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 »

2009 25th Annual C.O.R.P.S./Richmond Pipe Show Coverage - Part 5

By Bob Tate

This is the final part of our 2009 C.O.R.P.S./Richmond Pipe Show coverage. This is going to be a very short piece. It is the interview with Craig Norris – President of C.O.R.P.S. / Conclave of Richmond Pipe Smokers.

Before we get to the interview with Craig, we would like to say a few words and reiterate some of the things that were said at the show and in our coverage of the show. Read the rest of this entry »

2009 25th Annual C.O.R.P.S./Richmond Pipe Show Coverage - Part 4

By Bob Tate

Saturday morning, I awoke very early and headed down to the exhibition hall. I wanted to get there before the show started so I could try and get some photos of all of the exhibitors setting up their tables for the day. Only the exhibitors were allowed in the hall from 7:30am to 9:30am, but the C.O.R.P.S. were kind enough let me in for some photos. I spoke to a few of the exhibitors, but because they were busy and I did not want to distract them from their work, they were very brief exchanges.

After that I headed off to breakfast with Kevin to go over our game plan for the day. Read the rest of this entry »

2009 25th Annual C.O.R.P.S./Richmond Pipe Show Coverage - Part 3

By Bob Tate

Kevin and I had an awesome time at the Richmond Show. If you did not attend, you missed out on a great time and you really need to make plans to attend the 2010 C.O.R.P.S./Richmond Show. But until next year, you can read our articles to see what it is like to attend the show. Keep in mind that our coverage, although intense, is just a fraction of what actually went on at the show. It was just impossible to cover everything that was going on. This part of my coverage will cover what we experienced Friday night. So here we go!

Like Kevin said in his article; when we arrived on Friday evening we were running late, due to the airlines, and trying to catch up with everything that was going on at the show. We checked in and didn’t even have time to bring our luggage to our rooms so we were running down the corridors, luggage and all. We ran to the International Charatan Collector’s Society meeting and spoke with Tad Gage (Gaget), Bob Swanson (Paradisebob), and a few other people about the club (article to come soon). Then we headed over and became members of C.O.R.P.S., Conclave of Richmond Pipe Smokers, and chatted a little bit with Linwood Hines (Gnarlybriar), the former President of C.O.R.P.S. Linwood was the President up until the show when he handed the reigns off to Craig Norris, the new and current President. Read the rest of this entry »

2009 25th Annual C.O.R.P.S/Richmond Pipe Show Coverage - Part 2

By Bob Tate

Kevin Godbee (PM.com) and Alan Schwartz (XYZ Direct)

In this part of our 2009 C.O.R.P.S Show coverage, we focus on another new blend that was released at the show. The new blend is Wessex Gold Standard released by XYZ Direct, LTD.

We had the opportunity to talk to Alan Schwartz of XYZ Direct about the new blend. We have a video interview with him as he explains about the new blend and talks about how they blended it using the British style of blending.

We also have a few photos of the large amounts of different tobaccos that XYZ Direct brought to the show. Read the rest of this entry »

2009 25th Annual C.O.R.P.S/Richmond Pipe Show Coverage - Part 1

By Bob Tate

Let me start by saying that Kevin and I had a great time at the show. We both thank Linwood Hines, Craig Norris, and the rest of the members of the C.O.R.P.S for putting on a great show. In addition to C.O.R.P.S, we would like to thank all of the vendors, exhibitors, and every one who attended the show for making every one else in attendance feel welcome.

We have collected so much information, interviews, photos, videos, etc. that it was hard for us to find a starting point for the coverage of the show. But we finally decided on starting our coverage of the show with a report on some of the new tobaccos that were released by Cornell & Diehl. C&D released three new C&D blends at the show and they also had a new GLPease blend that was released at the show. Read the rest of this entry »

2009 25th Annual CORPS Show - Coverage Update

(left to right) Bob Tate, Craig Norris (President of CORPS), Kevin Godbee

Last night, we returned home from attending and covering the 2009 25th Annual CORPS Show. CORPS stands for Conclave of Richmond Pipe Smokers. We had a great, but very busy, time!

It was great meeting and talking with everyone that we were able to meet. Some were members of the site and others; I hope will become members soon so we can talk and discuss all things pipe related a little more often and in depth. Read the rest of this entry »