundle of cash. Oh boy.

mikethompson · May 10, 2018

That's bad news all around - lets hope for a positive conclusion

cosmicfolklore · May 10, 2018

I really do hope they turn up in a pawn shop or just get returned.
But, to put it in perspective, if you were given $40k, and a bag of purses, would you even think to look up the name brands of the purses to see if they were worth thousands of dollars? Plus, where would you go to get thousands for a purse? Do the names Birkin, Fuchsia, or Hermes mean anything to you? Nah, me neither, I would toss them in the garbage. And, unless the heist was pulled off by one of us 1-2% pipe smokers, which is doubtful, they probably ended up in the dumpster, where the handbags would have gone.

bannyc9 · May 10, 2018

This is sickening

sablebrush52 · May 10, 2018

That's pretty damned awful. Last year there was the table top theft at KC. This sounds like it might have been something different. At least Rodrigo wasn't injured(?). So it's a loss, but not a tragedy.

weezell · May 10, 2018

No Honor in this world anymore.

Yes...

mso489 · May 10, 2018

Just to play at armchair detective, if I were the local deputy or whoever, I'd look into whether the heist was just a random lucky grab, or if as suggested in someone else's post, the cash was sniffed out in advance. If it was more calculated, the cash might be associated with the pipe show, and the pipe show might suggest that the pipes could be of value. I think a thief would look over his haul, and the pipes in their socks, all spiffed up for the show, might suggest a cash return. This could depend on the fence, if he was saavy about merchandise other than guns and electronics. Probably not in St. Charles, but certainly in Chicago. Either could be true. Toss 'em in the dumpster, or carefully process the goods. The dumpster is more likely, yes, but the other also regularly occurs.

hoosierpipeguy · May 10, 2018

That's awful, thank goodness he wasn't harmed physically. These days, I wouldn't leave a bank with $40,000 in hand unless I had an armed guard with me.

STOLEN PIPES from Chicago Pipe Show

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