Very Little West Coast Pipe Community?

calebtheindian · Apr 8, 2014

Hi, I thought that I might see if there is anyone who has noticed or could correct me about a true pipe smoking presence in Oregon or maybe California or Washington. As for Oregon, I noticed there's few true pipe tobacco shops. There seems to be a few in the Portland area (I hear) but all other tobacco establishments are of the types that are wall to wall glass. What are other people's experience with shops on the west coast? Do you have friends/family/acquaintances who smoke pipes? I was thinking of this because of all the events I see and they are all far east of here. :/
p.s. I am very sorry about if I shouldn't have posted, I didn't see anything in search about Oregon and I'd be happy to relocate or delete.

mso489 · Apr 8, 2014

The original pipe shop in the Tinder Box chain is in Los Angeles, on Wilshire (Blvd?), hence one of their house

blends, which I think is 1Q, is called Wilshire, if I have that right. But also, California is one of the opinion shaping

locations which has led the move toward healthy food, water and air -- with notable gross lapses of course. At least

you could touch base with the original Tinder Box location and see if they can spotlight any other oases on the West

Coast. And please report back. I'm sure other posts will highlight a few. I'm a Midwest native and an East Coast

(NC) resident, though I lived partly in California during an enlisted hitch in the Navy back when Sparta was fighting

Athens.

aquilas · Apr 8, 2014

I believe that pipe smoking is around in Sacramento, CA. Of course, not up to par with cigars, but it is present. There are many b&ms here, though most are primarily cigars, but most sell pipes, pipe tobacco, and pipe accessories. Whenever I'm in the lounge, it's kind of nice that, most of the time, I'm the only one smoking a pipe since it makes it even more of a worthy experience whenever you spot another pipe smoker.

ruger414 · Apr 8, 2014

From my experience, California has next to none. It's all headshops and smokeshops. I had never been to a real tobacconist until I moved to New Orleans

calebtheindian · Apr 8, 2014

I know that I would really like to see more here. Actually I dream of having my own store where other web-foots can come and see what's going on and maybe sprout new generations and nourish older generations (like me when I get to that point)

ruger414 · Apr 8, 2014

Ah. I rarely venture into SoCal. It's an 8 hour drive from the town I lived in to LA. I guess it was just my area that was all about "herbal blends."

iliumneves · Apr 8, 2014

Portland has a few shops with the Rich's chain (3 locations I believe). 82nd Ave Tobacco - solid selection of tobaccos. House of Calabash in Oregon City - mainly house blends and some pipes. There are a few others as well names are lost at the moment.
As for events, I noticed a post a bit ago about a show/event this summer in Wenatchee, WA. Not sure of the magnitude of it however. There does seem to be a far more active community out east/south.

stbruno70 · Apr 8, 2014

Although proper tobacconists are dropping like flies in California, some are hanging on.
In northern California we have Telford's in Mill Valley, the Piedmont Tobacconist in Oakland, Burlingame Tobacconists in Burlingame, Edward's in Los Altos, Smoker's Paradise in San Jose, Mission Pipe in Pleasanton and San Jose, the Briar Patch in Sacramento, Tower Pipes and Cigars in Sacramento, and the Tobacco Road in Sacramento.
For more shops in southern California as well as other states, have a look at Greg Pease's list of stockists.
Should you ever be near San Francisco, please do visit us at the Golden Gate Pipe club. We meet at Telford's on the first Thursday of every month.

apkurt · Apr 8, 2014

We have a pretty good tobacconist in town (Palm Desert Tobacco). They have been around a long time and this area has a lot of wealthy retirees that keep them in business. They blend their own tobacco and they have about a dozen nice blends on hand but they carry only a relative few tins of tobacco. Their selection of cigars is very good. They also have a very nice smoking lounge but I almost never see anyone in there. There are also a TON of "smoke shops" around town but those businesses cater more to weed and cigarette smokers. I have tried to find a decent tobacconist in the Riverside area but none exist; only smoke shops. The local drugstores have better pipe tobacco selection than the smoke shops!

lordofthepiperings · Apr 8, 2014

Vegas usually gets lumped into the west coast. In fact the West Coast Pipe Show is put on here in Vegas at the Palace Station every first weekend of November. I believe it's in its seventh year here.
As far as tobacconists in Las Vegas the two that I know the best are Tobacco Town and Tobacco Leaf. Tobacco Leaf has the widest selection of tins and pipes and Tobacco Town has the biggest selection of bulk pipe tobacco blends. Both of them have wonderful lounges to enjoy a smoke in. There are a few others in town, but those are the ones I know the best.

buster · Apr 8, 2014

Yep, smokers paradise and mission pipes in San Jose. Lots of cigarettes cheaper and a few cigar places around. It is rare to see another pipe smoker out side of the B&M. I do see one guy in my neighborhood smoking a pipe while riding his bike around from time to time.

