Ideal Pipe Show

[deathmetal]

This is my ideal pipe show -- maybe yours is different:
It's in a smaller city, so costs are lower and people are less zombie-like.
The hotel has a large banquet hall and an exhibition hall, in which many pipes and tobacco blends for sale are offered.
Smoking is acceptable on the (temperate) porches or in selected rooms. No one spends much time in their own rooms smoking, because other than illicit liaisons, nothing happens there.
Men in trenchcoats roam the halls, offering packets of Penzance at below market prices.
The food is good and there is lots of English and German beers. No Budweiser to be seen for miles.
The event culminates in a slow smoke using Brown Twist Sliced and a giveaway of a 150-lb tin of Royal Yacht (referred to around here as "a week's supply").
What else?

 

[iamn8]

In my ideal pipe show, I sit on my sofa while one by one vendors and carvers come by giving free samples and displaying their wares, interspersed with strippers, showing their wares. I suppose what I'm saying is, how are you defining a "pipe show"?

 

[pylorns]

I think you're both onto something.

 

[deathmetal]

A pipe show with hookers and blow... sounds like Vegas if they allowed pipe smoking everywhere.

 

[jefff]

I would prefer some nice stouts and IPA's....but other than that...I'm there.
Why doesn't Austin have a pipe show?

 

[deathmetal]

Why doesn't Austin have a pipe show?

1. Too many stoners would show up.

2. For central USA, Dallas is a much better location. 2 hrs from Austin, 4 hrs from Houston, and less than a day's drive from Chicago (for those who dislike planes).

 

[jefff]

I have spent a boatload of time in Dallas.
I'd rather go to Austin....

 

[deathmetal]

Austin is a fun town to visit, less so to live in. The constant dysfunction wears thin after awhile. But it's less of a hot mess than Houston, and more relaxed than Dallas.

 

[ssjones]

New Orleans was pretty close to that, save for the free Penazance

 

[jefff]

I live in Chicago... dysfunction works for me.
As long as there is A/C...

 

[jefff]

I like N.O....a lot.

 

[agnosticpipe]

What Nate said--- Best pipe show idea. Might have to get a couple of male strippers for my wife though, cause she ain't leavin the house.... :lol:

 

[deathandtaxes]

First we pick a centralized tobacco friendly state, such as Missouri. Maybe a smoke friendly resort in lake of the Ozarks. Then add some of the suggestions previously mentioned. Of course, I'm not sure if there are toll roads in that area I know I-44 has tolls, so that may cause some grief :puffpipe:

 

[lonestar]

The problem with a new pipe show is, you need a very strong regional turnout, plus enough of an attraction to bring people from outside the area too.
New Orleans was successful because a lot of people just wanted to come to the city itself, and 3 or 4 regional pipe clubs brought a strong turnout.
I don't know that Dallas or Austin either one could be enough of a draw for a truly successful show. I'd love to be wrong though!

 

[lifesizehobbit]

Except for the Budweiser thing...the St. Louis Pipe Show this year hit almost all of your checklist. :puffpipe: Even my wife enjoyed going.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

New Orleans also had the perique factory tour, which was awesome. There has to be something to make it worthwhile.

BTW, why is it that we are no longer having a New Orleans show?

 

[mso489]

It takes a big city to attract a larger percentage of out-of-staters, and also to have air routes that don't require elaborate connections and car rental. But in terms of the event itself, I think small cities have much to recommend them, for a more relaxed atmosphere and a more doable scale.
I may never get to the Chicago (Pheasant Run) show or the New York City (Newark, NJ) show, but it's fun to hear about them. They do draw pipe celebs. Russ O. came to Raleigh N.C. in 2015, but not this year, but the N.C. show did expand quite a bit and had to move to a larger building.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Chicagoland fills a lot of that bill, but no cheap vitamin P. As to Royal Y as a prize, second place was 300 lbs and third place got 450 lbs in the slow smoking contest.
I beat the US reigning champion who happened to be at my table. BUT, I flamed out —so to speak— doused out, five minutes after he left the table......... At minute 5:30! So, I was among the first dozen or two to be out of the running.

 

[dochudson]

Columbus except for the current location

 

[tschiraldi]

I have not yet been to a pipe show. Has anyone here been to the ASPCA show in Columbus? If so, how does it measure up to the others? I am hoping to go this year.