Chicago Pipe Show, 2008 Reflections
A lot can happen in a year, with many changes. Yet, in the same period, many things can stay pretty much the same. The experience of attending the Chicagoland Pipe Show over the weekend of May 3-4, 2008 was much the same as years past, somewhat like going to see a movie you’ve already seen, yet filled with many changes from last year that only add to the excitement of being there in person. It was certainly good to get back to a community alive with enthusiasm about pipes and tobaccos after a year in a place where interaction with other enthusiasts is mostly sterile without the many online opportunities to keep in touch with the pipe hobby and those many friends who share the enthusiasm and fellowship of the hobby.
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Pipe Review: Roland Schwarz
Pipe: Roland Freehand
Grade: 1
Maker: Roland Schwarz
Country of Origin: Germany
Reviewer: Nick Johnson
Stuck in Traffic
What is the best size draft hole for a pipe? A year or so back, there was quite a debate going on about this. I think the idea still smolder and burst back into the picture every now and again. I’ve given the idea a lot of thought myself, but I had always thought that something wasn’t quite right in the question. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something was missing.
Diagnosing Dr. Grabow: It's Elementary My Dear Watson
Having smoked a lot “old school” burley lately, at the last Sherlock Holmes Pipe Club meeting a friend suggested I try CVS brand Burley while several of the older members were lamenting that the mix of the club had changed from mostly pipe collectors, to “just” pipe smokers.
I am not a collector; I’m “just” a pipe smoker. If you are “just” a pipe smoker you might appreciate this story. On a rainy Friday morning on my way to CVS to get some CVS Brand burley, I got it in my head to pick a Dr. Grabow (pronounced: gray-bo) while I was there. I had thinking a lot lately about the differences between artisan pipes and pipes like Dr. Grabow: mass produced, and among pipe aficionados, much maligned. I wanted to reaffirm my faith in the “everyman’s pipe.”
Bo Nordh: The Wizard of Briar
Like many collectors, I began with Dunhills, and it was to buy one that I entered Iwan Ries in Chicago in 1980. I paid little attention to the contents of the catalogue they pressed into my hands. However, as the long upstate New York winter continued interminably, I spent more time perusing the catalogue and fell in love with the Nordh ballerina. But as a junior academic, the $2,500 price tag was way over my head. Then fate took a favourable turn. Attending a conference in Copenhagen, I found in a tobacconist shop there not one but two Nordhs, including a magnificent ballerina at an absolute bargain of “only” $800. I bought it on the spot, and it soon became my favourite pipe.