I feel like a cliché and cartoonish version of Paul Revere going into the end part of this year, “The Holidays are coming!  The Holidays are coming!” as if there is some impending doom about to arrive.  This is normal for me:  I’m not a “holidays” guy.  I never have been and I never will be.  The best I muster are the tackiest of fake trees, weird and spooky decorations and questionable sobriety.  Regardless, traditions of any kind are ignoring the bumpy ride of the year we’ve had so far.  More importantly, ‘tis the season for new tobacco coming out, the pipes-of-the-year and special Christmas briars are being offered.  Jumping awkwardly on the new smoke bandwagon, I was also one of the lucky firsts to get a pre-release of Sutliff’s Cringle Flake.

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Since we didn’t have IPCPR (Now the PCA) this year as a tradeshow I didn’t get a chance to go sit down and interview all the people in the pipe industry to bring you the latest news and information.  But, I have managed to reach out to a few people before the holiday season and try to get a summation of new products, holiday sales, and interesting deals available just in time for Christmas, etc.  

Note: Keep checking back as this post will be updated as more deals pop-up. 

Laudisi, Smoking Pipes

Now that Laudisi is in full swing over Peterson we’re seeing the seasonal pipes and plenty of them.

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From the Editor: Trevor Barton was a British pipe collector that favored historical non-briar pipes, such as: native American, tribal, ceremonial, art pieces, porcelain, ivory, and meerschaum. He ammassed a huge collection of pipes, along with smoking ephemera such as tobacco boxes, carved wood pipe cases, books, and large tobacco advertising figures in carved wood.

Via Press Release: Sworders Fine Art Auctioneers are to disperse one of the world’s finest collections of pipes and smoking accoutrements across a number of sales this year. The Trevor Barton (1920-2008) collection represents more than 50 years of acquisition and study, by a Hertfordshire pipe collector known to many in the antiques trade as ‘The Pipe Man’.

Mr. Barton began collecting pipes and other tobacco-related items in 1947, shortly after he was demobbed (British for discharged from the military). His son (also Trevor) recalls life in a small Tudor cottage in Hertfordshire surrounded by hundreds of pipes and regular visits from other enthusiasts, including fellow members of the Academie Internationale de la Pipe (the collecting association formed in 1984). “Dad was a true collector. One day he bought an antique pipe on a London street market. Within a few weeks he had ten, then 20. The collection then just kept growing for the next 50 years.” His father would unfailingly rise before dawn every Friday to attend Bermondsey market and then Portobello on Saturdays – the stallholders all familiar with ‘The Pipe Man.’

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