With a great deal of regret I’ve had to miss the last two meetings of the Seattle Pipe Club. Unfortunately I’ve been on vacation during each of these meetings. Missing out on the wonderful fellowship of the club is a great disappointment, a disappointment deepened because I have ready for pick up a new pipe there. A wonderfully carved SPC meerschaum.
While the vacations have been wonderful, hopefully I’ll not be missing the next meeting!
I’m an active member of three clubs. An Airstream travel trailer club, a club existing solely to improve the private road that serves my home, and the Seattle Pipe club. I do hold a few other club memberships, but am much less active within them.
What strikes me is the extreme difference between the pipe club, and the other two clubs. Within the pipe club, we seem to all get along very well, and serious disagreements just don’t seem to exist. The other two are quite radically different with factions engaged in seemingly never ending battles.
All three clubs have a self-selecting membership, so that cannot be the cause for the difference.
I have to wonder if it is true what is said about the pipe smoker. If he is indeed a more mellow, more reasonable fellow than the average. Certainly it doesn’t seem that there could be any more cause for serious disagreement between fellows who love Airstreams than fellows who love smoking pipes.
Whatever the cause, I must say that the pipe club is a welcome calm in the wider world of clubs, and it is quite wonderful to watch people with such divergent backgrounds get along so perfectly.
Yesterday was the annual Seattle Pipe Club BBQ; a wonderful time was had by all. We were treated to great food, tremendous conversation with friends new and old, and had an opportunity to view some truly amazing pipes from member’s collections.
I suppose that as with any gathering of pipemen there was also a brisk trade in pipes both estate and new. Wonderful pipes going to wonderful new owners. I was not immune to the excitement of course and acquired a beautiful new Ferndown Bark Billiard Military Mount Two Star.
In this age of horrible smoking restrictions I think that pipe clubs are perfect safe harbors from the storm. Smoking is a social activity and they provide that important outlet in spades. Additionally I think that the clubs are tremendous assets to the new pipe smoker as they allow him to learn from the experience and wisdom of those who have gone before, vitally important when one is trying to master both the art and the science behind enjoyable pipe smoking. Ultimately I believe that the clubs are leading to resurgence in pipe smoking within our society, which I must count as a truly positive trend. If you love pipes but aren’t a member of a club I would strongly recommend that you give your local club a try, or even start your own.
As I close I must give a hearty thank you to our amazing host again this year: Thank You Al!
My new Ferndown by Les Wood.