Hospitable Heukelum 2017

Label of the 2017 forumbeer

As every year the annual meeting in Heukelum of the Dutch/Belgian pipe-smokers forum marks the beginning of dark and rainy autumn. At least, that is what the weather-forecast said. And when I looked outside the window on Sunday 29 October I believed it. Oh well.. Like always I picked up Mark at the Deventer train station and together we drove to the carpool place where Ed would be waiting or us. Normally Johnny would also be there but he had to finish some work first and came later. So the three of us rode to Heukelum and to my surprise the weather cleared up; blue skies, sunshine. Very un-Dutch-like. When we arrived at ‘T Kuipertje owner/brewer Henk had made a tent at the front of brewery with most sides closed. As the inevitable rain began to fall we were glad about Henk’s foresight.

Martin’s new self-made pipe

Inside I almost immediately walked to stone-cutting tamper-maker extraordinaire Martin, who like every year organised the meeting, to get my name-badge and drinking coupons. Yup, for the money (€27,50) you get two drinks, there is a big BBQ with all kinds of tasty fresh meat, sauces, salads and baguettes, the rent of the brewery is included and last but not least you get one bottle of special forum-beer with a label made by myself! Since this year Martin is also active in the field of pipe making. And like with stone also wood seems to have no secrets for his hands. He had brought his latest creation with him and I immediately loved it. A perfect mixture between a classic and organic shape.

Like always there was also a little business to be done. The week before I had mailed Rudi, the tobacconist who always comes to our meetings, if he could bring with him a tin of the new Danpipe Fred the Frog, which I already smoked at the Inter Tabac fair in Dortmund. €10 for 50 gr., not bad for this fine blend! Friend and mentor Klaas had offered some vintage tobaccos for sale a couple of weeks before the meeting. I mostly was interested in a couple of older Robert McConnell Pure Latakia tins with in them perhaps some Syrian dark leaf so I bought 3 of them. When I met Klaas he immediately apologised. “Hello Arno, I am sorry, I made a mistake. I thought I had more Pure Latakia but I only had 1 left for you. So you know what, I am going to give you 2 De Graaff Latakia tins.” Wowwww!!! Very generous! Once upon a time De Graaff in The Hague was one of the best tobacconists in The Netherlands and they had their own range of house-blends. They were made by a company in London but exactly which one De Graaff always kept a secret. Nowadays the blends are sadly discontinued. Klaas still has quite some tins under which the pure latakia. And that is not some regular pure latakia, no, it is the Syrian Mountain Blue dark leaf made famous by the legendary Balkan Sobranie 759. Soon I am going to do some home-blending and these tins will come in very handy!

For Frisian pipe-maker Meindert I also had something. Weeks before Heukelum I was looking on ebay when I suddenly saw a beautiful Dunhill. Most of the times it is an auction and in the end the price is way too high for this cheap Dutchman. This one had a Buy It Now price of €100. Hmm.. There must be something wrong with it, I thought. So I took a better look and to my surprise the Dunhill dated from 1943, a patent era wartime pipe, pretty rare! Only thing I could discover was that the rim was very slightly damaged but that was it. So I bought it. When I received the pipe in the mail and unwrapped the package it even looked better than on the pictures, it even still had the inner tube. But still the Dunhill needed some work with the rim and stem. So I handed over the pipe into the skilled hands of Meindert.

I had to laugh when I saw the entrance of forum member Kees (nickname Kiske). For a while he was absent from the forum due to ehm.. differences of opinion with the administrators and moderators of the forum but now he was back. For some time he had been (jokingly) saying that our usual name badges were no good and that we all should wear tiaras instead. Of course you should never say that aloud on the forum because someone made an actual tiara for him. Luckily it was no problem for Kees to actually wear it, it suited him!

