Back on September 2nd, 2023, Susan and I took a drive to Boswell’s in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, it was too short notice for any pipe forum members to meet up with us that day. I didn’t find a Boswell pipe that appealed to me at the shop (I recently came across a magnum at auction that I really liked, but was the underbidder—oh well).
We made a day of it and visited Gettysburg and Lancaster. One of the stops was Waynesboro, where we did some antiquing. I came across Christie’s House of Pipes & Cigars on the main shopping drag and stopped in. I was wearing my
@Humblepipe t-shirt that day, and Eric Christie commented on the shirt. We had a nice lengthy conversation; he told about how he and J.M. Boswell both apprenticed at Richard C. Johnson’s in Carlisle, PA. I didn’t see any Christie pipes that I cared for that day, but made a note to check their website periodically. In the ensuing months, I came across a couple that I liked, but there were other pipes that took precedence. I hesitated on the purchase of the Christie pipes and missed out. After I didn’t win the Boswell, I thought to check the Christie site and found one I liked well enough to pull the trigger on.
Going to have Christie’s House of Pipes & Cigars Eric’s Blend in a Quarter Bent Christie’s Squat Rhodesian (Eric listed it as a Quarter Bent Christie’s Squat Bulldog with a round shank), made with fifty year old aged briar. Eric created this blend while he apprenticed at Johnson’s.