Paul's Pipe Shop and Hospital

[sparrowhawk]

This is a unabashed shout out for Paul's Pipe Shop in Flint, MI. (The shop also includes a fantastic pipe museum, not to be missed.) A few years ago, new to pipe smoking, I saw displayed on the way three virtually identical, except for the grain, three black billiards that could have passed for Dunhills. The price was so ridiculously low--the pipes are made in house--that I immediately reached out with my grubby hands and snatched all three. For under $100!

As I said, I was new to pipes, and didn't realize that the air draw, for me, was a little tight. I'm a procrastinator, so I didn't get around to asking the good people at Paul's if they could widen the draught hole just a tad. Well, I sent the trio of pipes to Dave--and they came back in something like four days, and the air flow was perfect. And the price was little more than postage. These people are a class act. If you're ever in Michigan, you owe yourself a trip to Paul's. You won't regret it.

 

[johnnyiii]

Whenever I go out of town, somewhat rare, I always google search for "Pipe Shops" in the area. I unfortunately only get cigarette shops selling pot pipes. If I ever have an occasion to travel to your area, I am sure I will have forgotten this post, but hope they come up on the google search. : )
Its nice to see a pipe shop make there own pipes these days, very rare, also the service.
Nice Post and Pipe ; )

 

[drwatson]

That place is amazing! Every time I take the family to Frankenmuth, I stop in there for a bit. He has pipes and tobacco that have not been made for 30 years. They claim to have a million pipes in house, which I thought was B.S. until I went down in the basement looking for a certain pipe...Boxes everywhere!

 

[saltedplug]

Always great to hear about people in the business.

 

[franklyn22]

Paul is who taught me how to smoke a pipe back in the early 90's while I was attending college at University of Michigan Flint campus. I love that place too and it has not changed much in the last 20 some odd years. To get to the next closest pipe shop of this caliber, I have to drive to Chicago to Iwan Ries. I'll never forget Paul, he was a great guy and I loved hanging around the shop there while on breaks from class.

 

[judcole]

A legendary place. I have several of their pipes in my rotation, and am fond of their Arrowhead mixture. I just got 8 ounces of it - I called 'em up, even though I could easily drive up there, because it's dangerous going in there... ::

They claim to have a million pipes in house, which I thought was B.S. until I went down in the basement looking for a certain pipe...Boxes everywhere!

From what I have heard, Paul never bought a dozen of something if he could get a gross. :D

 

[krizzose]

I just tried some Arrowhead. I’ll be stopping in soon to get half a pound

 

[mahew]

Having been in the basement of Paul’s, I can attest to the boxes full of pipes. I heard it from the horses mouth that they had around one million pipes at their last inventory count.
Arrowhead is absolutely worth a try. There is a reason it’s their flagship blend. They also have a good variety of other tobacco offerings. Mostly aromatic’s I think, but they have an English that I am particularly fond of. They are old school, you have to make an actual phone call to place an order. Which is fine by me, so you all don’t clean them out of my favorite tobacco!
I wish I could have gone through the museum when Paul was still around to tell the stories about his collection.

 

[bnichols23]

Thanks much, y'all, for the assist. I've got a BBB with a shank that's in 3 pieces, & yesterday the tenon on one of my favorite Caminettos snapped (right after filling, worse luck). I'll send them next time I think about it (or sooner if I lose use of another one!)