The West Coast Pipe Show 2010 Report
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Kevin Godbee - Dec 6, 2010
- 17 min read
In it’s 2nd year, The West Coast Pipe Show is the new “Big-Small” show for west coast pipers. It’s small because it’s not so big that you can’t get to everything, and you have time to talk to almost everyone. Some shows are so big that you have to accept that you won’t see everything and you won’t get to talk to everyone. However, The West Coast Pipe Show is also big … or big enough. It is not so small that you are finished soon after you start. In fact, if you want to experience all the show has to offer, you will need the entire two days, and maybe more.
The show is officially on Saturday & Sunday, and it took place this year on November 6th & 7th. Like some other shows, activities start earlier than the opening and even linger past the official last day for some people. There was a Friday night poker tournament, and even if you weren’t playing poker, you couldn’t walk into a bar, restaurant or through the lobby of The Palace Station without bumping into some pipe people. Most attendees and exhibitors arrived in Las Vegas on Friday, and just like other pipe shows you could see guys all over the lobby and other areas with their pipe cases open; talking, examining, trading and already making deals before the floor opened the next day.
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The show took place at The Palace Station, which is off the strip, and therefore quite affordable for Vegas. It is clean, comfortable and really not a bad hotel at all. It’s not The Venetian, but my bill for 4-nights at The Palace Station came to what 1-night usually costs me at The Venetian. My hotel bill made me smile instead of making my eyes fall out of my head … and I made some purchases at the show that I probably wouldn’t have otherwise … less hotel bill = more pipes and tobacco.
On Saturday there were three seminars. I think most pipesters, like myself, usually enjoy our hobby solo. So when you have the opportunity to hang out with a bunch of guys smoking and talking pipes, it’s like being a kid at Disney World with a whole cast of characters that are fun to hang out with. I decided I wanted to hear every single word presented, and every single question asked and answered in each of the three seminars. What I didn’t anticipate is that it would consume most of the day since we also conducted video interviews with each presenter as well.
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You can see our video interviews at these links:
Bob Swanson – Perry White Pipes Interview
Interview with Gary B. Schrier, Pipeman, Author & Publisher
Interview with Tobacco Blender Russ Ouellette
Marty Pulvers Interview from the West Coast Pipe Show
By the end of the day Saturday I had only been to one table. I was a little panicked that I wouldn’t get to everything on Sunday, but I hustled a little and things turned out fine.
Saturday night there was a Dinner & Awards ceremony. Pipe collector, author and PhD psychologist Fred Hanna was the featured speaker and entertainment … (and he was definitely entertaining). I, Kevin Godbee, was the warm-up speaker. I spoke about the growth of the hobby coinciding with the growth of the Internet, and how this is a great opportunity for the industry and for pipe hobbyists as well. Fred Hanna provided some extremely interesting information about how nicotine has legitimate health uses and is quietly being researched in the neuro-medicine area. He also discussed the experience of finding that special pipe that makes every tobacco you smoke in it just taste better than any other pipe. (Mine is my Ardor.)
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The awards included; Kurt Balleby: Best European Pipe Maker, Marty Pulvers: Lifetime Achievement Award, J.T. Cooke: Excellence in Pipe Making, Sykes Wilford: Outstanding Contribution to Pipe Collecting, and Michael Parks: Most Improved Pipe Maker.
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In our coverage of pipe shows, we make it a point to get product details from several different exhibitors. Here are several specific discussions we had with some of the pipe makers.
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Adam Davidson – Adam has been making pipes since April 2007. All of his pipes are handmade from solid block briar and solid ebonite with the occasional addition of horn, bamboo, boxwood or ivory. Adam made close to 100 pipes this past year in 2010. His signature shape is the “Amoeba”. Adam describes the shape as a “fun and playful design that is very organic”, which is why he named it Amoeba. All of his newest shapes are typically a blasted base which either come with horn or bamboo. The rims are smooth, somewhat triangular, but very fluid with a lot of concavities and convex natures to them. Each Amoeba has a slightly different profile and rim. No two are alike.
