This (maybe not so) little piece is inspired by the repetitiveness of what I find myself relating to pipesters who buzz me wondering about attending one of my pipe clubs, especially the Christopher Morley’s Pipe Club which has been meeting monthly for decades in Philly. Although many of the new members/attendees are relative newbies, quite a few have been long time pipe smokers. But a lot of the questions are the same. So here goes the spiel I have been using:
“Think of a pipe club meeting as a tobacco tasting party. You will get to sample various blends, so bring as many pipes to match the number of blends you try out. If you are concerned about ghosting, have pipes that you normally dedicate to Virginias, VAPers, Latakias, and aromatics. Or bring cobs and/or meerschaums. When I am presented with a highly scented specimen, I use one of my meerschaum lined pipes (as opposed to one of my better block meers).
Unlike most wine tastings, which often have a snob elelment, all of the pipe clubs I've ever been to have been very accepting of each member's tastes and foibles.
Bring tobaccos of your own to share. Some of the regulars will bring a variety of things to try. Although it is somewhat a given that if someone puts a tin or baggie on the table, it’s there to share, it is always safe and certainly politer to ask for permission to sample.
There are several strategies, not mutually exclusive, in deciding what blends to bring. Some bring their favorites, so as to try to convert new fanciers. Others bring blends that they might otherwise pitch – it’s amazing how palates differ: what one piper might detest, others might adore. And you can take advantage of other pipesters’ experience with blends that are puzzling to you.
Accessories such as pipe cleaners and matches will usually be in abundance among the members, but it’s a small gesture to bring a supply of your own that you can pass on to others when needed. If you want to be really prepared, having butane and lighter fluid would be good. But as I think back about the umpteen dozen meetings I’ve been to around the country, I can only recall one occasion when a refill was needed.
Sometimes a member will have a goodly bunch of something that he/she will encourage you to take home to try later. Baggies that seal well are often at a premium at our meetings, so having a good supply to give others will win you friends. These only need to be the size that suppliers use for 1 or 2 oz samples, as opposed to 1 gallon freezer bags.
Pipe size is a consideration for some. There is a hilarious old UK TV ad for a pipe tobacco (you know it’s old if a pipe tobacco ad was on the telly) that shows a fellow being offered a sample bowl to try, whereupon he pulls out a humongous briar that must be about a Group 20. Those monsters have been called ‘codger’s pipes’, the assumption being that retirees couldn’t much afford tobacco on fixed and diminished incomes, so when a free sample of a bowl came along, they would load up.
Consequently, I think it’s slightly rude to completely fill anything bigger than a Group 5 when you are being given something to sample. Granted, some blend types develop their flavors better in good size bowls, or at least deep ones, but beggars can’t be choosers, especially if what’s in front of you is the remnants of a decades old, out of production jewel like the first Christmas Cheers, Wills Capstan, pre-Murray Dunhill, the original Escudo and the like. In the slightly different environment of pipe shows, I have a herd of small Group 1s for the express purpose of serving as taster pipes, so I can decide if I want to buy a quantity of the blend being tested. Then when I’m really exploring the newfound booty, I’ll run it through a variety of chamber shapes and sizes of known pipes, all in a sit-down, controlled (no wind) environment, where I can concentrate without distraction.
As in wine tasting, I think of sequencing the night’s blends. This is not that fancy a concept with tastes and olfactory senses – would anyone start off a meal with a sweet chocolate mousse then move on to a rare steak? Again, as in wine, I like to start with light and subtle blends – bright Virginias perhaps – before moving through heavier fare and ending up with the likes of Latbombs. If you get this order backwards, you will drown out the less potent and flavorful blends.
DGT is a given for me. I’ve never felt the obligation to complete a bowl in one sitting, and when I want to compare some similar tobaccos, what better way than to have several pipes going? To abet this behavior, I’ve repurposed wind caps – in a pinch, a curled up pipe cleaner can make a temporary stopper for the chamber.
A fine point involves unopened tins, especially very aged ones. On the one hand, the ritual of hearing the hiss upon opening is great fun. And inhaling the transient first scent of the results of the tobacco fermentation is part of the sharing experience. But I think that many blends improve with a few days of airing. One fellow I know who puffs mainly 20-30YO tins feels this airing is especially important with old tobacco.
Bring some cash if you want to be able to respond to impromptu PAD and TAD opportunities. At Morley’s we have had collections show up several times a year. I’ve helped out piper’s widows with unloading all sorts of goodies: an old Dunhill Prince for $50 comes to mind, but there have been some marvelous smoking no-names for as low as $5.
In venues where meal and drink service is available, it is best if you partake, at least some of the time. Tips and gratuities were an issue at one of the other clubs when the establishment felt the piping guests were shorting the staff a bit. Since the group is seen as an entity, penuriousness by a few does reflect on the whole group.
