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Brian has been corresponding with me recently, and as he’s the first Pete Freek I’ve known who has more than 500 Petersons in his collection, I asked him if he’d mind sharing how it came about. He was a bit reluctant at first, but I assured him there are folks all across the globe who would enjoy hearing his story and seeing some of his favorite pipes. A Trio of Amber Spigots I grew up in Kentucky and you could say tobacco is in my history.  My grandfather grew tobacco. My mother was one of nine children and I think seven of them grew tobacco!  My father was a metal worker and so was I, but I might as well have been on a farm since it was growing everywhere you looked. I remember going in the old tobacco barns on my grandfather’s and uncle’s farms and just smelling the tobacco. Every toy gun I ever owned as a kid was a tobacco stick! Oom pauls and 02s Most of my family smoked in one way or another—a pipe, cigars or cigarettes. I remember the first time I was offered tobacco. I was six and a fellow classmate pulled out a tin of Kodiak dip and offered me a pinch. I couldn’t be a lameo, so I kept it in my mouth as long as I could before spitting it out.  I started smoking cigarettes at about thirteen, I guess. It was just part of life back then. No one much questioned it. A Dublin & London triple companion case When I couldn’t go to the store as a kid, I’d give my cousin the money at the Sunday morning church service and he’d bring my smokes back at the evening service. I remember the day my mother found my dip and cigarettes and turned them over to my dad, no doubt giving him orders to punish me. I thought I was in for it. My dad was 20 years’ older than my mother so he wasn’t one to get real mad, but when he was mad, look out. I figured this was going to be one of those times. I heard him coming from his bedroom, every footstep. I looked up and he said, “Here’s your stuff.” What a load off! My mom was still pissed, but I was allowed to do it from then on. Five from the IFS or Éire eras (top to bottom): shapes 950, 1048, 3034, 3262, 3266 I went on to cigars in my twenties, not every day but every now and then. Then about six or seven years ago I really started to get into cigars and was in love with them for a couple of years, building a huge collection. But I didn’t like how the cigar industry makes it almost impossible to get their cigars: they tell you just enough to get you wanting them, but good luck getting what you want. Then a certain cigar manufacturer said certain cigars would…