What a Great Time!!!
Join Us Next Year!
INT'L. PIPE & TOBACCIANA SHOW!
May 4th & 5th, 2019
SHOW REPORT!!!
The NY Pipe Club showed up in Chicago this year with roughly 11 members; our attendance was way down from previous years. But, we were treated to what has become known as the greatest pipe show on earth! I would strongly encourage you to make every effort to make it out to that show, you will not disappointed!
Well, it seems to always come and go so quickly but, once again, those of us who attended had a great time at the "Show of Shows" in Chicago at the Pheasant Run Resort! Our club was not as well represented as in past years with approximately 11 members in attendance, however, there was no lack of billowing smoke, single malts, Brother David's delicious coffee or high end Rum and Bourbon for that matter! Some special thanks go out to our west coast buddy, fellow "Brother of the Briar" and Pres. of the great Seattle Pipe Club, Matt Guss (our own Peter & Jon's brother), for once again extending to us an invitation to the wonderful Seattle Pipe Club Cocktail Party, which has become a legendary tradition! We had a great time and it was great seeing old friends and meeting new ones! Thank you, once again, Matt!
As for the Show...
There was the usual huge selection of new and estate pipes, as always, as well as some wonderful new blends available at the show, especially popular again, was the remaining inventory of whatever McClelland blend that could be found, going for 2-5x's the original retail prices!!!
I can also proudly report that the American Pipe Maker continues to be well represented as there was a strong showing of young American carvers who had some phenomenal pipes for sale. What a fantastic boom to the hobby to see such great creativity coming from artisans from our own shores.
Another outstanding job done by Craig Cobine, Tom Dinelli and the Chicagoland Pipe Collectors Club, in putting on this incredible "global" event, from the free welcome dinner on Friday night to the 6,000-square foot smoking tent which was once again "the" place to meet pipe makers and tobacco blenders from around the world! What an outstanding job!
A huge highlight for the 2019 Show was the debut of the long awaited tome, The Peterson Pipe: The Story of Kapp & Peterson, a comprehensive, in depth account of the world's oldest maker of briar pipes, The Peterson Pipe: The Story of Kapp & Peterson details the illustrious company's history, dating back to 1865, while also providing information on specific Peterson pipes, old catalogs and brochures, profiles of integral employees, and much more, all accompanied by countless, high-quality photos. Authored by Mark Irwin, one of the pipe world's leading Peterson experts, and Gary Malmberg, a researcher, writer, graphic designer, and devout pipe enthusiast, this is a must-have book for your coffee table — written for and by pipe lovers about one of the industry's most renowned names. I was so happy to receive my autographed copy by both authors!
On display, in one of the display cases, was a collection of Gary Malmburg's, which focused on many turn of the century and older Peterson Pipes; just wonderful! It was nice speaking with Gary and Mark Irwin, nice to finally meet Mark in person, about the pipes, most of which were from Gary's personal collection.
As always, the best part of the Chicago Show is meeting and spending time with all of the fine folks of the hobby, friends old and new, from “Brother David” and his strong and tasty coffee, to Salvatore “Toto” Amorelli, who I also had the pleasure of spending more time with this year, a wonderful gentleman and so much fun to be around, and a host of other wonderful, wonderful people - and oh, yeah, the Slow Smoke Contest was a blast, thank you to the UPCA’s Doc Garr, Tom Dinelli and our own, Mr. Vig (we miss you Mr. Bull!!!). The contest pipe, a beautifully designed bulldog from Salvatore Amorelli, was an outstanding contest performer - and the contest blend was also delicious!
Why not make it a point to join us next year, you will not be disappointed, I assure you! Photos have been posted on our Website, see the link below, and Facebook page and I thank those who took all those photos as I sadly took none!
Here's a link to many photos, none of which I took myself so I do thank those who did!
2019 Chicago Show Photos!
2019 UPCA National Pipe Smoking Contest - Official Results!!!
Here's the amazing contest pipe carved by my dear friend, Salvatore Amorelli!
Please head over to the following link to see the results of the
2019 UPCA Slow Smoke Contest
2019 UPCA National Pipe Smoking Contest Results
Don't Miss This Show
Start Planning For Next Year Now!!!