Saturday at the Hut - 5/4/13

We had a great turnout today at The Tobacco Hut! I was still recovering from last night's inaugural Pipe Night (see the post below for a full report with pictures) that ran a little late, so didn't make it in this morning until close to eleven o'clock. Of course, nobody could really determine what time I got there 'cause the damned clock is gone.

Let's start with the lengthy roll call. When I arrived there was Rob, Joe K, Vic, Mike, Don, Aaron, and Pete. Rob was gracious enough to give up the big leather recliner-that-doesn't-recline to me. Of course, he was leaving anyway, and as I was shaking Vic's hand, he held on with an iron grip and gestured to Joe to grab the chair and abandoned his folding chair. I blocked Joe but the old man threatened to kick me with his steel tips in an area that would preclude me from having further children. Vic was kind enough to release the handshake and I quickly slipped into the enveloping comfort of the recliner.

L-R, Mike and Don. (Click to enlarge).

L-R, Aaron, Joe, Vic, Pete. (Click to enlarge)

I fired up my Ascorti with some Baker Street - a little mellower than the Searchlight I enjoyed the night before - and got up to speed on the comings and goings of the day. Vic was seated in a position where he really didn't have easy access to an ashtray, and we pointed out that it was too bad that the Cuesta Ray canister ashtray was missing.

You know, what's with all the looting of the store that took place when Lou was closing it? Clocks, ashtrays, signs, tobacco jars, etc., etc. It's absolutely shameful.

At one point, we were talking about Eric Rudolph, the guy who bombed the abortion clinics and the Atlanta Olympics, and disappeared into the mountains of North Carolina. (Funny, we were talking about him last night at Pipe Night, but couldn't remember his name). We were specifically discussing how even with his survival training he had difficulties making it in the rough terrain. He was finally caught Dumpster diving, according to Mike. I started to make the point that someone like me out in the woods, with no training, wouldn't last -- and the room erupted in laughter. I guess the notion of me, me in particular, out in the woods, trying to survive struck the collective funny bone.

My survivalist mettle was tested later tonight however, when I had to wrestle a lizard from the washing machine. See my Facebook posting - and Mike G's comment - in the screenshot below:

A short time later who should walk in but Jim S. Haven't seen Jim in quite awhile. I was ready to kick Don out of one of the club chairs but Jim couldn't stay. Too bad - maybe he'll come back for the Grand Re-Opening on May 18th or the next Pipe Night on June 7th. Jim works in the defense intelligence industry and always has interesting stories to tell. He usually stops short of telling us enough that he has to kill us though and, for that, we thank him.

Mike and I were talking about pocketknives when all of a sudden who should appear in the doorway but the Knife Guy himself, Scott R. That was a little spooky. Just talk about the guy and he appears. Anyway, Mike had been telling me about a knife designer (is that the right term?) called Todd Begg who apparently has some sort of knife show on the Discovery Channel. You can check out his website here. Pretty interesting.

Anyway, Scott showed us his latest acquisition, a Case pocketknife. I don't remember the particulars of it, but it was a very sharp knife (pun intended!). If you haven't looked at it recently, Scott is still going strong on his pocketknife blog. For my handful of readers here who criticize me for missing a week or two, you'd love Scott's blog. He writes regularly on his subject, and writes well. Maybe if I had had one of the pocketknives Scott has so generously given me, my encounter with the lizard from above would have gone a bit better.

A little while later, Scott's brother-in-law, Jeff arrived. I think they both settled down with a Kane Blue, or some such thing. I don't know, I'm a pipe smoker, I can't keep all these cigars straight. They both liked it though.

Scott - "The Knife Guy" (Click to enlarge).

L-R, Jeff and Pete. (Click to enlarge).

Jeff was telling us about his latest purchase, a Google Chromebook. He's very impressed with it so far. At only $250, it looks like a sweet little computer, aimed at the computer user who primarily uses it for surfing the web, Facebook, and email.

I think Jeff's assessment of Windows 8 is about the same as Joe's. Both are concerned that long-time Windows users, especially older folks, are a little bewildered by the changes in the operating system. I would recommend a Mac at that point, but that's just me.

Everyone but Scott and Jeff had left at that point, and the talk turned to football. I raised what I thought was a good question...how many first round quarterback draft picks have gone on to greatness? I think the expectations and pressure is so high that it's almost impossible for most of them to excel.

Scott and Jeff had left and I was packing up my pipe kit (or "mass kit" as Mike used to refer to it as) when who should I see walking across the parking lot? Barry C! Haven't seen the man in months. I stuck around for a while and got caught up with him. Congratulations are in order as he is a grandfather, or Pop Pop as he prefers to be called.

Barry was hoping that Scott was here because he had a knife he wanted to see if Scott could look at. Too bad you couldn't have made it just twenty minutes sooner. Scott was wrapping up his knife show, or should I say "Heavy Things With Sharp Edges Show". Scott not only showed us his new Case pocket knife, but brought in a hunting knife that he re-handled, and then a frickin' hatchet that he restored. I was a little afraid when he left for the final time he was actually going to bring in an axe and go all Jack Nicholson in The Shining on us.

Anyway, great to see all the familiar faces today. Start planning now to attend the Grand Re-Opening in two weeks! Saturday, May 18th, all day. Pete has lined up some door prizes, raffle items, etc. It promises to be a great time. More details to come! BTW, not sure if they were serious, but Vic promised some home made New York liverwurst for the party...

Cheers!

Saturday at the Hut - 4/27/13

Saturday at The Tobacco Hut saw quite a few people folks hanging around for a cigar or pipe. Let's start with the roll call, in no particular order: Rob, Lou, Joe K, Don, Peter, Scott, Ed F, and Tom L. It was nice to see the Hut included in a lot of people's Saturday plans. I had to give Joe some crap regarding not calling me when he and James were at the shop a couple weeks ago. He responded with some sort of finger display which I shan't duplicate here, since impressionable young children may be reading this.

Tom arrived and promptly began making fun of us pipe smokers. He poked fun at Peterson's trademarked P-Lip and it's somewhat phallic-shaped profile. As Ed pointed out though, this coming from a man who was smoking a cigar. But, as Freud once said supposedly, "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." I do think though that as much as Tom is a pipe-a-phobe, he actually secretly wants to come out of the closet and embrace the pipe. Tom, it's OK, at the Hut you're in a safe environment. Break out the pipe, become one with it.

Earlier, Rob and Don and Joe and I were talking computers and airplanes and other subjects. Don is a pilot so we - or at least I - were grilling him on various aspects of flying. How fast he can fly, how high, etc. All fascinating stuff to us "civilians." Speaking of pilots, when are we going to see you again, Arnie? It's been awhile.

Later Scott came in and delivered an old Magnavox transistor radio to Peter. Peter collects old radios and immediately set about trying to get it to work. He was confident he could get it working properly with a little cleaning. Scott, being the resident "Knife Guy", also brought me a pocket knife, pictured below. It's a Scout knife (not an official Boy Scout, that's just the name of the knife) from Seneca Cutlery Co. in Utica, NY. Thank you Scott!

