Club
Info & Events
Details of the December Meeting
Despite
the fact that quite a few regulars could not attend the December
meeting we still had a respectable turnout. It was nice to see Ted
back for a return visit and our old friend Rich
was back again as well. Derek came with his entourage
which seems to be growing monthly and we may be adding another new
member to our ranks. The one positive side to the low turnout this
particular month was that we had our "free" holiday tobacco
raffle. Six tins of tobacco, including a couple of large tins, were
raffled off and almost everyone member present took a tin home with
them. The big hit seemed to be the new
blends by the Seattle Pipe club which are blended by Russ Oulette
of pipesandcigars.com. I have to admit the Mississippi River and
Plum Pudding are both excellent tobaccos and highly recommended.
And don't be fooled by the name... the Plum Pudding doesn't taste
like an aromatic, it's very good. Both blends are currently out
of stock but I'm told they hope to blending up a new batch after
the first of the year.
The other main topics of conversation were our new club pipe (more
on this below), a revisit of our new dues structure and the upcoming
Kaywoodie Holiday Party which everyone was looking forward to and
was well attended by SHPC.
2009 Club Dues is
Due
It's that time again folks. Club dues for 2009 ($30) must
be paid in full by the March meeting. Those of you who do not want
to pay up front can continue to pay $5 for each meeting you attend.
This new structure seemed to work out pretty well last year so we'll
try it again for another year. If you'd like to review the dues
structure in more detail click
here.
The 2008 SHPC Club Pipes Are In!!!
Yes, that's right, the 2008 club pipes are in and will be
distributed at the January meeting.
We ended up with a total order of 12 pipes and after showing the
prototype off at the Kaywoodie Holiday Party we could have ordered
a few more. This pipe came out awesome and although these images
came out pretty good... you really need to see it in person (click
to enlarge). We had checks in hand for three more pipes from a few
guys at Kaywoodie but when I called Lepeltier to try to get them
done with our current batch I was told the processes needs to be
done in batches of twelve. Based on the interest we've gotten so
far we would like to do up another batch but we need to have an
order as close to a dozen pipes as possible to get the ball rolling.
Anyone reading this newsletter, whether you're
a member or not, Sherlock Holmes fan and pipe smoker alike, who
would like to order one of these awesome collectibles, please send
us an email. If we can
get at least 10 orders we'll probably go ahead and have another
batch made. The price for the pipe right now will be $83 (plus $5
S&H if we need to mail it to you). So who wants one???
Member
Contributions ....... by
Horace Harker
Radice Trunk Show at Peretti's
 I'll
be honest with you... with Christmas right around the corner I had
no real intention of buying a pipe when I attended the Radice trunk
show at Peretti's on November 29th. Once I got there however, it
was almost impossible not to. The last time I looked at Radice pipes
the prices were too high for even my non-Christmas budget but 
today things were quite a bit different. Tim and I were the only
SHPC regular members to make it to the show but I'm pretty sure
some of you will be kicking yourself in the butt that you missed
it. We met at Remington's for lunch before heading over to the shop.
Oh, I almost fogot... we did run into our old friend Paul Dunn.
It's always good seeing one of our alumni.
When we arrived we were both pretty eager to get into the back room
and see what they had to offer. There were some really excellent
deals on some really beautiful pipes and I knew after after about
five minutes that there was no way I could leave their empty handed;
and by the look on Tim's face, he wouldn't be either. Marzio Radice
was also at the shop but didn't speak much English and had to leave
shortly after we got there.

It was a tough decision to make but a few beauties caught my eye
and after looking them over and over again, I finally decided on
a quarter bent poker from the Underwood line with a candle drip
finish. I have a number of pipes that I've bought and put away on
the rack and have yet to smoke them, but I couldn't do that with
this one. I had to smoke it that night and it's been a great smoke
from bowl one. Tim picked up a beautiful Collection Clear from the
Special Series.
I tried to do a little recruiting while I was there but didn't have
much luck. Both guys I talked to lived closer to the city which
made Peretti's a little more convenient and accessible for them.
All in all it was a great time... I wish more of you could have
been there.
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Pipes
& Tobacco News & Info
The Boston Public Health Commission Continues to
Tighten the Noose on Smoking!
Yes that's right, on November 13th (now known as
Thursday the 13th) the Public Health Commission voted to tighten
the smoking restrictions in Boston even more than they already
are. The only change from the original proposal is that all
Cigar Bars will have to close within ten years instead of
5 and at the end of ten years they will have an opportunity
to submit a request to stay in business for an additional
ten. But we all know none of those requests will ever be approved.
It's just a bunch of smoke and mirrors (pun intended) to make
themselves look decent in the eyes of the public.
It won't be long now that they'll pass a regulation that will
prevent us from smoking in even our dreams. And with the push
for more and more housing units to go smoke free... all that's
left now is to pull the lever on the trap door. Boston used
to be a fun place for anyone to visit but not any longer.
