Tinder Box

Doug Owen is a long-time reader of Peterson Pipe Notes and with every comment he makes he rekindles in me the desire for the days when every town of any size had at least one good pipe shop. He’s spent a lifetime behind the counter and has the kind of knowledge and enthusiasm for Petes and other marques that marks someone a true pipeman. I asked him to share his story in hopes that you will find it as fascinating as I have.I first began smoking a pipe, like many guys, early in my college career. I was attending Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon and like many 18 year old’s at the time I figured part of the collegiate image was to be a pipe smoker. Sadly, my first attempt at pipe smoking was an abject failure. I went into a well-known tobacco shop in downtown Portland to pursue the briar symbol of my new image, but not getting much help or badly needed advice from the man behind the counter I proceeded to pick out the biggest black sandblasted billiard in the shop. I believe it was called a “Maro Jumbo,” 7 inches long and a bowl that was easily more than 2 inches tall. I shelled out the grand sum of about 10 bucks, and I believe the pipe was made by GBD. Bad Memories: The Maro Jumbo To compound the rookie mistake I thought that yellow and red tin of Murray’s Erinmore ready rubbed would do nicely. Went home, sat on the deck of my parents house and proceeded to freight train a large bowl of that stuff until my tongue was fire engine red. Needless to say, I retreated, like many my age, to my trusty pack of Marlboro reds and left the Maro Jumbo in a drawer for several years. My first job behind a tobacco shop counter was at Arthur Leonard's in Portland, Oregon. I was hired to help during the Christmas rush in 1972. It was a disaster. I had no retail experience and no knowledge of the business except that I smoked Borkum Riff in a cob pipe.  I only lasted two weeks before everybody, including me, realized it wasn’t going to work. Arthur Leonard’s (c. 1950s): one of the Northwest’s most famous brick & mortar shops My real introduction to to my long love affair with pipes and tobacco came in 1974, while I was working on a Master’s Degree in U.S. History and needed to work part time to help pay the rent. My wife Risa and I were living in an apartment in Tigard Oregon just outside of Portland and a major regional shopping mall was just being finished just a couple of miles away, so I started applying for work at the various stores in the mall but one caught my attention right away: The Tinderbox. The crossed clay churchwardens sign grabbed me like a magnet. When I walked in, the young owner John was behind…