My newest knife from the "Knife Guy" (click to enlarge).

This one has special meaning to me, not only because it's from upstate NY, but because it's a Seneca, like me. Well, I'm at least partially a Seneca. Indian, that is. My great, great grandmother was a Seneca and her name was...Steptoe. That part of the family tree has some really kind of odd names - at least by modern standards - and I'm glad those names weren't passed down through the generations.

According to Scott, the knife itself was manufactured between 1930-1940, and is in pretty good condition considering its age. After numerous discussions, Scott is well aware of my love for all things vintage, and all things New York. I recently scored this Genesee Beer Tray on eBay and will be receiving it shortly.

This Genesee Beer Tray from the 1950s will soon be
hanging in my office (click to enlarge).

Don't forget that this Friday, May 3rd is Pipe Night! From 6-8:00 pm, come in - whether you're a pipe smoker or not - and hang out! You could also win a $50 store gift card in the raffle. If you are a pipe smoker, there are going to be some great discounts on pipes and tobacco as well, plus food and beverages.

Saturday, May 18th is the official Grand Re-Opening, so make plans to attend.

See you next time!

Saturday at the Hut - 3/30/13

Although everyone wasn't there at once, we had a nice crowd at The Tobacco Hut on Saturday. The first batch of Hutters were there first thing in the morning: Lou, Joe K, Rob, Don, Pete (of course), and myself. Later Steve B, Ed F, and Laurie arrived in the afternoon. It's not like there's a time clock or anything, but there was definitely a morning shift and an afternoon shift. And, naturally, if you listened to Joe, we  have no idea what time it is in the store anyway since I spirited the clock away several months ago.

The humidors are growing. Well, not the humidors themselves, but what's inside. Pete has been actively increasing the inventory and it shows! It's not quite to the level where he wants, but there's plenty of selection and depth now - enough to please most everyone.

We pipe smokers have reason to be happy as well. There's a full rack of Peterson pipes and then some, and four new tobaccos. More pipes are on the way and Pete and I are working on putting together a "Pipe Night" event. More info to come on that.

Maybe Kramer will show up at our upcoming Pipe Night!
(more info to come).

Pete kindly gave me free range to "invent" one of the new tobaccos. I took the existing Baker Street tobacco, which consists of Virginia and Latakia and I messed around with the ratios a bit and added a bit of Perique. The new blend borders on being a Balkan-type tobacco and is quite tasty. The best part, I think, is its name. In honor of our friend, Lou, we named it Searchlight. I think he approved.

There is an English-aromatic crossover tobacco called Spitfire which contains Virginia, Burley, Oriental and a bit of Cavendish. There is also a whiskey-flavored tobacco which is called 19th Hole.

For the fourth new tobacco, Pete needs your help in naming it. It's a fruity, tropical tobacco, very aromatic with a very nice room note. We thought it would be fun to have a contest to name the tobacco. Take a sniff of the new blend, light up a bowl of it if you're a pipe smoker, and come up with a fun name for the tobacco. If your suggestion is used, you'll win a pound of tobacco or the equivalent value ($62) in a new pipe, or cigars! So even if you're not a pipe smoker, you can still have fun with it and have a chance to win some cigars! There are entry forms at the store and the contest is good through April 30. If you're not able to make it into the store before the end of the month and still want to participate, leave a comment on this blog post with your email address (so we can add you to the mailing list) and you could still win!

I think Saturday actually had more pipe smokers in than cigar smokers, especially if you count Rob who is considering switching over to a pipe in the next week or so. Also, a shout out to my friend Alex from the Times who came in a few weeks ago and smoked his pipe. Nice to see the ranks of the pipe smokers growing.

I have developed and am managing the new Facebook page for the Hut. So if you're on FB, head on over to the page by clicking here and "Like" the page. Why should you like the page? Besides continuing the conversation at the Hut and connecting with friends and making new ones, you'll receive weekly, exclusive, Facebook offers available to no one else. Every Monday morning look for a post on the store's page that outlines a special of the week.

Finally, I'm helping Pete develop a monthly newsletter to be emailed out. It will be emailed on our around the first of each month and if you'd like to get on the mailing list you can sign up at the store or shoot me an email - bob.harrison@tampabay.rr.com - indicating you want to be on the list. All the usual privacy policies exist: your information won't be shared with anyone, etc., etc. We won't fill your inbox with crap, just a monthly newsletter and the occasional email if there's an event coming up or something. The first newsletter goes out tomorrow!

There are lots of things happening at The Tobacco Hut. Look for a grand opening party in the next month or so. Hopefully we can plan on a date when Don is available to cater the whole affair with his mouthwatering BBQ.

See you next week!

Saturday at the Hut - 5/5/12

Aaron digging into Don's delicious BBQ
(click to enlarge). For other photos,
see The Tobacco Hutters.

We celebrated Cinco de Mayo in style on Saturday at The Tobacco Hut. Well, we didn't really celebrate Cinco de Mayo per se, but we did have some fantastic BBQ and other fixins from Don W. He announced on Thursday on The Tobacco Hutters that he was bringing his world famous BBQ on Saturday and it was well worth it! Don urged folks to bring Coronas for the minor Mexican holiday, but nobody obliged. But no matter, his BBQ'd pork butt and shoulder was out of this world! He supplied buns and his secret sauce, as well as boiled peanuts (yechh!) and I brought some potato salad. It was all very well received and we had a full house enjoying the feast. A big thank you to Don for supplying this and all his preparation - 12 hours to smoke it properly!

So who was there chowing down? Peter G, Joe K, Scott R, Jeff D, Bob (not me, and not Bobby M, but another Bob), Aaron C, Don of course, Tony, Lou, and myself. Paul O probably would have been there but he's in Vegas on some company junket.

Paula and I enjoying the Rays game
from the Times suite Friday night
(click to enlarge)

Allow me to back up a little...Paula and I hosted the Times suite at Tropicana Field on Friday night and watched the Rays beat up the Oakland A's, 7-2. David Price was on fire with 12 strikeouts, striking out every batter in the lineup at least once. Looks like they're playing okay without Evan Longoria who's out for several weeks with an injury. I would have strolled over to the Cuesta-Rey Cigar Bar to enjoy a smoke but, as host, I had to stay in the suite for the duration of the game. In any case, we had a great time, even though the food and beer tab was outrageous. A thousand dollars to feed 15 people wings, hotdogs, peanuts, and beer.

A little discussion came up on The Tobacco Hutters recently about attendance at the Trop and the reasons why it's so low. There are a lot of factors involved, ranging from the lousy economy to every game being televised to a short tradition of the game in the area. All I know is that right now the Rays have the best record in baseball and are playing exciting ball and to be ranked 28th out of 30 teams in terms of attendance is pretty crappy. They deserve better from the Tampa Bay area.

So if you're not a member of The Tobacco Hutters and have missed the e-mails I've sent out about it, you might be thinking, "What is this 'Tobacco Hutters' he keeps mentioning?" Well, it's our own social network, just for customers and friends of The Tobacco Hut. As of this writing, we're up to 22 members after just a week and participation and content is growing steadily.

