Talking to Pipestud today reminded me of my teen years as a novice pipe smoker in the 1950s. A pipesmoking friend and I used to travel every weekend from Yonkers, just above NYC, to midtown Manhattan. We would play a game of mental chess on the subway trip from Woodlawn to 42nd st. Then we'd stop in at Lane Ltd to shoot the breeze with Val, the Cuban manager who taught us about blending and Charatan. A stop at the 42nd st library was the norm, then a visit uptown to the Wilke pipe shop. We knew the Wilke sisters so well they were like our grandmothers. Possibly a visit to Dunhill's then a trip to the Metropolitan Museum. We got kicked out of the Met because I ran my hand over a Van Gogh. Vinny's painting was not worth millions then. We always stopped at a Marboro discount book shop and often at the Strand, which was on 3rd Ave. I bought a new copy of the Bhagavad Gita for 35 cents. It strongly influenced my life. Of course we smoked Balkan Sobranie, white label. Does anyone know what happened to that company?
:
