On a short vacation to the coast of SC/NC which ended Thursday, I had the pleasure of visiting Low Country Pipe and Cigar in Little River SC, the storefront for SmokingPipes.Com . Our hotel was literally a few blocks down the road so I paid them two visits in the three days we were in town.
The first time, my wife and 14 month old daughter accompanied me. This is a huge shop, perhaps 1000 sqft in the main area, not including the backroom , cigar humidor, etc, in a brick historical looking building on a corner. Since there is no local ordinance prohibiting smoking in the shop, one may do so. They have an excellent ventilation system so there was neither staleness, nor complaints from the wife. On display there are perhaps 200 pipes on the wall: Peterson, Nording, Savinelli, Ashton, Randy Wiley just to mention a few. There is a rack with jars containing all the bulk blends that are sold by SPC online, except for Sam Gawith. Strategically placed around the shop are their top selling tins ( Dunhill lineup, Peterson Flakes and some of their aromatics, Escudo, Balkan Sasieni, OGS and Erinmore Flake ). To the side, there is a lounge area with a table where one canmooch off sample some of the blends. There is also a "scratch and dent" area with discounted blends ( dinged tins, torn bulk packs, bad seals etc ).
I picked up some 1 and 2 oz bulk baggies of GH Brown Flake Scented and GH Balkan Mixture ( smoked a bowl of that in the shop, very well balanced but a bit much as the first smoke of the day as it had a very rich taste and quite a bit of Vitamin N ), some PS LBF and some Planta MMVII ( awesome blueberry aromatic ), along with a 250g box of each SG Commonwealth and SG Balkan Flake and two tins of Dunhill Flake from the Davey Jones chest of discounted baccy, some 9mm Vauen filters for my Savinelli Author and a 8deco tamper.
After hearing the story of my daughter getting in my pipe cabinet and laying claim to my corncobs, Bill, the sales guy, threw in a miniature corn cob which my daughter promptly placed in her mouth and began to clown around with ( no baccy and unlit, of course .... she does not smoke nor do I encourage it ). After hearing about my needing to pick up a Peterson for myself from the estate section, Bill advised me to place an order on the website and mark it as offline payment with a comment that I will be picking up in store.
He was also kind enough to let me sample some Santee, one of the Low Country Pipe and Cigar house blends made by C&D.
I returned the next day to look at my two pipe choices: a Peterson Donegal Rocky B10 from the estate section, and a Savinelli Baronet Bruyere 316 KS. One of the SP guys brought them over as I was giving Bill a quick review of Santee ( "it's like smoking Grand Marnier but you have to go slow or it will bite the crap outta you" ). I ended up getting the Pete to add # 15 to the Peterson family, and Bill threw in an ounce of ready rubbed GH Best Brown #2 from the bottom of the jar ( they were sold out after that ).
Total damage : $180 including sales tax ( 7% )
Being on vacation and on a whim, I did not photo document the experience. Only a pic here of the motherload, minus the filters and the GH Brown Flake Scented which did not travel too well on the flight back to Alaska and had to go straight to the jar.
We're contemplating moving to the area at some point since wife has some family nearby in Southport NC so who knows ? Definitely a good place to hang out. Interestingly enough they had a job opening in the shipping department .....
The first time, my wife and 14 month old daughter accompanied me. This is a huge shop, perhaps 1000 sqft in the main area, not including the backroom , cigar humidor, etc, in a brick historical looking building on a corner. Since there is no local ordinance prohibiting smoking in the shop, one may do so. They have an excellent ventilation system so there was neither staleness, nor complaints from the wife. On display there are perhaps 200 pipes on the wall: Peterson, Nording, Savinelli, Ashton, Randy Wiley just to mention a few. There is a rack with jars containing all the bulk blends that are sold by SPC online, except for Sam Gawith. Strategically placed around the shop are their top selling tins ( Dunhill lineup, Peterson Flakes and some of their aromatics, Escudo, Balkan Sasieni, OGS and Erinmore Flake ). To the side, there is a lounge area with a table where one can
I picked up some 1 and 2 oz bulk baggies of GH Brown Flake Scented and GH Balkan Mixture ( smoked a bowl of that in the shop, very well balanced but a bit much as the first smoke of the day as it had a very rich taste and quite a bit of Vitamin N ), some PS LBF and some Planta MMVII ( awesome blueberry aromatic ), along with a 250g box of each SG Commonwealth and SG Balkan Flake and two tins of Dunhill Flake from the Davey Jones chest of discounted baccy, some 9mm Vauen filters for my Savinelli Author and a 8deco tamper.
After hearing the story of my daughter getting in my pipe cabinet and laying claim to my corncobs, Bill, the sales guy, threw in a miniature corn cob which my daughter promptly placed in her mouth and began to clown around with ( no baccy and unlit, of course .... she does not smoke nor do I encourage it ). After hearing about my needing to pick up a Peterson for myself from the estate section, Bill advised me to place an order on the website and mark it as offline payment with a comment that I will be picking up in store.
He was also kind enough to let me sample some Santee, one of the Low Country Pipe and Cigar house blends made by C&D.
I returned the next day to look at my two pipe choices: a Peterson Donegal Rocky B10 from the estate section, and a Savinelli Baronet Bruyere 316 KS. One of the SP guys brought them over as I was giving Bill a quick review of Santee ( "it's like smoking Grand Marnier but you have to go slow or it will bite the crap outta you" ). I ended up getting the Pete to add # 15 to the Peterson family, and Bill threw in an ounce of ready rubbed GH Best Brown #2 from the bottom of the jar ( they were sold out after that ).
Total damage : $180 including sales tax ( 7% )
Being on vacation and on a whim, I did not photo document the experience. Only a pic here of the motherload, minus the filters and the GH Brown Flake Scented which did not travel too well on the flight back to Alaska and had to go straight to the jar.
We're contemplating moving to the area at some point since wife has some family nearby in Southport NC so who knows ? Definitely a good place to hang out. Interestingly enough they had a job opening in the shipping department .....