New Products from The 2014 Chicago Pipe Show
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Kevin Godbee - May 8, 2014
- 10 min read
Fred Brown
CHICAGO—The spectacular 18th Annual Chicagoland International Pipe & Tobacciana Show is in the history books, but fun for the pipe smoker is just beginning. After five-point-two days at the Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles, Ill., frazzled sleep-deprived vendors and bedraggled retailers, packed it in and headed home. The news is this: If you are looking for innovation, new products, some exciting boutique and small batch blends, 2014 is your year.
Most of the blenders and pipe manufacturers at the Chicago show who are major sponsors of PipesMagazine.com all reported that new products either are in the starting gate ready to be released or are in the works for the future.
Let’s start with Cornell & Diehl, who has now teamed up (news article here) with the mighty Smoking Pipes.com and Sykes Wilford gang at Little River, S.C. Chris Tarler, who studied the art of tobacco blending and the business side of tobacco under his late father, Craig Tarler, is vice president of C&D manufacturing. He says C&D has three spectacular blends out that will surely capture the imagination of pipe smokers who are building their cellars. Naturally, it’s called the "Cellar Series." The three tobaccos are Chenet’s Cake, Oak Alley, and Joie de Vivre. All are plug Virginia and Perique tobaccos.
Oak Alley has Latakia added and Joie de Vivre is a burley. The Chenet is named for the farmer Pierre Chenet who began cultivating Perique in a big way in 1824, taking a page from the Choctaw and Chickasaw Indian tribes who were smoking the leaf in St. James Parrish, La., when the first Acadians showed up in Louisiana. The tins with new art labels were on display at the show and will be released within the next couple of weeks. Some 1,500 tins of each have been produced thus far and will be retailed through Smokingpipes.com and wholesaled through the Laudisi Distribution Group, which is part of the Laudisi Enterprise Inc. empire.
Chris Tarler, VP of Manufacturing at Cornell & Diehl with the three new tobaccos;
Chenet’s Cake, Oak Alley, and Joie de Vivre.
Tarler, who says Cornell & Diehl had a "blowout" show, says the tobaccos are built to last and last, just right for cellaring. "These tobaccos will cellar and ferment well. It will sweeten and will be really good after three, five, 10 years," he said while relaxing with a pipe in the 6,000-square-foot smoking tent at the show.
His next big release will be a Christmas blend, "We Three Kings," to debut at the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association in July at Las Vegas. Other news from C&D is that G.L. Pease will have a limited edition coming out this year. It will be a one-time only edition. And the C&D operation itself will be moving to Little River, S.C., Tarler says, in the future, leaving Morganton, N.C., for the sunny climes of coastal South Carolina.
Lane Limited, spread across two tables at the show, is so proud of its new tinning operation that it is ready to do tinning "from a brand standpoint," says Leonard Wortzel, Vice President of Marketing and Product Development. Take the three new blends in premium tins Lane just brought out to honor its heritage in the Captain Black Pipe Tobacco lineage, Midnight Gold, Red Sky and Black Sea.
Leonard Wortzel (R), Vice President of Marketing and Product Development at Lane / STG discusses new Lane Tobaccos at the Chicago Pipe Show
"New for us is that we have the first U.S. tinning operation [for vacuum sealed, all-metal, European-style tins]. We are the only folks who can do the tinning from a brand standpoint," Wortzel says. With the tinning operation now, Lane can mass-produce tins, he says. "What this allows us to do for the consumer is to bring out boutique and special blends. We can be more creative," he says. The tinning operation, he says, lets Lane tin private labels for cigar as well as pipe manufacturers. It gets Lane back to "what it was. It will allow us to bring back smaller batch items."
Foreground: (L-R) Crown Achievement and the New Captain Black Tinned Tobaccos;
Midnight Gold, Red Sky & Black Sea
Once the mighty Lane had 30 brands, but dropped to around eight. Wortzel says the company, based in Tucker, Ga., has now resurrected three in bulk, as well as the recent re-introduction of tins of Crown Achievement. Crown Achievement is back in bulk, along with a new Latakia and RH-Q3, similar to Lane’s Hazelnut. And, Wortzel says, Lane is bringing out a bulk burly and black, which will be 50 percent burley and 50 percent black Cavendish. "Lane is owned by a company (Scandinavian Tobacco Group of Denmark) that cares about tobacco and has a passion for pipe tobacco." STG purchased Lane from Reynolds American Inc., in 2011(news article here). Since then, the buyout has given STG, the largest pipe tobacco manufacturer in the world, a very large footprint in the U.S. market. It has also allowed Lane to "reconnect with our customers," Wortzel says.
