Chicago Pipe Show 2023 Report by James Foster

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Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
Great job James Foster did. Excellent text, full of human interest but also concise and well organized. The photos are nicely composed, properly cropped, with good expressions on the faces, and the pipe making photos are especially well done. Industrial photography at a high level. This piece wins the tobacco pipe journalism award for this year, in my book.
 
May 8, 2017
1,593
1,627
Sugar Grove, IL, USA
Great job James Foster did. Excellent text, full of human interest but also concise and well organized. The photos are nicely composed, properly cropped, with good expressions on the faces, and the pipe making photos are especially well done. Industrial photography at a high level. This piece wins the tobacco pipe journalism award for this year, in my book.
Thanks for the kind words regarding the photos!
 
May 8, 2017
1,593
1,627
Sugar Grove, IL, USA
Great article, James. Your interviews with the pipe makers have given me a few insights that I hadn't had before, in spite of hearing them talk about themselves before, during, and after the competition.

I also want to take this opportunity to publicly acknowledge a few members of the Chicago Pipe Collectors Club who did a lot of the hard work to produce this event. The club President, Tim Garrity, who championed the event after it was proposed by Jeff Gracik and former CPCC club president, Allan Boyd. Allan and Jeff Rice did the lion's share of the workshop setup and teardown for the pipe carving seminar, whose equipment was used for the Battle of the Briar. Jamie Connelly of Stemandbriar.com and CPCC member chipped in to help reconfigure the equipment to make it better suited for an audience. A tremendous amount of effort went into coordinating the video feed. Hasan Abid, who is also CPCC's new web guru, worked together with CPCC's Jeff Greenberg to livestream the event to YouTube and to two viewing locations at the show. A great deal of thought went into the technical aspects of this as well as the practical aspects of managing multiple photographers and videographers in a small space with an audience. Nick and Adam from the GetPiped podcast participated in all of our Zoom-based planning meetings and contributed their wisdom and experience as well.

Of course, we're beyond grateful to the stars of the show, Jeff Gracik, Steve ( Pipestud) Fallon, Scotti Piersel, and Tommi Ascorti. The commentary by Jeff and Steve was fantastic. Steve has been a professional broadcaster for much of his life and Jeff is a natural.

I'm certain that I am leaving out folks. Thank you to all those folks, too! All in all, we were delighted by how it all turned out. One more thing that makes the Chicago Pipe Show such a memorable experience.
 

admin

Smoking a Pipe Right Now
Staff member
Nov 16, 2008
8,764
4,932
St. Petersburg, FL
pipesmagazine.com
Great article, James. Your interviews with the pipe makers have given me a few insights that I hadn't had before, in spite of hearing them talk about themselves before, during, and after the competition.

I also want to take this opportunity to publicly acknowledge a few members of the Chicago Pipe Collectors Club who did a lot of the hard work to produce this event. The club President, Tim Garrity, who championed the event after it was proposed by Jeff Gracik and former CPCC club president, Allan Boyd. Allan and Jeff Rice did the lion's share of the workshop setup and teardown for the pipe carving seminar, whose equipment was used for the Battle of the Briar. Jamie Connelly of Stemandbriar.com and CPCC member chipped in to help reconfigure the equipment to make it better suited for an audience. A tremendous amount of effort went into coordinating the video feed. Hasan Abid, who is also CPCC's new web guru, worked together with CPCC's Jeff Greenberg to livestream the event to YouTube and to two viewing locations at the show. A great deal of thought went into the technical aspects of this as well as the practical aspects of managing multiple photographers and videographers in a small space with an audience. Nick and Adam from the GetPiped podcast participated in all of our Zoom-based planning meetings and contributed their wisdom and experience as well.

Of course, we're beyond grateful to the stars of the show, Jeff Gracik, Steve ( Pipestud) Fallon, Scotti Piersel, and Tommi Ascorti. The commentary by Jeff and Steve was fantastic. Steve has been a professional broadcaster for much of his life and Jeff is a natural.

I'm certain that I am leaving out folks. Thank you to all those folks, too! All in all, we were delighted by how it all turned out. One more thing that makes the Chicago Pipe Show such a memorable experience.
Well said, Craig. Thank you.
 

pipestud

Lifer
Dec 6, 2012
2,010
1,749
Robinson, TX.
Super kudos to James for winning the Master of Pipes Award! His contributions to our hobby over the years - such as his great illustrated Chicago Pipe Show report here, were major factors in his selection. Keep up the great work James, and thank you!

Steve
 

NightSkyFlash

Starting to Get Obsessed
May 1, 2023
147
1,290
Chicago, IL
I’ve not attended in many years. The last time I went, I was with a friend who is no longer with us. I finally upped the courage to head out despite the memories. Thanks to all in the smoking tent and at the tables who were so friendly and comforting. I felt like I was putting a bad memory to bed.