Adam was also displaying a replica of an antique clay pipe from 18th Century Colonial America. He tells us; “The Cutty is one of my favorite shapes because I really enjoy history and these were the first mass-produced pipes. For a few years I wanted a set like this and I had to search the Internet for quite a while for the particular specifications I was looking for. I found this one a few years ago, and this particular clay pipe came from an old tavern dig in Connecticut. It is dated from somewhere between the late 18th-century and the early 19th-century. I wanted to perfectly replicate it, so this pipe is all hand-carved. It is not turned on a lathe. The briar is sandblasted and only waxed, so after years of smoking, it’s going to develop a very deep patina. The stem is a material similar to bakelite that comes from the 1920s – 1930s. It’s a cough drop colored red and as it’s shaped and sanded it turns to a yellow color, but through some oxidation, it’s going to turn to a very rich patina on the stem. The set comes with a handmade leather box that is a similar style to an 18th-century tobacco box. The pipe has a delicate sandblast because I wanted to replicate an old clay that came from a tavern dig that had rust and pitting from the elements. After just a few smokes it’s going to look like an antique pipe. The antique clay replicas will retail between $500 – $600. The general price scale of Adam Davidson pipes are $350 – $1,000.
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Adam’s Website is AdamDavidson-Design.com. His pipes can be purchased at SmokingPipes.com.
Steve Morrisette: Steve is in Nashville, Tennessee. All of his pipes are handmade in his workshop, the “Briar Studio Shop”. Everything is done by hand with the very best materials. Steve specializes in using exotic woods and unusual, interesting, beautiful materials such as ivory and chalazite. Chalazite is a mineral polymer that comes in several different colors. He also uses exotic wood from Africa and Australia, a lot of burls, and spalted woods.
[Editor’s note: Spalting is any form of wood coloration caused by fungi. Although primarily found in dead trees, spalting can also occur under stressed tree conditions or even in living trees. Although spalting can cause weight loss and strength loss in the wood, the unique coloration and patterns of spalted wood are sought after by woodworkers. Wikipedia.]
Steve also uses abalone and mother of pearl. He explains; “I really try to get into using those fine things in a way that, for men who don’t wear jewelry, having a pipe with a little bit of an adornment on it is kind of a bit of a substitute maybe, and just a little something, a little bit of a tweak, a little kick, if you will. For the guy that likes this sort of thing.”
Steve just went full-time as a pipe maker and hopes to turn out around 100 pipes in 2011. The price range is currently from $275 for a very small, unadorned sand blast; up to about $500 for a fancier pipe. He also does commissioned work that can go into several thousand dollars. Steve Morrisette’s website is SMPipes.com and his pipes can be purchased at QualityBriar.com.
Steve had a good show on Saturday and only had two pipes left by Sunday morning as shown below.
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Next we talked to Simeon Turner and Joe Skoda.
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Simeon Turner: Simeon is the owner of Turner Pipes in Denver, Colorado. All of his pipes are handmade, including both the stummels and the stems. The stems are cut from German ebonite and Cumberland and then various different embellishments are added including ivory, and exotic hardwoods. Turner Pipes range in price from the low $200’s, to mid-$300’s and can be purchased through his website at TurnerPipes.com. Simeon also writes the blog, Of Briar and Ashes.
Here are a few of the Turner Pipes that were on Display:
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Joe Skoda: Joe is the proprietor of Skoda Pipes in Philmont, New York, which is in the Northeast corner of the Hudson Valley. He says he likes variety, so he has some traditional shapes, and some very unique shapes. He says; “I like doing variations on a theme once in a while, but my desire is to always venture into something new and to try to keep challenging myself as much as possible and to keep coming up with something unique to my product line.”
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Joe uses predominately Grecian Briar. All of the stems are vulcanite or cumberland, and occasionally acrylic. The small stems are all handmade. Joe will sometimes make extensions out of exotic woods. Skoda Pipes are well-known for the big saucer tops and unique rustication designs. Some names of Joe’s extremely unique styles are; Patent Leather, Gecko, and Cracked Shell. Prices range from $350 to $1,300. A website is in the works. In the meantime, Joe can be contacted at Skodapipes@hotmail.com, and his phone number is 518-672-0093.
