Artisan Pipe Maker Joe Nelson Interview

By Bob Tate

Joe Nelson of Old Nellie Pipes and Nelson Guitars

Joe Nelson is the owner of Old Nellie Pipes and Nelson Guitars. He is an artisan pipe maker as well as a luthier and resides in Fond Du Lac County, WI. For those of you who might not know, a luthier is a stringed instrument builder/repairman. He has been making guitars for 14 years and pipes for 5 years.

While we were at the 2010 Richmond Pipe Show, we had the opportunity to talk with Joe and he took the time out of his busy day to have an interview us. Joe has just recently started using a new method in his pipe making. He is now oil curing his pipes. He explained the advantage of oil curing during our interview.
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Cornell & Diehl Releases New Blends at Richmond Pipe Show 2010

By Bob Tate

At the 2010 Richmond Pipe Show, Cornell & Diehl introduced four new blends. Two of the blends are under the Cornell & Diehl label, one of them is a new G.L. Pease blend, and the last is a new blend for the Hermit Tobaccos.
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Artisan Pipe Maker Bob Hayes Interview

By Bob Tate

Artisan Pipe Maker Bob Hayes

The 2010 Richmond Pipe Show, as always, had quite a few artisan pipe makers in attendance and one of them was Bob Hayes. Bob Hayes attends most of the pipes shows and he is also the son-in-law of Craig and Patty Tarler of Cornell & Diehl. His table is normally set up right next to the Cornell & Diehl tables, so when you are at a show, just look for the Cornell & Diehl tables and you will find Bob Hayes and his pipes. Bob has received the Triangle Area Pipe Smokers (TAPS) Professional Pipe Carver of the Year Award at the Raleigh Pipe Show for three consecutive years; 2008, 2009, and 2010.
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United Pipe Clubs of America (UPCA) Annual Meeting

By Bob Tate

During our time at the 2010 Chicago Pipe Show, we sat in on the annual meeting of the United Pipe Clubs of America (UPCA). The meeting is not open to the public, only of the representatives of Pipe Clubs can attend. We were invited to the meeting by Michael “Doc” Garr (Docgarr), Vice President of UPCA, so that we could cover and report on it. Here is a little bit about the UPCA, who they are, and what they do. [From their website]:
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2010 Doctor of Pipes Award Dinner

By Bob Tate

2010 Doctor of Pipes Award - Cigar and Pipe Dinner

On Saturday night of May 1, after the first official day of the 2010 Chicago Pipe Show, we attended the Cigar and Pipe Cocktail Party, Dinner and Doctor of Pipes Award Ceremony that was held in the New Orleans Ballroom on Bourbon Street at the Pheasant Run Resort. The Cocktail Party was 6:30-7:00pm and the dinner was 7:00-9:00pm. The tickets for the dinner were $65.00 each and were well worth the price of admission.

For the Cocktail Party, they served bacon wrapped scallop hors d’oeuvres while we all stood around chatting on Bourbon Street. At 7:00, they opened the doors to the ballroom to admit the attendees of the dinner. Upon entrance to the dinner, they were handing out ‘goodie’ bags. The bags contained a selection of about 10 various premium cigars, pipe cleaners, a tin of E. Hoffman Spilman Mixture, and a one ounce sample of Hearth & Home Larry’s Blend. Everyone was standing and sitting around socializing and having a few drinks waiting for dinner to be served.
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Artisan Pipe Maker Bob Gilbert Interview

By Bob Tate

During our time at the 2010 Chicago Pipe Show, one of the people that we had the chance to meet up with was Artisan Pipe Maker Bob Gilbert (Staffwalker). Bob is a very nice and accommodating guy and he also does some outstanding work. Bob Gilbert is from Denton, Texas and has been making pipes for almost four years. His pipes are very attractive and he puts a lot of effort into his work. Not only are his pipes attractive, but they are made with precision engineering. Kevin and I both acquired a pipe from Bob and they smoke great.

The stems are made from Ebonite and they meet up flawlessly with the shank of the pipe. The draft hole is dead center on the bottom of the bowl and a pipe cleaner runs all the way through with out any problems. He leaves a 1/32” space between the tenon and the mortise and he also drills them wide enough to accept fluffy pipe cleaners. His pipes are also very affordable. I have seen pipes that look as good as his pipes sell for double and sometimes triple what he prices his pipes at. Bob Gilbert does not currently have a website, but you can still get in touch with him.
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2010 Chicago Pipe Show - Pre-Show Part 2

By Bob Tate

I arrived in Chicago on the afternoon of Thursday April 29, to cover The 2010 Chicago Pipe Show held by the Chicagoland Pipe Collectors Club (CPCC). Kevin picked me up at the airport and we drove back to the Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles, IL. and I checked into my room. The resort had accidentally booked me in a handicapped room (everything was made shorter to be assessable and I am 6 feet tall) so I had to change rooms and Kevin upgraded me to a suite next to his.