It's a virtual space that is intended to be an extension of the real Tobacco Hut, a place that friends can come together, talk to one another through forums, write their own blogs on topics important to them, post status updates, upload photos and more.

How is it different from the blog you're reading right now? Well, The Sweetest Smoke is my blog where I write seemingly endless drivel and a handful of people read it. But there's very little room for discussion and the commenting mechanism is clunky and problematic. The Tobacco Hutters, however, is easy to participate in and is not meant to be just me creating content. It's your space, your community. Use it in whatever way you want.

It's free to join, but is not open to the public. To become a member, simply click on the highlighted links above, or right here: http://bit.ly/TobaccoHutters. I'll get notified that you've clicked on the link and approve your membership. Feel free to invite your friends if you like what you see. I encourage everyone to sign up though, if you haven't already - the more the merrier!

(The group is limited to 150 members - after that I have to go up to the next level which is quite a bit more of an investment. But that's a good problem to have and I'll cross that bridge when we come to it. If it comes to that, I'll probably lay out the cash for it and then accept advertising on the site to defray the cost. No worries about that now, however.)

Toward the end of the afternoon, most of the folks had split for the day and who remained were Don, Peter, Scott, Lou and myself. We started talking about the "good old days" in radio and music, got into a debate about who the greatest guitarist ever was (Scott's vote was for Eddie Van Halen, Lou voted for Les Paul, and I topped them all with Jimi Hendrix), and finished with an informal game of "Name That Tune". We all tried stumping each other by naming a song and the others trying to guess the artist.

Scott stumped us a couple times with some April Wine songs (didn't know Scott was such a fan of the Halifax band), Peter tried to stump us with the song "96 Tears" but I immediately shouted out the answer - ? and the Mysterians. A little aside, there was a customer that wandered in during the quiz show segment of the afternoon and he said that Todd Rundgren wrote the song "96 Tears", but I can find no evidence of that, no connection whatsoever between him and ? and the Mysterians. The group formed in 1962 and the song was written by band member and lead vocalist Rudy Martinez. The only connection I could find between Todd Rundgren was that he covered the song in 1998 with his band Utopia.

Peter stumped us with "Come On Down to My Boat" by Every Mother's Son, which frustrated me because I have the song on my iTunes collection.

Scott maintains that Kansas was a one-hit wonder with "Dust in the Wind". Peter and I vehemently objected to the notion that they were a one-hit wonder but when Scott challenged us to name another song of his, we had to quietly agree with his assertion.

Anyway, we had a lot of fun shouting out song names and artists, especially the one-hit wonders, and even employed my iPhone to play samples of the songs. Lou was feeling a little left out so I played the opening couple notes of Glen Miller's "In The Mood" and he nailed it right away.

We were having so much fun playing Name That Tune that something happened for the first time ever, I think, at the Hut. I failed to finish my pipe. When it was closing time, I had about a third of the bowl left. I was so busy looking up songs on my iPhone and racking my brain trying not to be stumped by what Peter and Scott were throwing at me that I simply neglected my Ser Jacopo filled with G.L. Pease's Westminster tobacco. It was a fine smoke but, alas, I got too wrapped up in the fun to finish it.

And that brings me to the finish of this week's blog. See everyone next week, and see you around The Tobacco Hutters!

Saturday at the Hut - 4/28/12

We had a full house today at The Tobacco Hut and let me start off by stating, for the record, the official record, that Coast Guard Don was in attendance. He was there in the morning and couldn't stay long as he was flying a client to Atlanta (what a job!). Anyway, hope to see you next week, Don!

Also in attendance were Joe K, Paul O, Peter G, Tom L, and - all the way from Bradenton - Vic. Now Vic didn't bring his nuts along but he did not arrive empty handed. He surprised us with wings and apple fritters.

Peter enjoying some of Vic's wings
(Click to enlarge)

Lou devoured one of the fritters straightaway and Joe was trying to be good so just cut a piece off. But it was so good that he returned and cut another piece off, vowing that that would be it for him. But the temptation was too great for Joe, and Joe was weak and he finally returned for the whole thing. I didn't have one of my own, but I did have a bite of Joe's fritter and it was delicious. Um, that didn't sound too good. Let's just say that I liked the fritter that Vic brought more than I liked the taste of his nuts that Tom delivered a few weeks ago. That didn't sound good either - just forget the whole thing.

Peter announced that he was going to return to the theater to see the Three Stooges movie for a second time. The rest of the gang kind of pounced on him. Evidently they're Stooges purists and cheap Hollywood remakes are like a eye jab to the memory of Larry, Curly and Moe. Peter tried to gamely argue that the Stooges heirs had given their blessing to the movie but Tom and company were having none of it.

My favorite comedy team, Laurel & Hardy
(Click to enlarge)

I tried to argue that while I was neutral on the subject of a modern Three Stooges movie, I would view a modern version of my beloved Laurel & Hardy as sacrilege. As Tom and his minions heaped derision on me for favoring Stan and the Babe over the Stooges, Peter was able to take a breath from defending his preferred movie comedy team.

Peter's favorite comedy team, The Three Stooges
(Click to enlarge)

There was some discussion over who got their start first, the Stooges or Laurel & Hardy, and then it just got silly as Charlie Chaplin, Abbott & Costello and the Marx Brothers were brought into the mix. Annie Oakley was mentioned in the frenzy of famous names being tossed out, which made not sense at all. I argued that without Laurel & Hardy there would be no Three Stooges and Peter maintained that the Stooges were around in the 20s. That was news to me and I consulted that bastion of Internet wisdom, Wikipedia, and learned that, in fact, the Stooges got their start in 1925. Laurel & Hardy did predate them by four years, but I wouldn't say that they were responsible for the likes of the Stooges. Peter knows his Stooge history - well done sir!

Vic was lamenting his challenges with selling his nuts at the flea market, and their draconian restrictions, so we were all tossing out ideas for additional items he could sell. Someone mentioned that there were lots of Germans in the area around Bradenton and maybe Vic should market something to them, like bratwurst. It's kind of a blur, but at some point Tom and Paul and I were spitballing some marketing ideas like the SS Dog, or an experimental sandwich - the "Mengele Burger". Unfortunately, we just kept going down that road (use your imagination) and didn't return until we offended whole swaths of the population. Sorry we weren't much help with your business, Vic.

Tom helping Vic with how to best market his business and
offend German customers at the same time.
(Click to enlarge)

Finally, this very blog was brought up and I, your humble narrator, had all guns trained on him. Hell, I didn't think anyone read the damned thing but evidently passions run deep when the few readers I do have attempt to leave a comment. Paul and Tom were the most vocal about it, accusing me of censorship because their comments never make it to the page.

I explained that it is very easy to leave a comment, just follow the directions on the left rail toward the bottom of the page. So they tried on their phones and their test comments didn't appear. I explained that I moderate the comments because I was being inundated with spam but, I pledged, when I got home I would publish their comments.