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Russ Ouellette: Russ is the master blender of Hearth & Home Pipe Tobaccos for PipesAndCigars.com. There were three new blends from the Hearth & Home line being previewed at the West Coast Pipe Show. Magnum Opus is a medium strength Balkan blend with rare Orientals that haven’t been available in a number of years. It is very bright and clean, and reminiscent of tobacco blends of the ’70’s. Russ says; “I’m just impressed as hell with the quality of the leaf that I was able to get my hands on and so far the feedback on it has just been outstanding.”
Sweet & Savory, is a Virginia/Oriental blend with a little bit of dark fired Kentucky and some Perique in it. It is lively, sweet, not overpowering, not overbearing, with no flavorings whatsoever.
Log Cabin is going to be the slow smoke blend at the Chicago Pipe Show next year (2011). It’s a Virginia blend that also has some dark fired Kentucky in it, but what makes it unique is a flavoring that used to be used in a lot of old time blends called Rose of Latakia. It has a very unique aroma and flavor. It is a tobacco you could smoke all day, it doesn’t dominate your taste buds. “It’s just a good smooth old-style blend”, according to Russ.
Magnum Opus and Sweet and Savory will be available in the first quarter of 2011 and Log Cabin will be available at the Chicago Pipe Show.
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Bill Shalosky: Shalosky Pipes offers pipes in classic shapes, mostly Danish and English, and also free hands. Bill utilizes the work shop in the back of the Smokers’ Haven store in Columbus Ohio. His prices range range from $250 to $650, and Shalosky Pipes can be purchased at Smokers’ Haven.
Here are some of Bill Shalosky’s pipes that were on display in Las Vegas.
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Bruce A. Weaver: Bruce tells us that what’s unique or special about his pipes is his style of sandblasting. It is extremely detailed and follows all of the growth rings on the pipes. The average price of a Bruce Weaver pipe is $450. All of his pipes are handmade in his workshop in Brentwood Tennessee and can be purchased from QualityBriar.com. Bruce’s website is BAWeaverPipes.com.
Below are some of Bruce A. Weaver’s pipes:
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Todd Johnson: Todd, in addition to his well-established line of Todd M. Johnson Pipes, just came out with a new line named Medici. They range in price from $225 to $350 and are produced in a new workshop named “The Briar Studio”. The Briar Studio is a joint venture in Nashville Tennessee between Todd and Bruce Weaver, and also includes pipe makers; Jody Davis, Steve Morrisette, Pete Provost, and Scott Holtman.
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Todd’s exquisite namesake pipes are $800 and up. They can be purchased at Quality Briar in the U.S., and internationally at Scan Pipes, PipeShop.ru in Russia and Eddie Wong in China. More information can be found at Todd-M-Johnson.com
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John Rinaldi: John always has some unique beautiful pipes to show. He and his wife Jennifer, are based in Sonora, Arizona, and the pipes John makes along with the accessories made by Jennifer have an artistic, rustic desert feel about them. J. Rinaldi Pipes are made from Italian Briar and they are available with a variety of stem materials including; vintage bakelite from Turkey. Rusticated and sandblasted pipes range in price from the mid-$250 – $350, and smooth pipes range from $300 – $400. Pipes can be purchased at five different pipe shows a year and by visiting the website at JRinaldiPipes.com. |
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Will Purdy: Will tells us; “I sell direct to customers through my website, WillPurdy.comand I have one dealer, Per Billhäll at Scandinavian Pipes over in Sweden. I make all of my pipes myself and my shop is in Colorado. I’m a Colorado native. I buy my briar from Italy, and age it at least 10 years. I’m a full-time pipe maker since 2005.”
Will’s prices range from $400 to $1,500 for special pieces. Special orders for commissioned work are accepted.
