Chuck Levi of Iwan Ries on Radio Show of 4/24/2014

[admin]

Our Featured Interview on The Pipes Magazine Radio Show tonight is with Chuck Levi. Chuck is the owner / operator of Iwan Ries, the world famous Chicago-based retail tobacconist that has been in business for 157-years. Suffice it to say, there is a quite a deep and interesting history and evolution to be talked about.

 

[mso489]

I'm not seeing Chuck Levi on the podcast menu, so I am thinking he's coming on tonight, I hope. Thank you for the heads up!

I'm a IRC customer from way back, so I'd like to hear the interview.

 

[pylorns]

Cool deal, I've heard many talk about this establishment but I've yet to visit.

 

[kcghost]

This should be good.

 

[dread]

Cool, I can't wait for it. I managed to stop by there on a business trip a few weeks back and picked up a great Radice for a screaming deal. It is truly a wonderful shop with a Rich history.

 

[lordofthepiperings]

As always, can't wait to hear the interview.
Side note, been listening to the old episodes and had forgotten how much I enjoyed the filler bit, "Random Thoughts Or What The F**k Was He Thinking".
Show has been wonderful every episode. Keep up the good work Kevin and Brian!

 

[edgreen]

One hundred years of pipe retail history, Ron Carter, and left-handed rant.. It's like Cox Cable's Contour. You made the show "just for me, me, mine"
BTW, did anyone else have those half desks in high school and college? All for righthanders.

 

[mso489]

Excellent interview with Chuck Levi of Iwan Ries, which I learned, from the interview, is pronounced

E'-van Reese. I've been mispronouncing it for years. Speaking of which, growing up near Chicago,

I always heard the street name, Wabash, as rhyming with "ash," rather than "osh," but there are a lot

of distinct dialects among Chicagoans. Loved the part about the grandfather bringing the copper

washing machine from Germany for blending tobacco. And the explanation for how they happened

to move the pipe shop to the second floor. And how the space for the now-smoking-lounge was

originally used. This is a relaxed and wide-ranging conversation, so take time to enjoy it.

 

[riffraff]

Another great show, gentlemen! I love hearing the about the history of our hobby and especially stories about stores like Iwan Ries. A pipe store that has been around since 1858! The stories that building could tell! It's interviews like this one and last weeks that share the provenance of pipe smoking. It is also encouraging to hear about family owned businesses and the legacies passed down from generation to generation.
I am a history nut anyway, maybe that is why I really like estate pipes. Keeping the history alive as you guys do is just another benefit to listening to your show.

 

[peckinpahhombre]

Can't wait to listen to this. I am in Chicago on business and popped into Iwan Reis yesterday. Great shop, with very attentive customer service.

 

[carytobacco]

Loved this show. Chuck and Kevin (and staff) are the real deal and true tobacconists in every sense of the word. In an industry full of B.S. and phonies (mostly on the cigar side), these guys (and guys like them) should be appreciated. There's too many cigar-store owning clowns out there that think being a tobacconist means having a walk-in humidor stocked with the owner's favorite "boutique" cigars with 3 bulk pipe tobaccos in a jar behind the register, and a smoking lounge that takes up 80% of your retail space and TVs covering your walls. And that by smoking cigars (and/or owning a cigar store) you're some kind of wheeler-dealer type business maverick.
But all that makes places like Iwan Ries stand out even more.

 

[rmbittner]

Brian:
Great show!
But. . . "comfortability"?! Wasn't "comfort" a good enough word for you, that you had to invent an alternative?
Bob

 

[leparker]

Brian,

My Keurig coffee maker is set up for lefties. The water has to poured from the left, I've often said to myself that this was designed for a left handed person. Hard for me to position myself in relation to the machine to pour with my right so I fumble around doing it with my left. You lefties are taking over the world. :twisted:
BTW, another great show!!

 

[ssjones]

The interview with Chuck Levi knocked it out of the park!
Brian, you mother should have tied what we call "the devils hand" behind your back when you were little!

 

[jhhicks]

The rant - spot on!
Another great show. It was a lot of fun listening to you and Chuck Levi.

 

[dechuckie]

Just visited Iwan Ries; what an amazing shop! Like stepping back in time.

A befuddling selection of great pipes, as well as a massive amount of tobaccos to choose from. Could easily spend hours in there just browsing and examining pipes. Picked up a brand new Brigham Voyageur 154 for an unbeatable deal (compared to online retailers, anyway, which was a nice surprise), and a tin of Stanwell vanilla.
If you're ever in Chicago, it's a must-visit for any pipe-smoker.
...And great show and interview, Jerry!

 

[dechuckie]

Sorry!
Correction:

Great show and interview BRIAN.
Who's Jerry, anyway? :clap:

 

[mso489]

Iwan Ries has been in the same family since 1857, like before the Civil War. It would have been so easy

for some generation to just manage the building for income and let the pipe and tobacco business go.

It's rare for every generation to have a member or members who will carry on the family business. And

the fortunes of the tobacco business haven't been so inviting. It's quite a saga, and so well told.

 

[captainbob]

Chuck hit a "Home-Run". I have kept Three-Star (now named Three-Star Blue) in my rotation since 1960! I am age 64. The original Three Star was a catalyst to my creation of the Cornell and Diehl Captain Bob's Blend that Craig Tarler and I worked on for two and a half years! Captain Bob's Blend is doing very well on its own merits and internationally according to Craig's son, Chris Tarler. I wanted a "light English" style blend with a small amount of Latakia and a pronounced "grape-flavor". Our sauce is complex consisting of numerous ingredients, but "grape" is the predominant flavor on this wonderful light English Latakia Blend which is an aromatic like Three Star, but in a different direction by choice. I love Three Star Blue and it remains in my rotation since 1960! My applause to Chuck for a wonderful interview!

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[cortezattic]

:rofl: One of these days I'm gonna read a Captain Bob post that doesn't have a tie-in to C&D's Captain Bob's Blend.