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Info & Events
Details of the April Meeting
A surprisingly nice turnout considering the temporary change in
location. But we packed 'em in at X&Os and everyone seemed to
enjoy their meals. We did a six car caravan back to the meeting
spot where we settled in a bit before sampling two more C&D
blends, Sunset Harbor and Guilford Courthouse, reviews for those
are below. Dock brought with him his NY Pipe Show acquisitions to
share with the rest of us.
During the short but official part of the meeting we took a head
count of those who plan to attend the Chicago Show.and for the first
time since I've been a member we have no one going.  However,
our former secretary Mark "Barley" Maxfield now living
in Illinois will be attending the show. If any of our other detached
members plan to attend (Dr. Bob??) be sure to connect with Mark
if you can. If anyone needs his email address please let
me know.
2nd Annual SHPC Swap & Sell
Do you have a few pipe you find that you rarely smoke? What about
those tins of tobacco you know you will never smoke? Why not bring
'em to the Swap & Sell on May 1st and see if you can't exchange
them for something new (to you anyway) or put a couple of extra
dollars in your pocket. Go ahead... take a look at all your pipe
stuff and see if there's anything you're ready to part with.
A friend of Dock's will be coming to the meeting with a bunch of
estate pipes including some Radice's, Ashton's
& Charatan's. Let's make this event bigger than last years.
See you there.
Tim Hynick Pipes
This pipe is still available. If you are interested please
contact me
with your information and I will put you in touch with Tim. Emails
will be sent to Tim on a "first come, first serve basis".
$225
Click images to enlarge
Member
Contributions Book Review: The History
of the Calabash
By
Tom Martin
 Its
been a long time since I shelled out seventy dollars for a book,
reluctantly it was for a college text. Back then seventy dollars
would buy a lot of beer. Recently I purchased The History of The
Calabash Pipe by Gary B. Schrier with forward by Ben Rapaport. Its
price, you guessed it; seventy dollars, which buy the way would
by a lot of tobacco. Is it worth it? Yes, every penny.
The book is actually better than advertised and surpassed my expectations,
which were high. It was as informative as a textbook and entertaining
as well. Written in a tone that makes it an instant classic, and
the only book written about the Calabash pipe. The five-plus years
of research is evident from front cover to back.
Author Gary Shier is a Calabash Collector, enthusiast and historian.
If you have every tried researching the calabash on the internet,
you’ll know that little information is to be found using the
world wide web. Instead, Gary draws upon his years of experience
collecting, trading in, and smoking these fine pipes. With the information
superhighway falling short, Gary took to the skies to get the job
done. And a fine job he did.
What do others think about the book:
- A Magnum opus par excellence.” *Peter C.
Wiseman, Pipe Club of London
- An enthralling read.” *Moty Ezrati, Upshall
& Astley Pipes
- I‘m declaring it a joy!” *Linwood
Hines, C.O.R.P.S.
- I have developed a sincere appreciation for and
a great knowledge of this pipe. I think I want to own one. *Bill
Unger, NASPC
- A worthy additional reference book for pipe smokers
around the world. *Howard S. Smith, Dunhill
As a pipe maker, wanting to learn the lost art of calabash pipe
making, here are but a few of the things I learned from the book:
- These gourd pipes are not a novelty, they are
a specialty.
- A Meerschaum cup cut from a solid block, “while
elitist, will smoke no better than a pressed bowl.”
- The calabash offers the coolest, driest smoke…
- Making a Calabash pipe takes no small amount
of ingenuity
- Unlike briar, the Calabash responds well to varnish
What you take away from the book might be something altogether
different as it is written for the casual pipe smoker, collector,
and even the connoisseur.
With the declining need for a pipe to be portable as a briar, the
calabash might make a comeback. In this day in age, where home is
one of the last places to enjoy pipe smoking, why not get your bash
off the rack and light it up. Now that The History of The Calabash
has been written, by reading it you can help preserve its future.
If you don’t already own one, this book teaches you everything
you need to know to go out and get one. Save
the Calabash!
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| Pipes
& Tobacco News & Info
An open letter to all the New Hampshire House of
Representative Members
A Smoking Ban would take away Our Rights
and Dollars
by
David Garofalo, Two Guys SmokeShop
I want to voice my strong opposition on behalf of thousands
of retail store owners, their employees, all their customers
and all New Hampshire residents of the possibility of a ban
on smoking in restaurants and bars in New Hampshire, the “Live
Free or Die” State. Do not let this state get ruled by
the iron fist of its government.
The smoking ban, SB-42 would not allow private business owners
of restaurants and bars to exercise their freedom of choice
to accommodate customers who smoke by totally banning smoking
in their establishments.
If the government is truly interested in our health
and welfare, I appreciate the concern but I will take care of
it myself rather than the risk of losing my freedoms.
Here are a couple of good reasons that we should oppose a smoking
ban whether we smoke or not.
First, we should oppose any government body that tramples the
rights of business owners to operate their own business as they
see fit. A government dictated ban gives people no choice of
where to use a perfectly legal product. [Read
More]
| Other News
& Information for smokers: |
| |
Websites
Worth A Look SmokingLobby.com
This forum was set up by Bill Williams to help fight smoking
bans and preserve Smoker's Rights. Please take a few minutes
to stop by and show some support. Check
it out.
Rolando
Negoita
Take a sneak peek at Rolando's Chicago Show pipes.
As always some real beauties. Take
a look.
