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Post by oldcajun123 on Jan 21, 2023 9:20:49 GMT -5
 Not only Wallis and Edward but a hefty few Arostratic and wealthy Brits, I believe JFKs father also.
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Post by Plainsman on Jan 21, 2023 9:26:37 GMT -5
Lucky Lindy, too.
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Post by urbino on Jan 21, 2023 13:04:18 GMT -5
Quite a few Americans were, unfortunately.
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Post by oldcajun123 on Jan 21, 2023 13:10:48 GMT -5
Henry Ford!
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Post by sperrytops on Jan 21, 2023 13:26:23 GMT -5
I visit one other forum that I participate in and I do see Sparks there posting. Doesn't stop me posting on both sites. I will say it seems that this forum seems to have gotten to be predominately non pipe/tobacco related postings whereas the other forum is almost entirely pipe/tobacco related. That's probably why I post less here these days. That said, I see no reason for you to drop, Ron. Hang awhile and light one up.
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Post by urbino on Jan 21, 2023 14:04:20 GMT -5
I visit one other forum that I participate in and I do see Sparks there posting. Doesn't stop me posting on both sites. I will say it seems that this forum seems to have gotten to be predominately non pipe/tobacco related postings whereas the other forum is almost entirely pipe/tobacco related. That's probably why I post less here these days. That said, I see no reason for you to drop, Ron. Hang awhile and light one up. I have to say it's pretty weird that sparks goes somewhere else to talk pipes. I thought he had just gotten too busy to talk pipes much. This sounds more like he's just lost interest in his own forum. |
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BrunoT
Junior Member
Looking forward to the next bowl
Posts: 294 
First Name: Bruno
Favorite Pipe: Ser Jacopos, Canadians, Dunhill
Favorite Tobacco: My Own Blend Everest
Location:
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Post by BrunoT on Jan 21, 2023 16:31:54 GMT -5
For me, I had largely dropped smoking over time due to health reasons - my activity dropped as well.
Otherwise I agree with what some others said, I think the Briar patch became more of a social forum with a side of pipes; in that sense, I guess you either fit in and wanna talk or you don’t.
I don’t mean that in a negative way, it’s just what it is. You’re gonna get less people in such an environment regardless of somebody leaving or not, if you ask me.
The random dramatic thread over the most innocuous bullshit with somebody becoming “Deleted” at the end , seemingly each time I check in, does get a chuckle out of me though.
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Post by Ronv69 on Jan 21, 2023 17:10:17 GMT -5
For me, I had largely dropped smoking over time due to health reasons - my activity dropped as well. Otherwise I agree with what some others said, I think the Briar patch became more of a social forum with a side of pipes; in that sense, I guess you either fit in and wanna talk or you don’t. I don’t mean that in a negative way, it’s just what it is. You’re gonna get less people in such an environment regardless of somebody leaving or not, if you ask me. The random dramatic thread over the most innocuous bullshit with somebody becoming “Deleted” at the end , seemingly each time I check in, does get a chuckle out of me though. That happens on all forums. We do seem to have more than our share. We have had several members who seemed fine and just left and deleted their accounts with no reason why that we know of. Mrlunting got mad as and left in a hissy fit over perceived slights. He's been at the Den ever since. I feel like he conned me out of some pipes and tobacco just before he jumped ship. A couple we had to run off after a lot of behind the scenes backstabbing. But most just left without a word. |
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Mrs. Zarnicky
Junior Member
Posts: 396
First Name: Anichka
Favorite Tobacco: (Country Squire) Hunting Creek, Black Arrow. (Sutliff) Vanilla Custard
Location:
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Post by Mrs. Zarnicky on Jan 21, 2023 18:29:02 GMT -5
I've noticed that we seem to have a dwindling membership here at the Patch. I visit some other forums, but I don't post much away from here. We must have bad breath or something. Even the owner, sparks , posts on other forums, but on here he only chimes in if we get out of line. Is it my fault? As the major contributer I will be glad to go away for the good of the forum. No, no Ron Don't go away. Zarnicky loving you. Zarnicky loving Briar patch. Where else you can finding dog smoking pipe. This forum very fun and Zarnicky's English getting much gooder from reading posts. If you stay, Zarnicky giving you big kiss and hug. I not posting much lately because I busy with ukulele club and new hobby. American Cane Self Defense. Winter not good time for Zarnicky smoking. I too am outdoor smoker. Zarnicky waiting for groundhog and for Spring.  I having new tobaccos I not trying yet. Here is list: Burly Light Without Bite De Luxe Navy Rolls Indulge Walnut Maple Pie Sunset Breeze 507C Virginia Slices I having yet to try Virginia tobaccos. I hope I liking. Maybe people leaving because Zarnicky too serious. I will trying to keep my posts and kisses tongue in cheek. |
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Post by trailboss on Jan 21, 2023 18:39:47 GMT -5
Interests wane, and sometimes discretionary browsing time can be hard to come by.
