I have finally managed to get my hands on my latest PAD/TAD purchase from smokingpipes.com. Getting the package turned into a city wide scavenger hunt... yet this somehow made it that much better when I opened it up.
I had ordered a nice Vauen Vesuv 493 and an estate Savenelli Capri Camio Grain. Along with a tin of Peterson's Perfect Plug and John Aylesbury Mixture No 666. This was a full work week with me working 9am to 9pm on the day the package was due to arrive. Needles to say that left me a bit nervous. So I come home at around 10pm nearly bouncing as I am sure to have a package waiting for me and... nothing. I check my email to find an automated message from UPS informing me that the package has an invalid address that they will attempt to correct. "Aw Hell" Is about all I could think of for a few moments. I go back and check the address information on my order and sure enough the typo daemon has struck again. I had some how entered an additional 1 into the address. So I call UPS and surprisingly get a real live human being and midnight. They inform me that they are unable to correct the address over the phone but that the package should be held at the warehouse shipping office. All I have to do is go in with my tracking number and my ID and all should be well. Thankfully I don't have work till 1PM and have the time to get my package and enjoy the treasures that lie within.
Next morning I am there at 10am when the shipping office opens. I give the lady my tracking number and receive a confused and concerned look in return. That sinking feeling kicks in and I know my relaxing afternoon is doomed. She kindly informs me that the package was not held last night as it should have been and was instead loaded on the truck and bound for its "corrected" address... which is still wrong. Thankfully the truck is making its rounds near by and I can meet up with the driver and all should be well.
When I catch the driver at the main entrance to one of the large hospitals where he attempts to hand me a package bound for Westminster. "... Um I am here for the package that had the wrong address yesterday. It was from Laudisi Enterprises, Inc. bound for *wrong address*" I am quickly informed that he put that package on another drivers truck as the corrected address was no longer on his delivery rout. I am then informed that I will get a call on my cell after Susan does some research and tracks down where the package has migrated as it has not been scanned after being loaded onto the truck I ma at.
Almost as soon as I walk in the door I get the call that my package has been located for sure this time and I am asked if I can go to the "corrected" wrong address within 10 minutes. I tell her I will need to google it to find out. She takes this as a no and sends the driver on his way. I arrive at the address within 5 minutes but the driver has moved on. I get a call back from Susan informing me of the new meet point in 20 minutes. I let her know I am at the bad address and ask what the drivers rout is to see if I can hunt him down before that time.
Thus the great UPS scavenger hunt begins. She gives me the drivers next 10 drop off points before the meet up point and away I go. With half of downtown cut off due to it being road construction season (the only other season besides winter here) it is a merry chase. I managed to meet every other ups driver that works down town ,totaling 8, before I catch sight of Mike's truck. I manage to follow him for his next 3 stops but am unable to actually catch him due to the construction work until he arrives at the assigned meet up point (which just so happens to be a previous employer of mine).
I retrieve my package and scurry home, arriving with a scant 30 minutes before I have to leave for work. I tear into the box happily extracting my pipes and tobacco. The Vauen is much much more then the pictures showed and I am happy as can be with it. The tobacco arrived without harm and the 200g tin of no 666 is HUGE. I look at the Camio instantly falling in love with its craggy texture. As I am fiddling with it I realize that the stem has become very loose in transit. I am suitably bummed until I remember the Dr.Chuck pipe repair post on here from a while back. I read through and flair out the tenon, after heating for 10 seconds with a lighter, by pressing it on a flat surface. I cool it off and try a test fit. "WHOOT!" It is a perfect fit and all is right with the world. As I am beginning to get ready for work I notice that there are a few things still in my box of goodies. This is odd as I have already gotten everything on the invoice. I dig about in the packing peanuts to find a 1.5 ounce sample of Altadis 1M and a package of tapered pipe cleaners.
I promptly stuffed the little Camio full of the 1M and began puffing away. I absolutely fell in love with the blend and the pipe and couldn't stop puffing tell I was about to walk through the doors at work. It is possibly one of the best smokes I have ever had. It actually stayed lit the entire ride to work ,which is a first, as well as being the first light/aromatic blend I have enjoyed.