The PipesandCigars.com tables, four side-by-side were stationed next door to Missouri Meerschaum’s two tables for a very solid reason: P&C’s masterful Russ Ouellette and MM have teamed up with just the neatest idea: four new pipe tobacco blends to match three MM pipes, which are new designs, mostly.
The Missouri Meerschaum Tables were next to PipesAndCigars.com for their Team Effort on New Products
(L) Phil Morgan (in white shirt) talks to a customer, and (R) Russ Ouellette fills a bag with free samples
This marriage of MM cobs and tobacco is not only unique, but it is historic (news article here). Not in the 145-year history of Missouri Meerschaum has the company had a pipe tobacco. The tobaccos, though, will only be available at P&C.com. The four tobaccos developed by P&C’s Ouellette are a Virginia/perique, a burley, an aromatic and a Latakia tobacco. All of the tobaccos will be in pouches, Russ says.
"The project took a year to develop," according to Russ. "The tobaccos will be named in recognition for a pipe design, such as "Country Gentleman" for the Great Dane pipe. The three new pipes are the Mark Twain, a cob Dublin, the amber-stemmed Huck Finn, a familiar billiard cob shape, and the Tom Sawyer, a small version of the Finn sans amber.
Russ says P&C’s latest in the Marquee Series, White Knight, is his tribute to the "old Balkan Sobranie" tobacco and then later this year there will be "three or four" new releases, some under the popular Hearth and Home brand.
Russ is developing a new Vaper blend named for "a specific pipe maker" and will be released at the 30th Anniversary CORPS (Conclave of Richmond Pipe Smokers) set for Oct. 10-12 at the Richmond Convention Center.
In another bit of Russ O. news, he is also working on a tobacco designed just for bricks and mortar shops.
"This will give the B&Ms something they can have that you can’t get from an online vendor," he says. He says the brick and mortar idea is a page borrowed from P&C’s parent owner, Cigars International of Bethlehem, Pa.
Maxim W. Engel of Pipes2smoke.com says he has just started bringing in Russian artisan carvers. He was bragging about Andrey Savenko. "He makes pretty specific stuff. Tops, 40 pipes per year and you could only get him in Russia," Engel says in his hotel room where the Russians are spread out across the king sized bed.
Maxim W. Engel of Pipes2smoke.com Closes the Deal
Another carver is rather unique, Engel says. "Alexander Sokolik is from Kiev, Ukraine. He says he is just carving pipes and not paying attention to politics." Engel says he thinks he is seeing a trend in "young Balkan" carvers, who are helping each other learn the tricks of the trade. "All of these guys are younger. They are making nice pipes and the prices are good."
The Pipe Guys, Jon Guirguis and Philip Assad, were all about establishing orders for the new and exciting Vincent Manil’s special La Brumeuse, the Semois varietal grown only and processed in the Ardennes region of Belgium.
The Pipe Guys, Jon Guirguis (L) and Philip Assad (R) Provided Samples of Semois
and Exhibited the New Bouchons de Semois
Although you could not purchase the Semois, Guirguis and Assad were handing out small brown packets of the Semois. The first pre-order in January is gone and now they expect to have enough on hand to handle new orders. The other news is that the Bouchons de Semois, or "plug" in French, should go on sale in a couple of weeks, Assad says. The small end of the plug fits down into the pipe bowl, almost like a cork. The bouchons are hand rolled and look something like a fat cigar emerging from the top of the pipe bowl.
Brandon S.A. Bellegarde, general manager of the Laudisi Distribution Group, says Savinelli is taking a retro look back to the 1960s with some of its shapes for this year.
Brandon S.A. Bellegarde, general manager of the Laudisi Distribution Group
He also says that a new Japanese pipe lighter, the Kiribi, has three distinct models on the market now: the Ohgi, the Mikazuki and the Kabuto, a really nifty nod to the Samurai helmet horn. They come in silver, brushed nickel, black matte and red, and sell from $85 to $135 on Smokingpipes.com.
Phil Morgan, general manager of Missouri Meerschaum Co., says the company has never had a pipe tobacco blend produced by the company most famous for the corncob pipe. That is all changing this year with P&C’s four new blends and the three new pipes to set off the blends.
Phil Morgan, general manager of Missouri Meerschaum Co.
"In our 145 year history, we have never put our name on a pipe tobacco," Morgan says. And after some hefty research, Morgan says the company came up with its Mark Twain "Dublin" cob shape. "Twain almost certainly had to have smoked one of our cobs," Morgan says. "That’s because we were the only ones making cob pipes up to 1900."
