As all of Washington's pipe smokers must know by now, due to recent legislative nonsense pipe tobacco is almost impossible to obtain in the State of Washington.

I think though that the problem goes beyond one little bill passed into law, and I think that our anger over our lack of supply must be directed not only at our legislators, the Attorney General, and our Governor, but at ourselves as well.

Ultimately, we are all responsible for the difficulty we are facing now.

Good tobacco stores used to abound in the Puget Sound region. Pipelane and Tinderbox were our chains and they were augmented by an array of independents, even a Dunhill Store across from Westlake Center.

We though didn't buy much from these local stores. We bought our tobacco from catalogs or online because Washington taxes were too high and we didn't want to pay 18 dollars for a tin of tobacco that we could get online for 6 dollars.

We took our dollars away from the men and women who supported our hobby, and we drove them out of business. I am as guilty as everyone else.

We should not have done this. We should have bought those 18 dollar tins, then written to our legislators and included our receipts. We should have pointed out to those legislators that our local shopkeepers could not remain in business when faced with such a radically undercutting competition. We didn't though. We just moved on from our local supporters without a fight, we let them and their dreams die.

All of those good stores are gone now. Bankrupted and closed due to our own actions.

Now the legislature, the Attorney General, and our Governor have stated that we are criminals if we buy our tobacco from a catalog or online. We have no shops left, so we are unable to source our tobacco.

We are however extremely lucky in that fellow pipemen Rick and Roxi have opened Tacoma Tins. They are ready and willing to provide our needs as long as we can get to Tacoma from time to time.

Rick and Roxi however cannot subsidize this operation forever; it is up to each of us to ensure that they generate a profit.

We the pipemen of Washington must do our tobacco business with Tacoma Tins to ensure that they thrive. If we have to pay a few extra bucks due to the tax situation we just need to suck it up and do it. We can't take out our price frustrations on Rick and Roxi; rather we must take that frustration out on the legislators who set the tax rates. As mentioned above, if we pay too much, we need to send that receipt and our complaint to our legislators asking them to even the tax rate with other states so that Tacoma Tins can compete on a fair basis.

I don't smoke a lot; certainly no one can turn a profit from my meager purchases. All of us together can make a tremendous difference though.

Let us assume for a moment that instead of smuggling tobacco we all do the right thing and buy it from the folks who are trying to meet our needs. If we do this, they will become profitable. If they become profitable they will grow. If others see that growth they will want to replicate it. We could as a result once again have a handful of good tobacco stores in our state. Wouldn't that be a wonderful outcome?

It can be our outcome if we are each willing to support this important little venture.