Tom insisted that the comment function was completely, well, non-functional and issued me a challenge. He wanted me to ask Paula to comment on a blog post unassisted. I forgot about that or ignored it and Paula's asleep now so it's too late anyway but, I must confess that none of their test comments appeared in the queue awaiting my approval.

I know Mike G has had problems posting comments in the past and he has since merely e-mailed me his comments and I post them as they come in. I erroneously assumed it was simply operator error on his part because I do get other comments (Ed B and Aaron C, for example) through the normal channels.

To answer Tom, the absence of comments is not some vast liberal conspiracy of the mainstream media, but some sort of technical glitch and I pledge, as the administrator of this apparently wildly popular blog, that I will get to the bottom of it and allow for the free and robust exchange of ideas.

That being said, I think I am going to create a Facebook Group ("People of the Hut"?) where we can all gather and discuss things of great import. I realize that not all of us are on Facebook, but I think more of us are on Facebook than Google+, the only other really viable alternative. I looked into other social network sites like Ning and they cost money and don't get good reviews, so unless there are any big objections, I'll probably set something up on FB soon.

Oh, one more thing (and I feel like a disc jockey)...a shout out to Russ T, Vic's brother in Rochester. He is a faithful blog reader and hopefully will make it down soon for another visit.

I lied, one more item before I close. I have to tell everyone what I was smoking in my pipe today and which one I was smoking. Oh, who am I kidding, no one cares. Hell, I've even forgotten.

Until next week...

================

ADDENDUM!

For the first time ever, in the interests of a transparent, "fair and balanced" blog, I am adding something to an existing post. I am adding the photo that Tom sent with his comment (see below).

Here is Tom's quote: "It is official, photos don't lie, all pipe smokers are evil." Tom sent the photo of Josef Stalin smoking a pipe. Thereby, all pipe smokers are evil. 


My rebuttal? Tom, Mark Twain, the great American humorist, was a famous pipe smoker. Are you saying that Mark Twain, beloved American writer, was evil? Sounds a little unpatriotic to me. Why, you might just be a closet Communist, what with pictures of Stalin at the ready. If only Senator McCarthy was still around - you would be found out. Names would be named!

Saturday at the Hut - 4/21/12

Hey, look at me - two weeks in a posting to the blog! I should win some sort of award or something. Today was a fun day at The Tobacco Hut. In attendance were Joe K, Paul O, Tom L, Don W, Peter G, Lou, and myself.

It didn't take long for the talk to turn political - not that I had anything to do with that. I was simply the lone liberal taking potshots from the posse of conservatives surrounding me. We had to invoke Joe's "Kitty" rule once or twice when it got too heated. It actually wasn't too contentious - what was more intense was when Don asked for a good local restaurant for his wife and him to go to tonight.

Many of us recommended Rusty Bellies in Tarpon Springs, but Don's not fond of seafood. Peter and Tom suggested Currents, also in Tarpon, and I concurred, only after having Tom shoot down completely my recommendation of Casa Tina's in Dunedin.

What a place! It's not your typical Tex-Mex taco joint with salsa from a jar and heavy sauces slathered over burritos. It's actually coastal Mexican, all fresh homemade recipes. It's a fun atmosphere and the service is outstanding (ask for Laura).

Tom was poo-pooing the place, but I don't think he's ever eaten there. I think he was just steering Don away from it because I liked it.

So Don, where did you end up going for dinner?

Toward the end of the day a regular customer came in and bought a couple cigars. While Lou appreciates the guy's money (naturally), he is less than enthusiastic when he sits down to talk. And what did Peter do? Started talking to the guy. Now, to be fair, Peter had no idea that Lou prefers this customer to pull an Adrian, i.e. dash in and dash out. Lou gave him the high sign though after 20 brutal minutes of banal conversation and Peter did his best to not engage the guy anymore. He finally left and, of course, we heaped all sorts of grief on poor Peter.

Don was dishing out lots of his own grief today. He gave me hell because I had brought in the replacement bag of peanut butter pretzels and they came from Sam's Club, part of the Wal-Mart empire. Knowing my disdain for all things Wal-Mart, Don was quick to point out my hypocrisy. I remarked that, actually, my mother bought them and I bought them from her. This did not appease my critics, especially when I admitted that I actually never paid my mother the $6. Note to self, pay Mom.

I asked Don about Arnie and Aaron. Arnie is supposed to be in town sometime soon, so hopefully he'll stop by for a visit. And Aaron is busy working all the time on Saturdays, so obviously he has his priorities screwed up.

After watching 3 hours of the Bay News 9 endless loop of stories, we finally convinced Lou to change the channel. He loved the idea so much, he switched it to the Golf Channel. Paul was already napping but this put the rest of us out like a light.

Don asked a question about race drivers - are they athletes? Don doesn't think just driving a car and turning left requires any sort of special athletic ability, but Tom and I disagreed. Tom is more familiar with Formula 1 racing, but the same holds true for NASCAR and, I would posit, every other type of racing. The amount of conditioning the professional drivers go through, and the punishment their bodies take, plus the mental acuity, skill, timing, reaction times, etc., all point to their being as much of an athlete as any football player, swimmer, basketball player, runner, or golfer. Well, scratch that, golfers aren't athletes. Neither are bowlers.

Today saw me smoking some Tinder Box Reserve 1928 in a Mauro Armellini, a pipe I purchased in Savannah years ago. I'm not sure what everyone else was smoking, but Joe only smoked one cigar. See last week's posting for why this is significant.

That's it for this week - see you next Saturday!

Saturday at the Hut - 4/14/12

Okay, okay, I don't write a blog for a couple weeks and - in honor of Easter last weekend - I get crucified. Sorry, that was in bad taste. I'll try to resurrect my weekly blog postings. In my defense, I have been quite busy. We've had family visiting this week and have been getting the house ready for guests. In fact, last week I smoked the Cassini pipe I bought in Boston a couple years ago...in honor of Paula's brother and family visiting from Beantown.

Last week at The Tobacco Hut was too far back for me to remember everything, but Mike G made a surprise visit from Tennessee. We had a great visit with Mike, recalling a lot of good times at the Hut over the years. Oh yes, I found this photo of Mike on Facebook. Nothing more need be said.

Mike G bustin' out the moves
(Click to enlarge)

A couple pictures from last week...

Joe K and Mike G. Mike is most certainly spinning some tale.
(Click to enlarge)

Tom L and Peter G. Tom appears to be looking
lustily at Peter.
(Click to enlarge)

Me and my Fox Run Winery shirt from the Finger Lakes
area of New York. Joe thought I had converted to
Fox News. Sorry, buddy. It's all NPR for me.
(Click to enlarge)

Alright, today at the Hut found me walking in a little late after I had gotten in from Orlando this morning. We had gone over last night to hang out with my brother-in-law at Downtown Disney. I got to the shop around 12:30 and had to plant my sore butt on a broken folding chair. Paul O was in my usual seat, Don W was in one of the club chairs along with Jeff D. Well, let me explain that. Don and Jeff weren't sharing the chair, there are two of the white club chairs and they each were in one. Joe K brought his own folding chair and Scott R was in one of the store folding chairs. A little while later Paul V came in sat in one of the wooden stools. Later Scott switched places with me so I could have some place to put my pipe smoking accoutrements. Soon after Scott folded up the chair and came out with the cushioned stool from behind the counter. There. The seating arrangement has been fully explained and we can continue.

