To all,
My good friend Tom wrote down his early memories of the Jost's Pipe Shop and sent them to me with his permission to pass them on to you.
Dan, here are a few of my brain droppings regarding my faded memories of Jost's:
It seems when we get to a certain age we start to cast our eyes to the heavens and think wonderful thoughts about "the good old days". Some folks take great pleasure in reminding us that those good old days probably weren't as good as our memories of them. I suppose we have a natural tendency to "round-off" to the pleasant side but they are our memories and we can interpret them anyway we damn well please. One memory of my youth that is untainted by a benevolent reminiscence is the Jost Pipe shop in the St. Louis of my youth.
I was probably 16 years old or so when I was first introduced to Jost's by the pipe smoking father of my best friend who took us along when he went to buy more tobacco (Jost's Virginia) and have his pipes refurbished. In 1961, the shop was in it's penultimate location and possessed an old world charm which came naturally to the shop and proprietors without the need for pretense.
A few years later, when I decided I would become a pipe smoker and eschew cigarettes, I paid my first visit to Jost's to purchase an entry level pipe and receive my initiation into the art of pipe smoking. Not only did that little shop transport me back in time, it suspended time altogether. If you were in a hurry, you best go elsewhere. My first pipe buying experience was more like a rite of passage guided by a kindly old uncle (Harvey Raspberry). After patiently leading me through the importance of good briar, Mr. Raspberry allowed me time to choose a style of pipe I would like to try for my maiden voyage. I believe I chose a longstem Canadian. After pulling the stem from the stone( apologies to King Arthur), Mr. Raspberry sat me down in one of the shop's chairs and a modern day Merlin showed me the magic of breaking in a pipe. "Patience in all things" he said. He then took his little finger and spread a thin layer of honey on only half of the bowl and showed me how to properly tamp the tobacco to achieve the proper draft. I was then shown the proper way to light the bowl and draw air through the pipe.... patience in all things. Once he was satisfied that I had a working knowledge of the basics, he allowed me to re-enter the real world as a nascent pipe smoker.
I was a periodic visitor to that old shop for an occasional refresher course and to renew my supply of my favorite, Jost Virginia blend. Mr. Raspberry would take my humble pipe collection and "refurbish" them as I searched the display racks which lined the walls, to search for the Holy Grail of pipes. Eventually, the shop would relocate to the bottom of the spiral parking ramp for Famous & Barr department store and, although the environment evolved to a more modern motif, the pure charm of the place thanks to proprietor, Mr. Harvey Raspberry, and his love for the art of enjoying the simplest of life's pleasures endured.
Ultimately there was a draft notice with my name on it and I left my childhood home in St. Louis and was off to see the world. I would continue to order my Jost Virginia tobacco as long as I could no matter where Uncle Sam took me but, as Norman MacLean would say, eventually the memories would "merge into a being with my soul" and the recollection of the magic moments spent with the true gentleman, Harvey Raspberry.
