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This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Texas Pipe Show. For the first time in a few years, it was held indoors instead of on the parking lot in front of Tobacco Cabana in Cedar Hill (see Post #371). It looks me as if it’s quickly becoming a major player in the US pipe show circuit, attended not only by those able to drive here in Texas and surrounding states, but across the nation by artisans and vendors alike.

It was held this year at The Oasis, a dive bar in Midlothian, Texas, which allowed smoking all day as well as providing a bar at one end, an additional huge out building and an upstairs gallery. Seen above is artisan Trey Rice (blue t shirt). Behind him and just to the left, artisan Nate King, and in the straw fedora American legend Brad Pohlmann. Mark Domingues CPG of Lone Star Briars was also there with a table of his amazing pipes. Someday, I will have one of Mark’s amazing stack dublin blasts, which look perfect for smoking my dark virginias, with chambers of about 18mm x 50. And speaking of tobacco . . .

Just setting up, this vendor covered two full tables with McClelland tins and jars with dozens of amazing tobaccos.

. . . as you can see in photos above, vintage tins were a big part of the Texas show. In fact, I’ve never seen so many for sale at a show before. In my first sprint around the show before I sat down I found two of my Grail tobaccos:

The Pre-Preshow

But I’m getting ahead of myself.  At any pipe show, there’s always the “Pre-Preshow” and the “Pre-Show.”  These three events need to be kept in mind, or you could end up like James Walsh at the Vegas Pre-Show, doing 130mph to get to the Palace Station Hotel and the vendor’s room before said vendor sold That Special Pete to some unworthy lowlife.  James made it, barely.

As for the Pre-Preshow, let me give you an example of the typical kind of trouble you can get in. My particular friend Ken Sigel CPG came from Way Down East to stay with Gigi and me for  a few days, bringing a number of Pete estates to sell on our table at the show.  He made two major mistakes.  First, he told a small group of Pete Geeks (a bunch of degenerates if you ask me) that he was taking some Choice Petes to the show.  Big mistake.  He was up until dawn texting (had to wear protective cotton gloves next day) and then spent most of the day at the post office mailing out said estate Petes before he ever got to the show. No wonder he complained of being tired the day of the show. But that wasn’t all.

Ken’s second blunder was talking to another Pete Geek the night before the show.  “Silence is Golden” is the rule the night before a show.  Especially if the conversation involves our own Tim Lomprey CPG (see Post #456, Post #463, and Post #486). Wow, by the time they were done the sun was coming up the day of the show.  As I was making the first cup of coffee in the kitchen, I thought I heard Ken talking to his lawyers in the Caiman Islands about transferring a small island in the Pacific to Tim.  All I know for sure is that Ken told me he didn’t really need walk around to look at pipes at the show.

(I should mention parenthetically that by distracting Ken somewhere near dawn, I managed to make sure he left behind this beautiful FOR SHANNON AIRPORT 120F (for “Flat”) Dublin, the same pipe Nigel Bruce’s Dr. Watson smoked in the Sherlock Holmes 1944 film Pearls of Death 1944:

It’s a bit difficult in this still frame to discern the flat stem, but there’s no doubt if you watch the entire film that it’s a 120F.  Oh, and here’s the stinger:

So much for the Pre-Preshow.)

The Preshow

L to R: Lucas Denham, Steve Mawby, and ?? of Tobacco Cabana (I can’t remember his name!!)

The Preshow actually occurs in two parts.  There’s the Preshow Event, held the night before, and the Morning-Of-Show Preshow.

The Preshow Event was held Friday night at Tobacco Cabana from 5 until about 9pm, with several folk dropping by, including SPC’s Steve Mawby and Lukus Denham, “Pipe Tart” Sally Gottliebson and her “pet gnome” (actually husband), James Foster and Carolina Henry (my favorite Texas Pipe Show celebs), Mike Austin CPG, Gary Hamilton CPG, Nate Lynn CPG and Tango the Wonder Dog. And yes, before you ask, Tango smokes a bulldog. The other side of his vest features a pouch for pipes, tobacco, cleaners, and liver treats.

A lot of the Preshow Event business was conducted under the table, with Tango monitoring to make sure everyone played by The Rules.  Those that preferred more privacy went outside, like Alvin Miller CPG, who I noticed had one of those large satchels like gangsters in the movies use to transport unmarked bills. He said it was just his laundry, but it looked like there were a lot of pipe boxes in it to me.

I did a bit of parking lot business myself, but this was strictly on the up & up (!) with Nate Lynn, who brought me one of his St. Patrick’s Day Shamrock pipe racks and didn’t want to get mobbed inside the shop.

