Have Pipe, Will Travel (picture heavy)

Dino, they are beauties, did you purchase a few while their? Great pictures, thanks for sharing 👌👍

    Dino, yup, a bit pricey and don’t blame you for your decision. Make a package deal off the next time your near by, good luck👍   Remember, you’ll always find it on eBay 👌👍

Man what a travel day.

Up at 4am, outta the house by 5.

Wicked weather blew through closing down Philly, meaning 2 hour delay from Raleigh getting there, then a 2 hour delay in Philly.

Finally got to Buffalo around 3pm.

After a couple of business meetings and dinner I found my way to Smokers Haven. Met Adam, grandson of the founder.

Had time for a bowl on one of their english blends, only bout an hour.

Back in the hotel and fading fast.

Will try to get some pictures posted later this week.

Landed in Toronto around 5:30. By the time I got my rental car and found the hotel it was 6:30.

After getting checked in I pulled up cigar shops on the iphone and found one 1/2 a mile away with 4 stars on Yelp.

I walked down and found a great little shop... Hemingway's.




The first thing to catch my eye was a small sign in the window...




I met the owners brother, Tony.  Great guy and very friendly.

The first thing I did was to buy a nice Cuban and sit out in front of the shop and enjoy it.  I learned that it is illegal to smoke anything in any building in Toronto.  What a bummer.

No worries though, Tony set me up with a lawn chair and a solo cup full of beer.  ;-)



He then came out and sat with me and told me about the shop and living in Toronto most of his life.

After the cigar was gone, and man was it great, I toured the shop and looked at their pipes and tobacco...









All in all a pretty nice selection of pipes, but Holy Cow was their pipe tobacco expensive.  A pouch of Borkum Riff was around $30 !  A tin was almost $40 !

It was cheaper to buy 20 Cuban Cigars.

Ok, ok, maybe not cheaper, but definitely a better value in this situation.

After picking up my Cuban goodies I made my way back up to the Hotel and went to the Keg Steakhouse next door.  Had a great dinner and glass of wine.

Am now back in the hotel room and getting ready to get some work done before I turn in.

Thank you for sharing Dino. Good that you are able to find a little bit of personal enjoyment through all of your travels. Let me know if they ever bring you through the Denver area.

Business meetings on Monday necessitated that I fly into Chicago this evening.

After picking up my rental car @ ORD 20 minutes later I found myself on the side of a busy highway changing a flat tire.
:-(

Got to the hotel in Elgin and asked the bar keep @ the hotel bar if there were any pubs in the area that had an outdoor area that was cigar friendly.

Luckily she gave me the name and address of just such a place.

Ten minutes later, driving my rental car with a space saver spare, I was out on the patio of Diamond Jims enjoying a Corona and an Arturo Fuente 858.

Enjoyed talking with a few of the locals and finished up the night with a bowl of MM965.

Looks like another great time. Thanks for the post

This weeks travel plans started out with me traveling to GA, then to Chicago and home on Friday.

Hurricane Florence has me changing plans.

I'll be flying home tomorrow.

In the meantime I'm spending tonight in Peach Tree City.

After dinner tonight this evening we found a local pub that you can actually smoke in!

So, after a nice Arturo 858 it was time to fire up the Calebrisi Bent Billiard with some  10 YO MM965.

Corona's were the beverage.

This weeks travels had me in Pittsburgh. (Steeler Country Baby!)

Hadn't been there since 1985.

Anyway, our very own Crapgame (Mike) reached out to me when he learned of my upcoming trip and invited me to swing by and break some bread (sausages) and enjoy some smokes (cigars and pipes)

What a treat!

Mike and his family were fantastic hosts (and hostesses) and the evening couldn't have been more enjoyable.

I'm now back home, hangin out in the cave, enjoyin a briar and baccy and reminiscing.


Thanks Mike, and thanks to your family for making me feel welcome.



Dino

   Dino, glad you were able to meet up with another pipe smoker....especially one from the BriarPatch!! It’s a special treat when pipe smokers get together. We’re a “ breed “ like no others👌👍👍

So,

Here I sit, 4300 miles from home @ 11:52 pm in my hotel room and thought I'd take a few minutes to update the travelin pipe thread.

As some of you know, I left the U.S. on the 27th of November for approximately 3 weeks of work travel.

After flying to London and spending 7 hours cooling my heels in Heathrow I was on a flight to Milan. After a whirlwind tour of two factories in the region Thursday, I was on a train to Bern Switzerland and then a cab to Niederonz.

This entire time I either didn't have the time or the location to enjoy a pipe.

As good fortune would have it, the hotel I'm staying in has a "Smoking Lounge" !




Though a bit spartan, it does have a pretty adequate ventillation system, as well as a large sliding glass door that can be cracked to bring in fresh cool air.


I have subsequently spent part of every evening here, out in the lounge, after dinner, and enjoying a couple of pipes.

Saturday turned out to be a pretty nice day, so I loaded up in one of the company cars, with two of my guys, and had 3 others load up in another company car and we made our way to Lauterbrunnen, about 1 1/2 hours away, and boarded a "cog" train up the mountain side to Wengen.




Wengen is a beautiful village up in the Swiss alps that is very isolated and unbelievably beautiful.  The cool thing is that I first visited Wengen back in the summer of 1981.

I hadn't been back since then and was absolutely stoked to have the opportunity to reacquaint myself with this wonderful place.

After touring the village and taking in the sights, we found a quaint little pub and had a great lunch and a few beers.

After this we decided to board the train and make our way up the tracks to Klein Schedegg...




Although not quite the top of the Alps, we could see it from there....



This was a magical place for sure, and as you can tell, the weather was considerably different than Wengen...





After a few brews and some Irish Coffee with my travelin mates...



I headed out, while waiting for the train back down the mountain and had a couple of bowls....








Before we knew it we were heading back down the mountain and back to our cars  at the base of the peaks.

All in all, despite the time and distance from my family, this has turned out to be a quite acceptable trip, availing itself to my briar indulgences.

Will be visiting a cigar and pipe shop in Solothurn later this week, hoping to pick up a few tins.


TTFN

With no shame, I can easily admit to being completely jealous!

Amazing update. Fly home via Northern Ireland!

All day in class at the factory, rained all day, after dinner it was time for a couple of bowls and a couple of beverages... :-)