Twain, known for his wit, humor and devotion to pipes and cigars, was born in 1835 and died in 1910. By that time, the only company making cobs, Morgan says, was Missouri Meerschaum. The Twain pipe is a winner.
Erik Stokkebye of Comoy Pipes and the 4th Generation Tobaccos, says the company is going back to some original shapes and designs for its Comoy pipes. "All are the original Comoy shapes from the 1970s and 1980s. The wood is all natural grain, and all are made in St. Claude, France."
Comoy Tobaccos and Pipes (L), Erik Stokkebye (R) with 4th Generation Tobaccos, Pipes, and a Gorgeous Leather Suede Messenger Bag that holds pipes, tobaccos and even an iPad or similar type tablet.
He also showed off an absolute killer suede leather pipe "messenger bag." It will hold not only your pipe, tobacco tin, but also has a slot for your electronic tablet, plus other pipe paraphernalia. It is quite unique and sells for $130. "You think that is a good price?" Erik asked. You betcha, Erik! In addition, there are fairly new Comoy pipe tobacco tins and bulk tobaccos in the line.
Wrapping up specific exhibitor coverage, Dave Neeb, veteran pipe maker and owner of Mkelaw-Pipes.com says he is seeing roughly 75 to 80 percent repeat customers on his site for estates as well as his own brand of pipes.
Dave Neeb, veteran pipe maker and owner of Mkelaw-Pipes.com
So, now it is off to the Internet to see what new goodies are up and lurking from the sponsors of PipesMagazine.com
[All photos by Fred Brown]
[A general overview of the 2014 Chicago Pipe Show with additional information can be found here]
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Written by Kevin Godbee
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Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 635. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with James Ravenwood. James is the boutique tobacco blender of Ravenwood Blends. His blending started out as a fun hobby, and he now has professionally packaged commercially available products with some great tin art. Part of his interest in pipe smoking goes back to fond memories of a retired Navy Veteran that lived on his street while he was growing up that would sit in his driveway smoking a pipe all day. Later, in 2011 he began smoking pipes and soon after started experimenting with mixing different tobaccos. His other hobby, that he has been doing for 30 years, is photography. He takes wonderful photos of outdoor spaces, and still life pictures of pipes and tobacco. You can see them on his Instagram @thebriarfellowship. At the top of the show we’ll have an Ask the Pipemaker segment with renowned pipe artisan Jeff Gracik.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 634! Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Warren Ertle. Warren is an extremely accomplished musician with a PhD in music. He started early as a percussionist in sixth grade. Later his grandmother got him a cheap Casio keyboard which he taught himself to play. He started playing in blues bands in high school, and has been a pianist with jazz big bands for years. Even though he was already a professional musician, he took his first real piano lesson when he enrolled in college with his studies in classical music. He is of course a pipe smoker. At the top of the show we will have an Ask the Tobacco Blender segment with Jeremy Reeves. Jeremy is the Head Blender at Cornell & Diehl, which is one of the most popular boutique pipe tobacco companies in the USA.
Soon now, supposedly, our neighborhoods will shift from grinning pumpkins, skeletons in various assortments, and zombies dashing about to pretty reindeer, angels, and flashing lights illuminating homes with sparkling stars and laughing, scurrying Santas. But, lest we forget, there is the turkey season, fancy pie aromas wafting from kitchens, and a national pardon of a big Tom Turkey. Remember, now, that only one of these holiday personalities is a pipe smoker. And that is the hefty, bearded fellow in a bright red suit sitting in a sleigh with a herd of deer hitched up and ready to streak across the globe, bringing tidings of joy and many presents. Ok, the scene is set for the next couple of months, right? So, before we get too far off the beaten path, let’s just take a deep breath of fresh autumn air, shall we? Ahh. That’s better, isn’t it? What’s got the Pundit in a snit is not all the Halloween spooks who came a-jostling for candy. Or the wild turkeys gobbling in the backwoods or all the fuss and feathers over the big one—Christmas. No, it is that we might need to take note of all the