The second part of the Preshow occurs on the morning of the show, where a lot of presale exchanges take place.  I saw some of this out on the parking lot, but most of it goes on while vendors are setting up.  There’s always some guy like Mark Berman CPG wearing an FBI or ATF ballcap who looks really official as he makes his way around all the tables. What he’s really doing is cherry-picking everything worth having.  You can spot guys like Mark because they wear hunting vests with game pockets big enough for baby buffalos.  He exits when everyone else comes in, but I think it’s just to empty out the storage pockets into his van.

Later on, I pointed at his cap and point blank asked him: “How is this legal? Are you really from the Bureau of Alcohool, Tobacco and Firearms?” He acted all innocent and said, “Do you mean this cap? It’s my Arkansas Tobacco Farmers gimme cap. Had it for years.”

My Preshow pipe wasn’t really a sale, but was the Super Colossal Hamilton Condenser I’d asked Gary Hamilton to make for a c. 1990 307B Premier made for the Italian market and distributed by Mario Lubinski:

This is the longest condenser I’ve ever seen, and yes, Gary said, it dips to the bottom of the mortise’s smoke channel.  I filled the bowl with Germain’s Rich Dark Flake about 9:45am and smoked it on and off until almost 4pm.  I did have to do a relight after lunch, but (and I’m not exaggerating by much), that S.C.H. Condenser kept the tobacco lit the entire day, almost like a House Pipe System stem.

When we were setting up Saturday morning, right behind us was our own  Peterson Pilgrimage King, Nate Lynn CPG:

Nate is doing start-up for his own boutique cigar brand, REVERE–Keep Liberty Lit.  His table was right behind ours, and during the day he met with a number of small and medium-sized businesses and shops about carrying REVERE.

He’s just waiting for the cigar bands to begin distribution and open his on-line shop, but wow these are tasty! Seen above is a Havana, although he’s got several blends / wrappers, et al planned.  I’ll be running a post on the REVERE as soon as Nate gets his online up and running, because we all need pipe mud, and where else to get it but with some superlatives sticks from Nate?  Nate’s genius has always gone in several directions at once, and he brought me a solid pewter challenge coin with the PPN logo on it, which is now part of my EDC.  I didn’t get to ask him if he’d do a batch of these, but I think I’ll wait until he gets REVERE going. . . .

“What about the Petes?” I can hear you ask.  Yes, there were Petes. While most of them were brought by Ken Sigel (from his depleted stock) or Yours Truly, SPC also brought some great Peterson meers.  Gary Tarman CPG (aka “Chris Squire” Tarman) managed to score a beautiful 307 with that 1979-84 wide-shoulder P-Lip stem:*

[CHRIS Tarman: I suppose, at this point, I should probably start the process to have my name legally changed to “Gary”.

There was another pre-show event Friday that I was lucky to attend. Newish (but extremely talented) Dallas area pipemaker Josh Yee hosted a gathering in his garage workshop from about 3:30-11:30. I was one of a few non-carvers in attendance. The makers there included Trey Rice, Nate King, Jason Patrick, Ryan Mccawley of Smoking Barrels, Wayne Teipan, Reid Robertson, Scott Nelson, Robert Vacher, and of course our host Josh Yee. While us plebes sat around and smoked (and gawked), the carvers all collaborated to various degrees on making a pipe for the grand raffle prize at the show. I picked up a pipe that I’d bought remotely from Josh at the Vegas show, as well as a commission from Trey Rice. I stayed up way too late, given that we had to leave at 7:00 to deliver the tables used at Josh’s to the show site. My friend and congenial host for the weekend, Isaac Jaffe, had to be there early to set up for the show and weigh tobacco for the slow smoking contest. So Nate King, Robert Vacher, and I dragged ourselves with him, fueled by coffee and donuts.

I had a great day at the show. In addition to the meerschaum 307, I picked up another Trey Rice and a horn-stemmed Ropp Vintage Stout Bulldog and some tobacco, did decently in the slow smoke, won three raffle prizes, and had a lot of fun visiting with old and new friends. Well worth the 10 hour drive from my house in Colorado to Isaac’s house in the countryside northwest of Ft. Worth!]

My favorite Pete of the show was an 05a dublin meer with Comfort P-Lip on the Smokingpipes.com table:

As for our table, you can get a glimpse of it here:

Don’t tell Gigi about this photo as I’m hoping she somehow misses it. That look on her face is saying “If you dare take a photo and then put it on the blog, there will be Consequences.”  As you can see, Ken and Gary’s half of the table (Gary in absentia finding his Show Pipe Purchase) is about half empty, they having sold a bundle of stuff.

Gary Hamilton’s find.

