Today is International Pipe Smoker's Day. Raise your pipe in celebration!
I am enjoying a massive Past Master's freehand pipe, custom made many years ago by Brother Tim West. I had the honor of meeting Tim when I visited University Lodge #631 in Columbus, Ohio back in June 2008, and was pleasantly surprised to discover he is a Mason. Today, Tim is the owner of J. H. Lowe & Co., which supplies pipe parts and supplies for custom pipe makers and repairmen.
My tobacco is a custom blend by Dunhill from a dwindling stock that is getting low enough for me to worry. Until the early 2000's, I could still get my custom mixture from Dunhill in Chicago, then New York. That stopped when they went out of the pipe tobacco business. Dunhill has just started to reissue its tinned tobacco in the U.S. in the last year, but I don't hold out hope for the custom mixtures ever again. *sigh*
