Tobacco for the competition.

The blend to be used for the competition on the 15th July will be Samuel Gawith's Grousemoor.

Would you wear a polo shirt?

Just had an idea; would anyone be interested in a polo shirt embroidered with the club logo (that hasn't been designed yet)?
Regarding the logo, any preference between a three letter monogram of EPC, or Edinburgh Pipe Club in full?


I need to get some more quotes but price for an embroidered polo shirt (with a basic logo) would be about £8 each.

More help required.

I've been asked by a reader of the blog for some help identifying a pipe: age, company information, etc.

From the photos, I would say it's meerschaum...a type of pipe I don't know very much about.

One side of the stem is marked "Walter Scott", the collar on the army mount is marked "WHITES 'ALLSORBO' PATENT SCOTLAND".

April meeting.

Thanks to Mike from Tobacco Pipe Collectors, Neil was able to restock his supply of Captain Black Gold...this helps show what a great worldwide community of gents pipe smokers are! :-)

Neil started with some of his regular Troost and I started with Orlik Bull's Eye. Some peaceful contemplation ensued, together with a few gripes from both of us about the chairs. I might take a cushion next time lol.

Later, we both enjoyed a very pleasant bowl of Mac Baren Plumcake. This was the first time I had tried it and it will not be my last. It's a very tasty blend with flavours of both Rum and Latakia.

As ever for a Scottish spring the weather was a mixed bag: clear blue sky and warm sunshine, followed by drizzle and even some hail. Fortunately it brightened up again later and the smoking shelter protected us from the worst.

"Sponsorship" of British Pipe Smoking Championships.

The John Hollingsworth Pipe Club of Birmingham will be acting as hosts of the Championships on July 15th, as they are the closest to Newark.

Clive Davies of John Hollingsworth Pipe Club has been in contact asking for help organising prizes for the Championships.

As a result, if any businesses or organisations would be interested in providing a prize (doesn't have to be pipe related or expensive) any such help would be gratefully received...and publicly acknowledged at the Championships.

If you are interested, please contact me directly for further information.

Many thanks in advance for your help.

British Championships, 15th July 2012

In case anyone was wondering, the Newark and Nottingham Showground DO have the booking for the British Championships...they just haven't updated the calendar of events on their website yet.
I am planning to drive down on  Saturday 14th and stay Saturday and Sunday nights, then drive back up on the Monday. If anyone wants to do the same please let me know ASAP.

Update: The Showground have now updated their calendar of events. 

Better late than never.

My apologies for not updating sooner.

The last two meetings (19th Feb and 10th March) were both fairly quiet so I shall do a joint update for both.

John managed to get away (briefly) from a shopping trip to Fort Kinnaird to help me mark IPSD. As he couldn't stay long we just had a single bowl each...Condor, in a sandblast Parker billiard, for John and St Bruno in a rustic Peterson 302 Standard for myself.

For this month's meeting, I was joined by Neil again for a very pleasant afternoon discussing the relative merits of the teams in the 6 Nations and the state of rugby in general, this was aided by several bowls of tobacco...Troost (which has a lovely room note)  for Neil and some Sam Gawith Squadron Leader for me...and a couple of pints!

At the previous meeting Neil came up with the clever suggestion of getting some business cards printed up for the club. He also very kindly offered his daughter's graphic design skills to come up with a logo for EPC when she has finished her coursework.

Hopefully, now that the clocks have gone forward, future meetings should have a bit more daylight and (fingers crossed) warmer weather.