little things that mean so much to us. Like a good sunrise (seriously, Pundit has not gone all Pollyanna.) Mayhaps we need to appreciate more of what we have than what we have not. Or something like that. Like, a good pipe in the morning with coffee as the dawn brings us coolish weather now that we have flipped the calendar to autumn. But it also brings beautiful leaves that have become a spectacle of technicolor in the wind. It is the little things. The rereading of an enjoyable book and finding something you did not see or learn in the first go-round. Or a stunning phrase you commit to memory with the re-read, while smoking that favorite pipe. And you notice a superior puff that just seems to be different. It’s in the air and the seasons of meaningful little things. It’s aromatic! Or perhaps it is that sense of satisfaction knowing and appreciating you made it to another day. With the world in a kind of rinse-and-repeat history, reminiscent of a Shakespearean play, it is perhaps a good moment to remember some of Pipedom’s philosophers whose cogent thoughts brought light to clear a path in the mists of confusion and confounding opinions. Ok. No gloom and doom. Just some down-home thoughts. Think of times in the past when history was running off the rails. It took our pipe-smoking thinkers (the mind workers of the world) to speak of better pathways to more light. Think for a moment, with a pipe in hand, these wizards of the world and word: Albert Einstein, J. R.R. Tolkien, Mark Twain, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Edwin Hubble, Bertrand Russell, C. S. Lewis, and Jean-Paul Sartre. All learned and enlightened. They offered wisdom instead of storms of meaningless roads to nowhere. All while smoking their pipes! Maybe especially with the help of their pipes in the art of thinking and philosophy. Recall the words of Mr. E=MC2 when he said, “I believe that pipe smoking contributes to a somewhat calm and objective judgment in all human affairs.” Amen and amen! Dealing with world-rattling events takes a calm and objective view of things, to the Pundit’s way of summing it up. You just don’t go messing around with quantum physics without a calm and objective approach, methinks. Or as the extraordinary physicist Robert Oppenheimer said after he and a team in the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos Labs developed a way to split atoms into bombs during World War II. “I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds,” said Oppenheimer referring to the development of the first nuclear bombs dropped on Japan. It must be pointed out that Oppenheimer was more of a cigarette smoker than a pipe smoker. Nonetheless, pipes were part of his personality. Now, if you have read some of the great authors of the past and present, their pipes were always nearby. Reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle can be a three-pipe problem at times. S. Lewis and Jean-Paul Sartre require time with your pipes to reflect on the existential problems and solutions these authors provide in learned novels and other narratives. Or take Edwin Hubble and Bertrand Russell, philosophers of another world. Pipes are required for reading. The quantum lode of ideas Pundit is attempting to sort out is that our pipes are relaxing and stimulate our thoughts and creativity. Especially in these last months of the year. Many times Pundit has had that light bulb flick on while smoking my beloved pipes. And friends in Pipedom, it ain’t easy to turn on the lights in Pundit’s rock pit head. Now it’s time for a quote from a Pipe Smoker of the Past. Shelby Foote was born Nov. 17, 1916, in Greenville, Miss., and died June 27, 2005, in Memphis, Tenn. A fact is not a truth until you love it—Shelby Foote. A parting thought: It is said that famed Southern author William Faulkner carried a packed pipe in a coat pocket wherever he went. That’s one effective way to deal with workday conflicts and confusion. A calm and objective judgment in our everyday human affairs, as the quantum man said.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 633. Our featured guest tonight is Jon David Cole. JD is the Owner/Tobacconist at The Country Squire in Jackson, MS, and the accompanying online store. We’ll have JD and Brian talking about what’s new at the store and in the business in general. At the top of the show, Brian will discuss tobacco growing, what happens to the leaf, and provide updated information on where tobacco is being gown today. Tobacco production originated in the United States and we were once the #1 producer. It’s quite different now.
