A July Night with the Pipe Club of Hong Kong

[davidsaulmarshall]

This happened way back in July of last year, but it was such a memorable experience that I thought I'd share it with all of you. The monthly meetings are held in the upstairs 'VIP' room of a Cantonese restaurant one of the members owns and throughout the night we were plied with a never-ending supply of beer and south-China delicacies, such as Ginger Crab, Cantonese Roast Duck, duck intestines, etc..

Throughout the meal, which lasted near 3 hours, we talked about our pipes, the history of the club (which was apparently founded in the late 70s), and what we were smoking. A couple of guys were sporting Dunhills of various vintages whilst I brought along my trusty Castello shape 55 and two jars of tobacco: Plum Pudding and Maltese Falcon. I was surprised that everyone there bought their tobacco locally. I told them that I had managed to order in a couple of tins from SmokingPipes for my stay, and they were bewildered that a site like SP existed and that they shipped!

 

[tobefrank]

Looks like you had a great experience. How did you manage to get an invite to the meeting? What tobaccos were the other guys smoking?

 

[kylef]

Awesome! I've never been to Hong Kong, but I'm a writer and a longtime fan of HK movies and culture. My publisher is Earnshaw Books, based in Hong Kong and Shanghai. They recently published A Small Band of Men, by Les Bird, an account of his career as an Englishman in the Hong Kong police force in the 70's and 80's. It sounds like a very interesting place!

 

[mingc]

This happened way back in July of last year, but it was such a memorable experience that I thought I'd share it with all of you. The monthly meetings are held in the upstairs 'VIP' room of a Cantonese restaurant one of the members owns and throughout the night we were plied with a never-ending supply of beer and south-China delicacies, such as Ginger Crab, Cantonese Roast Duck, duck intestines, etc..

Throughout the meal, which lasted near 3 hours, we talked about our pipes, the history of the club (which was apparently founded in the late 70s), and what we were smoking. A couple of guys were sporting Dunhills of various vintages whilst I brought along my trusty Castello shape 55 and two jars of tobacco: Plum Pudding and Maltese Falcon. I was surprised that everyone there bought their tobacco locally. I told them that I had managed to order in a couple of tins from SmokingPipes for my stay, and they were bewildered that a site like SP existed and that they shipped!

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I visited HK about 10, 12 years ago, and really enjoyed it. It was an incredibly vibrant and energetic place. Out of curiosity, what were the locals smoking?

 

[danimalia]

Boy, that sounds like an incredible evening! I've never been to HK but would love to visit (the mainland, too). HK certainly has one of the most beautiful cityscapes in the world, IMO. Glad to know we have some pipe brothers out there.

 

[bullet08]

any story that begins with hong kong and a restaurant, for whatever reason, remind me of the opening scene of "hard boiled". would love to go visit hong kong.

 

[davidsaulmarshall]

I visited HK about 10, 12 years ago, and really enjoyed it. It was an incredibly vibrant and energetic place. Out of curiosity, what were the locals smoking?

Mostly aromatics that they got through airport Duty Free; Exhausted Rooster came up quite a bit. They were very complimentary of the Maltese Falcon though and I was glad to spread the word about SmokingPipes; HK customs is fairly lax about small amounts of pipe tobacco.

 

[davidsaulmarshall]

Looks like you had a great experience. How did you manage to get an invite to the meeting? What tobaccos were the other guys smoking?

Got an invite the good ol' fashioned way: email! Looked them up on the big pipe club database online and then got in contact. They were smoking mainly aromatics, but I'm blanking on the details now!

 

[gervais]

Do you live in Hong Kong?

 

[davidsaulmarshall]

Do you live in Hong Kong?

No, I was born there though and working in the city for the summer.

 

[ssjones]

Sounds like a great evening! Good job reaching out and making a connect.

 

[mingc]

No, I was born there though and working in the city for the summer.

Are you related to the Singaporean statesman of the same name? An advocate so successful that he was cited as the reason they got rid of the jury system!

 

[davidsaulmarshall]

Are you related to the Singaporean statesman of the same name? An advocate so successful that he was cited as the reason they got rid of the jury system!

Good eye! Not related to him, but I grew up in Singapore (a door down from LKY's Oxley Residence believe it or not!) and David Saul Marshall was a personal hero of mine.

 

[BROBS]

The monthly meetings are held in the upstairs 'VIP' room of a Cantonese restaurant one of the members owns and throughout the night we were plied with a never-ending supply of beer and south-China delicacies, such as Ginger Crab, Cantonese Roast Duck, duck intestines, etc..

So what did you do after catching coronavirus?

 

[mingc]

Good eye! Not related to him, but I grew up in Singapore (a door down from LKY's Oxley Residence believe it or not!) and David Saul Marshall was a personal hero of mine.

Small world. I grew up in JB. My old man worked in the court system, before and after independence, and I remember he and his work friends talking about David Marshall.

I'm surprised the HK fellows don't have better sources. Maybe if you get to know them better?

 

[bent1]

Sounds like it was a good, relaxing event. I so miss these club events. Used to live in Columbus OH, had a choice of three fine pipe shops and an active club membership that would rotate among them. At one memorable meeting, had a bowl of GLP Ravens Wing, outstanding smoke. At another, I was introduced to McClellands #27 & later Margate. Sometimes we’d have a game of cards or pool. Sure wish there was such a place to do those things.

 

[davidsaulmarshall]

So what did you do after catching coronavirus?

Haha, this was 8 months ago, so I was more likely to be tear gassed outside my apartment in Causeway Bay than catch SARS 2.0.

 

[davidsaulmarshall]

Small world. I grew up in JB. My old man worked in the court system, before and after independence, and I remember he and his work friends talking about David Marshall.

I'm surprised the HK fellows don't have better sources. Maybe if you get to know them better?

Ah, well met! I'm very fond of Malaysia. Just took a couple trips up there this winter to visit Malacca and KL. Your father must have a couple stories! I'd give anything to witness the growth of Singapore from pre-independence up until now.

I remember giving them a thorough introduction to SmokingPipes and a couple of other retailers. Hopefully that will have expanded some horizons, but I don't go through Hong Kong much anymore, sadly.

 

[danish]

Thanks for the report. That room looks familiar ? I was a Danish expat in HKG for some time, many years ago. When the British ruled. Got some local friends and enjoyed being invited home to their family, the fantastic local food, friendly culture, etc. I should have kept in contact... Wish I had also known about the HKG pipe club then?

 

[kcghost]

Anytime spent with pipesmokers is a good time.