Details from the August Meeting
We almost didn't have an August meeting because when we got to the meeting place, no one was there to let us in. Our president and treasurer were both out of town and the Sportsman's Club was not an option. So Neil made a few phone calls while the rest of us lit our pipes and sat on the curbside like the social outcasts we're accused of being.
We had another small turn out this month but it was packed with lots of interesting conversation and plenty of new tobaccos to sample. Now that summer is over we hope to see many of you back for your monthly visit.
Tim called us from North Carolina to tell us about his visits to SmokingPipes.com. He said he'll send us a write up about his visit for an upcoming newsletter. We took a group photo saying hello and sent it to him.

Sutliff Tobacco
We read a letter we received from Paul Creasy, president of Sutliff Tobacco letting us know of a number of new promotions they plan to offer to pipe clubs like goody bags for new and renewing members. They also plan to do more at pipe shows including People's Choice Awards for new tobacco blends, contest prizes and silent auction items.

Paul Creasy, the President of Sutliff Tobacco has been around the tobacco business for many years and not only knows tobacco; he also has his finger on the pulse of what's happening in the tobacco industry. If you haven't heard Paul's interviews on the Pipes Magazine Radio Show I urge you to take some time and listen to them. You can listen on your smart phone on you're way to work, from your computer while enjoying your favorite blend, or download them to your favorite podcatching app. Of all of the interviews Pipes Magazine Radio Show has had, these are 2 of the most informative (IMHO).

First Interview    |   Second Interview

Finding Your Perfect Tobacco
Sutliff Tobacco also offers those of us in search of the perfect tobacco blend a way to narrow the field a bit. Visit their website and click on the link on the left hand side that says "Want To Find Your Perfect Blend?" Fill out the questionnaire and see what blend they find for you. When I did it the result was Fox and Hound but they also thought I would like Sutliff's No 5 Blend which I do. Some of the questions are a little hard to answer definitively so try taking the test a couple of times with some slightly different answers and see what happens.
If you're not a big Sutliff fan, the test may still give you some clues to other blends you might like in a similar category or make you think about how you taste a little differently.

Click here to get started.

I want to tell you about a trip I took not so long ago. The place was Canton, Illinois – a small town about 200 miles south of Chicago.

This was the town where my wife was born and we had had gone back for a visit. Not to see family, because sadly, they have all passed on. But rather to see the house where she was raised - where I stayed when visiting; paying respect to family members and to also see places we use to visit when we were dating; just to reconnect to the town. And one of those places was Lewis’s Pharmacy. But it was more than a pharmacy; it was an old fashioned ice cream/soda shop with the stools and the marble counter top – the only place to get a true Cherry Coke or old fashioned Lime Rickey.

It was also a tobacco shop where popular tobaccos of the past were sold – Half and Half, Sir Walter Raleigh, Prince Albert and Borkum Riff to name a few. But what made this store special was it represented pipe smokers of the past.

A lot of us would not recognize many of the items that were for sale. Many of us probably wouldn't even want to smoke those tobaccos. Is there any interest in a pipe holder for your car – with a magnet on the base; a leather pipe holder for your car’s visor; a plastic tobacco pouch with a trigger loader? Maybe you just had to have a Dr. Grabow, a Yello-Bole or a Corn Cob – not in plastic packaging but on an original advertising card. How about Falcon Replacement bowls?

The counters were beautifully polished wood – glass fronts and glass counter tops – where the items were located for sale. There was a display of Dills pipe cleaners – made in the U.S.A. (they are certainly not made in this country anymore). It was fun to go back and reminisce. It wasn’t a store for pipe collectors, it was meant to be a store for pipe smokers. I did buy some of the old items – I think at the original prices when the items first came out.

Mr. Lewis, the proprietor was there sitting in one of the old wooden booths. He had a pipe in his mouth, though I don’t remember if it was lit; might have been. Besides there wasn’t anybody who would have said anything to the 88 year old man who spent his entire life in Canton running his business. Mr. Lewis has since died and the Pharmacy as I knew it is gone. But the memories are still there for me, and I bet for many others.

If you have a comment or a story you would like to contribute, send us an email and we may post it in am upcoming newsletter.