Probably the greatest entertainment of the day was watching Joe smoke cigar after cigar. Unlike the rest of us, Joe typically encounters difficulties whilst smoking his cigars. It doesn't matter which ones, they all seem to tunnel or canoe on him and it's been a pretty regular complaint that we hear from him week in, week out. Today was unprecedented however, as he went through not one, not two, but three cigars. And that third one started acting up as well, but I think Joe was at his credit card limit and couldn't buy a fourth. It was Joe's day in the barrel, so after he smoked most of his third cigar he packed up his folding chair and left.

Peter G came in and as soon as Don got up to check out, he sat down in Don's chair - the very one I had been wrangling for all afternoon. But, as Peter pointed out, they were his chairs to begin with so he gets first dibs on them. Fine.

Later, when Paul O got up to leave, he motioned to Scott to enjoy the chair by the window, which he promptly did. Thank you very much Paul and Scott. Only when Jeff finally left did I have a chance for a comfy chair.

Ed F stopped by for the first time in a long time. He's been busy hauling cars cross country. Scott perked up when he heard that most of Ed's trips take him to Buffalo and Rochester. Before I forget - Ed, this is for you - that forum I told you about where the truck drivin' pipe smoker posts is Smokers Forums. You might have to become a member to see the posts (it's free), but find the Off Topic Chat section and look for the thread titled "Where the Pipe Smolders II". It's written by Mason, the truck driver, and is pretty interesting.

Scott showed off his latest acquisition, a Case pocketknife. I really liked this one. It is a "canoe" shape because it, well, looks like a canoe. Maybe I'm drawn to pocketknives for the same reason I'm drawn to pipes - they each have names for the various shapes. Today I was smoking a freehand Crown Viking I bought from Lou several years ago and last week I was smoking a David Jones billiard. As I said, I really liked this particular knife and commented about it several times to Scott. Since he knew I liked it and he had stolen my chair when Paul got up to leave, I thought he might simply give me the knife, but he didn't.

Since Scott was there I had to bring up another puzzler for him. And, no, I didn't bring a deck of pre-arranged cards for him to shuffle and ruin the trick. This was a brain teaser and went like this...John and Marsha were teenagers in love and carved their initials five feet high on a tree twenty five years ago. They had gone there separate ways but reconnected today and thought it would be nice to find their initials. They located the tree and the question is, if the tree added 20% of its height every year for ten years, and 10% of its height every year for the next ten years and 5% of its height every year for the last five years, how high up the tree would their initials be?

Scott was wary of doing all the heavy lifting only to have someone else (Joe) shout out the answer at the end, so he pretty much kept quiet. Paul V, however, knew the correct answer - the initials would still be five feet up the tree. As a tree grows, its height is added to the top, not from the bottom. New growth always occurs from the top.

Happy Easter to Peter! He and Ed were talking about some sort of egg battle that their families engaged in every year. It sounded, well, odd. But I suppose my family's tradition of sacrificing a -- oh, never mind.

Saturday at the Hut - 2/18/12

Saturday at The Tobacco Hut saw a smaller crowd but we did welcome a new guy into the fold. I'll get to the roll call in a moment, but first an announcement: Tomorrow, Feb 20, is International Pipe Smoking Day. I've written about the day in this space before, but just wanted to bring everyone's attention to it. I know I'll be raising a pipe in celebration tomorrow and I encourage you to do the same. And if you're merely a cigar smoker now, maybe you'll decide to take up the pipe and see the light!

Okay, so who ventured out in the beautiful weather yesterday to join us at the Hut? Coast Guard Don was there, as well as Peter G, and - tardy, I might add - Paul O. Don gets a shout out because he came bearing gifts - two pizzas from Little Caesars. Thanks Don! I see you're picking up the slack for your neighbor, Aaron.

Visiting for the first time was Eric S - welcome! I should mention, Eric, that new guys have to bring pizzas or subs or cookies (homemade, preferably) to really be welcomed. I should also mention that none of the recent new guys like Jim S and Aaron C have observed this rule at all. Re-reading the above paragraph, you can see that Aaron simply relies on his neighbor Don to bring his pizzas for him. So I guess it's not really a rule at all, but a gesture that we wouldn't turn down.

Anyway, what makes Eric a particularly welcome addition to the group? Is it because he's currently serving his country in the Coast Guard (formerly in the Marines)? No, it's because he's a pipe smoker! And what did he choose as his first tobacco at the Hut? Baker Street, my favorite of Lou's pipe tobacco. So, welcome to the group, Eric, and we hope to see more of you in the future on Saturdays.

You know, I was thinking, what is it about pipe smokers? Almost universally, we're nice guys, smart, philosophical, easy going, affable, friendly. You never hear about a mass murderer being a pipe smoker. Well, okay, there are exceptions like Josef Stalin who smoked a pipe, but there are conflicting reports as to what he actually smoked in his pipe. Some say that he smoked Dunhill's Royal Yacht, while other biographies say that he smoked cigarette tobacco in his pipe (yechh!).

I really can't think of any other evil pipe smokers in history. Wait, Herman Goering also smoked a pipe, but beyond Stalin and Goering, I can't come up with other really bad men who smoked a pipe. So the question becomes, are nice guys naturally drawn to the pipe, or does smoking a pipe make people nice? The eternal "chicken and egg" question, a riddle for the ages.

And, speaking of all-around great guys who are pipe smokers, I bet you're all wondering what I was smoking yesterday? Saturday saw me with an Ascorti Peppino filled with Tinder Box Reserve 1928. It's been awhile since I've smoked that blend, as I've spent the last few weeks finishing off a tin of McClelland's Wilderness. I smoked almost the entire bowl, and it was like seeing an old friend. Every puff reminded me of why I like this blend so much.

Centerpiece of my pipe collection:
The Dunhill My Mixture humidor.
(click to enlarge)

And while we're on the great guy theme, a huge shout out to Lou. Thank you so much for the gift of the Dunhill My Mixture ceramic humidor. Lou has known for a long time how much I've lusted after this tobacco container and he has truly honored me with his gift. It is pictured here atop one of my bookcases with some of my pipes, as the centerpiece of my collection. Thank you again, my friend. Your generosity is much appreciated.

I'm kicking around a couple of ideas I wanted to get some feedback on. The first is a photo gallery of the Saturday regulars posted here on the blog. I'll add a tab to the navigation bar and can feature your photo and bio, maybe a snarky comment or two. Let me know if you want to be included or if you think it's a horrible idea.

I'm also thinking of starting an online forum called "People of the Hut". It would be a place for all of us to connect and continue the great discussions that occur at the Hut. I'm searching now for a place to host the forum, one that is free or low cost and doesn't bombard us with ads. More to come, but your comments are welcome.