(Gary, incidentally, always finds an amazing pipe.  This time it was an incredible Briarworks blast with a Todd Johnson design.  Of course, Gary being Gary, he took it home and made it even better with an ivorite ring and a new acrylic stem.)

Our side of the table had on it about 1/3 of what I brought. I seriously underestimated the square footage I needed.  Even with my part of the table cram-packed, I know Ken sold 3 pipes to my every 1.  (He’s a salesman, no doubt about it, and offering a free bottle of Knappogue Castle Irish whiskey with every pipe was a sweet idea.)  Oh, and that House Pipe Ken is smoking? He was still working on it around midnight after we returned to home base.

Mike Austin CPG told me the day after she show that brought away this beautiful piece from Nate King. “It was one of those things where I was just walking along minding my own business, stopped to say hello to Nate, and then–SHA-ZAM!–this beautiful little pipe just hits me right in the solar plexus. I got weak in the knees but couldn’t sit down, so instead I reached for my wallet and took a deep breath.”  The rest, as they say, is history.

The Best Moment of the Day came for me when Marvel Comics artist Brandon Peterson came by to get his big Peterson book signed.  I knew he was at the show because he created a special limited edition poster for it, but it had slipped my mind in the business of the day.

Brandon is not only a Peterson pipe guy, but as a comic book artist is–to me even more importantly–on the frontline as a literacy advocate among school age kids today.  I regret extremely not getting a selfie with him, because I would never have an MA and Ph.D. without the passion for reading instilled in me as a kid by Spider-Man, Conan the Barbarian, Swamp Thing, Sgt. Rock and all the other great comics that kept my imagination and vocabulary growing.

[I have to add this note: talking to Oscar, my 13 year old next-door neighbor the other day, I asked him if he ever read for fun. “Ewwwww.  No way!” he said.  I said, “What about comic books or graphic novels?” “Man of course! I LOVE COMICS.”]

I didn’t get this superhero’s name, but his Andy Warhol sendup of the Thinking Man was awesome.

Meerschaums, I noticed, were also big at this year’s show.

“How much for the ENTIRE table?”

I told you Ken didn’t get up much after those two all-nighters at his personal Pre-Preshow and Pre-Show events.  But he did get up.  And here’s the evidence:

Oops. That’s our table. He’s selling another pipe.

In closing, let me cite an article from The Atlantic that Ken shared with me about “third places.”  A “third place,” as delineated by Ray Oldenburg in The Great Good Place and others after him, is a place “other than work or home where there’s little to no financial barrier to entry and where conversation is the primary activity.”  Think Irish and English pubs, French cafés, and–surprisingly enough–pipe shows.  Or pipe clubs, if you’ve got one in your area.

There has to be a focus of some kind–a pint, a coffee, a pipe. But there also has to be leisure. Time to just … talk. Listen to people you wouldn’t normally talk to, talk to people you won’t ordinarily listen to. Egg heads sometimes call it overcoming “contact bias”–where you find out someone from a different economic, regional, or racial demographic is a terrific person.  What a surprise!

Most of the friends I’ve made in the past ten years have been made this way: at pipe shows, through the blog, FaceTime pipe hangouts can even work. Smaller shows, like the Texas and Vegas and others, are undoubtedly more conducive than larger ones for really engaging with other people, although any place with a dedicated smoking area will do.

Pipe smoking, it turns out, is a great way to become a little more human.

Many thanks to
Ken Sigel, for making it a fantastic show,
to Gary Hamilton for extra photos,
to Gigi our PPN Den Mother at the show,
and to our gracious hosts
at the Texas Pipe Show, particularly James Foster CPG.

Ralle Perera CPG: Our resident cartoonist–who’s been on a rather extended sabbatical, I notice–recently sent me photos of a NOS 4s (his) with some of the sweetest grain I’ve ever seen:

Cheyen Lloyd CPG: A 1908 meerschaum lined giant. Put it next to a 1902 house pipe and a tiny 1906 opera pipe for size comparison.

Length: 13”
Bowl height: 3”
Chamber depth: 2 3/4”

Lance Dahl CPG, that Wizard of the PeteOVerse, recently sent pix of what seem to be a NOS 999 Dublin & London John Bull and the original shape 107 billiard (i.e., pre-1979):

Mine is probably the minority opinion, but I think the John Bull looks better without a band.

Peterson Pocket Jar: I keep meaning to mention these, and if you still get the SPEu emails after the Trump Tariff, you may have seen them. So far they seem to be available only as a premium with the purchase of any new Pete, but who knows? I know that I had to have one as soon as I saw them some weeks ago.

[ The  Post  Show ]

. . . Sometimes there’s a Post Show.  This happens when the vendor (um, me?) loads up the bus and notices the boxes are almost as heavy as when he unloaded them.  Sigh.

