Vegas or Chicago for my first Pipe Show?

[EchoPlex]

Which show would you all recommend for my first Pipe Show? I have some airline credit I need to use up and have narrowed it down between Vegas and Chicago. I can only attend one or the other this year. I don't care about the other city activities, just the quality of the show itself. Thanks!

 

[sablebrush52]

Oh, good. Nobody’s had the guts to reply.
Vegas. More fun according to people who attend both and you can smoke in the hotel and on the floor.

 

[sfduke]

Vegas where indoor smoking is allowed in the show and there is an adjacent lounge

 

[Sigmund]

Sounds like a fun day!

 

[chilllucky]

What do you want out of the experience? If you're shopping for something specific, Chicago is a bigger show with more vendors. If you're looking for a particular active carver's stuff, that person may be at both or only one show. Comraderie is available at both, but I imagine the vibe is different where Vegas will have a somewhat smaller crowd and you can smoke on the floor and Chicago has more folks, but you will only be able to smoke at a table in the designated smoking tent (which gets very crowded in the evenings).

 

[pylorns]

Yeah what he said, Chicago is bigger.. or was bigger we actually don't know how much space they'll have but generally its always very very large. Vegas currently is space limited its at max vendor capacity. I love both of them for the differences that they are and those are the two (outside of the Texas show) that I will be at.

 

[kcghost]

If you never been to a show, it is hard to beat Chicago. Vegas is Vegas so there are a ton of things you can do there and the show is much smaller than Chicago. It usually has 250 or so people there so it is much easier to have an extended visit with someone.

 

[EchoPlex]

What do you want out of the experience? If you're shopping for something specific, Chicago is a bigger show with more vendors. If you're looking for a particular active carver's stuff, that person may be at both or only one show. Comraderie is available at both, but I imagine the vibe is different where Vegas will have a somewhat smaller crowd and you can smoke on the floor and Chicago has more folks, but you will only be able to smoke at a table in the designated smoking tent (which gets very crowded in the evenings).

I think I would value more vendors and larger selection of things for sale. Being able to smoke indoors at more places isn't important to me, so I think I'm definitely leaning towards Chicago.

 

[RustiePyles CPG]

I've never been to Vegas but chicago is a blast.

 

[alaskanpiper]

Chicago is an absolute blast. Vegas I’m hoping to find out soon!

 

[chilllucky]

I think I overheard that the Chicago show had 600+ visitors last year, which doesn't actually indicate that the show floor is 2-3 times bigger than Vegas, it just has more attendees.

I would think that the hosts will release the number of tables/vendor list/venue size pretty soon. If you don't want to wait for the info, just email them.

 

[PA Piper Mike]

 

[jpmcwjr]

Of course, it's not in Chicago at all, but the 'burbs. You can't go wrong with either show. So base it on price or time of year!

Enjoy!

 

[Sir Yak]

Which show would you all recommend for my first Pipe Show? I have some airline credit I need to use up and have narrowed it down between Vegas and Chicago. I can only attend one or the other this year. I don't care about the other city activities, just the quality of the show itself. Thanks!

Oooo this is a good question. I’m going to enjoy reading the suggestions. Ive been thinking about trying one of them this year myself.