Hello from Southern California, The Desert of Pipes and Tobacco

[Servant King]

New here, yet I already feel welcome! Any others from SoCal here? When I say it's the desert of pipes and tobacco, that's no hyperbole. There are only about two B&M tobbaconists left in the LA area. Fortunately, I happened to be the recipient of an ex-smoker's purged collection; now all I need is some nice folks to palaver with...

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

Welcome, from Alabama. The world is a pipes and tobacco desert.. but for now the internet is a pipes tobacco oasis of beautiful women who feed you cheeseburgers topless.

 

[gerryp]

 

[FurCoat]

Welcome from North Carolina

 

[Jacob74]

Welcome!

 

[STP]

Welcome

 

[wordheavy]

Welcome, glad to have you.

 

[sablebrush52]

Welcome from the Center Of The Known Universe...

Burbank.

SoCal IS a desert. There's only one store left in LA that has any sort of selection, Tobacco Trader near Marina Del Rey. All of the other great stores, Kramers, the Original Tinderbox, Gus', The Cigar Warehouse, and many others, are gone, long gone, or no longer carry pipe tobacco.

 

[NomadOrb]

Welcome from Pasadena. As Sable mentioned, the only tobacco store I've been to that has respected the pipe is Tobacco Trader. There's a few cigar shops in Pasadena, but they're not the most welcoming to pipers.

 

[tschiraldi]

Welcome from the Buckeye state!

 

[Servant King]

Thanks to everyone! I've only been piping for about two years now, but I wish I figured this out years ago, so as not to have gone through cigar after cigar in a fruitless search for taste subtlety. I don't foresee myself being a pipe collector, however. I have two pipes right now, a Savinelli Mattone 601 for aromatics, and a Peterson Dublin 221 for everything else, both bent billiards (always loved the shape, ever since I saw Lee Van Cleef in "For A Few Dollars More"). I'm feeling pretty satisfied with just those two. I know I'm a couple years late here, but I'm pretty bummed that Drew Estate discontinued their pipe blends. Really liked Central Park Stroll and Grand Central. Oh well...

 

[Servant King]

Welcome from the Center Of The Known Universe...

Burbank.

SoCal IS a desert. There's only one store left in LA that has any sort of selection, Tobacco Trader near Marina Del Rey. All of the other great stores, Kramers, the Original Tinderbox, Gus', The Cigar Warehouse, and many others, are gone, long gone, or no longer carry pipe tobacco.

Yes, I've gone to TT pretty much exclusively. They are close to Alana's (Centinela & Venice), where my wife and I get our coffee beans. Hope they stick around. The only other place I know of is Cigars & More, in Santa Clarita, but definitely big on the cigars, less on the "& more." Surprise surprise. Anyway, glad there are some LA folk out there!

 

[dochowl]

Welcome... Torrance here, so all too familiar with the lack of B&M pipe shops in this oasis we call home. I miss the days when Ed's Tinderbox in Santa Monica was around... nothing like that here anymore. Tobacco Trader carries a decent selection, but just doesn't have anything to make it special. Such is life. On a good note though... while we may not have any good pipe shops left, it's still tough to beat our weather.

 

[sablebrush52]

Yes, I've gone to TT pretty much exclusively. They are close to Alana's (Centinela & Venice), where my wife and I get our coffee beans. Hope they stick around. The only other place I know of is Cigars & More, in Santa Clarita, but definitely big on the cigars, less on the "& more." Surprise surprise. Anyway, glad there are some LA folk out there!

Fortunately for you, your immediate needs are met. I do miss some of the great shops that were here. I've pretty much completed my cellar, so the absence of pipe shops here doesn't really affect me, but others starting out are pretty much screwed.
Fortunately there are pretty good online stores, and I have relationships with a couple of out of state B&Ms to get the hard to find stuff, though I'm pretty much done with that as well.
Welcome to the Forum.

 

[Pallidan]

Hello and welcome from the Empire State.

 

[J.GANDY]

Welcome to the forum from Savannah,Georgia!

 

[cshubhra]

Welcome!!!

 

[kurtbob]

Welcome from SE Georgia! Grew up in Cali in the 70’s- early 80’s. The Army stuck me back there at El Mirage just on the other side of the mountains in the high desert. Was there from 2012-2014. My parents still live up by Paso Robles. The reason I’m even mentioning all that is, I have watched the state deteriorate to what it is now. Stupid taxes, stupid firearms laws, stupid housing prices and stupid restrictions on personal freedoms. Used to be a proud Californian, now not so much.

 

[smknron]

Welcome from west central Florida

 

[Sloopjohnbee]

Welcome