The sudden non posting and disappearance by members I hope that they have not been promoted to broken pipe status.😢
I face the same thing with the pipe club and need to rectify it by asking for phone numbers with the emails.
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Mrs. Zarnicky
Junior Member
Posts: 396
First Name: Anichka
Favorite Tobacco: (Country Squire) Hunting Creek, Black Arrow. (Sutliff) Vanilla Custard
Location:
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Post by Mrs. Zarnicky on Jan 21, 2023 19:10:32 GMT -5
Interests wane, and sometimes discretionary browsing time can be hard to come by. The sudden non posting and disappearance by members I hope that they have not been promoted to broken pipe status.😢 I face the same thing with the pipe club and need to rectify it by asking for phone numbers with the emails. Maybe people on winter vacation. Here is video of Zarnicky on vacation at Waikiki Beach. |
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Post by roadsdiverged on Jan 21, 2023 20:58:21 GMT -5
I agree with the social aspect over here, but I enjoy it. I also tend to disappear from time to time, but then come back with my nonsense posts. We have a "core" group of members and like everywhere else in life, I'm sure that's intimidating to some people. Not that WE are intimidating, but I'm sure some think to themselves "how am I going to fit in to this group." All of us will talk pipes and tobacco, and we often do throughout our usual threads. We rarely separate our topics. When we do, participation eventually drops from them, and then it disappears into the nether.
This place has changed A LOT since I joined 5 or so years ago. Would I join this place if I was a new guy? Probably not. It's easier to go elsewhere and find whatever you're looking for. Even an "introduction post" gets the same old replies from all of us. There is very little engagement. After an intro, I wouldn't expect too many to feel like they can just jump right in some of our conversations and be "accepted." I wouldn't. There's a big difference in having 20ish active members and 100. All of our "regulars" are like 1 solid group, over at PSD it just feels different. It's like high-school with so many different cliques that you know you're going to figure out where you fit.
We have a great place, with some really great members, but I totally understand how and why we "scare off" new people.
I mostly read over at PSD, and copy and paste my WAYS posts when I remember. This is my place to "hang out," but I wouldn't be disappointed at all to see more engagement in the pipes and tobacco side of things here. Thats what brought me here. This place is where I cut my teeth on pipes and pipe tobacco.
Some new folks would definitely help. We just need to realize that we've somehow developed a "good ol boys" (and gal) club and it's not very inviting. I don't see our numbers moving a whole lot unless we make some changes.
I'm rambling, it was a long day.
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Post by toshtego on Jan 21, 2023 21:27:19 GMT -5
I agree with the social aspect over here, but I enjoy it. I also tend to disappear from time to time, but then come back with my nonsense posts. We have a "core" group of members and like everywhere else in life, I'm sure that's intimidating to some people. Not that WE are intimidating, but I'm sure some think to themselves "how am I going to fit in to this group." All of us will talk pipes and tobacco, and we often do throughout our usual threads. We rarely separate our topics. When we do, participation eventually drops from them, and then it disappears into the nether. This place has changed A LOT since I joined 5 or so years ago. Would I join this place if I was a new guy? Probably not. It's easier to go elsewhere and find whatever you're looking for. Even an "introduction post" gets the same old replies from all of us. There is very little engagement. After an intro, I wouldn't expect too many to feel like they can just jump right in some of our conversations and be "accepted." I wouldn't. There's a big difference in having 20ish active members and 100. All of our "regulars" are like 1 solid group, over at PSD it just feels different. It's like high-school with so many different cliques that you know you're going to figure out where you fit. We have a great place, with some really great members, but I totally understand how and why we "scare off" new people. I mostly read over at PSD, and copy and paste my WAYS posts when I remember. This is my place to "hang out," but I wouldn't be disappointed at all to see more engagement in the pipes and tobacco side of things here. Thats what brought me here. This place is where I cut my teeth on pipes and pipe tobacco. Some new folks would definitely help. We just need to realize that we've somehow developed a "good ol boys" (and gal) club and it's not very inviting. I don't see our numbers moving a whole lot unless we make some changes. I'm rambling, it was a long day. Josh, I am glad to know you. Your posts are always interesting. I hope you stick around. You would be missed by more than just me. |
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Post by roadsdiverged on Jan 21, 2023 21:36:01 GMT -5
I'm not going anywhere, I'm just saying I understand why we don't get any new people, or why they don't stick around. I disappear from time to time, life gets busy. I always come back. Several people here know how to contact me to check in.  |
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Post by johnlawitzke on Jan 21, 2023 21:38:13 GMT -5
We seem to not get many new members and few of those end up staying for the long haul. The Patch is bit different than other pipe sites. Here we are more pipe smokers chatting about various things with other pipe smokers rather than having a bunch of pipe and tobacco specific discussions and threads. Here, it is more about participating in the long term discussion threads such as WAYS, daily chronicle, and the various what are you … threads.