My suggestion to you is to patronize the businesses you absolutely
need to, especially the cigar bars and smoke shops, but do
your business elsewhere for everything else. And let businesses
know you're not doing business with them because of the smoking
bans. It may not be much but it's better than doing nothing
at all.
Listen to this ten minute podcast
to hear Dan Rea, a Boston journalist goe toe to toe with the
Health Commission's Executive Director on this latest smoking
regulation. It's definitely worth a listen.
[read
the full press release]
Other News
& Information for Smokers: |
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Websites
Worth A Look
Smokers
Forums.org
This is an online forum for Pipes, Tobacco and
Cigars and let me tell you... this site is busting at the seams
with tons of info about pipes from folks like you and me. They
have tobacco reviews, a classified sections with some decent
deals and photo galleries with pictures of members and their
pipes. I joined recently and just wish I had a little more time
to hang around. I guess I'll have to make that one of my New
Year's resolutions.
[check
it out]
The Yellow Pages for Pipes Smokers
Bookmark this website!! I just happened upon this site and what
a great find. A website with links to everything a pipe smoker
is looking for all neatly organized so it's easy to use. You'll
find links to pipe makers, pipe shops, tobacco companies, pipe
repair and more. Unfortunately, there are no links to pipe clubs.
I guess I'll have to send them an email.
[take
a look]
This
Month's Tobacco Raffle
For this month's raffle we have two new blends from McLelland.
Tudor Castle (50g tin)
Ready to smoker and designed to age beautifully, Tudor Castle
is a beautifully balanced blend of very sugary bright yellow
Virginia, a good amount of rare No. 1 Grad Yenidje, red Virginia
and a nice touch of St James Perique.
Tudor Castle Arcade
Pressed in cake, aged to perfection, this blend of
the finest naturally sweet Matured Virginias, fragrant Katerini,
rich Louisiana Perique and just a touch of rare Syrian Latakia
makes an exceptionally smooth, cool smoke suitable for a stroll
along the castle arcade. |
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Kaywoodie
Holiday Party & Northeast Regional Pipe Smoking Contest.
.......by Horace Harker
As
always the 2008 Kaywoodie Holiday Party and Northeast Regional Pipe
Smoking Contest was an absolute blast. It's pipe smoking nirvana
at it's best. Seriously, this is my favorite pipe related event
of the year. I'd even go so far as to say that if someone told me
they'd pay my way to the Chicago Show with $1000 cash for buying
pipes but I'd have to miss the next 3 Kaywoodie Holiday Parties,
I think I'd probably have to pass. Honestly, this is a great event
where pipe smokers come together and do what they like to do best....
talk pipes, buy pipes, smoke pipes, eat and drink alcohol (and without
anyone saying a negative word about it). And what's a manly smoking
gathering without a little "healthy" competition thrown
in there to add to the excitement. Approximately 40 pipe smokers
from 5 clubs and one online forum were in attendance (we had 11
strong from SHPC). New high grade pipes were available from Kaywoodie,
Rolando Negoita and Tim Hynick and as always there were plenty of
estate pipes available as well. Paul Bonaquisti was unable to make
it this year due to other obligations and his absence was noticed.
Mel Feldman also decided to take this year off and I'm still trying
to figure out why ;-).
The day normally starts with folks trickling in between 12:30 and
2:00 and everyone takes some time catching up on the past year's
happenings over a bowl\ of tobacco or two. About mid way through
the day, Bill does his usual tour of the factory for the new folks
and for those guys who just can't get enough of this kind of stuff.
I took quite a bit of video from the tour this year which you can
view below (10 minutes). After the tour it's time for the feast.
This year we had chicken in a white wine sauce with onions and pepperchinis,
penne carbonara, sausage with peppers/onions, meatballs, linguini
primavera in garlic/oil, eggplant parmigana, 3ft italian hero, 3ft
chicken/roasted red pepper/mozarella hero, and bread/butter. For
desert there were holiday cookies and cake. Everything was delicious!
Once our bellies were filled to and sometimes beyond capacity it's
was time for the main event... the Northeast Regional Pipe Smoking
Contest sponsored by the United Pipe Clubs of America. Well over
an hour's worth of awe inspiring, spine tingling, smoking action.
This year's contest pipe was made, as usual, by Bill Feuerbach himself
and this year he made a dark sandblasted apple and a handful of
folks got one in a natural stain.. Every Kaywoodie contest pipe
has been a good smoker (except for that first smoke for some reason)
and always makes it into my regular rotation. The tobacco for the
contest was supplied by Peter Stokkeybe and I must say, it's was
not one of my favorites. I also took video throughout the contest
(we're talking some riveting footage here) so if you want to find
out who the winner is you'll have to watch the video below (it's
only 5 minutes). But if you can't wait you can take look at the
results list.
Eric also took some great photos which are also available for your
viewing pleasure below. I'm already looking forward to next year.
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Video
(10 min) |
Video
(5 min) |
Photo
Gallery
by Eric Kahn |
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