PCA Magazine Show Issue 2021

PREMIUMCIGARS.ORG SHOW 2021 | PCA The Magazine 51 everything is over.) So perhaps we can be forgiven if we sneak out of our lairs gradually, cautiously, vaccine or no. I checked around with some pipe people to see how we are responding in light of the shifting facts on the ground. A year ago, George Hoffman, who owns Pipes by George in Raleigh, North Carolina, set up a table at the front door of his store to block people from coming in, and handled transactions across that table. Today, Hoffman says he is allowing people to enter the store to make their purchases, but not to linger. The old round table at the back of the store, where once I sat and listened to all manner of raucous repartee among George’s diverse clientele—that table remains bereft of use. Also, Hoffman and his manager Chris Bonaparte, they are still masking up. Hoffman says his pipe-selling traffic has evolved some—that he’s still selling “quite a few pipes,” but they are mostly inexpensive basket pipes these days. So … things are changing a bit, but not at lightning speed. A year ago when I checked in with Jon’s Pipe Shop in Champaign, Illinois, I found the shop restricted to mail- order only, as even curb-side service was not yet allowed in that state. Today, customers are permitted to enter to make their purchases, but (just as at Pipes by George) when the transaction is complete, the customer has to shove off. Business has suffered some, but things aren’t as bad as they were. So again, it’s a mixed picture, on an improving slope, gradually. Jon’s Pipe Shop has survived … and survival is the watchword. Steve Liskey, a high-end pipemaker in Crestline, California, says that in the year since we last spoke, “Things have picked up some. People are starting to come out of their shells. But pipe collectors have taken a big hit.” Liskey adds, with his usual guarded optimism, “People who love pipes will always smoke. The beauty of the industry is our love and passion for it, so it’ll never die. But will it ever be what it once was?Who knows? And it’s hard to plan to attend a showwhen we can’t know for sure that the showwill be able to go forward as intended. Pipemakers live hand tomouth, so a show cancellation is detrimental to the pocketbook if plane tickets have already been bought.” Vermont pipemaker Dr. Bob Kiess reports: “The pandemic didn’t hurt my business very much,” but he adds, “I do miss the sales at the shows.” Chicago was forced to cancel its show this spring. So was Raleigh. But things may be looking up on the show front. As of now, the 2021 Swap/Sell Show of the North American Society of Pipe Collectors in Columbus, Ohio is on for August 13 and 14. One notable proviso: The online show flyer says, “COVID-19 guidelines for masks and social distancing will be followed for this event.” There is no predicting for sure what this will mean by the time mid-August rolls around. Jeff Knoll, show director, says the state of Ohio is scheduled to lift all mask and crowd mandates as of June 2. “I don’t know if that’s right or wrong,” says Knoll, “but our level of vaccinated people in Ohio is very high. Also, we will have a supply of disposable masks on hand for anyone who wants one. Above all, there will be no mask shaming permitted, from either side of the argument. We are to be there as friends.” This is an encouraging report. The West Coast Pipe Show is tentatively scheduled for the 1st weekend in November in Las Vegas. But November is a long ways off, and show organizers are taking a cautious approach. Marty Pulvers, owner of Pulvers’ Prior Briar, who co-founded the Las Vegas show with Steve O’Neill, says, “If all restrictions are off by September 1st, including restrictions on flights, then the show will go on. But if there are still covid restrictions in place on September 1, we may not be able to go forward. So we’re monitoring conditions and restrictions and hoping for the best.” I continue to be told by tobacco-company owners and executives that the plague actually worked to their benefit, since a population of home-bound smokers has stepped up its buying and smoking habits. To be sure, I never could get any of these money people to go on record saying COVID was good for them, but undoubtedly it was, or I wouldn’t repeatedly be hearing as much. For most of us, though, the pandemic has unambiguously been a drag, and it is taking the pipe industry and hobby some time to regain footing. We can say with some certainty, however, that things are moving in a positive direction. A year ago, even that did not seem assured. So let us count our blessings and look forward to better days and increasing prosperity. It feels good to be reemerging, however gradually and shakily we might. ” “For most of us, though, the pandemic has unambig- uously been a drag, and it is taking the pipe in- dustry and hobby some time to regain footing. We can say with some certain- ty, however, that things are moving in a positive direction.” T H E P I P E