What I like is the friendly small family feel which we have here. While we have had a few instances of drama here over the years, for the most part we are respectful and polite to each other. We have the full spectrum of political opinions in our members, but the vast majority here recognize that and respect the right for someone to have their own opinion every if it differs from your own.
One sign of this working is that we have an extremely small active admin staff. AFAIK, Legend Lover is the only admin who is regularly active here. It is a little concerning that there isn’t more active admin, but as long as it’s working and Sparks is willing to pay the bills, all is good.
I used to be very active on the original PSF and moved over here as a result of what I call the PSF Civil War shortly before Woody died when Woody and another admin really went off the deep end. When PSF died as a result of Woody dying and taking the forum keys with him. PSF split into two communities as PSD and PSF. The new PSF was small and I was Leary if some of the group who set it up. PSD has a great admin staff but is boring. I drop into PSD once or twice a month and am lucky if I find one interesting thread from while I was gone.I’ve never liked PipesMagazine Fourm. Someone would start an interesting thread and within just a few posts, it would turn into a bunch of idiots who didn’t know what they were talking about responding with drivel.
Past PSD, the only pipe places that I am actively daily are a few pipe groups on Facebook. In particular, Pipe & Tobacco Society which was originally founded by a group of guys who had been banned from PSF by Woody. My other regular group is Pipe Smokers of Michigan which I am an admin of. We strictly screen PSoM to restrict it to Michigan pipe smokers. We currently have 457 members in that group.
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Post by Ronv69 on Jan 21, 2023 21:54:13 GMT -5
I was on the old PSF from 2013 until the end. I got threatened with being banned a bunch of times. Usually instigated by Berg. I was very active at the Den until the mods got too pissy and banned a bunch of my friends. I was the top poster so I was active over there, and I posted a lot more about pipes and tobacco. The Den was actually quite a bit more active and had twice as many members at that time. The guys at the new PSF are a nice clique of guys from the old PSF. Nice bunch but not too much happening there either.
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Post by Yohanan on Jan 21, 2023 22:47:44 GMT -5
We are Family, sounds weird I know? but we are, some may leave, but we wonder what happened to them, That's because we care, when members stop posting, we wonder what happened to them, That's because we care, even though most of us don't know each other personally, we still care about the outcome of each individual here, Why? Because we are family!!! and we care. We are Human, and that's a plus this Day and Time. God Bless each and everyone here!!!
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Post by peteguy on Jan 22, 2023 23:22:09 GMT -5
I like to talk pipes and pipe related things. That is why I signed up here. I dont read much of the non pipe stuff and therefore I wandered back to pmag but dont post much. I am now bouncing between the two.
Everything you all say about family and a close bunch I think is true. Keep that in mind when new folks come around, they may feel like an outsider. Not because of the way they are treated but because they dont know anyone well enough to post what they had for lunch or how long the grass should be before a mow.
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Post by Legend Lover on Jan 23, 2023 11:43:38 GMT -5
I don't know how I missed this, but then again, I don't have the same time I used to have a few years ago.
I try to contribute here as much as I can, but when I check the site, there could be about anywhere from 12-60 new membership requests each day that I need to trawl through and ban the spammers and accept the genuine accounts (which are few). By the time I do that, I've not much time to check through the threads.
Ron, it's clear that people don't want you to leave, which is good. I don't want you to leave either.
I do notice that this has evolved into more of a chatroom for pipe smokers rather than a forum about pipe smoking. Is that a bad thing? It depends on many factors. Maybe a renewed focus on pipe-related topics wouldn't hurt, but what I have also noticed, is that this is place has become a family to me - so it's like chatting around the dinner table rather than going to an official meeting to get information about pipe smoking.
I think new members are welcomed and, once they get what we're about, are happy to stay and participate. Some people want the information about the hobby and move on. Each is as valid as the other. People evolve. Facebook has made significant changes to online forums, so that plays into it as well.
I'm glad for the people we have and I hope more come who are sympathetic to our ethos here.
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Post by trailboss on Jan 23, 2023 12:10:23 GMT -5
The conversations here are pretty close to how our pipe club meetings go, and after you get to a certain point in life, you pretty much know everything you need to know on your pipe smoking journey. We have new pipe smokers attending our pipe club, and like here people are always willing to offer advice and direction.
If anyone ever replied to a newcomer here with "have you used the search feature" as I have seen the self proclaimed "high and mighty" on some forums do, I have not seen it.
Not to say that I don't use the search feature to help them out and offer a link, quite often someone has a lengthy bit of advice, better said than I can.
