My wife and I went for a little Valentine's Day get away to Lake Orion Michigan a couple weekends ago. We live in Amherstburg Ontario, just across the border from Detroit so this was nice and close. I've been working crazy hours since Christmas so we haven't had a lot of time to spend together. We did a bit of shopping and dining out and just had a nice relaxing time together. We hit up Great Lakes Crossing (yeah Bass Pro!!) and some other shops in the area. We also visited many of the smoke shops in the area to see what we could find. Found a few goodies at these places but they really didn't cater to the pipe smoker. Did manage to find a few value priced pipes and odds and ends. On our last day there we decided to take the short drive north to Flint in order to visit Paul's Pipe Shop. This was well worth the half hour drive for sure!!
Stepping thru the front door of Paul's was like stepping back in time. Wall to wall racks of pipes, tobacco and smoking accessories greeted us when we entered the store. It was almost PAD/TAD overload. Paul himself was there and so was a friendly and helpful young lady who I believe was his daughter. We browsed around at the numerous racks of pipes and accessories and I eventually was captivated buy the beautiful old wood display cabinets displaying the many Cayuga pipes. There were so many beautiful Cayuga pipes in many different shapes and sizes. I went back and forth many times but kept going back to this one Canadian that caught my eye. I ended up buying this pipe, another Zippo pipe lighter and some cleaning accessories. I didn't end up buying any tobacco because I was looking for particular tins that he did not have in stock. I was however given two free 2 ounce bags of tobacco that the young lady thought I would enjoy. One was there blend of the month, World Champion Winner, a dark Cavendish based blend that smells lovely and tastes just as good. The other was Arrowhead Pipe Club Blend that she explained was there "crack" blend that everyone loves and can't get enough of. True to her words it too is a delicious blend that also smells and tastes fabulous. Unfortunately I don't know what the contents of this blend is but I will be buying a large quantity of it when I go back in May.
My wife stumbled upon some nice little pipe shaped tie tacks and wanted to purchase a couple for me. She chose a couple that I liked and Paul was nice enough to throw in a third pin for free, A very nice gesture indeed! Right now all three are displayed in my pipe cabinet but I do plan to put one on my Fedora in the near future.
All in all this was an excellent visit to a very cool pipe shop and my wife and I were both treated very well while we were there. As mentioned earlier I will definitely return there to do business in the future. Unfortunately I didn't know there was a pipe museum there as well so we didn't get to go through that. We will be sure to check that out when we go back in May.
The front of the store:
Inside the shop:
My new pipe and goodies:
My weekend PAD haul:
Stepping thru the front door of Paul's was like stepping back in time. Wall to wall racks of pipes, tobacco and smoking accessories greeted us when we entered the store. It was almost PAD/TAD overload. Paul himself was there and so was a friendly and helpful young lady who I believe was his daughter. We browsed around at the numerous racks of pipes and accessories and I eventually was captivated buy the beautiful old wood display cabinets displaying the many Cayuga pipes. There were so many beautiful Cayuga pipes in many different shapes and sizes. I went back and forth many times but kept going back to this one Canadian that caught my eye. I ended up buying this pipe, another Zippo pipe lighter and some cleaning accessories. I didn't end up buying any tobacco because I was looking for particular tins that he did not have in stock. I was however given two free 2 ounce bags of tobacco that the young lady thought I would enjoy. One was there blend of the month, World Champion Winner, a dark Cavendish based blend that smells lovely and tastes just as good. The other was Arrowhead Pipe Club Blend that she explained was there "crack" blend that everyone loves and can't get enough of. True to her words it too is a delicious blend that also smells and tastes fabulous. Unfortunately I don't know what the contents of this blend is but I will be buying a large quantity of it when I go back in May.
My wife stumbled upon some nice little pipe shaped tie tacks and wanted to purchase a couple for me. She chose a couple that I liked and Paul was nice enough to throw in a third pin for free, A very nice gesture indeed! Right now all three are displayed in my pipe cabinet but I do plan to put one on my Fedora in the near future.
All in all this was an excellent visit to a very cool pipe shop and my wife and I were both treated very well while we were there. As mentioned earlier I will definitely return there to do business in the future. Unfortunately I didn't know there was a pipe museum there as well so we didn't get to go through that. We will be sure to check that out when we go back in May.
The front of the store:
Inside the shop:
My new pipe and goodies:
My weekend PAD haul:
Thanks for correcting me on that. I should have said we met Dan, Paul's son. Sorry for the error.
