Details from the April Meeting
We had a good group at CB Perkins last month. The nicer weather must be getting people's blood flowing a little earlier in the day. Due to a scheduling conflict we had our meeting at the Sportsman's club this month which is always a nice change of pace from our usual location. It was good to see Bob taking a break from his world travels to hang out with us for a while and even our old friend Andy " The Buzzman" stopped by for a visit.
The main topic of conversation during the official meeting was around club shirts and club pipes. See important details on those topics below.
At some point the subject of tampers came up which apparently got the literary juices flowing for a couple of our members who subsequently submitted articles for this month's Gazette. See their submissions and other tamper related links below.
Other than that it was pretty much SHPC business as usual which is always a good time.

New Club Shirts - PAYMENT DUE at May Meeting
I wore a prototype of the New SHPC shirt to the April meeting. The shirt was khaki in color which looked slightly different in person than it did on the website. Discussions between members went back and forth all evening as to whether this khaki color belonged more in the tan or green family. The opinions were fairly evenly split but the over all consensus was that khaki was not the right color for the new shirts. It was decided to go with the tan shirt instead (pictured above). Orders were taken at the April meeting and I will place the final order once I have collected payment for the shirts at the May meeting. If you can't make the May meeting you must send a check prior to to May 6th. Details have already been send via email.

2014 Club Pipe - PAYMENT DUE at May Meeting
Good News! The 2014 Club Pipes are in. Tim has received the pipes from Monjure International and will bring them to the May meeting. Payment for the pipes has not yet been made so if you ordered one you must make payment by the May 6th either at the meeting or by sending a check. Details have already been send via email.

Pipe Club Monthly Theme
A dissappoint response for this month's theme to bring in a favorite collection of pipe shapes or pipe maker. We will revisit this one some other time so be prepared.

This month's theme: Tampers - Since tampers seem to be a focus in this month's newsletter, then maybe our theme should reflect that. Bring in any interesting tampers you have and would like to share with the group. It will be interesting to see the different variety the people have.

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History and Thoughts on "The Tamper"
Rick Frederics and Ernie Whitenack both submitted a piece about tampers for this month's newsletter completely unaware of each other's intentions. They compimented each other well so I kept them as one article. Here are a couple of snippets.

from Rick Frederics......
Nothing has changed to ensure a good smoke. Tobacco leaves burning in a pipe bowl, even back then, required special care. To achieve a smooth and even draw of smoke you needed to push or “tamp” the stuff down. It is said that Sir Isaac Newton once used a lady’s finger (still attached to its owner, it seems) to “tamp” his pipe with fiery results. There had to be a better way.
                                                           Read More ....

... from Ernie Whitenack
First off there is the tamper. We all recognize the popular Czech Pipe Tool – the humble but noble Pipe Nail – the Brebbia Horse Shoe Nail with its square tamping surface. Other shapes, sizes and price are uncountable.
And, then there are what I think are the most useless of all, the strange little things that pop out of the sides and bottoms of various pipe lighters.                       Read More ....  

More tamper links you may find interesting....

Tamp Often for Better Smokes
from A Passion for Pipes blog

Tampers?
from A Pipe Smoker's Cognition

The G-Tamper
A different take on tamping

What have you used as a makeshift tamper?
from the Brothers of Briar blog.