I brought back five of the Peterson estates I took with me plus a new Neal Yarm solid oak 7 day pipe rest, a big Peterson’s Mixture vintage tin and a huge binder of ephemera. I can’t put all that ephemera on here for my own Post Show, but here’s the other items.

Write me at petegeek1896@gmail.com if you’re interested in anything. Postage included for US pipemen, but also glad to ship anywhere else. Just let me know where you live and I’ll have Gigi figure the FedEx to you (it’s usually about $20-25 US).

I can’t slip in a bottle of Knappogue Castle Irish whiskey, but if you like, I’ll sprinkle some of that holy water on the box before I ship it to you.

XL302 “Cobra” Ball System, Late Republic, 1978-84.

When the four “new” Systems appeared in the 1979 update to the 1975 Orange catalog (301, 302, 303, 305), no one knew they would eventually occupy central stage in the catalog’s System lineup.  The XL302 was especially striking, appearing as it did in two primary formats: what I call the “Phat” Ball, which featured a short Comfort P-Lip, and the massive, martial “Cobra” version seen here, with its flared P-Lip stem reminiscent of classic WDC styling.  Neither stem was made after 1984 or so, which is a shame, since they are so obviously part of the aesthetic of this design. The “Cobra,” incidentally, takes its name from the rising front of the bowl, giving it a sense of forward and upward movement. $125.

Short Army Shape 68, Laudisi, 2023.

The Short Army invasion of 2023 featured a one-time remarkable P-Lip stem that myself and everyone else found extraordinary for its smoking qualities and comfort, equally the performance of the classic System Comfort P-Lip.  $95.

Irish Seconds Millennium Oom Paul, c. 1988-89.

The Dublin Millennium duo, an oom paul and a dublin, appeared for the 1000^th anniversary of the City of Dublin in 1988.  This oom paul, an Irish Seconds, would have appeared either in 1988 or 1989, and was not long ago re-engineered by our very own Nebraska Pete Geek, “The NPG,” as I like to call him.  Not only were the fills seemingly removed (I can’t find them, anyway), but the button was ergonomically enhanced and the tenon chamfered. A rare piece of Peterson history and sure to be a stellar smoker. $80. 

307 Algerian Briar Sandblast, Early Republic, c. 1950-63.

Algerian briar was a staple for Kapp & Peterson until that nation gained its independence in 1962, when exports of briar ceased.  It has always been noted for its sweetness and its softness, lending itself to remarkable sandblasts, as seen here on this 307. The blasting medium produces an effect similar reminiscent of the Dunhill Shell Briars of old. The Nickel Mount Marks are, of course, the second way we know this pipe dates from 1963 or earlier. $120.

A4 Donegal Rocky Sterling, HM “N” 1999.

The A4 is one of only four shapes in the “A” group that comprised the original 1995 Antique Collection. In its original issue, it was the only System, stamped as “1909,” with a good sized chamber. The Donegal Rocky Sterling was issued in a fishtail.  $125.

Neil Yarm Solid Oak 7 Pipe Rest.

I bought several pipe rests in a fit of exasperation a few months back, and this one didn’t fit.  It’s new but there’s no box and I see I managed to get a dirty spot on front of it.  They’re only $76 new, so $35 including postage seems like a good deal.  I was thinking if you drive a truck (who doesn’t, except me?) you could use a bit of Liquid Nails on the dashboard and voilà! instant travel rack. Right?  $35.

Vintage Peterson’s Mixture Tobacco Tin.

While K&P was blending tobacco in the basement of their St. Stephen’s Green factory back on the Cuffe Lane side, their buddy Harry Rogers of Rogers Imports Ltd. in the US acquired rights in the late 1930s to not only distribute Peterson pipes (an incredibly fortuitous event, as all who love estate Petes know), but market tobacco under the Peterson name.  I can’t swear this is the exact mixture blended at the Peterson factory, but it’s a cool tin and a testament to the business partnership between the two Harrys–Harry Rogers and Harry Kapp.  Measures 6.75 x 3 by 4.5 inches.  $45.

Centenary Point of Sale “Chip of the Old Block” Poster.

For their 1975 Centenary celebration, K&P delved into their archives and came up with six point-of-sale posters to distribute to tobacco shops all over the globe.  I’ll do a post on the six at some point, but for now I’ll just say that a dear friend of mine back in the 1980s went to Ireland and spent an hour talking a tobacconist out of the Thinking Man poster on his wall.  She always, always got her way (like a P. G. Wodehouse heroine), and gave it to me on my birthday.  If you’ve been to the Nassau Street Peterson shop and looked up, you’ve seen several others in the series.  $40.

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