Erik Stokkebye and me with the pipe I won

Thinking back the weeks before the meeting the Pipe God really was smiling upon me. On a Wednesday afternoon I had a meeting with other pipe-smokers and forum members at tobacconist Willem Schimmel in Zutphen. Erik Stokkebye, blender and son of the very well known Peter Stokkebye, was there to promote his 4th Generation tobacco range. We had a fun evening, it truly was a delight to speak to the very knowledgeable Erik, which culminated in a contest in which you could win a 4th Generation pipe made by Neerup Pipes. Several questions were asked and the one who had everything right in the end would win. I can’t remember all the questions but the last one was where the 4th Generation tobaccos were made. So I blurted out “In the Orlik factory!” Well, not entirely correct… “In the Orlik factory of the Scandinavian Tobacco Group!” Which was the right answer, I had won the pipe! Back home I quickly noticed that it was a rather large pipe, I mean, my thumb fully fitted in the bowl. Too big for my taste. So I decided to put up a lottery on the forum which was won by Frans. In Heukelum I gave him the pipe, I hope he gets many enjoyable smoking hours from it.

Ton

Last year I bought some pipes for the father of a friend of mine, Ton. At that time he was visiting The Netherlands because he lived abroad. Since a month he moved back to our wet, cold and flat country so I invited him to the meeting. Since he is living alone some company is always welcome, so he accepted my offer. Afterwards he told me he stared his eyes out. Ton is an old-fashioned smoker, preferably he smokes the same blend in the same pipe over and over. “What a pleasant gathering of people and what a lot of pipes they did bring with them! And so many bent ones!” Ton only smokes straight billiards  and thinks everyone smokes those because they smoke the best. Well, ehmm.. Ehrrr… Guess I have to teach an old fox some new tricks. Later I was approached by Jos, “Arno, I have something for you, do you want it now or later?” Ehmm, now? He presented me a wrapped package, so I unwrapped it and saw a bottle of Huppelolie (hopping oil)! Yummie! Huppelolie is a tasty “kruidenbitter” (no translation), sometimes my stomach pains me and a small glass of Huppelolie does wonders. But why the bottle? I asked Jos. Because years ago I gave him some tips about buying tobacco overseas. So kind of him!

I also was glad Shaun was there all the way from Belgium and of course all the others of the Fuming Four. For months they have been pestering me that I should go with hem next year to Scotland again. Not only to the beginning of the Highlands this time but all the way to the utmost North point at Kearvaig, where the home-bothy stands of the Kearvaig Pipe Club. An almost spiritual journey. But I still don’t know if I want to go.. I mean, beautiful country, Scotland, but a big chance of bad weather, cold, midgets ehrrr.. midges, mediocre food (although Matron’s curry was excellent!) and the worst of all, no comfort! The bothy has no shower, no soft bed and no toilet which means digging a hole outside if you have to take a dump.. I admit that throughout the years I turned somewhat into a sissy boy, I just like a little bit of luxury mmkay? But who knows, I like organizing such trips so perhaps while doing that I fully decide to go. The other guys of the Fuming Four had a request for me. I am a bit different from them as I don’t have a beard and I don’t have tattoos. Now they wanted me to design the latter. And I also should get it. Ehmm.. I have a virgin skin and I like to keep it that way. But in Shaun’s eyes I already could see his evil plan: Get Arno piss-drunk and then…… *evil laugh*

The rest of the afternoon and evening in Heukelum was very pleasant as usual. So many people, so many conversations, so little time. Around 5 o’clock Henk told us that the BBQ was ready and we could eat. I don’t know what it is but when someone says something like that no one wants to be the first one. But when Arno is hungry Arno is hungry you know? So I began putting tasty meat on my plate and the rest soon followed. A bit earlier then expected the majority of the forum members began to pack and went home. So not long after that Ed, Mark and I also decided to leave. When I got home Ellen was snoring on the couch and woke up when I entered the room. “Did you have a good meeting?” “Yes darling, it was another great day.”

I would like to thank Martin for organizing the meeting! All pictures were made by Klaas, Dirk, Martin and myself.

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Pleasures of life in Belgium 2017

Shitty weather…

Halfway March it was time again for the annual meeting of the Dutch/Belgian Pipe Smokers Forum (PRF) at Wuustwezel (Belgium). Normally for me this always marks the beginning of spring. You know, sunshine, flowers, birds and bees, girls in short skirts etc. But when I awoke the sky was dark-grey with rain coming out of it and it stayed that way throughout the day, even in Belgium. Argh… This year about 60 people attended and like the previous time Matron, a Scotch-man and Florian, a German, both from the (in)famous Kaervaig Pipe Club, were there.

