I remember when I first joined this forum. I was clueless about smoking pipes, and knew of no other smokers. The Tinderbox in Tacoma, WA and this forum took me in as an infant and ingrained in me the knowledge I would need to enjoy this endeavor. Pipe smoking isn't for everyone, and for the life of me, I have no understanding as to why I love it so much. I enjoy pipes and collecting them. I enjoy the sheer variety of tobaccos out their and the hoarding of tobacco ( lol). All of those things were made more enjoyable and more I don't know, efficient from my time here.
The social aspect was important, as well. Over the years there have been some amazing people on this site. Some are still here, and some are no more. But my life is much better off for having had the opportunity to meet, even only virtually, so many really neat people.
Pausing to reflect, things are so different from when I first got on here. I cannot imagine what some of you long time smokers have endured. I feel so blessed to have come in at the tail end, the pinky nail, of the good times. Being able to get some McClelland before it went down, enough Sutliff that I can never complain before they went down. And to get a lot of it at pre 2017 prices. I could never have the tobacco that I do if I had started smoking after the MacBaren/Sutliff merger.
Pipes are the same way. I was at the Muletown show. I met some amazing carvers. They had truly wonderful pipes. But when I was collecting, the large majority of artisan pipes were $275-$500. You could get many magnificent pipes in that range. Today there are pipes as low as $275. Hell my crappy pipe was $50 and I love it. But the same range of carvers today is about $525 - $1,000. Even if I was still active duty, I could not get the pipes today that I have at these prices. I remember not wanting to spend more than $50 on an Estella. Now they frequently go for $100 - $170. I am truly happy for the artisan carvers. I know they deserve every penny they get. And I give props to the used pipe vendors getting top dollar for those estates. I am just so blessed to have bought $90+% of my pipes before 2021.
Enough of my ramblings. I want to thank you all for being here. I want to thank the Lord for the health to be able to smoke pipes and giving me the means to have accumulated what I have with what I had, so to speak. I wish for all of you to have peace in your lives and good health.
Thank you!
Mike
The social aspect was important, as well. Over the years there have been some amazing people on this site. Some are still here, and some are no more. But my life is much better off for having had the opportunity to meet, even only virtually, so many really neat people.
Pausing to reflect, things are so different from when I first got on here. I cannot imagine what some of you long time smokers have endured. I feel so blessed to have come in at the tail end, the pinky nail, of the good times. Being able to get some McClelland before it went down, enough Sutliff that I can never complain before they went down. And to get a lot of it at pre 2017 prices. I could never have the tobacco that I do if I had started smoking after the MacBaren/Sutliff merger.
Pipes are the same way. I was at the Muletown show. I met some amazing carvers. They had truly wonderful pipes. But when I was collecting, the large majority of artisan pipes were $275-$500. You could get many magnificent pipes in that range. Today there are pipes as low as $275. Hell my crappy pipe was $50 and I love it. But the same range of carvers today is about $525 - $1,000. Even if I was still active duty, I could not get the pipes today that I have at these prices. I remember not wanting to spend more than $50 on an Estella. Now they frequently go for $100 - $170. I am truly happy for the artisan carvers. I know they deserve every penny they get. And I give props to the used pipe vendors getting top dollar for those estates. I am just so blessed to have bought $90+% of my pipes before 2021.
Enough of my ramblings. I want to thank you all for being here. I want to thank the Lord for the health to be able to smoke pipes and giving me the means to have accumulated what I have with what I had, so to speak. I wish for all of you to have peace in your lives and good health.
Thank you!
Mike