A quick shout out to a couple folks who came out last week, but didn't get a mention since I didn't write the blog last week: Jim C, Bobby M and Barry C. Our Norwegian friend, Arnie, was also in attendance a few weeks ago, as were Scott R, Paul V, and Jeff D. Nice to see you all!

Speaking of which, a couple folks are in danger of being added to the Wall of Shame for not attending in awhile. I'm thinking of Adrian, Darryl, Jim S, Ed B, Tom L, and New York Vic. C'mon guys, let's work on being more regular!

'Til next week!

Saturday at the Hut - 12/31/11

We had a full house at The Tobacco Hut today! Lots of folks in attendance and lots of fun. Nice to see a great turnout to support Lou. Let's get started with the roll call and then I'll dive into the highlights. Today saw Joe K, Tom L, Paul O, Ed B, Scott R, Jeff D, Don W, Brian J, Barry C, and a new guy, Aaron C. Aaron is a friend of Don's and may have been in before, but this is my first time meeting him, so I'll just call him the new guy. (Jim S, it looks like you're no longer the new guy). BTW, Aaron, it's customary for the new guy to bring pizzas for everyone even though Jim never did. Not that we're bitter or anything.

My new as yet unsmoked Stanwell
pipe and Erik Nording Hunter
Blend pipe tobacco
(Click to enlarge)

Paula got me a shiny new pipe for Christmas and I was so looking forward to smoking a bowl from a brand new tin of tobacco, but I've been sick all week so arrived at the Hut empty handed. When I have a cold, I don't feel like smoking anything. Tom L, on the other hand, was sick last week but lit up anyway so he's obviously more of a man than I am. Hmm...Tom was sick last week and now I'm sick this week. Coincidence? Anyway, hopefully next week this is the pipe you'll see me lighting up for the first time. It's a Stanwell Vario quarter bent w/acrylic stem. Can't wait to fire it up.

It got to be pretty crowded after awhile and it was such a nice day that most of us moved outside. We did leave Joe and Lou inside so that Joe could get some help with his upcoming trip to Vegas. Below is Lou pointing out on Joe's iPad where the Bunny Ranch is. (Click to enlarge).

Below are a couple shots of the gang enjoying their cigars. It really was a perfect day to be outside and I'm only sorry that I couldn't enjoy the fun and been able to light up as well. But I certainly enjoyed all the smoke that wafted my way.

Lou and Joe
(Click to enlarge)

Tom L, Ed B, Paul O
(Click to enlarge)

Scott R, Lou, Joe K
(Click to enlarge)

Tom L, Ed B, Paul O, Scott R, Joe K,
Out of frame: Jeff D, Aaron C, Don
(Click to enlarge)

We soon noticed that the fruit shipping place next door was getting an awful lot of traffic, even though it was closed for the holiday. Every five minutes some old person would hobble out of their car up to the door and tug on it in frustration, anxious to get their half gallon of orange juice or pint of orange-flavored ice cream.

In a flash of pranking genius, Tom L came up with the idea of creating a sign that read "Back in 5 Minutes" and taping it to the door, so that's what we did. We sat back and waited for the ensuing hijinks. Well, we waited and waited and nobody showed up so after our crowd had thinned out a bit, we moved back inside and kind of forgot about it.

Just having a little fun with the
customers of the store next door.
(Click to enlarge)

It didn't take long though for the first victim to come along - an orange colored pickup pulled up and promptly pulled away, presumably after reading the sign. A few minutes later a couple came up, hung around for a minute or two and left. Then the same woman in the white Buick from a month ago (see earlier post) arrived, read the sign and went back to her car to wait. And wait. And wait. Ed finally took a little pity on the lady and went out to inform her that the sign had been there all day and they were probably closed.

A little later a Phyllis Diller-look alike arrived and took the record for waiting. She stood outside the door for easily fifteen minutes. At one point, she even stood in front of our open door drilling us as to where the owners were. We expressed the proper indignation that they weren't there and sent her on her way. She was soon joined by another woman and when they finally left in a huff, we could hear one of the women say that she had already called the business and left a nasty message. 

Phyllis Diller look-alike
waiting impatiently
for the 5 minutes to be up.
(Click to enlarge)

A short time later, a woman carrying an almost-empty bottle of orange juice arrived in our doorway inquiring about the shop next door. She said she wanted to return the orange juice as it was sour. Of course, it was practically gone, but I'm sure the store has a very liberal return policy. In any case she, for some reason, found it necessary to tell us to remember the "Three A's" to please a woman. I tried to block out this whole portion of the afternoon, so can't recall exactly what she was talking about.

Ed joking with crazy O.J. Lady
(Click to enlarge)

Wanting to take the prank to the next level of immaturity, we decided to update the "Back in 5 Minutes" sign and add Joe's phone number to it, so that's what we did. Joe had already left for the day, so we couldn't ask him if it was okay. I'm sure he won't mind.

We just had to make a small
addendum to the sign.
Sorry Joe!
(Click to enlarge)

Barry continues to attract the crazies to the Hut. This time it was a lady who was walking past the store and glanced in, obviously attracted by Paul's pretty shirt. Paul waved hello but Barry beckoned her in and invited her to sit in Lou's chair. Fortunately for Lou, he wasn't sitting in it at the time, but he was not happy when he looked from behind the counter and found this woman sitting in his chair. She got on a tirade about presidential politics which was good for a laugh or two especially when Barry urged her to vote for Bob Harrison and she had never heard of him. Paul assured her that he was an idiot though and not worthy of her vote. I concurred.

Barry with his new
crazy friend of the week.
(Click to enlarge)

A quick note upon closing...let's plan on a get-together to celebrate Scott's 50th birthday on Sat, Feb 4th. Scott's usually a morning guy, so how about around 10:00? I'll bring the Doritos and Mountain Dew - just kidding Lou!

P.S. Aaron, we're just joking about bringing pizza. Of course, if you did we wouldn't turn it down.

P.P.S. Don't worry Joe, we took the sign down right after I took the photo of it. I think.

Saturday at the Hut - 11/12/11

Today we had a small, but fun group at The Tobacco Hut. In attendance were Ed B and Barry C as well as a new, and hopefully regular, guy - Jim S. Good to see Barry two weeks in a row after a long absence, and Ed, of course, roaring up in his topless Jeep.

We were expecting to see Coast Guard Don but he was AWOL. Not only was Ed prepared to buy him a premium cigar, but we had brought lots of food in preparation to throw kind of a mini-party. Well, when I say lots of food, I mean Joe K replenished our supply of peanut butter pretzels and Barry surprised us with a big tub of Cheese Doodles. But the thought was there.

Joe K was absent as he was taking his dog Sammie to some sort of dog reunion to the south somewhere. Apparently he stopped by on Friday with the express purpose of bringing the peanut butter pretzels (thanks man!). Scott R also stopped in sometime on Friday, according to Lou. I don't know if Adrian made an appearance during the week as he sometimes does, but let's not forget that Saturday is the day. At least that's the day that I'm at the Hut, and the world revolves around me, after all.