Mark on the left

In the morning I drove to Deventer to pick up Mark at the train station. When I had parked there I got a message from him. He had to go for a no. 2 when he would come out the train so it could take a while. Well, when nature calls you have to answer right? Surprisingly quick he came walking to the car. “Damned, there was a line where I wanted to change money and there is a long row before the toilet. But I know a McDonald’s just before we get on the highway, let’s go there.” Not wanting Mark to explode in my car I put the pedal to the medal and in no time we had reached our destination. While Mark was inside unleashing hell I texted Ed, who was waiting on the carpool spot further along the route where we were supposed to meet him. “Mark is doing a no. 2 at the McDonald’s in Deventer, you know he likes to take his time so it could be a while until we get to you.” But Ed, who was waiting in the rain, had no patience. “I am not going to wait in this shitty weather, I am coming to you, stay there.” So when Mark came back to my car with a face of relief I said we had to wait for Ed. Luckily he got here fast so we could begin the journey to Belgium. The only sad part was that Johnny, who normally is also driving along with us, could not make it due to private circumstances.

Frikandel XXL 🙂

After a pleasant ride we arrived in Wuustwezel. Like always the first thing was to stop at the local liquor store. This time I did not need much. Last year I had bought so many beers that I still had a reasonable stock in my cellar. The only thing I wanted to buy was some bottles of Piedbœuf Brune, a table beer of only 1.5%. Not because I like to drink it, but I use it to make hachee. After that we went for something to eat. Throughout the years I discovered that the snack-bars in Wuustwezel have a kind of rotating system about who is open on Saturday afternoon. So this time snack-bar Manneke Friet was the one we could go to. Only thing, the tiny place had no room where you could sit and eat, you could only order food. Which resulted in the snack-bar being crammed with lots of hungry pipe-smokers. I choose the long frikandel XXL with mayonnaise, curry and onions. We took the food to the location of the meeting, the Bellekeshoeve, where we could eat it. When we arrived and I unwrapped the frikandel I immediately got a friendly pat on my shoulder from pipe-maker Meindert who said with a wink: “You will keep your thick head if you eat that stuff!”

Freek on the left

When I had finished the long frikandel I was looking forward to a glass of delicious dark Vlaamsche Leeuw beer. But to my astonishment it was not available. I looked at Jan, the organizer, and he apologetically shrugged. His supplier could not get the mouthwatering brew. So I opted for another beer instead. It were all Belgian beers so in essence I could not pick wrong. I then bumped into Freek. Earlier on the forum he offered a jar of Tinder Box pure latakia for free. Since I was almost out of blending latakia I responded. Since I was the first I got it! The generosity of some people knows no bounds. Throughout the years Klaas gifted me quite a lot. Samples of Balkan Sobranie, Upper Ten tobaccos, De Graaff tobaccos etc. Now he had a tin of John Patton’s Latakia Junction for me, thank you very much!

Me, matron and Jan

And still the Pipe-God was not finished blessing me. Matron called the Fuming Four and Florian together, all members of the Kearvaig Pipe Club. Who also belongs to that exclusive society of fine gentlemen is Bob Gregory, the master-blender from Samuel Gawith/Gawith & Hoggarth. He had given Matron some tins to divide under the KPC members. They were packed per 2 so you could not see what tins you got. I choose… Wisely! When I opened my pack I saw a tin of St. James Flake and Kendal Cream Deluxe Flake. I have never smoked the latter so I am very curious! Afterwards I had some time to chat with Matron, who surprisingly knows a bit of Dutch. Turned out that in time he still looked like a young god he had a girlfriend from the Dutch province of Friesland. When I walked around a bit I was stopped by stone-cutter Martin Romijn. He showed me his new shirt which was pretty hilarious, and beautiful! On it was an image of a pipe-smoking weasel. The story behind it is: the town where the meeting is held is called Wuustwezel. If you roughly translate that to English it is something like “fierce weasel”. Hence the picture on the shirt.

