Club Info & Events

HOLMES FOR THE HOLIDAYS
"I say Holmes, have you heard about the new movie their doing about us?" "I'd love to go to the Strand and take it in." "Do you have any idea how we might acquire a couple of tickets?"

"Elementary my dear Watson, you simply need to visit the Sherlock Holmes Pipe Club of Boston's "Holmes for the Holidays" page for a few clues about how to collect your FREE SNEAK PREVIEW TICKETS and more."
                                                                        Find out how!

A special addition to the December 2009 SHPC Gazette
courtesy of Warner Bros.

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Details of the November Meeting
SHPC Club Night is definitely evolving into the SHPC Club Event. Our night used to start at around 6 p.m. for dinner with 5 of 6 members in attendance but has blossomed into 5 -10 members showing up early at CB Perkin's for a pre-meeting smoke before heading over for dinner. I know I've mentioned this a number of times already but it's exciting to see the club growing like this after being stagnant for so long. We even recruited a new member at Perkins last month. It was very funny to watch, this guy nonchalantly walks in and passes by what he thinks is a cigar herf only to be accosted a short time later by by a handful of members when they saw him scoping out the pipe display. He had lots of questions that we did our best to answer and he ended up showing up at the meeting. If memory serves me correctly, Kevin is in the paint business and has been smoking mostly cigars until he found a pipe his wife gave him many years ago in his fishing vest. Needless to say he realized what he's been missing out on and now he's one of us. Welcome Kevin.

Dinner Woes
As great as all of the above may seem, it's not perfect. No one is really excited about our dinner locations. We've been alternating between Bertucci's and Chinatown and there aren't really any other choices other than fast food. The issue was discussed at the meeting to try to come up with an agreeable solution however, we seemed to have ended up in a stale mate once again. So until we make a solid plan we will continue to alternate between the two places. This month it will be Bertucci's.

2010 SHPC Club Pipe
The plans have been all worked out and the wheels are in motion for the 2010 SHPC Club Pipe by our good friends at Kaywoodie. Next year's club pipe will be a handmade, dark sandblasted prince with a quarter bend in the 4-5 size range. It will look very similar to the one pictured above. Active members have until the December meeting to let me know if you want to order one. Depending on the total number ordered we may be able to take orders from inactive members and possibly readers of the Gazette. Look for more info in the January 2010 edition. We expect the pipes to be ready for the June 2010 meeting.

The Christmas Pipe by Jean Shepherd
It has become a tradition to put this audio clip up for the December edition of the SHPC Gazette. I hope you all enjoy listening to it again.
Jean Shepherd was a famous radio show host on WOR radio in New York. You may also recognize his voice as Ralphie's conscience in "The Christmas Story".

        Have A Great Holiday Season!

A Trip to Gold Leaf #3 - Seabrook, NH
This past Veteran's Day Neil and I decided to take a ride up north to check out the new Gold Leaf Tobacconist. Actually, it's not really that new but I haven't been to the Gold Leaf since it moved from it previous location. Joe, the proprietor has bounced around quite a bit in the last 5 years but it looks like he's finally settled down for good. Since this is Tim's neck of the woods I gave him a call and asked if he'd like to join us and of course, he agreed. Tim suggested we meet at his house for a smoke before heading over to the Peddler's Daughter, an Irish pub in downtown Haverhill for some lunch which sounded like a great idea. I picked Neil up in Boston and we made excellent time getting up there. After saying our hellos to Tim and his Wife we headed up the narrow winding stairways of Tim's Italianate style house to his cozy smoking den on the top floor. Neil has been trying his hand at tobacco blending and gave us both some of his latest blend but I won't give too much away since the plans are in the works to add a couple of new blends to the SHPC line. One thing I will say is this blend is definitely a winner. Everyone who tried it that day said it was great and that he shouldn't change a thing. Neil is a fragrance blender by trade so the art of blending comes naturally to him and it's evident in the what he's been letting us sample so far. Be sure to check back in the future for more news about some exciting new SHPC blends.

We finished up our pipes and followed Tim into Haverhill Center. As soon as we walked into the pub I knew this was going to be a good lunch. It had an old world feel with plenty of beers on tap. We grabbed a booth and ordered drinks. I had a Guinness, Neil had a Hennessey and Tim a Stella. The food was pretty good but the Guinness was the best I'd had since my trip to Ireland last November. It didn't take too long to clear our plates and we were on our way to our final destination which was only about 20 minutes away. Upon arrival, we found plenty of parking and the familiar gold and green sign of the Gold Leaf Tobacconist. Neil and I were itching to get inside and check the place out but Tim insisted that he first needed to pick something up at the adult video store that was located next door (just kidding ;-). We entered the shop to find a circle of high back leather chairs filled with smokers, including one woman smoking a cigar; two older gentlemen were at the counter by the window playing cribbage; in the back was a huge walk in cigar humidor completely stocked; there were two display cases of pipes and plenty tobacco and accessories to keep us interested; and the proprietor, dressed much like the tobacconists of old, greeted us with a welcoming smile and pleasant disposition. It is a great feeling to be part of a group of like minded individuals sharing a pastime they love without bothering or being bothered by anyone else. This vision we saw is almost an exact match to the vision I hold onto in my mind when I think of a pipe shop and it doesn't get much better than this. Unfortunately though, we have to drive all the way to New Hampshire to find it. Sure, you can still find nostalgic old smoke shops in Massachusetts if you look hard enough, but they rarely combine all the same qualities mentioned above. There's either no parking, no real smoking area to speak of, or no friendly disposition. There are also a few decent cigar lounges but not too much there for the pipe smoker. It's a sad state of affairs for the pipe smoker to be sure.

While waiting for a chair to become available, we checked out what the store had to offer. Neil was like a kid in a candy store and began plucking tin after tin off the shelf. There was a nice selection of pipes from England, Italy and Denmark as well as an estate Sherlock Holmes pipe collection by Peterson complete with the Sherlock Holmes pipe rack and at pretty reasonable price. I took a walk in the humidor to check it out. They had a very nice selection of cigars available as well. Tim is quite at home at the Gold Leaf and visits it often so there was no real wow factor for him. Eventually a few chairs opened up and we got comfortable with our pipes while passing the time talking about pipes, tobacco and regulations with the owner. In my opinion, cigarettes have been the reason for the demise of tobacco. Now I find that because the prices for Roll Your Own tobacco has gone up so high in price, they have decided to start cutting the RYO blends in a pipe tobacco cut and selling it as pipe tobacco so they can keep the prices down. How do you think this will effect the sale of real pipe tobacco in the future? I'm afraid it doesn't look good. Personally, I believe everyone should have the right to smoke whatever legal product they want. After all, this is America home of the free isn't it. Or is it?? But honestly, cigarettes are far more harmful than pipes and cigars and we need to separate ourselves from them as smokers. When was the last time you saw someone of teen age or younger smoking a tobacco pipe or cigar? They don't have the time, patience or money for these products let alone the ability to take that kind of smoke into their lungs. I could continue but I'll end my rant there.

We finished up our pipes and said our goodbye's to Joe and the others and headed home. It is a bit of a ride to get up there but well worth the trip and highly recommended. If you're interested in visiting, the address is: 255 Lafayette Road, Seabrook, NH 03874. They have an information only website (no online orders) that is still under construction but you can visit it here.