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Post by trailboss on Dec 27, 2017 10:33:20 GMT -5
 I ran across these links while looking up some information on pipes. It looks like Tucson had a thriving pipe club at one time... Jack Tomkins headed up the Tucson pipe club called the Old Pueblo Pipe Club, his son Tim has kept the old webpages alive.... jack-tompkins.spiderlinks.org/Tim:
jack-tompkins.spiderlinks.org/Pipes/OPPC/OPPC.htmlI surfed through a few of their "Unofficial Minutes", itr was an interesting read, they had some great guests, Peter Stokkebye, Walt Cannoy, Horace DeJarnett a former Arizona pipemaker, Regis McCafferty from the NASPC.... They had a thriving club it seems... I moved to Arizona in 05, all of their meetings predate that...shortly after that the voters passed a law banning smoking from restaurants and bars, but tobacco shops aren't affected by the ban, even if they serve alcohol. The advertisers on their page are mostly all gone, The Tinderbox, The Village Smoke Shop, DeJarnett pipes... In one of the minutes, they statred that they could no longer meet at a pipe shop... A couple takeaways... By looking at the club members, most of them are older, had they been able to recruit some younger pipe smokers, maybe they could still be around? And it is important to find a local tobacconist and support him...yes, the deals found online are cheaper than in the typical shop, but there to not have a local tobacconist is really a sad thing, it is important that we support our local merchant. I say this not with a critical eye about the demise of the shop, there are several dynamics that might have come into play that were beyond the control of the members...If anyone knows any of the faces and can contact them, maybe down the road we can see a resurrection of that club...I did a Google search of Tim Tompkins, but I came up empty. |
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Post by sparks on Dec 28, 2017 8:58:07 GMT -5
Interesting find, and sad to hear that they folded. While much of the rank and file in our hobby turn their noses up at younger smokers, the fact is, without them this hobby is doomed. While it does bother me that many of the younger crowd have gravitated to places like Reddit and Facebook instead of forums, it's not shocking.
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Post by Darin on Dec 28, 2017 10:22:15 GMT -5
Reading through the minutes and looking at the pics was fun.
It looks like they had some cool events and an active membership.
Surely, some of these folks are still around.
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Post by daveinlax on Dec 28, 2017 11:53:09 GMT -5
I spent some time noodling through the links that still work. Enjoyed seeing the pictures linked on Big Jack's site. Clicking on some of the Smoke Ring's sites was like going back in time. There was only one club guy besides Jack mentioned in the meeting minutes that I recognized and could possibly still be in the hobby.  |
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Post by trailboss on Dec 28, 2017 11:59:29 GMT -5
On the PM show the other day, Brian Interviewed Beau York from The Country Squire, and he related his experience at the first pipe shop tobacconist he visited in Memphis. When he walked in, all the old farts smoking cigars that were grouped together, stopped their conversation and glared at him. The employee was none better...he said it was obvious that he didn't want to be bothered with new people walking in the door.
I am glad that I have never had that experience...It amazes me that a retailer could ever pay the rent with that kind of situation going on.
I must say, I did meet a few people at the WCPS (non vendors) in our pipe community that are well known that seemed to be snobbish when I introduced myself...fortunately they were the exception.
I think that I found Tim Tomkins via Linked in, and sent him a message...
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Post by haebar on Dec 28, 2017 14:41:22 GMT -5
Knoxville once had a thriving pipe club (late 90's) with as many as 20 members or more. They met at a downtown smoke shop (Knoxville Cigar) with a bar that was doing well for a time. When the shop went out of business, the club vanished. We've been trying to rebuild a pipe club in Knoxville but have not been very successful. We meet at Smoky's Tobacco and Cigars every 3rd Wednesday of the month. We often discuss why we are having so much trouble getting people to join in (there are no dues). Can't figure it out. Smoky's sells a ton of pipe tobacco yet very few of the buyers care about meeting with others that share the same pastime. My theory is that with modern technology of home computers and the advent of fast internet and social media, people don't feel as isolated as they once did. Therefore, they have less motivation to get out and socialize with others with the same hobby when they can log in to social media and interface with other pipe smokers online.
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Post by trailboss on Dec 28, 2017 15:26:40 GMT -5
Since we launched a website, and a Facebook page we have gotten quite a few “likes” on Facebook.... monthly, I post an event on our Facebook page, on the tobacco shop page, Gentleman’s pipe smoking society, Corn Cob nation and update the website. We are seeing more traffic every month, and it has brought in some new members. It doesn’t take much time to do the updates, and I am confident that in a year or so that we will double our numbers.
We just recently became the first three hits when you google “Arizona Pipe Clubs”... I am glad that we no longer live in the age that you had to pay exorbitant fees to the yellow pages to advertise.
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