My François Dal tomato shaped pipe

Suddenly Nick called for attention. Like the last years he had been busy with the forum pipe and he wanted to unveil the new pipe-maker. It is… Drumroll… Bruno Nuttens! He is a French pipe-maker (with Belgian roots) and is going to make a cutty shaped pipe with a beautiful silver coloured ring. Since my pipe-cabinet is getting a bit too small I don’t know yet of I will be ordering this one. But it is a beauty for a good price, that’s for sure. One of the reasons that my pipe-cabinet has almost no more room walked around in Wuustwezel: maître pipier and pipe-maker François Dal. Since some time he is a member of the PRF forum and he continues to impress us with his craft. He brought some of his pipes along and I immediately fell in love with one of them: a tomato shaped beauty with flawless cross-cut and flamed briar. I smoked it several times now and I can honestly say it already belongs to the top smoking part of my collection.

No one can smoke a cigar as tasty as Ed

Sometimes I looked around and thought I had gone to the wrong meeting, a cigar smoker one. Many folks around me were smoking the phallus-shaped rolled tobacco leaves. Don’t get me wrong, I like them very much, especially in the summer, but on a pipe-smoker meeting.. Mwah.. At the end of the afternoon the delicious mandatory sausage rolls were served. I am a big fan of the Brabants worstenbrood but these one are also very yummie! Slowly it got dark outside and the Bellekeshoeve quieted down a bit. I sat at a table with d’Artagnan and had just fetched some tobacco from a jar I brought with me. As a mean of experiment he added a bit of the Tinder Box latakia. I did the same and.. Great! How easy it sometimes is to blend a decent tobacco..

Before we knew it it was time to go home. We almost were the last ones left so we did not have to say goodbye to many people. The ride home was pretty silent from my side, I was tired. I had spoken to so many people.. But it had been utter fun! I would like to thank Jan for organizing the whole, the bar-crew for serving us delicious drinks and Ed and Mark for the conversations on the road. By the way, Mark made a brilliant and funny photo-bomb! As usual I was oblivious to it all..

All pictures were made by Dirk, Klaas, Nick, Marielle, Roelof, Thomas and myself.

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Hospitable Heukelum 2016

Label of the 2016 forumbeer

Label of the 2016 forumbeer

I really hate autumn. There, I said it. Yeah I know, lots of people like it, the falling leaves, the smells, the colours etc. Well, for me autumn is made out of dark, grey, rainy and cold days which suck the joy out of my life.. Blagh… I prefer summer with the warmth and comfort of the sun. Luckily not all is bad in these dark days, there is even some light. Light coming from a small brewery located in the tiny Dutch village of Heukelum. There one of the annual meetings of the Dutch/Belgian pipe-smokers forum is held. People from all layers of society sitting together, chatting away, drinking, eating, in general just having a good time. As it is supposed to be. Like the previous years stone-cutting tamper-maker extraordinaire Martin organised it. The price remained the same as last year so we all got excellent value for money. I mean, you get two drinks, there is a big BBQ with all kinds of tasty fresh meat, sauces, salads and baguettes, the rent of the brewery is included and last but not least you get one bottle of special forum-beer with a label made by myself!

Dre and some of his wares

Dre and some of his wares

Like always I picked up Mark at the Deventer train station and together we drove to the carpool place where Johnny and Ed would be waiting or us. When we got there it turned out to be quite busy with cars so I had to park mine beside the road. Suddenly a pissed-off guy approached me that I had to park my car elsewhere. It turned out to be the owner of the ice-cream van who stood there, he was afraid his clients did not have space to manoeuvre with my car there. Bullshit of course but since the guy is a total nut-case (he was in the news because he conned customers) I opted to park elsewhere. To my amazement and joy the weather actually was nice when we arrived at ‘T Kuipertje. A bit of sunshine, hardly any wind and a decent temperature made it feel like a very late summers day. One of the first things I did was fetch my ordered PRF shirts and sweaters. Peter did an excellent job ordering, handling and packing all the fine quality PRF textiles. Thanks mate, now I have some decent clothes to wear this winter and coming summer. Second I approached Dre, who refurbishes estate pipes as a hobby. I mailed him earlier that week with a request.

