As every pipe smoker in Washington must know by now, last year that legislature made it impossible for us to legally buy our favorite blends by outlawing the purchase of pipe tobacco via mail order.

I think though that this was done largely in error. The legislature intended to make it harder for kids to get cigarettes. We adult pipe smokers just got caught up accidentally because the legislators working on the bill forgot to exempt us like they exempted cigars.

This year the few remaining pipe smokers in our state are working hard to overturn this prohibition so that we can once again legally purchase the tobacco we need for our harmless hobby.

Two bills have been introduced to the legislature that will allow us to purchase our blends, House Bill 2639, and Senate Bill 6447.

Today I would like to mention the handful of House Members who are willing to stand up for us pipe smokers, who are working to fix the error made last year. They deserve our thanks.

Representatives Mary Lou Dickerson, Steve Conway, Brian Blake, Reuven Carlyle, Mike Armstrong, Kirk Pearson, Mike Sells, and Larry Springer.

Each of these Representatives can be emailed at:

lastname.firstname@leg.wa.gov

If you are a lover of the pipe, I ask that you email each of them a sincere thank you for their efforts to help us enjoy our hobby.

Our House Bill will be receiving a public hearing on January 19.

I'll post about the Senate Bill another time, today though it is receiving a hearing in the Senate. It is inappropriate for me to lobby the legislature, so while the rest of the Seattle Pipe Club is testifying on behalf of the bill I'll be enjoying the last bits of a tin of Dunhill's Standard Mixture: Medium.