342. Pete Spotting & the Pete Geek Meet at the 2023 Chicago Pipe Show
PSA: Pre-order your 2023 CPG Pipe! See end of blog. Arrival This year’s Chicago International Pipe and Tobacciana Show at the Lincolnshire Marriott Resort was held last weekend and I’m pleased to report that it was quite a bit larger than last year’s, even though I missed seeing many of my friends and acquaintances from Europe and Asia. To get an idea of what it was like, take a look at some of the photos on the CPCC website. As the world’s largest and most important show, there’s so much to do that it is absolutely impossible to do it all. Everyone has their own agenda of course, although most everyone hits Friday’s swap & sell in the smoking tent and the show on Saturday. After that, there’s a lot of socializing to do, catching up with old pipe buddies and attending one or more of the special events. THE FRIDAY SWAP & SELL I imagine in the early days of the show there actually was a bit of swapping that went on, although since I’ve been attending (2011 and after) it’s all about selling. The swap & sell is a good way to find great estates, vintage tobacco and all kinds of accessories and for me usually presents some opportunities to find rare Petes at prices better than eBay. There were a number of great smoked and unsmoked Petes on display. Our Andy Camire, CPG, had a great table with a number of incredible pipes from his collection, including a silver cap meer that Chris Tarman picked up (about which more in a moment) and another real eye-catcher: a 306 Cumberland Spigot. This 306 Cumberland Spigot, from the SPC Archives, is obviously smoked and has seen better days, but the style of grain is almost identical to the one James picked up from Andy. Another CPG, James Ravenwood, picked it up. If I remember correctly, it was $325, which is a good value. It features what I call “pure birdseye” in Post #328. James told me he has a handful of these rare Cumberland Spigots, which seem to have all been made in the late 1980s and early 90s. The 1989 Sterling Mount pipe box brochure features a 306 Cumberland Spigot: Just as many PGs don’t like the P-Lip, many could care less for the 306 and its little brother the 304. I thought it a rather plain shape myself until I understood its back story: not only is it a Paddy Larrigan original design but it’s based on the Specialty Barrel. It represents, in other words, an Irish beer barrel. Paddy told me he likes to be able to sit his pipes down when at the pub (well, back when you could smoke in the pub) or watch TV. I want you to notice the hallmarking on James’s pipe, which lacks the letter code. (I couldn’t get a good photo of the whole pipe at the time.) This hallmarking issue came up just recently, although I can’t remember…