Here is the Camio
And this is the Vauen
These pictures where "borrowed" from smokingpipes.com I will have some of my own up eventually.
I had ordered a nice Vauen Vesuv 493 and an estate Savenelli Capri Camio Grain. Along with a tin of Peterson's Perfect Plug and John Aylesbury Mixture No 666. This was a full work week with me working 9am to 9pm on the day the package was due to arrive. Needles to say that left me a bit nervous. So I come home at around 10pm nearly bouncing as I am sure to have a package waiting for me and... nothing. I check my email to find an automated message from UPS informing me that the package has an invalid address that they will attempt to correct. "Aw Hell" Is about all I could think of for a few moments. I go back and check the address information on my order and sure enough the typo daemon has struck again. I had some how entered an additional 1 into the address. So I call UPS and surprisingly get a real live human being and midnight. They inform me that they are unable to correct the address over the phone but that the package should be held at the warehouse shipping office. All I have to do is go in with my tracking number and my ID and all should be well. Thankfully I don't have work till 1PM and have the time to get my package and enjoy the treasures that lie within.
Next morning I am there at 10am when the shipping office opens. I give the lady my tracking number and receive a confused and concerned look in return. That sinking feeling kicks in and I know my relaxing afternoon is doomed. She kindly informs me that the package was not held last night as it should have been and was instead loaded on the truck and bound for its "corrected" address... which is still wrong. Thankfully the truck is making its rounds near by and I can meet up with the driver and all should be well.
When I catch the driver at the main entrance to one of the large hospitals where he attempts to hand me a package bound for Westminster. "... Um I am here for the package that had the wrong address yesterday. It was from Laudisi Enterprises, Inc. bound for *wrong address*" I am quickly informed that he put that package on another drivers truck as the corrected address was no longer on his delivery rout. I am then informed that I will get a call on my cell after Susan does some research and tracks down where the package has migrated as it has not been scanned after being loaded onto the truck I ma at.
Almost as soon as I walk in the door I get the call that my package has been located for sure this time and I am asked if I can go to the "corrected" wrong address within 10 minutes. I tell her I will need to google it to find out. She takes this as a no and sends the driver on his way. I arrive at the address within 5 minutes but the driver has moved on. I get a call back from Susan informing me of the new meet point in 20 minutes. I let her know I am at the bad address and ask what the drivers rout is to see if I can hunt him down before that time.
Thus the great UPS scavenger hunt begins. She gives me the drivers next 10 drop off points before the meet up point and away I go. With half of downtown cut off due to it being road construction season (the only other season besides winter here) it is a merry chase. I managed to meet every other ups driver that works down town ,totaling 8, before I catch sight of Mike's truck. I manage to follow him for his next 3 stops but am unable to actually catch him due to the construction work until he arrives at the assigned meet up point (which just so happens to be a previous employer of mine).
I retrieve my package and scurry home, arriving with a scant 30 minutes before I have to leave for work. I tear into the box happily extracting my pipes and tobacco. The Vauen is much much more then the pictures showed and I am happy as can be with it. The tobacco arrived without harm and the 200g tin of no 666 is HUGE. I look at the Camio instantly falling in love with its craggy texture. As I am fiddling with it I realize that the stem has become very loose in transit. I am suitably bummed until I remember the Dr.Chuck pipe repair post on here from a while back. I read through and flair out the tenon, after heating for 10 seconds with a lighter, by pressing it on a flat surface. I cool it off and try a test fit. "WHOOT!" It is a perfect fit and all is right with the world. As I am beginning to get ready for work I notice that there are a few things still in my box of goodies. This is odd as I have already gotten everything on the invoice. I dig about in the packing peanuts to find a 1.5 ounce sample of Altadis 1M and a package of tapered pipe cleaners.
I promptly stuffed the little Camio full of the 1M and began puffing away. I absolutely fell in love with the blend and the pipe and couldn't stop puffing tell I was about to walk through the doors at work. It is possibly one of the best smokes I have ever had. It actually stayed lit the entire ride to work ,which is a first, as well as being the first light/aromatic blend I have enjoyed.
Here is the Camio
And this is the Vauen
These pictures where "borrowed" from smokingpipes.com I will have some of my own up eventually.
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