Details of the December Meeting
Our December holiday meeting this year was filled with excitement and anticipation. The turnout was good but I thought we’d see a few more faces knowing we were giving away tobacco and raffling off 4 pipes. We were also happy to see Andy Camire and Joe Miller back for a visit. After we finished with the business of the meeting we had the tobacco lottery. We opted not to do a Yankee Swap this year because in past years no one really did much swapping because we’re always looking to try another tobacco and you never really know if the one you trade away could end up being your desert island tobacco. So we let people pick numbers to set the order in which they got to choose. I picked the Gawith and Hogarth Rum Flake. I’ve since sampled it but will need a few additional bowlfuls before deciding how much I like it. If anyone else would like to send me a short review of the blend they picked I’d be happy to add to next month’s newsletter (not that I’m really expecting any of you to do that ;-) ).

Next was the pipe raffle. We had 4 medium priced pipes to raffle off, two Rattray pipes, a Johs pipe and a Neerup. The Neerup was the clear favorite of the 4. Raffle tickets went for $10 each and you could purchase a maximum of three to keep the odds of winning fair. Mike won the Neerup, Andy won the Johs, Tim won the Rattray smooth bent brandy and Nelson won the Rattray stubby sandblast billiard. Everyone seemed pleased with the prize they won (well what do you expect, after all… it is a pipe). If you’d like to let others know about how your new pipe smokes please pass it along and I’ll post it here.

Kaywoodie Holiday Gathering
There was also a lot of excitement in the air in anticipation of our trip to Kaywoodie Holiday Party and Northeast Regional Pipe Smoking Contest. The SHPC contingent was not as big as in past years but we still made a good showing. A full account of our trip can be found below.

2011 Club Pipe Update
Unfortunately the 2011 club pipes didn’t make it in time for the last meeting of 2011. No worries though, it just gives us more to look forward to in January. Plus, with all the excitement of the holiday meeting, the new pipes might not get the attention they deserve. Also in January, we will try to get an early start on the 2012 club pipe. There had been some talk about going with a Neerup pipe for 2012 but I have come across a real classy looking pipe by Mastro De Paja that just might add a touch of awesome to our SHPC club pipe collection. We’ll let you know how the discussions turn out in our next newsletter.

Tobacco Reviews
I tried three new tobaccos while at the Kaywoodie holiday party this year and although I consider myself to have a fairly lackluster palette as far as tobacco goes, I found all three of these tobaccos to be pretty enjoyable. I won’t be able describe in any great detail all of the different flavors and nuances I found throughout each smoke but I can give you my overall opinion of each blend.

First we’ll start with the Brebbia Preludio which was offered for sampling by Steve Monjure of Monjure International. This was a light to medium English with Virginia, Macedonian and finished with the smooth taste of Syrian Latakia that wasn't overpowering. The blend stayed lit well and was easy on the tongue. A great afternoon and evening smoke.

Next up is Fireside, a new blend by Paul Bonacquisti from Park Lane Tobacconist. This was the contest blend which I took a sampled of prior to the contest thinking it might help my odds (not a chance). This is cubed and ribbon cut burley blend with some mild sweetness. It has a nice medium strength flavor, is easy to smoke and didn't require a lot of relights. Definitely a good choice any time of the day.
Finally, we have Christmas Cake, another blend by Park Lane. My first thought on hearing the name of this blend, although festive, did not get me too excited. But I heard others speak favorably about it and I am a sucker for caked blends so I decided to give it a try and was pleasantly surprised. It does lean toward the aromatic but only very lightly. Did you ever have frosting on a cake that was so sweet that it overpowered the cake and stayed in your memory every time you looked at a piece of cake after that? But then tried a piece of cake with a whipped light frosting that went down easy and complimented the flavor of the cake. That’s what this Christmas Cake blend is like. If you’re an aromatic lover you’ll probably love it but if you don’t go for aromatics but like to get crazy every once in a while, this might be the blend to get crazy about. With limited funds I could only choose one to take home with me and I chose Fireside which I have been enjoying while watching Christmas shows to help get in the spirit. But I’ve been thinking a lot about the Christmas Cake and will be purchasing a tin of that very soon. Maybe you should give one of these blends a try. If my finicky palette can appreciate them, it’s a sure bet yours will.

The 2011 Kaywoodie Holiday Party and Northeast Regional Slow Smoke Contest                      by Horace Harker

To all at SHPC, the Kaywoodie Holiday party and Northeast Regional Slow Smoking Contest is the highlight of our year and this year’s event was no exception. Things got a little bigger this year and Bill had to do some expanding to accommodate everyone. Also , every year is like a mini pipe show but this year even more so. Along with the regularly attending pipe makers and sellers, Kaywoodie (of course), Paul Bonacquisti, Andy Camarie, Tim Hynick, Joe Skoda, Bob Kiess and Rolando Negoita we were also very pleased to find in attendance, Steve Monjure from Monjure International and Harold Suretsky and Bob Herbert. There were so many pipe sellers this year that Bill had to give them their own room which, along with moving the food table to a new location, helped to decrease the congestion of main function room.

The day started with me connecting with Tim at our usual meet up spot. Four of us were supposed to be riding up together but Rick and Mark both got sick and could not make it. Neil and Pete were also driving up separately as was Eric and Merrick and Bob and Derek. Periodically we’d check in with each other to check our locations since we had all planned to meet at the I 84 Diner for lunch and we all surprisingly made it there within fifteen minutes of each other. After lunch it was just a short 30 minute drive to Kaywoodie. Once inside we found a seat, said our hellos and then went into the back room to get Tim’s pipes set up.

Steve Monjure was already there with a nice selection of Rinaldo, Brebbia and Ardor pipes, just to name a few. We set Tim up next to Rolando Negoita was already set up and had on display the prototype to his new Conducta line of pipes which is created with the gourd calabash in mind by having two chambers, a tobacco chamber along with a cooling chamber which is said will produce a cooler smoke and act as a filter or sorts to reduce the amount of chemicals that come through in the smoke. The cooling chamber collects some of the residue from the smoke and can be easily cleaned out with a paper towel. There are currently a couple of these available on Rolando’s site if you’re interested.

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