I pulled the trigger and ordered
myself a new iPhone 4S!

I was hoping Joe was there as I wanted to announce that this very morning, before I came to the Hut, I ordered an iPhone 4S! I'm finally ditching this ancient cell phone I've been carrying around for two years and getting a smart phone. Of course, nobody has them in stock, so I had to order it from the Apple store online and it should arrive sometime during the last week of November. It's going to be a tough few weeks waiting for my new toy!

So yes, we have not only a new guy, Jim, but he's a pipe smoker! Actually, he just became a pipe smoker today! Welcome to the Brotherhood of the Briar, Jim. A longtime cigar smoker, he's been thinking of taking up the pipe and he certainly came to the right place. He ended up buying a nice Ben Wade smooth finish bent and loaded it up with some of Lou's Goldenrod tobacco. We must not have scared him off, because he pulled up a chair, settled right in and began puffing.

A lot of the conversation today centered around Joe Paterno's woes at Penn State, and we watched the Penn State/Nebraska game. Other entertainment included making fun of the Special Forces guy (our nickname for him - I seriously doubt he served in the Special Forces, at least of our military) who stumbled past the door a couple times with his two dozen eggs. He's famous for "taking out a guy with one judo chop" some time ago at Wal-Mart for calling his wife a name. Apparently, Wal-Mart rewarded him with two dozen eggs at the time and today he appeared again with two dozen eggs. I presume they are not the same two dozen eggs, but who knows?

Today found me smoking a bowl of McClelland's Wilderness tobacco (third Saturday in a row for Wilderness) in my Cassano tan-colored sandblast. This tobacco has just the right amount of Latakia for a nice, pungent, woodsy flavor. The Cassano handled it nicely, smoking cool and dry all the way down to fine, gray ash. I brought a La Gloria Cubana cigar with me that I had bought a couple weeks ago, but decided to save it for another day.

Kudos to Scott, our resident knife guy. His blog was featured on the Knife Depot blog and our man was interviewed! Knife Depot is a large online knife retailer and a link can be found to Scott's interview here. Congrats man! BTW, Scott has also recently prepared a calendar for sale just in time for next year featuring his knife photography. It can be found here.

We're all wondering how Mike G is doing in Bradenton taking care of Vic's nuts. Vic is on a chartered tour to Israel and, as Ed suggested, perhaps he's exploring franchise opportunities for his nuts in Tel Aviv. As long as they're Kosher nuts, I think you might be sitting on a goldmine there, Vic!

Completely off topic, but how about a little brain teaser as a diversion? Maybe I'll make this a regular - or at least semi-regular - feature of the blog. Here we go...

A landscaper returns from work and is sitting at the kitchen table with his kids. The kids ask, "Did you work hard today, Daddy?"

Dad says, "I did. I planted five rows of four trees each." His little third grader, wanting to show off her new found skills with the multiplication table, says, "You planted 20 trees, Daddy!"

He says, "No, I'm sorry, that's wrong. I planted 10 trees." She responds, "That's impossible!"

The dad responds, "No, it isn't, and here's a hint: If you look at one of the math or history test papers that your teacher has returned to you recently, you're going to find the answer."

The little girl sits there and thinks for a minute, and then she says, "I've got it!"

What did she find on her paper that gave her the answer? 

Leave a comment below or send me an e-mail with the answer. I'll provide the solution next week.

Cheers!

Saturday at the Hut - 10/29/11

Saturday at The Tobacco Hut found me enjoying a pipeful of McClelland's Wilderness in a tall Ascorti rusticated - it's a rich mélange of both Syrian and Cyprian Latakias, red Virginias, Orientals, and even some Yenidge, which is a smooth Turkish tobacco. Combined with Diet Mountain Dew and peanut butter pretzels, my palate was more than satisfied!

Readers from last week's blog will know that Adrian arrived last week more than satisfied himself, which I reported dutifully in said blog. Apparently Adrian came in again during the week not entirely happy that his peccadilloes were broadcast to the blogosphere, for which I apologize. Well, not really. I mean, the man did burst into the store all atwitter about his triumphs. I did treat his "activities" with a modicum of discretion, I believe, and left it to the gentle reader to fill in the blanks, as it were. His absence this Saturday, however, was noted by many. We can only imagine what happened, or didn't, this weekend. Hope to see you all smiles next Saturday, Adrian!

So we know that Adrian was a no-show on Saturday...who did make it? Here it is - big announcement - lots of fanfare - drumroll please...Scott R showed up after his long trip south from New York! Wait, wait. Time out. While it is true that he showed up, his visit was a short one. In fact, he called me in the morning whilst on his way to the Hut, but by the time I called him back twenty minutes later he was headed home. Apparently he had some business to attend to on the home front and he had to take off. He did pledge to make it next Saturday, so hopefully he can make it and we can catch up with the Knife Guy!

You guys are reading his knife blog, right? Scott certainly knows his stuff when it comes to pocketknives, is a prolific writer, and can take a damn decent photo of his favorite steel subjects. Like I've said before in this space, I'm not even that into knives, but his blog is an entertaining one and I always learn something from it.

Okay, Adrian was a no show, Scott had to do an about face upon arrival, so who was at the Hut? Well, Bobby M couldn't make it either. He was at a boat show in Ft. Lauderdale but will hopefully be in attendance next Saturday. Peter G was MIA as well. No Tom L either. But here's the rollcall: Joe K, Paul O, Ed B, and - winning the prize for traveling the farthest for a cigar - Mike G from Tennessee. Sorry, Scott, if you had stayed you would have won the prize!

Yes, in a surprise visit, Mike arrived and it was just like old times at the Hut. Mike is actually in town to watch Vic's dog and take care of his nuts (Vic's nuts, not the dog's). Remember, Vic is the proud owner of a Nutty Bavarian Roasted Nut cart at a local flea market. Mike will be roasting up Vic's nuts and serving them up to customers while Vic is out of town.

Mike regaled us with stories from the backwoods of Tennessee, from rattlesnakes, coyotes, and man-eating bears, oh my! And, of course, his own beloved pets through the years. Great to have you back, Mike. Hopefully you can visit again during your stay.

Ed B has a bit of a reputation when it comes to food, specifically deli trays. Years ago at one of Lou's cigar tastings or open houses, Ed apparently made short order of the meat tray, and the legend has stuck. Well, around 4 o'clock, Mike was asking about various regulars at the Hut, including Ed. We said that Ed comes in now and then, and was here last week. Mike replied, "Call for a deli tray and he'll show up." Moments later, the mere mention of a deli platter is all it takes, because in walked Ed!

If you read last week's blog, you might have seen a comment from Coast Guard Don. He's planning on spending some time with us on Saturday, Nov. 12. Looking forward to it, Don! Here's Don's comment:

I miss the Saturdays at the Hut, last time I was in town no one else was...well I will be there on Nov 12th and since it is veterans day weekend I better get my choice of a chair and someone should by me a cigar!!! 