Other minor goodies: I bring extra plastic shopping bags – I’ve accumulated those nice Davidoff bags and when someone leaves the meeting with a lot more containers than he/she came with, those bags have helped out.”
hp
les
“Think of a pipe club meeting as a tobacco tasting party. You will get to sample various blends, so bring as many pipes to match the number of blends you try out. If you are concerned about ghosting, have pipes that you normally dedicate to Virginias, VAPers, Latakias, and aromatics. Or bring cobs and/or meerschaums. When I am presented with a highly scented specimen, I use one of my meerschaum lined pipes (as opposed to one of my better block meers).
Unlike most wine tastings, which often have a snob elelment, all of the pipe clubs I've ever been to have been very accepting of each member's tastes and foibles.
Bring tobaccos of your own to share. Some of the regulars will bring a variety of things to try. Although it is somewhat a given that if someone puts a tin or baggie on the table, it’s there to share, it is always safe and certainly politer to ask for permission to sample.
There are several strategies, not mutually exclusive, in deciding what blends to bring. Some bring their favorites, so as to try to convert new fanciers. Others bring blends that they might otherwise pitch – it’s amazing how palates differ: what one piper might detest, others might adore. And you can take advantage of other pipesters’ experience with blends that are puzzling to you.
Accessories such as pipe cleaners and matches will usually be in abundance among the members, but it’s a small gesture to bring a supply of your own that you can pass on to others when needed. If you want to be really prepared, having butane and lighter fluid would be good. But as I think back about the umpteen dozen meetings I’ve been to around the country, I can only recall one occasion when a refill was needed.
Sometimes a member will have a goodly bunch of something that he/she will encourage you to take home to try later. Baggies that seal well are often at a premium at our meetings, so having a good supply to give others will win you friends. These only need to be the size that suppliers use for 1 or 2 oz samples, as opposed to 1 gallon freezer bags.
Pipe size is a consideration for some. There is a hilarious old UK TV ad for a pipe tobacco (you know it’s old if a pipe tobacco ad was on the telly) that shows a fellow being offered a sample bowl to try, whereupon he pulls out a humongous briar that must be about a Group 20. Those monsters have been called ‘codger’s pipes’, the assumption being that retirees couldn’t much afford tobacco on fixed and diminished incomes, so when a free sample of a bowl came along, they would load up.
Consequently, I think it’s slightly rude to completely fill anything bigger than a Group 5 when you are being given something to sample. Granted, some blend types develop their flavors better in good size bowls, or at least deep ones, but beggars can’t be choosers, especially if what’s in front of you is the remnants of a decades old, out of production jewel like the first Christmas Cheers, Wills Capstan, pre-Murray Dunhill, the original Escudo and the like. In the slightly different environment of pipe shows, I have a herd of small Group 1s for the express purpose of serving as taster pipes, so I can decide if I want to buy a quantity of the blend being tested. Then when I’m really exploring the newfound booty, I’ll run it through a variety of chamber shapes and sizes of known pipes, all in a sit-down, controlled (no wind) environment, where I can concentrate without distraction.
As in wine tasting, I think of sequencing the night’s blends. This is not that fancy a concept with tastes and olfactory senses – would anyone start off a meal with a sweet chocolate mousse then move on to a rare steak? Again, as in wine, I like to start with light and subtle blends – bright Virginias perhaps – before moving through heavier fare and ending up with the likes of Latbombs. If you get this order backwards, you will drown out the less potent and flavorful blends.
DGT is a given for me. I’ve never felt the obligation to complete a bowl in one sitting, and when I want to compare some similar tobaccos, what better way than to have several pipes going? To abet this behavior, I’ve repurposed wind caps – in a pinch, a curled up pipe cleaner can make a temporary stopper for the chamber.
A fine point involves unopened tins, especially very aged ones. On the one hand, the ritual of hearing the hiss upon opening is great fun. And inhaling the transient first scent of the results of the tobacco fermentation is part of the sharing experience. But I think that many blends improve with a few days of airing. One fellow I know who puffs mainly 20-30YO tins feels this airing is especially important with old tobacco.
Bring some cash if you want to be able to respond to impromptu PAD and TAD opportunities. At Morley’s we have had collections show up several times a year. I’ve helped out piper’s widows with unloading all sorts of goodies: an old Dunhill Prince for $50 comes to mind, but there have been some marvelous smoking no-names for as low as $5.
In venues where meal and drink service is available, it is best if you partake, at least some of the time. Tips and gratuities were an issue at one of the other clubs when the establishment felt the piping guests were shorting the staff a bit. Since the group is seen as an entity, penuriousness by a few does reflect on the whole group.
Other minor goodies: I bring extra plastic shopping bags – I’ve accumulated those nice Davidoff bags and when someone leaves the meeting with a lot more containers than he/she came with, those bags have helped out.”
hp
les
I always just half-fill a medium pipe when receiving a sample, even then I remember les and his buddies trying to coax me into more samples on me after I was high as a kite from the nicotine and one puff away from getting ill. It's like someone getting drunk at a wine tasting lol... I will be back for the rest of the samples and I will bring some of my own to share next one 
