A Pipe Sighting!

[settersbrace]

A sight nearly as elusive as Bigfoot or 'Nessy was bestowed on me tonight as I was leaning on the hood of my truck doing some paper work, a billiard full of 965 clenched in my teeth. An elderly gentleman walks up to me with a very well smoked full bent apple hanging from his bearded mug! It was at our monthly Sportsman's club meeting and I've seen the gent before but had no idea he was a piper. I chuckled a little as I asked him where he got the magic pipe repair band, you see he had the stem securely attached to the stummel with about a quarter roll of black electrical tape! We laughed and talked pipes and tobacco for a time before heading into the meeting. He's been smoking his pipe since 1969 and always smokes the same vanilla Aro he gets at a nearby B&M. It was a real treat to run into a briar brother out in public in such a random way and it's very rare these days, at least for me.

 

[sablebrush52]

Congratulations! We are indeed a rare and endangered species! I always enjoy the occasional serendipitous meeting.

 

[tuold]

I'm still waiting to spot the elusive piper here in Portland, Oregon. I've got my cell phone camera at the ready!

 

[redbeard]

That's awesome, I have yet to find one myself. One day hopefully though!

 

[numbersix]

That's great - I think guys like that are a dying breed and glad to know they're still around. Love that repair band too!
I also spotted two pipe smokers here in VT. One at a Home Depot parking lot and walking arund Stowe,VT.

 

[cortezattic]

I like the repair band image: "I'm NOT giving up this pipe for ANY reason!" ::

 

[settersbrace]

What's funnier Cortez is that he told me he has all the tooling AND the Vulcanite to make his own stems which he says is something he has done for people. I will ease into that discussion nice and slow over the next few months.

 

[cynyr]

That's a good sighting and contact - don't forget to put it in your log book.
I spotted a Vested Full-Bent Smoker at UAB Plaza in Knoxville a few weeks back. This specimen had the full beard and moustaches that denote an adult of the species. I didn't get a chance to speak as I was driving, but he looked plump and healthy.
Might have been our own Fred Brown.

 

[papipeguy]

Excellent story. I was at our British car show this weekend and there were over 250 British cars and close to 1,000 people but only saw one other pipe smoker. I thought that this venue would at least have more than the 2 of us. There were about 12 cigars in sight but just 2 with pipes.

 

[settersbrace]

Cynyr wrote;

That's a good sighting and contact - don't forget to put it in your log book.
I spotted a Vested Full-Bent Smoker at UAB Plaza in Knoxville a few weeks back. This specimen had the full beard and moustaches that denote an adult of the species. I didn't get a chance to speak as I was driving, but he looked plump and healthy.
Might have been our own Fred Brown.
Slow Puffs
Just like a birding book eh? I guess we are rare birds. Lol.

 

[ravkesef]

Lucky man! This past Sunday I was walking around Quincy Market in Boston, smoking my pipe, and all I managed to attract were a few odd stares. I guess I was lucky I didn't get any harsh comments. Sad to relate, I was the only pipe smoker in this rather large public venue.

 

[mso489]

The last time I hailed an old gent smoking a pipe, in a grocery store parking lot, he seemed to retreat. He

mentioned the tobacco he was smoking because I asked, but seemed in a hurry. Likely I'd just caught him

at a bad time, or maybe he was afraid I was warming up to chastise him about smoking. I didn't have my

pipe, so that may have been it. Anyway, it's good to see someone else with a briar in hand, even if they

are rushing off.

 

[dochudson]

a couple of weeks ago I'm sitting on the 4th flr oceanfront balcony of the condo we rented in Daytona Beach Shores and I'm watching a few guys surf fishing. one guys sets up and has his wife along. after a few minutes I see her head for their truck and go running back to him. Watching I see her hand him a pipe and he fires it up in a good stiff breeze looked like a Pete 999 from my vantage point a 100 yards or so away. Thought about hauling down to talk with him but it seemed like a long trip.