Beau from Country Squire radio recently visited Austin and did a “shop talk” with Wayne from Heroes and Legacies, one of our club sponsors. Check out the interview here!
Our very own Richard Gray went to the West Coast Pipe Show and took some pictures to recap:
This past Friday we had a great turnout, in fact it was the largest turn out for an Austin Pipe Club gathering yet as we had around 20 guys show up. The event in partnership with Heroes and Legacies and the Austin Pipe Club was a trunk show. Heroes brought down their distributor Music City Marketing to do the show and let us look at some amazing pipes made by Briarworks International. There are two lines Neptune and Icarus, and both are within the 100 to 350 range. Aaron Sissom from Music City took time to talk to us about the products and his background in the pipe industry and was a wealth of knowledge. While we had expected to see some other pipes from the vast range of pipes they distribute, seeing the Briarworks pipes was still very cool and a good number of us walked away with a nice pipe.
Additionally Sutliff sent over a new tobacco for the pipe club to try: Loire Valley. This is an aromatic with Raspberry and mango top note with black cavendish.
Austin Pipe Club and Erik Stokkebye
Yesterday at Pipe World we had an event where Erik Stokkebye dropped by and brought pipes and 4th Generation tobacco to sample and purchase. Upon arrival he was standing behind the counter with a spread of 4-5 of his tobaccos and smiled and welcomed everyone and invited them to fill their pipes with one of his find blends. We asked about each one and made the rotation through the various ones: 1855, 1882, 1897, 1931, 1957, 1982.
The Stokkebye tobacco tradition began with the birth of Erik Peter in 1855 who went on to found the family business in Denmark. As an homage to his family, Erik Stokkebye developed four blends – 1855, 1897, 1931, and 1957 – marking the years of birth for his great-grandfather, grandfather, father, and himself. Each blend has a unique flavor, is Virginia based, and is reflective of their personal tastes. We hope you will enjoy trying out this special series of tobaccos.
1855 is for Erik Peter his Great Grandfather who started the business. It’s ready-rubbed Virginia and a non-aromatic.
1882 is called the Founders Blend and is a good English blend with Latakia, Virginia, and Kentucky leaves.
Getting a good wiff
1897 is a light aromatic and has Virginias, Burleys, and Cavendish with a top note of vanilla and honey.
1931 is for Erik Peter – his Father and is a Navy Flake which was his favorite tobacco to smoke. It is pressed Virginia, Burley, and a very small amount of Black Cavendish for balance. I would also say almost every one of us picked up this tin specifically.
Selecting a blend
Lastly 1982 is celebrating the 100 year anniversary and is a mild aromatic with Virginia, light Burley, and Black Cavendish, with a couple small bits or plugs of navy flake added in – it’s a great balance to throw in the navy flake to this and makes for a long enjoyable smoke.
Breaking apart the flakes
Currently you can grab some at Pipe World, and also note that they are sold out on almost all of these on the usual websites right now.
After Erik talked on his tobaccos we then gathered everyone and he talked on his families business, how they got started, products they offered and how it changed hands. He talked about how the tobacco was made and manufactured and we all found it very interesting and there were a lot of great questions.
History of Stokkebye Tobacco
The last part of the meeting if you had bought a pipe (which are made for him by Neerup!)or tobacco you received a raffle ticket and Erik raffled off a pipe, a couple hats, and a pipe bag! I’m glad to say that everyone that won an item was a pipe club member and Raul was the winner for the rusticated pipe!
Raul winning the raffle prize a brand new 4th Generation Pipe
Admiring the Pipe
Our first meeting at a new location: Pipeworld in Round Rock went very well and we had a good turn out with 9 people showing up and adding a couple new members! We also handed out Sutliff Breckinridge tobacco that they sent us to sample and try out. The Brekinridge is a mild Kentucky plug cut burley with little to no topping and is a great smoke for burley lovers. Thanks both to Sutliff Tobacco and Pipeworld for helping make this event a success! We’ll be alternating our club meetings between Pipe World and Heroes and Legacies going forward as it’s great to have more than one spot to meet and engage with vendors and sponsors.
photos courtesy of Wes Brown
Music City Marketing – Pipe and Tobacco Distributers will be in Austin at Heroes and Legacies doing a “Trunk Show” on September 26th 2014. More details to follow.
Join us this coming September 4th for a special event at Pipe World, Round Rock, TX where you’ll get to meet Erik Stokkebye, who will be selling tobacco and pipes! More details to come.
We drove up Tuesday evening from Austin and arrived at Poppa Rollo’s wondering how this place has a 2nd floor. After sufficiently getting lost, the owner actually showed us around and the building is built more like a speakeasy with hidden doors that look like phone booths or brick walls. Upon being show the location of this tiny hideaway above the bar we climbed the stairs and were warmly greeted by the Waco Pipe Club gentleman who were eating and drinking the local fare. We were in luck, as this night was the annual slow smoking contest and after very quickly stuffing our faces the contest began. While we were not officially entered into the contest (as we weren’t Waco pipe club members) we were given bags to unofficially compete.
As with all slow smoke contests we were given 3.2 grams of tobacco, 2 matches, a tamper, and 5 minutes to pack the pipe and 1 minute to light. Upon lighting up the little room became a smoke filled war room where we did battle. The winners walked away with some very nice pipes and finished with a time of 58 minutes and 35 seconds. Our team walked away with Wes smoking 46 minutes, James 35 minutes and Mike around 20 minutes or as he put it “exceptionally poor”.
Thanks to the Bud Price Pipe Club of Waco for being our hosts for this fun outing, and we hope to visit again!
Winner at 58 Minutes
On Your Mark, Set, Light!
Austin Pipe Club Representing
Steve Fallon reads the rules
The charred remains of the contest.
Whose In?
Photos courtesy of Wes Brown.
Reminder: Today we’re headed to Waco to visit the Bud Price Pipe Club of Waco at the upstairs smoking lounge of Poppa Rollo’s Restaurant. The meeting starts at 6pm and we’ll be leaving Austin at 4pm to trek up there. If you’d like to go please let us know!
Join us this Thursday, July 24th at 5pm at Heroes and Legacies for our pipe club meeting. We’ll be discussing club news and updates, IPCPR, and some new updates from our recent sponsors.
