Heads up on the shop on 82nd. One of their workers sold to an underage person. Who knows what products, but they are suspended to sell tobacco until 6/24/23
Rich’s in Portland, Oregon
- Thread starter Auxsender
- Start date
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
Site Sponsors
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
Heads up on the shop on 82nd. One of their workers sold to an underage person. Who knows what products, but they are suspended to sell tobacco until 6/24/23
Was one in Lloyd Center? I used to go to a pipe store there, on the 2nd floor, but that was in the last century.
I remember the Whittaker in Lloyd Center now! I had completely forgotten about it! In my defense, I never went to Lloyd Center--too many teenagers!
I started working at T Whittaker's in 1980 as part-time Christmas help. Thomas Whittaker hired me the following year to manage the Lloyd Center store. He also had a store at Clackamas Town Center. The fellow who managed that store was Jim. Thomas later added a third store in Salem when he purchased Cascade Tobaccos. around 1984, he combined his cutlery store with the tobacco shop, which proved to be a very successful product mix in the Salem market.
I think it was about 1986 that I became the general manager of all three stores and started attending the RTDA shows to purchase products for the upcoming holiday seasons. At that point I was in all three stores, sometimes all three in one day. I put a lot of miles on my Honda Civic!
In the later half of 1992 I left Whittaker's to help start a store in Milwaukee, Oregon, called Cascade News and Tobacco. I left there in December 1992 due to a back injury.
I don't know if I met any of you while working at Whittaker's, but if you came to the Lloyd Center store in the 1980s and early 90s, we probably met.
The Lloyd Center store was originally a satellite store of Arthur Leonard's Tobacco. Leonard's was an old-fashioned tobacco store, and Arthur was a real gentleman! In the 1980s, I heard multiple stories from World War II veterans about how Arthur had sent them there tobacco, wherever they were in the world. One gentleman told me that when he returned home from World War II, one of the first places he went was to Leonard's. Arthur greeted him, shook his hand, welcomed him home, and said, "Follow me." Arthur took him to the back room, and there was an area of lockers. There was one with this gentleman's name on it, and Arthur opened the locker and handed him every check he had mailed in for tobacco during the course of World War II. Arthur had not cashed a single check from this gentleman the entire time he was in the military. Arthur returned to him every check and would not take payment for what he had said to him during the war.
That is just one of many stories I heard about Arthur Leonard! He sat a high standard for tobacconists in Portland! Since we were originally one of Leonard's stores, our customers had high expectations of us and we always tried to live up to those expectations and to the standards of Arthur Leonard even though he had been long gone before I ever stepped foot into T Whittakers.
(Sorry, I didn't intend to write a book.)
I think it was about 1986 that I became the general manager of all three stores and started attending the RTDA shows to purchase products for the upcoming holiday seasons. At that point I was in all three stores, sometimes all three in one day. I put a lot of miles on my Honda Civic!
In the later half of 1992 I left Whittaker's to help start a store in Milwaukee, Oregon, called Cascade News and Tobacco. I left there in December 1992 due to a back injury.
I don't know if I met any of you while working at Whittaker's, but if you came to the Lloyd Center store in the 1980s and early 90s, we probably met.
The Lloyd Center store was originally a satellite store of Arthur Leonard's Tobacco. Leonard's was an old-fashioned tobacco store, and Arthur was a real gentleman! In the 1980s, I heard multiple stories from World War II veterans about how Arthur had sent them there tobacco, wherever they were in the world. One gentleman told me that when he returned home from World War II, one of the first places he went was to Leonard's. Arthur greeted him, shook his hand, welcomed him home, and said, "Follow me." Arthur took him to the back room, and there was an area of lockers. There was one with this gentleman's name on it, and Arthur opened the locker and handed him every check he had mailed in for tobacco during the course of World War II. Arthur had not cashed a single check from this gentleman the entire time he was in the military. Arthur returned to him every check and would not take payment for what he had said to him during the war.
That is just one of many stories I heard about Arthur Leonard! He sat a high standard for tobacconists in Portland! Since we were originally one of Leonard's stores, our customers had high expectations of us and we always tried to live up to those expectations and to the standards of Arthur Leonard even though he had been long gone before I ever stepped foot into T Whittakers.
(Sorry, I didn't intend to write a book.)
Thanks for taking the time to write this out! Much of this is news to me although I've heard of Leonard's. You see pipes with his stamp on ebay every now and them. I understand Comoy's made his pipes. I started working summers in Portland starting in '91 and patronized the Whitakkers in Lloyd Center every once in a while, so we may well have met.
This is my modest Rich’s haul. This is my first Peterson. The other pipe is a “Made in Italy” basket pipe.
Nice Peterson billiard! I find the billiard shape smokes Virginias and VA/PERs consistently well. Another favorite shape of mine for Virginia is a Dublin. I have several of different brands.
I have not smoked any Gawith blends in recent years, though I think I did try a bowl of one of their blends many years ago. How do you like the Best Brown?
Thanks!
I’ve not had Best Brown.
I’m honestly not super excited to try it because FVF is like a flame thrower in my mouth. I’ll give it a shot but my expectations are low.
Last edited:
I never had that issue with BBF before just recently. I opened a tin of BBF from 2016, the instant the smoke touched my mouth, it felt like an absolute chemical burn. I don’t know if my chemistry has changed or what but it was a terrible experience, I used to really love BBF. I’m going to experiment with adding some Perique to it to see if I can tame that chemical burn. I hope the same doesn’t happen with FVF because I have a lot of that one squirreled away. I smoke St. James Flake regularly, no problem with that one.
So weird. Yeah, 1 puff of FVF and I have to put it down. I just can’t. And I have slightly less than 4 ounces of 2018 in a jar which is a bummer. Anyone wanna trade?
Actually, ima make a FT ad.
Yeah, it’s strange. And in my experience, age doesn’t help at all, in fact I've had some blends where the burn gets worse with age. I don’t think it’s the tobacco so much as it is the casing… just a guess though. It’s a shame because FVF is some tasty stuff. Some blends that tend to nip, I can usually acclimate to them after some uncomfortable tongue bite but some stuff is just radioactive to my mouth, not even worth trying to acclimate to those, no matter how good they taste.
Does anyone know how Rich’s Steve Books house blends compare to Books’ House of Calabash blends?
It has to be changes in body chemistry don't you think? Last year I developed a sensitivity to hot foods. The least amount of spicy hot would burn my mouth. I usually have a good tolerance for heat but something changed. Then it went away and I can now eat as hot as I used too. I've no idea what happened. There was no other change to my health as far as I could tell. I've had blends that bit me but no longer do but it took years for me to develop that tolerance. Like Virginia No. 1. I just couldn't smoke it but now I can though I still taste a tingle. Maybe the same will happen to you.
Yeah, I agree. I hope I can tolerate BBF again someday, it’s a great smoke but not the end of the world if I never do come back around to it.
I believe you're correct, body chemistry does have a lot to do with how you taste things. In the 1980s I had a series of Orthopedic surgeries and it seemed like every time I came back from the hospital nothing would taste right. It turns out it was some kind of throat infection that I seem to get every time I went to the hospital. My throat was ultra sensitive and smoking anything burn my mouth and cause tongue bite. It went away after a week or so. I have had several surgery since that time and not had the same problem. Not sure what the source of it was, but it certainly affected my enjoyment of my pipes.
Support your local, or long distance brick and mortar. Make a phone or internet order.
Businesses of all stripes are having a very difficult time in downtown Portland.
Businesses of all stripes are having a very difficult time in downtown Portland.