Details of the February Meeting
We had a nice crew of both pipe and cigar smokers at CB Perkins this past month and everyone seemed to be in a pretty good mood. Ophelia showed us all the new pipe she had just purchased and was handing out cigars for people to try that someone online had given her. But the next thing that happened is one of the reasons I love this hobby and the people who pursue it. A guy walked in, purchased a cigar then sat down with the group. His grandfather had smoked a pipe so he started asking us a few questions about pipe smoking and if you know anything about pipe smokers, they love sharing their passion for the pipe with anyone who will listen. I continued the conversation I was having with others there when I looked over and saw this guy holding Ophelia's new pipe and being shown how to fill it with tobacco. He lights it up, sits back and starts slowly puffing, and puffing and puffing. He went through almost then entire bowl without relighting. Either it was beginner's luck, he is a closet pipe smoker, or maybe he's just a natural. Whatever the case, I think we had him hooked and the cigar guys were threatening to kick him out of the store (in jest of course). I thought perhaps that Ophelia was letting him borrow her new pipe because who would give away a brand new pipe you hadn't smoked yet. Apparently, she would, and in the process made a friend and introduced another happy soul to the world of pipe smoking. I hope we'll see him back again soon. But this is not the first time I've seen a woman give a pipe away to a total stranger. Our only other women club member did a similar thing many years ago when our club's founder Alan Rosenfield, who had been away from the club for many, many years but showed up at a meeting out of the blue. They got to talking and she pretty much gave him the the Stanwell she had been smoking. Now those of you who know Alan may know that there was a good possibility that she didn't have much of a choice. But that's a story for another day. You can read that story here.

2012 Club Pipe Officially Approved
A motion was made and approved to move forward on the 2012 club pipe by Mastro De Paja. I had confirmed a few details around additional cost and how the stamp would be applied. We agreed to go with a laser engraving on the pipe which will be included in the price. If all goes as planned the pipes will be available in early summer.

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2012 Club Pipe: Taking Orders from Non Members
We are taking orders now for the 2012 SHPC Club Pipe by Mastro De Paja. A number of orders have already been placed by our club members but as we have done a few times in the past, we are making this offer available to a limited number of our readers. This is a great deal on a beautiful pipe by Mastro De Paja (click image for a better view). The price of the pipe $168 for the pipe WITHOUT the stand and $250 for the pipe WITH the stand. Full payment for non members will be due by April 15th which will also include a shipping cost which we can discuss through email but should be somewhere between $7-$12.
If you are interested in purchasing one of these pipes please send us and email so we can work out the details. Please be clear if you want the pipe with or without the stand. Unfortunately, we can only take US orders only.

Who Woulda Thought?
Anyone who knows my pipe smoking habits knows that I have a pretty finicky palette. I can smoke a blend one day and love it the next day it's just ok. Possibly it has something to do with mood, but I need a tobacco that doesn't care what mood I'm in to make me happy. Good friend and club member Neil Morris is a relatively new pipe smoker but you wouldn't know that by talking to him. He's jumped into this hobby full force and has already gained a lot of experience. But Neil is one of those guys people like me could find easy to hate. Why? Because he likes almost everything he smokes and can enjoy a great variety of blends while I find myself smoking the same blend day after day with an odd one thrown in every now and then for $%!#$ and giggles. Recently we had a conversation about burleys. Neil loves burley blends and one of his favorites is Prince Albert. All I think about when I hear Prince Albert are the prank phone calls people used to make about it years ago. I've smoked other similar burley blends before and none ever really stuck with me. But there's no big surprise there. So after our conversation, I decide to give the Prince a try. What could it hurt. I filled a pipe and smoked it on the way home from the club meeting. Pretty good I thought, but I know what that means. Let's see what tomorrow brings. I had enough for another bowl the next day and it was still working for me but I still wasn't convinced. So I stopped in to the local tobacconist and was happy to see that they had some in stock. Many bowls later I can honestly say it is now one of my favorite blends. It smokes cool in your mouth and cool in the pipe and has a deep nutty type flavor, something akin to Grape Nuts cereal which I used to love (if it wasn't so hard to get out of your teeth). And although every bowl doesn't excite me the exact same way, I chock that up to the pipe I'm smoking it in and very probably, my mood. But it's definitely a keeper. The thing I found strange after I started smoking it was that the blend kept presenting itself to me, first with an article about it in PipesMagazine.com and then seeing it as a featured product in a recent PipesandCigars.com email ad. Reviews I've seen for it are mostly average but when you have an average palette like mine, it seems to be a perfect fit. Many drug store blends get over looked for just that reason, if their a drug store blend they can't be very good. But Prince Albert and many of the drug store blends have been around for more years than you can imagine so that has to tell you something. So why not give it a try and let Prince Albert out of his can and into your favorite pipe. Let us know what you think.