Any Tobacconists in the N. Chicago area?

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mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
The only other "real" pipe shop I know closed eons ago, so I don't think you've missed anything, or anything that

I know about. For the historical record, the shop that closed was the Park Ridge Pipe Shop near the commuter train

station in the suburb of Park Ridge. This had a resident pipe guru or two and became the hangout for counter culture

young people. They had real pipes, a good selection of tobaccos, and were probably second only to Iwan Ries despite

only being a storefront with a limited inventory.

 

cortezattic

Lifer
Nov 19, 2009
15,147
7,637
Chicago, IL
Up Down Cigar, at North Av. & Wells St., seems to devote a fair amount of attention to pipe smokers.

I've never been there, so I can't advise you beyond providing a link to their website.

They offer free parking in a nearby lot, which is an important factor in the city these days.

 

jah76

Lifer
Jun 27, 2012
1,611
35
Ha Cortez. My wife still teases me about the time I went to Iwan Ries and spent more on parking then I did in the shop.
I showed her though. We went back the following year and I spent ten times as much in the shop then I did on parking.

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
Up Down looks most interesting. The pipes on their site are all high end, but that may be good. The interior

looks inviting. Later hours are good. Thanks for the report.

 

tppytel

Starting to Get Obsessed
Sep 23, 2014
156
0
@mso489 - The name of the shop in Park Ridge was Bob Rowe's Evening Pipe Shop. It's long, long gone now - Bob passed around 1996 IIRC. Amazing place, though - I grew up in PR and stopped in there regularly (maybe... um... before I was 18, but either old Bob's eyesight wasn't so hot or he just didn't care). By the time I got there, it wasn't much of a gathering place anymore, but you could still feel the echoes of the glory days.
But yeah... these days, it's just Up Down and Iwan Ries as far as I know. Both are very well-stocked, though neither strikes me as especially conducive to friendly conversations and lingering. There are a couple other smoke shops on the north side I've stopped in, but they mostly just do cigars and cigarettes. You might scrounge up a pack of cleaners or a better-than-drugstore blend in a pinch, but they're in no way worth a trip.

 

quincy

Part of the Furniture Now
Feb 7, 2013
508
10
This is so funny. I just moved to the Chicago area and today I was trying to find a store with a good selection that wouldn't require driving in to the city (I'm south of it, just in to Indiana) and couldn't find a thing!

 
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