June meeting.

Last night's meeting was graced by some of the nicest weather we've enjoyed our pipes in...a welcome relief after the recent wind and rain!

There were only three of us enjoying the evening sunshine. However, John and myself were very happy to welcome Brian as a new pipe smoker, joining us from the Dark Side (another cigarette smoker wanting to "save" some money, whilst still enjoying his nicotine....wait until he discovers PAD and TAD!).

I'm still breaking in a couple of recent acquisitions (two Peterson 303 Standards, a Sandblast and a Red finish), so I enjoyed them both filled with St Bruno Ready Rubbed. I've added an update to the recent post about the change in cut, I'm getting more used to the new style RR...it just needs to be dried a bit then rubbed out a bit more. I then joined John in enjoying a bowl of Peterson's Special Reserve 2009* in my new "Aromatic" pipe...a Pete 317. John firing up a no-name bent Billiard whilst Brian was trying Gawith Hoggarth and Co's. Curly Cut DeLuxe in a Dr Plumb 9mm filter pipe. John and I were happy to share our limited experience and give Brian a few pointers on packing and lighting...I'd have welcomed similar real life advice when I started, rather than relying on trial and error and some grainy YouTube videos.

*John was the winner of the postponed raffle (he'd already bought a strip of tickets at the last meeting)...we've raised £20 for the club's funds, which I will use to get a couple more tins for future raffles (two 50g tins of different varieties should be a good start).