Dowstairs Sitting Room

Interview with Greg Pease of G.L. Pease Tobacco - Part 2

By Bob Tate

In Part 1 of our interview, Greg talked a little bit about how he got started blending tobacco, how he goes about developing new blends, a new blend that will be released soon, and many other things.

Here is Part 2 and the conclusion of our interview with Greg Pease.

PM: What are some of the changes that you have seen in the pipe and pipe tobacco industry over the years?

GLP: I’ve been smoking a pipe for about 30 years, now. Some blends and blending houses have changed dramatically. Companies have merged, or outsourced their brands to others, sometimes with less than optimal results. There’s been a drastic decline in pipe tobacco consumption over the years, and it just hasn’t been cost effective for a lot of the old blenders to keep their doors open. And, far too many retail tobacconists have shuttered. The days of walking into a great brick and mortar shop in any major city, talking pipes and tobaccos with knowledgeable staff seem to be behind us. There are still some fantastic shops, but they are fewer and farther between.
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Interview with Tim Ozgener, President of CAO International

By Bob Tate

We’ve been intrigued with rumors circulating around the pipe community that CAO might become the new distributor of Dunhill pipe tobaccos in the USA. There have been comments that CAO would increase its presence in the pipe tobacco business in 2010, rumors of new tobaccos, possibly bringing back the old CAO tobaccos, CAO meerschaum pipes and possible Dunhill distribution.

We had a great conversation with Tim Ozenger, President of CAO International (he’s a very friendly and accommodating chap). We talked about the aforementioned rumors and a few other things. Find out which rumors are true and which are not. So without further ado, here is our conversation with Tim:

PipesMagazine (PM): Tim, at the beginning of 2009, there were a lot of rumors that CAO was getting out of the tobacco pipe industry. Is it true that CAO made the decision to no longer be involved in the pipe industry or was it more related to Scandinavian Tobacco Group merging with CAO and there being a switch from Dan Tobacco to Scandinavian Tobacco Group?

Tim Ozgener: Well, Scandinavian Tobacco Group acquired CAO and in the acquisition they stated that they were in the cigar business and were not interested in pipes, although they are the largest producer of pipe tobacco in the world. So pipe smoking is still of interest to them, but they wanted us to focus more on cigars and pipe tobacco in the future instead of pipes. My father retired from the business, but still has some pretty tight relationships with some of the more important carvers in Turkey and he continues to purchase pipes from these carvers in Turkey. It was just made clear that that was not a part of CAO and more of, a kind of, personal decision. So my father has continued to receive pipes from these carvers. Read the rest of this entry »

Interview With Master Blender Russ Ouellette - Part 3

By Bob Tate

This is the conclusion to our Russ Ouellette (Blendtobac) interview. So far in our interview with Russ Ouellette, we have talked about how he got started blending pipe tobacco blends, Perique tobacco, some of the challenges that he faces obtaining certain tobacco components, how he created Larry’s Blend, and many other things. Here, we are picking up the interview where we left off in Part 2:

PipesMagazine (PM): We have heard from quite a few people in the industry and have seen for ourselves that a lot of younger people are starting to get into pipes. Have you noticed this as well and have you seen a resurgence in pipes and pipe smoking?

Russ: Yeah, we’ve had a number of guys under 30 [years of age] who have stopped in to visit or join our pipe club and we’re seeing more and more of it. Some of it is kind of a trendy thing; a group of local college students, or whatever, will decide that they want to get together and smoke pipes. And because, I think, we do a very good job at our retail store of helping the new pipe smoker get started and give them the information that they need to stay with it, they tend to gravitate towards our store and they start hanging out on a regular basis because we have a lounge.

They like to get together and they’ll sit there around the card table and smoke their pipes. Our customers are such a great bunch of people that the older lawyers, doctors, and business people don’t look down their nose at these 24 year old kids sitting there smoking pipes. It’s a very comfortable environment and we’re doing what we can for the people who’ve made the decision that they want to smoke a pipe and we’re going to make it as enjoyable as possible for them.  Read the rest of this entry »