Well, Don, I'll gladly buy you a cigar, but I don't know about giving up my chair!

Bracelet made from paper beads
(Click to enlarge)

Time for a shameless plug. As many of you know, my wife Paula makes jewelry on the side. She has a booth next Saturday, Nov. 5th at the Arts & Crafts Show at the North Bay Community Church in Clearwater. It's at 3170 N. McMullen Booth Rd, between 580 and Curlew, across from Morton Plant Mease Hospital, between 9am-2pm. She'll be featuring her paper bead bracelets along with some other items. Most pieces are just $5 so please help spread the word. With the holidays coming, these make fantastic gifts! And, I've even created some of them to help her out. The beads themselves come from various third world countries like Uganda and Nicaragua and help the women who make them rise out of poverty.

Finally, you may have noticed that the blog looks a little different. I posted a quick article a few days ago that I was experimenting with different color schemes, fonts, sizes, etc. Anyway, I'd welcome any feedback. Thanks!

Cheers!
 - Bob

Saturday at the Hut - 7/16/11

Sorry I'm a couple days late in filing this report. Saturday evening our air conditioning went on the fritz and was finally up and running this afternoon (Monday). Just didn't feel like banging out a blog post when the inside temperature was 92º.

Anyway, Saturday at The Tobacco Hut was standing room only as we had a dozen guys in attendance. Besides Lou and me, the roll call included Peter G, Joe K, Ed B, Jim C, Paul O, Vic and his cousin Russ, Tom L, Steve B, and Arnie. Arnie called his brother-in-law, Don, in North Carolina, and put him on speaker so we'll let that count.

Before I get to the savory treats provided by some of the fellows, I have to point something out that was a little troubling. Tom L apparently keeps a picture taken long ago of James K, Joe's son. I'm thinking Tom has a bit of a man crush on James, and was probably heartbroken to hear of James' wedding a couple months ago. Sorry, Tom, couldn't resist - you were giving me a rash of crap because I didn't know how to hold Arnie's iPhone. In retrospect, I guess I deserved it after I introduced you to Arnie as our resident a**hole. Maybe I should have softened the label by calling you our resident wiseass instead.

Paul O has been in many times, but seldom stays for long. This Saturday, however, he settled in for the duration. Paul works in the funeral business, selling pre-planned funeral arrangements. He is also gifted with a great sense of humor, and his choice of profession lends itself to many jokes and stories. So stop by often, Paul, we enjoyed hearing them!

Lou ringing up a big
sale - note the large bag
on the counter.
(Click to enlarge)

Lou was in an especially good mood since the cash register was ringing a lot, including a big sale of 5 lbs. of roll-your-own cigarette tobacco. That's Lou at the counter ringing up the huge bag of it. Whenever a customer walks out of the store with a bag that large, Lou's a happy man.

Vic mentioned that while he enjoys the blog, especially the photo of him that I doctored up last week showing him on his scooter with the bright purple handlebar streamers, I never include stories that poke fun at me. Now, be assured that I find myself in the barrel quite often, to use the terminology of the Hut. But...as writer of the blog, I exercise certain literary freedoms, and one of them is that I like to remain relatively unscathed and not draw attention to the barbs aimed in my direction. It's far more fun for me to recount the jokes at others' expenses. You are free, of course, to leave a comment on any of the blog posts if I've omitted anything!

Vic brought in a chub of homemade liverwurst from upstate New York. Joe brought in the crackers, and the feast was set up on the end counter. Quite a few people enjoyed the Braunschweiger, which originated in the city of Braunschweig in the Brunswick province of Germany. This particular liverwurst is made by a guy in western New York that Vic knows. Vic has brought quite a few chubs of liverwurst and other deli meats with him in his various travels from the north.

Arnie actually brought in
a full bottle of the blue-
berry Vodka, but it didn't
take long for us to drink
half of it.
(Click to enlarge)

Arnie brought an ice cold bottle of Norwegian vodka, Vikingfjord. He was telling us about it last week, along with Aquavitt. He didn't have any of the latter with him, but he did bring us a bottle of this blueberry flavored vodka. It's made with purified, distilled glacier water and it was quite good. I had a couple small shots of it and the blueberry flavor was distinct, but not overpowering by any means. It actually went well with the pipeful of G.L. Pease's Westminster I was enjoying. Indeed, in Arnie's honor, I was smoking a Nording pipe. Now Erik Nording isn't from Norway, rather Denmark, but it's all Scandinavia. The vodka did not go too well with the remainder of my Mountain Dew however.

Vic brought his cousin Russ in for a visit. Russ is visiting the Rochester, New York area and, we discovered after a bit, that he went to school (as did Vic) with a cousin of mine in Avon, NY. He's also friends with a cousin on my father's side, who also lives in Avon. Definitely a small world. Russ is a liquor and wine sales representative, so he and Peter had some common challenges to explore as Peter is in food sales.

Russ almost committed a fatal error by sitting in Lou's chair when he arrived. In Russ's defense, the chair was empty and I...well, I encouraged him to sit in it. Lou was more forgiving than I thought he would be, and after Vic fell from his scooter to one of the regular chairs, Russ took up his position on the scooter (sans handlebar streamers).

A shout out to Leah, Vic's wife. I became friends with her today on Facebook. I've looked for Vic on Facebook, but can't seem to find him there.

A little later in the day, Steve was talking to a customer about something I found interesting. The customer had suffered a heart attack a few months ago and is trying to maintain a healthier diet. Steve recommended he look at a website called Mark's Daily Apple. The creator of the site, Mark Sisson, has developed a "primal" diet. Acknowledging that humans have only been farming for the last 10,000 years, but began evolving millions of years before that, Mark eschews foods containing the various grains and sugars, instead favoring primarily meat and vegetables. I won't go into the whole diet and philosophy here, but check out his website. It's very extensive and understandable and makes a lot of sense. It boils down to a primal diet, i.e. eating what our ancestors ate, which was whatever they could pick or kill. Peter had asked for the website from Steve, which he gave him, but I thought a wider audience could benefit from it.

Another shout out, this time to Jim C, and his new (to him) 1978 Corvette. Sorry I don't have a picture to show, but this is one fine looking - and sounding - machine. If you ever get tired of it, Jim, and just want to give it away, keep me in mind!

Paper bead necklace; beads
imported from Uganda.
(Click to enlarge)

One more thing...as many of you know, Paula has been making bracelets with paper beads that come from Africa. She has now just started making necklaces from the same beads. Bracelets are still only $5 and necklaces start at $20, depending on the size. I'll be adding photos of the necklaces to her website, Paper Bead Bracelets but, for now, you can see what the necklaces look like here.

That's it for this week.

 - Bob

P.S. In the weeks to come, you may see some unobtrusive advertising from Amazon along the right "rail" of the blog. I'm exploring ways to monetize the blog, but only if I can find a way to do it that isn't distracting and is relevant to the subject at hand. If you have any feedback regarding this, please don't hesitate to let me know, good, bad or ugly. Thanks!