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Post by zambini on Jan 23, 2023 15:01:35 GMT -5
I like to talk pipes and pipe related things. That is why I signed up here. I dont read much of the non pipe stuff and therefore I wandered back to pmag but dont post much. I am now bouncing between the two. Everything you all say about family and a close bunch I think is true. Keep that in mind when new folks come around, they may feel like an outsider. Not because of the way they are treated but because they dont know anyone well enough to post what they had for lunch or how long the grass should be before a mow. So glad that I live in an apartment now that you mentioned yard work! |
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Post by Ronv69 on Jan 23, 2023 15:07:44 GMT -5
That's the thing. I no longer feel like explaining over and over that there's no one way to light or pack your pipe. There's no way to tell what tobacco you will like and if you don't like one now you probably will in a year or two. Almost all pipes smoke fine regardless of cost. Money buys craftsmanship and finish, but it does not change the way the tobacco burns. There are plenty of "experts" that are energetic enough to jump to the rescue of new pipers, and reading what they say is more likely to irritate me than illuminate. I can't walk and smoke at the same time so that leaves me out of a lot of conversations.
If someone asks me a specific question I'll offer my opinion, but I know it's not the only one. Maybe not MY only one.
I guess I'm here for the male companionship since all my friends have moved away or died.
I don't want to go away, but I hope that I'm not the reason for people not sticking around, that's all I meant. There were 3 "don't cares" but that's down to 2. I had to vote to be able to see the results so I voted don't care so as to not skew the results, I wasn't looking for a popularity contest. There should probably be more don't cares as I know that at least 3 people really don't like me. But thanks for y'alls vote for me to stay anyway. Some of you younger experts start posting more scientific pipe articles and serious tobacco reviews.
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Post by Ronv69 on Jan 23, 2023 15:09:47 GMT -5
I like to talk pipes and pipe related things. That is why I signed up here. I dont read much of the non pipe stuff and therefore I wandered back to pmag but dont post much. I am now bouncing between the two. Everything you all say about family and a close bunch I think is true. Keep that in mind when new folks come around, they may feel like an outsider. Not because of the way they are treated but because they dont know anyone well enough to post what they had for lunch or how long the grass should be before a mow. So glad that I live in an apartment now that you mentioned yard work! Yard work can be a great thing. Usually it's very relaxing and rewarding. All my friends in Mexico hired out their yard work, so maybe it's not a thing down there. |
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Post by Plainsman on Jan 23, 2023 19:27:37 GMT -5
Doing your own yard work in Mexico and parts of our Southwest is taking a job from someone that needs it. Used to be so cheap. When I lived in El Paso you could get a 3’ stone wall around your back yard for $100-300, depending on size. The Mexican masons would bring the stones up from Mexico with them in their rattle-trap truck. Their work was really good, too. Probably about 10x that now, or more, as that was in 1964.
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Post by Matthew on Jan 23, 2023 19:28:34 GMT -5
Well, I firmly believe that it is time to mow when I can't find the dog. Ron , you are one of the few I look for so don't leave , I cain't use the search thingy. I drop in to see what's new or exciting. I don't care about politics and medicines or discussing religion online. If you wanna do that , bring the scotch (blended is welcome) it will be a long night. But please keep it to the proper forum, not here. I know that I don't post near as much as I should, but then I don't have much to say either. I haven't had opportunity to pack a bowl in over six months, snuck in a cigar about two months back. Life just keeps getting in my way. I look forward to spring and sitting on the front porch with my Dr Graybow packed with Captain Black Dark and a lowball of Speyburns. Cheers Mates for tomorrow we burn the world !
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Post by mwps70 on Jan 23, 2023 20:02:16 GMT -5
I love this forum. I took a bit of a break but it was nice coming back and seeing many of the same faces. That says a lot. I check in on this forum and one other. If I take a break I take a break from both sites. Every time that I come back I realize how much I miss it.
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Post by roadsdiverged on Jan 23, 2023 20:45:04 GMT -5
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Post by Matthew on Jan 23, 2023 21:38:54 GMT -5
I check in once and awhile,,,,just waiting for threads that I can add to without derailing. |
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Post by Ronv69 on Jan 24, 2023 0:03:35 GMT -5
I check in once and awhile,,,,just waiting for threads that I can add to without derailing. Why let that stop you? |
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Post by urbino on Jan 24, 2023 0:24:18 GMT -5
I love this forum. I took a bit of a break but it was nice coming back and seeing many of the same faces. That says a lot. I check in on this forum and one other. If I take a break I take a break from both sites. Every time that I come back I realize how much I miss it. You cut a dashing figure, too. |
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Not only Wallis and Edward but a hefty few Arostratic and wealthy Brits, I believe JFKs father also.