Will: “This pipe is a unique shape for me. I have not done this one before, it’s a panel pipe. My first panel. It started out to be along the lines of a Dunhill Diplomat which is one of my favorite shapes. I’ve been smoking pipes since the mid-’70’s, and it’s just one of my favorites, but I wanted to do something different, so I took a fairly good sized block, but it was narrow, and I made a diplomat handle and it’s unique to me and I don’t know if there’s anyone else crazy enough to have made one in the past.”
“This is a little apple sand blast. I have a Dunhill from the ’30’s that I smoke all the time. It’s a little Group Two Apple, and I decided to do something like it. I like classic shapes. I mean, it’s just one of my favorites. It’s small, it’s extremely light, and it makes people look smarter.
This is one of my signature shapes. I call it Organic Tadpole. It’s sort of designed too look like it swims. It’s asymmetrical, the shank curves both left to right and up and down, and it’s one of my most popular shapes at this point in time. I do variances of it. I’m calling this one a Hammerhead – it looks a little bit like a Hammerhead shark when you look at it from the top. And again, everyone is a little different.
Here is another traditional shape pipe. This one again is one of my old pipes from the ’70’s. I have a little Comoy Billiard. This is a variation of that, it’s more of a brandy shape, but it’s an extremely short pipe, but very light. Very much something you can puff on for hours and never feel it’s even in your mouth.
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Craig A. Cooper: Craig has been hand making pipes for over 30 years. He previously owned and operated the Village Smoke Shop in Scottsdale, Arizona for 10 years, then closed up shop, moved to Colorado and went fulltime as a pipemaker.
Craig uses Algerian briar, acrylic or vulcanite stems, and crafts each pipe by hand.He makes some beautiful high-quality pipes in the price range of $125 – $275.
Blandings Collection 2 Pipe Set w/ DVD
Craig is also producing a limited edition collectible, the “Blandings Collection – 2 pipe set w/ DVD“.
It’s a handsome looking set of two pipes that are replicas of the pipes smoked in the 1948 movie, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, starring Cary Grant. For many pipe smokers, the nostalgia of pipe smoking is part of the draw to the hobby, and that is certainly a factor with this limited edition collectible. The handmade pipes are attractive and classy, and come in a handmade wooden box along with the DVD of the movie and photo stills. The author thought it was so handsome, classy and nostalgic that he bought set number 9 of 48.
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Craig tells us of the creation of The Blandings Collection.
“Well I first got the thought of the Blandings Collection while watching my favorite old movie, I just love Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House. The pipe smoking is from start to finish, it’s fantastic. I saw the Bill Cole character played by Melvin Douglas and thought it would be really neat to have one of those pipes. I wondered where he got, then decided to just make one. So I made one and I scaled it out and looked at the various screen shots of the film. Then I saw Cary Grant’s pipe and I thought, I’m going to make one of those too. So I made one. And I thought, how about a two-pipe box set? And that’s how we created it.
Production is limited to forty-eight total. They’re a lot of work because I hand make the boxes – the boxes are actually pre-made, but I stain them, lacquer them, put the signage on them. I make the insides with all the satin and everything and then fit both pipes in there. And it actually takes longer to make the box than the two pipes. So it kind of turns out to be quite a lot of work. 1948 is the year the film was made, so we decided on 48 sets.
You get the two pipes in the display box and I include a copy of the DVD from the actual film so you can get the set, fill up a pipe, put the DVD in and smoke right along with Cary and Melvin Douglas.”
Craig Cooper’s pipes and The Blandings Collection can be purchased at: PipeAndPouch.com.
Ernie Markle: Ernie produces amazing handmade pipes in Phoenix Arizona, which retail from $200 – $400. They can be purchased on his web site at: EMarklePipes.com.
