19th Annual Pipe & Tobacco Expo, Raleigh, NC

[mso489]

The 19th Annual Pipe & Tobacco Expo, in Raleigh, N.C., is Saturday, April 9, 2016 at the N.C. State Fairgrounds in the Governor Holshouser Building. Better put it on your calendar if you have any shot at going. Admission is $5, and the hours are 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. There's a patio with picnic tables and ash trays for smoking. Inside there are a good representation of pipe carvers; pipe, tobacco, and accessory retailers; door prize tickets; a silent auction. There are other related activities and information described at www.tapsclub.us. I'm not a member of the TAPS Club but have enjoyed several of the expos over the years. The N.C. State Fairgrounds is at Hillsborough St. and Blue Ridge Road, beside the railroad tracks.

 

[mso489]

...and if you want to make a day of it, another stop for pipe people is Pipes By George, also on Hillsborough Street, about four miles east toward the downtown, just at the far edge of the NCSU campus area as you head downtown, in a row of shops that includes a tattoo parlor and a bicycle shop, in front of new large multi-story condo/apartments. The pipe shop closes at 5 p.m. on Saturday. It's ultra-down-home and has a good selection of pipes and tobacco tinned and bulk as well as a walk-in cigar humidor and a smoking table, all very informal.