I pulled up to the shop and there were a couple of older guys busting each others’ balls out front smoking their cigars. Even in cigar and pipe shops, you can’t smoke indoors in Oregon without an expensive ventilation system, so this is a common sight outside of shops in the state. They both introduced themselves and shook my hand before I went in and they were very welcoming and convivial. The employee on duty, about the same age as the guys out front, was helping someone in the humidor when I walked in so I was left to browse the pipes and tobaccos before he came in. He saw me eyeing the tobaccos and asked me some questions about what I was looking for. I said anything without Latakia and I picked out a tin of C&D’s Speakeasy Navy Flake. He asked if Cornell and Diehl was an English brand and was surprised when I told him they’re from South Carolina. I said that my usual blend I smoke is called Pegasus from C&D and that I have some in my tobacco pouch in my truck if he wanted to try some. He was excited to try it so we went outside together. When I handed him the pouch he looked at it and then back at his pipe and sheepishly asked if I would pack it for him. I said I gladly would but that it would be pointless unless I could check the draw when I was done, which wasn’t a problem. He was surprised at how quickly and lightly it was packed and he said he usually ‘jams it in there’. We talked a bit about my meerschaum (he hadn’t ever heard of meerschaum) and the pipe he was smoking. When I had tested the draw on his pipe it tasted like an ashtray full of black and milds. Turns out the pipe he was smoking was just the store’s resident pipe that had been smoked by all of the employees for years. He remarked that he had never had a pipe stay lit and smoke as well as the one he was enjoying and he said he might get into it more now along with his cigars. I popped the tin I purchased so he could check out the C&D flake tobacco as well. He seemed to have a good time and clearly didn’t get to interact with very many pipe smokers. He said in jest that usually when you get a bunch of cigar smokers together in a room they’ll all hang out and bust each others’ balls but the guy smoking a pipe will go off in the corner and be like ‘leave me the hell alone.’ I figure most pipe guys must just go in and out without hanging out much and it was nice to share the joys of pipe smoking with that fellow.