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Bob Kiess: Dr. Bob Pipes is located in central Vermont. All of Bob’s pipes are handmade with very unique rustications. They range in price from $290 to $450 and only thirty to forty pipes are produced annually. The pipes can be purchased at DrBobPipes.com.Bob started smoking a pipe in college, and continued to smoke his pipes in medical school. Bob says; “There it seemed it was almost fashionable and many docs, students and professors smoked. Pipe and tobacco pouches were always in my white doctor’s coat and I lit it up almost anywhere in the hospital or medical school. Folks certainly had their heads screwed on straight in those days!” Then he saw an ad for Pimo Pipe Company, ordered a predrilled block, and created a disaster of a pipe. After taking Al Baier’s course, studying with JM Boswell, and years of refining his craft, Dr. Bob has been producing exquisite pipes for ten years. |
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Bob was showing several rusticated and partially-rusticated Hawksbill pipesand some amazing flame grain Dublins and several other finely detailed pipes.
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Be sure to mark your calendars for the 2011 West Coast Pipe Show – November 5 & 6, 2011.
West Coast Pipe Show Website
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Photo Credits:
Opening “West Coast Pipe Show” Photo courtesy Bas Stevens of the Vancouver Pipe Club.
Sykes Wilford’s Award Plaque Photo courtesy of the Smoking Pipes Blog.
Photos of the dinner, Rick Newcombe, Kevin Godbee, Marty Pulvers, Steve O’Neill, and Fred Hanna courtesy of Jeremiah Dreier, pipe smoker, collector and the lucky husband of “Pipe Babe” & PipesMagazine.com correspondent Cynthia Sargent.
Will Purdy Diamond Diplomat Pipe photo courtesy Will Purdy.
Craig Cooper Dublin Pipe courtesy Craig Cooper, PipeAndPouch.com
Written by Kevin Godbee
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Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 635. Our featured interview on tonightâs 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 tonightâs 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, letâs just take a deep breath of fresh autumn air, shall we? Ahh. Thatâs better, isnât it? Whatâs 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 oneâChristmas. 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. Itâs in the air and the seasons of meaningful little things. Itâs 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 Pipedomâs 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, âI believe that pipe smoking contributes to a somewhat calm and objective judgment in all human affairs.â Amen and amen! Dealing with world-rattling events takes a calm and objective view of things, to the Punditâs way of summing it up. You just donât 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. âI am become Death, the destroyer of worlds,â 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 ainât easy to turn on the lights in Punditâs rock pit head. Now itâs 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 itâShelby Foote. A parting thought: It is said that famed Southern author William Faulkner carried a packed pipe in a coat pocket wherever he went. Thatâs 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. Weâll 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 thereâs 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 appearâlattes, muffins, shampoos, trash bags, and myriad other concoctionsâso, too, my ability to breathe freely disappeared. The unfortunate side effect of losing oneâs 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, Ă la The Old Boss On the reverse of the tin we find the blendâs 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 wellâit smokes light, and itâs 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 marquesâthe 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 havenât 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. Iâve set half my tin aside to sample again in a month or two, in case Iâm 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 Iâd endured. Offered in a full 8 ounce tin with delightfully spooky Halloween art, itâs (hopefully) enough to last through the season. Somehow I had missed this last year, so itâs 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, weâve created Maple Shadows. In a season that is defined by the unlikely harmony of treats and frights, weâve 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 Sutliffâs ever madeâand they make a ton of them. First off, itâs not overbearing in the leastâquite the opposite, it is also one of the more restrained aromatics theyâve 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 hearthâa perfect invocation of HerbstdĂźfte 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 tonightâs 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 coverage as always, very cool pipes!
Thanks for sharing all the pictures of the variety of pipes available. Its nice to see the little bios of the carvers too.
Not as good as being there, but this will be as close I can get to a pipe show.
Thanks!
excellent report. thanks a bunch.
Thanks for an excellent read, Kevin, and some great pictures! Hopefully I can post something like that in April after the Danish Championship. Unless, of course, you fellas come visit us and beats me to it đ
Bravo!
Excellent review once again PipesMagazine.com !!
Thank you for the great videos as well…someday I will attend ALL of these great get togethers…
Joe N.
Barrie, Ontario
Canada
The show was great, The dinner and speaker were very good and looking forward to the show this year. Jason Lang