Well there’s nothing like a touch of the plague to usher in the changing season. Leaving the airport just when the first advertisements for all things pumpkin spice began to appear—lattes, muffins, shampoos, trash bags, and myriad other concoctions—so, too, my ability to breathe freely disappeared. The unfortunate side effect of losing one’s sense of taste and smell for weeks is the utter inability to enjoy tobacco. Not that I consider myself an expert on anything but my own tastes, but be forewarned that this review was made with mildly impugned sensory equipment. Just when a comforting pipe was most needed, its comfort was denied. Be that as it may, the road to recovery found me limping along on one lung this past month, trying to wrest the particulars of two blends on offer from Sutliff: the latest 175th Anniversary blend, Silver Quarter, as well as their spooky seasonal Maple Shadows II. Silver Quarter is a new style on offer from Sutliff, their first coin-cut blend. Naturally a Virginia-Perique, it is enhanced with a traditional core of black Cavendish. In the tin it holds much promise, with a lightly bready and very woody, if ever-so-slightly sour, aroma. After some time acclimating to air, the bouquet softens further and offers hints of the burley with some chocolaty notes wafting through the more dominant dry grassy aspect. The tin art is of a coin-style bas-relief bust, presumably of a founding Sutliff brother, à la The Old Boss On the reverse of the tin we find the blend’s description: Reflecting on Sutliffs 175 years of tobacco excellence, we came across a brand that embodies true value, SILVER QUARTER. This name pays homage to Sutliffs roots, the legacy of two brothers who popularized pipe smoking in the burgeoning mining society of San Francisco. We celebrate this heritage with a coin cut composed of the finest African Virginias, complemented by a core of Perique and Black Cavendish. The tin notes are, forgive the pun, on the nose for a good VaPer blend: mild tart sweetness peeking out from behind dried hay and slight chocolate undertones, with a lightly tannic finish of weathered oak. It is always a joy to prepare a coin cut, my preference being to put a few in my palm and vigorously warm my hands together to fully break them apart. These well-formed discs pack and light easily, and smoke with little prodding to the end of the bowl. For technical points it scores well—it smokes light, and it’s easy to tend the ember. While it gets sharp after a few quick bowls, pacing should be heeded to easily smoke down to the heel without inviting bite. Of the flavor, though, I am left a bit wanting. There are tart and high notes aplenty, but very little of the lemony citrus I would anticipate, as well as scant midtones; they tend more toward the red wine-vinegary and sour. The flavors are muted, also, lacking the sweetness and piquancy of other marques—the small measure of Perique tickles the nose now and again with peppery hints, and there is a smidge of a deeper sweetness to be found in the Cavendish from puff to puff, but overall it lacks some dynamism. The Virginias, to my palate, come off a bit on the dry side, and here they dominate the blend. The aftertaste and mouthfeel are neutral, again evincing more of the dry, woody, tartly tannic end of the spectrum. The blend has plenty of polish, but not enough depth or richness (*yet) to make it a standout. Here, comparisons are inevitable: Luxury Bullseye Flake has more sweetness, both from its Virginia as well as its Cavendish, and a better finish; Davidoff is similar but with a pronounced umami that is absent here; as for Escudo, I haven’t had any fresh tins lately so it would be unfair to compare. While it rates as a solid, fairly mild smoke, particularly to lovers of the genre, it does not surprise with any exceptional flavors. To be fair, all the boxes have been checked for the blend to benefit from some real aging, and it would be worth checking in on this after a couple of years sealed away. I’ve set half my tin aside to sample again in a month or two, in case I’m merely suffering from the lingering effects of parosmia, and will amend this review in that case. Maple Shadows II, on the other hand, made up for the weeks of sniffling and sneezing I’d endured. Offered in a full 8 ounce tin with delightfully spooky Halloween art, it’s (hopefully) enough to last through the season. Somehow I had missed this last year, so it’s a real pleasure to get some in my candy bucket this year. As the chilling winds of autumn draw eerie prattle from contorted, deciduous limbs, we find ourselves possessed by the spirit of the season. Bewitched by a dissonant charm, we’ve created Maple Shadows. In a season that is defined by the unlikely harmony of treats and frights, we’ve joined the enchanting sweetness of maple with the earthy spice of Dark Fired Kentucky for a smoking experience that captures the senses with an otherworldly fusion of flavor. This may be the best aromatic blend Sutliff’s ever made—and they make a ton of them. First off, it’s not overbearing in the least—quite the opposite, it is also one of the more restrained aromatics they’ve ever made, with a clear but very light topping that melds oh-so-well with their choice Kentucky added to the mix. Opening the tin, the sweet maple is up front and center, but so too is the must of fallen leaves, bready pie crusts, and a crackling fire in the hearth—a perfect invocation of Herbstdüfte in a can. Packing best in an open and capacious bowl, the flavoring is subtle, and recedes to the background while puffing. With a sweet coffee or tea to accompany, the aftertaste of the maple is reinvigorated on the palate […]
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 632. Our featured guest on tonight’s show is the host of the Pipe & Tamper Podcast, Mike Murphy. Brian and Mike will have an extended chat revolving around the days before, during and after the Las Vegas International Pipe Show. We will hear about their travels to the show and the anxiety of Hurricane Milton bearing down on Florida at the same time while running a show and not knowing if your house is going to be there when you get home. In the end, the show went great and our homes survived, although many others in Florida were not so lucky. We’ll have clips from the show, and shoutouts to other podcasts and vlogs that were broadcasting from the pipe show.
Great article. Love seeing all of what went down at the show. Excited for the all the new things that await.
Very nice! Makes me wish I was involved in the industry.
It was a busy show. Thanks for catching up with all the news for us.
Thank You for sharing all the great information, on all the new and wonderful things that are happening in the pipe community.
Thanks for the excellent coverage of new products. Great pictures within the article.
Great review……..now I have more tobaccos on my to smoke list.