I thought I'd share a couple of thoughts on the Southern Fried Pipe Show held in Nashville last weekend. So far this year, I've attended Vegas, Chicago, and the KC show. This was a radically different show on several fronts. We started out at Bruce Weaver's place on Friday night for a great dinner, some shop time, and a lot of camaraderie with about 30 pipemakers from all over the country including Jeff Gracek, Nate King, Todd Johnson, Steve Liskey, Tonni Nielsen, and many others. It's amazing how much you can learn hanging out with guys of this caliber.
The show was set up at an old church in downtown Nashville- two large tents on either side. One side had 40 pipe makers, the other side some great beer, bourbon, a beard contest and live music. This was one of the few shows that only had artisan pipe makers at the tables with no table fee- no estate pipes or tobacco were sold during the event. The crowd was a definite departure from the typical show - more knuckle tattoos and bushy beards than at a Harley convention, along with a heavy contingent of hipsters- a much younger demographic than at most shows. We really found some of the nicest people you'd ever want to meet.
I saw a thread on here the other day where someone asked about the effectiveness of Instagram- we were shocked when at least 50 people through the course of the day came up and said "Hey- we follow you guys on Instagram!" It seemed the event was heavily driven by social media.
The after show was at Smoker's Abbey - a great cigar venue with tables setup outside- There were probably 100 people there who partied hard through the night…I wish I had time to get more pictures, but it was an incredibly busy day and my phone died early. It was definitely a departure from the usual pipe show- the model certainly won't replace the more traditional pipe shows, but it was an interesting alternative. When you hear of a resurgence of pipe smoking in the 20-35 year age range, this was the place where you could see it alive and well. The buyers were different - newer smokers who were buying pipes in the $200-300 range. The guys in the $800+ range were a little slower on sales. Greta and I had a great time, sold most of our pipes and will definitely be back next year.
…and the day after I went to a climbing gym in Nashville with my grandkids, daughter, and son….nothing like climbing a 60' wall with a hangover…)
The show was set up at an old church in downtown Nashville- two large tents on either side. One side had 40 pipe makers, the other side some great beer, bourbon, a beard contest and live music. This was one of the few shows that only had artisan pipe makers at the tables with no table fee- no estate pipes or tobacco were sold during the event. The crowd was a definite departure from the typical show - more knuckle tattoos and bushy beards than at a Harley convention, along with a heavy contingent of hipsters- a much younger demographic than at most shows. We really found some of the nicest people you'd ever want to meet.
I saw a thread on here the other day where someone asked about the effectiveness of Instagram- we were shocked when at least 50 people through the course of the day came up and said "Hey- we follow you guys on Instagram!" It seemed the event was heavily driven by social media.
The after show was at Smoker's Abbey - a great cigar venue with tables setup outside- There were probably 100 people there who partied hard through the night…I wish I had time to get more pictures, but it was an incredibly busy day and my phone died early. It was definitely a departure from the usual pipe show- the model certainly won't replace the more traditional pipe shows, but it was an interesting alternative. When you hear of a resurgence of pipe smoking in the 20-35 year age range, this was the place where you could see it alive and well. The buyers were different - newer smokers who were buying pipes in the $200-300 range. The guys in the $800+ range were a little slower on sales. Greta and I had a great time, sold most of our pipes and will definitely be back next year.
…and the day after I went to a climbing gym in Nashville with my grandkids, daughter, and son….nothing like climbing a 60' wall with a hangover…)
