73. Peterson at the 2017 IPCPR (Video)
I’ve often thought it might be fun to attend the IPCPR, although the ethos of the cigar crowd, which seems to predominate at the show, is usually far from mine and most pipemen I know. Nevertheless, I must confess I started smoking “seegars” in 6th grade under the influence of Walt Kelly’s Albert the Alligator. Swisher Sweets, mostly. The big ones. No kidding.
Kelly was an inveterate cigar smoker, and I was so immersed in the world of the Okefenokee Swamp crew that it just seemed like the right thing to do. Fortunately in those by-gone days, all a minor had to do was walk into any drugstore, newsstand, or tobacconist and have the ready coin. There was a drugstore across from Brookside Baptist Church (which it felt like my family attended five or six times a week), and on Wednesday or Sunday nights I sometimes found it possible to escape for a few minutes, make a purchase, and have a smoke. How I did that without either of my parents ever suspecting, I don’t know. It wasn’t an act of rebellion, just an extension of my literary life, although I knew better than to tell either of them.
Well, all this to say that I stumbled on this short video interview with Tom Palmer, CEO at Peterson, from the IPCPR 2017 show last July at www.stogiereview.com, and reblog it here with the kind permission of Brian Hewitt. Tom looks like he’s had a busy day, but if you watch and listen carefully, there’s a few surprises that will more than make it worth your while.
Fumare in Pace!