calebtheindian · Apr 8, 2014

I guess it's just really spread out here. Oregon is kinda spread out as far as people go so there's the metropolitan area in Portland and its surrounding cities connected at the hip almost literally. Since their motto is "keep Portland weird" it definitely attracts the masses for lots of people, therefore collecting mostly any things you need. Unfortunately, like i mentioned the population spread, most places really DO congregate there. As consequence, the smaller cities/towns don't always have the grab on customers unless they REALLY fill a niche.

fadingdaylight · Apr 8, 2014

I can't speak for Oregon on south, but there are a handful of us here from WA. I am currently stationed here myself. Tacoma has a Tinderbox, and they are pretty good. There are a few other shops around here, but I haven't been to any of them.

sablebrush52 · Apr 8, 2014

Yeah, L.A. has pretty much lost all of its great tobacconists. You can get all the cigars you could possibly want here, including good Cuban stuff if you know where to look, but the pipe scene is isn't even a ghost of what it was when there were a number of superb shops, like Gus' or Copley's. The original Tinderbox is the last of the old line stores, with a lineage that goes back to 1928.

I'm guessing that the "fabulous" cigar store on Ventura Blvd is Cigar Warehouse in Sherman Oaks. That's my usual B&M. It does stock a medium selection of pipes and pipe tobaccos, with a very good selection of Peterson pipes, as the new owner is a Peterson rep.

They carry Esoterica, Wessex, Dunhill, Gawith, Rattray's, McCelland, and a few other brands, as well as a selection of house blends that they buy, but don't actually blend.

I haven't been over to the Tinderbox in a year of so, as it's on the Westside where traffic was horrible before the feds began to rebuild the 405, the world's busiest freeway. Now it's more trouble than it's worth to visit.

The health thing is a hoot, with runners inhaling air so fouled by petrocarbons that breathing it is like smoking a pack of cigs a day. The healthiest thing anyone could do would be to leave for less polluted climes. Assuming that I don't "fall off the twig" in the interim, I plan to do just that in a couple of years.

lifeisjustthis · Apr 9, 2014

Oregon makes it a challenge because you can't smoke pipes inside - even in a tobacco store. Even if a store has a smoking lounge - pipes still aren't allowed. It is definitely one of those laws that make you scratch your head! It makes no sense to me! It makes it a challenge to have an easy gathering place for pipe smokers (especially when the weather is wet!)
I work for Cascade Cigar & Tobacco on 82nd Avenue. No glass pipes, just briar & meerschaum. (I'll add our listing to the store directory ASAP - but I wanted to pop in here too. If this falls under promotional, let me know & I'll delete it)

plateauguy · Apr 9, 2014

I've heard of Rich's in Portland (planning a field trip this summer) and in Washington there's the Tinderbox in Tacoma, and other places in the Pike Street Market (Seattle) and Bellingham (up north). We also have the Seattle Pipe Club (listed on the web) that might be able to help further.
The West Coast is notoriously anti-smoking. To prove the point, yesterday I went with my wife to Fred Meyer's (grocery store). I know that they don't carry pipe tobacco, so I was stunned to see at the end of one of the check outs their "pipe selection". On the bottom shelf there were 3 packages of Dr Grabow filters, 4 packages of Dill pipecleaners, and 2 Dr Grabow pipes in blister packs - one straight and one bent stem). When my wife saw it she looked at me and said, "That's just plain sad." Kind of sums up the whole thing.

calebtheindian · Apr 9, 2014

Yeah when I tell people I smoke a pipe, I always have to be very clear that it's the real deal. And people around Oregon can be very polarized as far as smoking goes. People will strongly dislike other people just for the reason that they smoke. Although, people do tend to be more interested than judgmental with a pipe. What if there was a shop that had one of those courtyards between buildings that was open sky, but could have those canopies for rain/sun protection? I don't know, I know I have the hardest time dealing with the wind when it comes to smoking here because it always blows my matches out and steals the smoke right out of my pipe. Also, I would love to stop over there and see the shop when I have money for my first non cob non used pipe (of standard materials not pear wood).

lifeisjustthis · Apr 9, 2014

Oregon law doesn't permit smoking within 10 feet of a door either (I can't remember if it includes windows & vent intakes, but I think it does?). So you'd need a pretty big space (and no business neighbors to complain about it.
Rich's recently stopped allowing cigar smoking in their shop. There are extra hoops you have to jump through when you share a building (so strip malls, downtown places, etc fall under this).

iliumneves · Apr 9, 2014

I know they had to stop smoking in richs for a bit - bit I believe they can again. Not sure what changed. In the past month I was there on two occasions and both times pipe smoking was taking place by employees. One of them even said "I'm just glad we can smoke in here again".

eightywon · Apr 9, 2014

As far as the community goes I can't remember ever seeing a piper other than at the shop. Grew up in SoCal and am now a San Joaquin county resident. Close to me is a cigar shop/bar/smoking lounge that has mostly cigars but if anyone is in the area they have a pretty impressive beer selection. First rounds on me! Liars dice anyone?

Very Little West Coast Pipe Community?

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