This
Month's Tobacco Raffle
Esoterica Tobaccos
Dorchester
 A
special formulation of six light Virginias plus Golden and
dark Virginias with air-cured leaf and a pinch of Louisiana
Perique. Easy burning is ensured by the carefully selected
cut. The Perique balances the Virginias; for the discerning
palate
Pembroke
 A
luxury English blend (Margate) is married with fine French
Cognac. This outstanding mixture is a "match made in
heaven." Rich taste with character to match. A symphony
of delicate aromas and elegant flavours.
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Tobacco Swap with Spain
I received an email from Eduardo Cestau
of Spain. He is looking for pipe smokers in the States who would
like to swap tobaccos with him. He sent me a long list of what
is available to him and although many of the blends we can get
here in the states, there are still some blends like St. Bruno
and Condor on his list. If you are interested please contact
me and I will give you his email address.
Trunk Shows
Peretti's April 28th: Lugi Viprati and Alberto Bonfiglioli
will both be at Peretti's on Saturday the 28th from 11 AM to 4
PM. I believe Don Powers will also be there if you'd like to stop
by and say hello.
Watch City April 29th: Luigi Viprati will also
be at Watch City Cigar in Framingham on Monday April 29th from
12 PM - 7 PM. Watch City will be running a special on Viprati
pipes that day as well.
Sherlock Holmes in England
My sister took these picture while on her recent trip
to London so I thought I would share them with you.
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Tobacco
Reviews
Guilford Courthouse by Nelson
Pidgeon
I'm a bit hard to please when it comes to tobacco so regardless
of my reviews, positive or negative, you may still want to sample
the blend yourself and form your own opinion (I suggest you do this
will all tobacco anyway). My first impression of Guilford Courthouse
was favorable. It seemed to me like an all day type of smoke, not
too heavy or strong with a decent flavor. It packed well into my
Dunhill Prince but I had a difficult time keeping it lit which surprised
me because it didn't seem overly moist. And even though I don't
inhale I still got a pretty good nicotine hit from it. I smoked
another bowl on the way home with the same results and though to
to myself that this one might just be a keeper if I let it dry out
a little more. I smoked 2 more bowls later on in the week but now
found if bland and unappealing and still difficult to light even
though it had dried some. I hate it when this happens....you like
it one minute and hate it the next. So the jury is still out on
this one. I'll try it again in the Dunhill and see if the pipe makes
the difference but I'm no longer feeling optimistic.
On a more positive note, I also sampled some Dunhill Light
Flake between my two bowls of GC and know without further
sampling that this one's a definite keeper. I've become quite fond
of flakes as of late and happy to add this one to my rotation..
Sunset Harbor by
Dock Perry
Thanks to our friends from Cornell & Diehl who generously
sent us quite a few tins,we've been able to try a bunch of their
newest creations. By far and away my favorite of the lot has been
"Sunset Harbor Flake".SHF is a balkan flake comprised
of a liberal dose of Latakia, Perique, Oriental and Turkish tobaccos.
It's a broken flake with an absolutely wonderful tin aroma. It's
only draw back is that it needs to be dried out quite a bit before
smoking. When I pulled the brick like cube from the tin,the paper
it was wrapped in was soaking wet! After leaving it out to dry for
a few days,I rubbed it out almost completely and loaded it into
my Tim Hynick 06 club pipe and smoked it to the heel with excellent
results. The latakia dominates the blend with perique riding shotgun
and the orientals somewhere in the back seat.I was'nt able to tatse
the turkish at all. My past experiences have'nt been great with
turkish tobaccos as I find them to turn harsh and sour all to quickly
and I was happy to find that SHF has only a condimental amount of
the stuff. As I smoked it,I kept being reminded of something else.
It took me another full bowl to realize that Sunset Harbor Flake
is the spitting image of well aged "Smoker's Haven" Crumble
Cake! I picked up a 20 year old tin of the stuff from Mel Feldman
a couple of years ago and the comparison is exact in every detail.
I highly recommend SHF both for it's current smoking qualities as
well it's potential to cellar very well. I'm going to put away quite
a few tins of the stuff as I believe after a few years the latakia
will smooth out enough to make the other tobaccos sing through a
bit louder.
May's samples contributed by Tom Martin include
the following:
Hearth & Home Frenchy's Sunza Bitches
Made for Frenchy of Frenchy's pipes, this is a mixture of a few
of his favorite things: Virginias, Burley, Perique, and Bourban,
sure to be a favorite of the Scotch, Bourbon, nad Burley fans in
the SHPC!
Hearth & Home Rolando's Ownpad
Named for renowned pipemaker and friend of SHPC Rolando Negoita.
This is a Virginia/Perique blend with Rolando's artistry in mind.
A mixture of lemon, red and stoved Virginias is enlivened with a
moderate dose of wonderful Perique, for a sweet and flavorful all-day
smoke.
Hearth & Home AJ's VaPerpad
Blended with Andrew (AJ) Smith, this is a different turn on the
Virginia/Perique genre. A variety of red Virginias is combined with
a generous amount of Perique, and the mixture is slightly mellowed
and sweetened by Green River black Cavendish.
Hearth & Home Larrys Blendpad
Larry Loerzel, one of our regular store customers, and connoisseur
of English/Balkan blends had tried Ten to Midnight, and although
he liked it, he was looking for something a little fuller and different.
Based on his preference, we blended a full, traditional Balkan using
Orientals that were more "buttery" and amped-up the Latakia.
This blend is now a big hit among our full-bodied English fans;
a cool-smoking, very rich mixture.
Second only to Russ Oulette's new Obsidian, just released at the
2007 Northeast Pipe Show in Albany*, this blend was all the buzz.
Everyone I asked recommended this blend, and I'm thinking it just
might be the smoke Nelsons been looking for; the Shangrila of smokes!
* Read the most favorable write up in next months newsletter.
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