papipeguy, and wy2w...
Judging by your posts, I think we can be considered "men of a certain age"....at least, I am.
When I was a young man, I used to shop all over lower-Manhattan. The area was loaded with surplus stores, job-lots, hardware stores, electric motor stores, WW-2 surplus stores, a hobbyist's dream....and, NYC was filled with Tobacconists, and tiny Pipe "Hospitals"....places where you can get your pipe fixed while you waited, or while you were at work. Men would drop off a pipe, at lunchtime, and pick up the repaired pipe at quitting time. The Wall Street area was filled with pipe shops, Wally Franks, Barclay Rex, and many others that were all over Manhattan. Men smoked pipes in those days... 1960s. Walking into a tobacco shop was a great experience for a young boy of 14. Ah!...that cloying, heady aroma of those exotic, tobaccos, all lined up on the oak counters, in giant, Apothecary jars. Looking at the 100s of pipes would make my eyes hurt. Where do I look first? It was great. Most shop owners were very friendly, and let me lift the glass lids and smell the tobacco. I couldn't wait until I grew up and could start smoking a pipe. I had to wait until I turned 16 years old for that to happen, and must have looked like a skinny, idiot when I did smoke my pipe. I didn't care. BTW, I loved to walk behind any gent who was smoking a pipe, especially in the chilly Autumn weather. A good whiff of pipe tobacco would transport me into a world that 14 year old boys dream of. And the girls would surely think is was smart! The joke was on me.
Today, sadly, it's all gone. So is that 14 year old boy. Try to find a Tobacconists or, affordable, Pipe Shop in NYC....where are they? There's no competition, so shops can charge whatever they want for pipes. Everything's gone, or the few shops that are left are just a ghost of what they were in the past. Wilke's, De La Concha, Wally Frank, Barclay Rex, Dunhill Pipes, Arnold's, Connoisseur Pipes... either gone, or unaffordable. That leaves mail-order....which I hate. I'll order tobacco off the web, but not a pipe. For the prices that they get for pipes these days, I want to get up close and personal with any contemplated briar purchase.
But, I digress...."10 Downing Street", where are you? Give me one more sip.
Frank
: !
I wouldn't mind mixing up a batch. I've tried my hand at coming up with some mixtures, but a Tobacconist I am not. I like smoking other's creations. It's cheaper for me; less waste of good tobacco. :
