Saturday, January 31, 2009

Saturday at the Hut - 1/31/09

We had a great crowd at the Tobacco Hut today. Joe and I were the first to arrive, but instead of launching immediately into talking about computers, we talked about - um, I can't lie. Actually we did in fact begin talking immediately about computers.

I've been trying to get Joe to see the light and come over to the Mac side of things, and he's been talking the last few months about maybe picking up a used one to tinker with. He said he was in Best Buy the other day and sat down at the 24" iMac and now has his sights set on it, the very computer I've been drooling over for the last year or so. If Joe pulls the trigger on it, I'll be more than a little jealous, but he said I could come over and play with it.

I filled up one of my Winslow-Crown Viking freehands with some Tinder Box Reserve 1928. The tobacco has just the right amount of casings without being overly sugary, has a great taste and equally nice room note. It smokes great in the Winslow, although it was just a little wet toward the end, but nothing a few pipe cleaners couldn't remedy. The pipe has a good sized bowl, so without too much nursing, the pipe lasted most of the afternoon.

Peter arrived and I showed him the logos I had worked up for his new business. We discussed some more ideas, and he gave me some talking points about the venture to work into some promotional materials I'll be working on.

Everyone had kind words to say about the shop's website, although Lou himself hadn't seen it yet. He saw a couple pages of it on Joe's iPod Touch, but will look at it further from home.

Barry came in after getting off work, and we decided he's the new Mike G. Although no one can truly replace Mike, who still makes an appearance once in awhile when he visits from Tennessee, Barry comes close. Barry was quick to point out that political views between the two of them are 180-degrees apart. Point taken.

And then, mid-afternoon, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, a regular from days gone by arrived. Tom L walked through the door, greeting everyone with a carefully crafted sarcastic comment. Good to have Tom back! I'll chalk it up to coincidence that Joe left immediately after Tom arrived (kidding, he had already cashed out and was on his way).

Paul V arrived and I was again successful at persuading him to stay to consume one of his purchases. Paul also has a t-shirt shop online, Cigar Shirts and Stuff, using the same print-on-demand vendor I use for mine. Focusing on cigar-related shirts, he's got some great merchandise on sale there, and a lot of cool vintage cigar label reproductions. Click the above link or see the link list on the side to view his shop.

The smoke was thick as the sun was getting low, meaning the store was closing soon. Too bad as we were having a good discussion about a wide range of topics, including some politics, the financial bailout, and even stem cell research.

A big thank you to Lou for building me a pipe board. As seen usually in smoke shops, it consists of a board with rubber pipe clips placed in rows and columns, this one enough to hold 20 pipes. As my pipe collection grows, I've run out of room to store and display them on the bookshelves in the office (man cave), so have to use the walls. This will give me room to add more pipes to the collection!

Cheers!
- Bob

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