The father of a good friend of mine

The father of a good friend of mine

As I told in my Humble Beginnings part 1 blogpost one of my influences to start pipe-smoking is the father of a long time friend of mine. Well, he is in The Netherlands right now because of his bad health. Ok, bad health is a bit too exaggerated, he has some physical issues which are better addressed here (better hospitals) than in Brazil, where he lives. He brought some pipes with him and when I took a good look at them tears welled up in my eyes.. He is an old fashioned smoker, and by that I mean he likes to smoke the same blend over and over again (he took a liking to my Phoenix Graveyard Mixture (basically all my natural tobacco leftovers mixed together) in just a couple of pipes which are hardly cleaned. One of his pipes has the mouthpiece of some other pipe which is duct-taped more or less to the shank and the underside of another one bubbles up because it is almost burned through. Time for some “new” pipes I thought, so I approached Dre and asked him if he had any straight pipes (preferably billiards) for sale. “Just wait, I will bring some pipes with me”, he mailed back. And indeed, Dre showed me a billiard and some canadians which looked just fine. “I’ll take them all!” I happily said. Dre asked a very friendly price and even threw in another pipe for free! Thanks very much Dre! The father of my friend is a happy man now.

Me, Robbin and Ed

Me, Robbin and Ed

Time for a drink! The previous years the beers of ‘T Kuipertje were good although sometimes a bit on the watery side. However, this year I was surprised by full, round tasting brew! With a smile I walked to Robbin, some weeks before the meeting I bought a straight Dunhill patent era prince from him for a very good price. He once bought the pipe from a man who turned out to be a swindler and that turned him off so much that he never smoked it. I have no such problem with that pipe so Robbin brought it with him. Happily I filled my new acquisition with some tobacco and went outside. I put the pipe in my mouth, brought the flame from the lighter to the bowl and *crack!* bit through the mouthpiece.. While silently cursing I took the pipe out of my mouth and inspected the damage, a piece of the lip had broken off. The mouthpiece was already very thin by decades of buffing and my strong teeth did the rest. Just bad luck, not any one’s fault. Frisian pipe maker Meindert saw me inspecting the damage and carefully took the pipe from my hands. “Just give it to me, I will make a new mouthpiece for it, everything will be ok.” So to be continued..

Jeujjjj!!!

Jeujjjj!!!

Then it was time for me to ask for everyone’s attention. For some time I am busy with a new PRF forum tobacco called “Flatlander Flake” made by Samuel Gawith and imported by (Elbert) Gubbels. Just a couple of days before the meeting I received 2 sample tins from Elbert so the forum members could try the blend. I wanted to give a longer speech in which I explained and told about the new forum tobacco journey but sadly my throat (I still was having a nasty cold..) protested heavily. So I decided to give a shorter version and let the tobacco speak for itself. During the rest of the day I (luckily) got nothing but positive response about Flatlander Flake, mission accomplished!

Finger tapping the sh*t out of that ukelele like Van Halen. NOT!

Finger tapping the sh*t out of that ukelele Van Halen style. NOT!

Suddenly when I was talking to some folks I heard a strange monotone noise coming from outside. It turned out to be Sander who was gearing up his hurdy-gurdy. Such a strange instrument but Sander proved to be surprisingly skilful in playing it. The folk melodies coming from it brought me visions of merry drinking and eating people. Hmm, pretty much the group I was looking at! Rob (one of the many Robs on the forum) also brought instruments with him; his self made (from used cigar- and pipe tobacco boxes) ukeleles. They look really great! He also brought a regular ukelele which I could not resist playing. I painfully discovered that having experience in playing guitar and bass does not mean one can play an ukelele..

Yummie meat!

Yummie meat!

I was saved by the announcement of brewery-owner Henk that the BBQ’s were ready. Time to eat! Henk gets his meat from a local butcher and you really can taste that, premium quality! Normally I would not notice that so much, but because I am more or less on a diet I took no (fat and sugar-rich) sauces with my meat. Some weeks ago I had a BBQ with my brother-in-law and he had meat from the supermarket. Well, it was not nearly as good as what Henk had to offer. So I sinned and filled up my plate 3 times before I contently sat down with a full belly. Needless to say the gym awaited me the next day..

Sander

Sander

The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent chatting away with all the present folks. Because of the heat coming from the BBQ’s we could sit outside for a long time. Talking about heat, on a table stood a small bottle with some red sauce in it. It belonged to hurdy-gurdy player Sander and on the label was an ominous name that indicated the contents were very hot. But according to Sander that was not really the case, he used large amounts of it on his meat. Curiosity got the better of me, I put some sauce on the top of my finger and licked it off. At first nothing happened. I proclaimed “Hah, this stuff is not as ho….” when suddenly my mouth started to burn, my eyes began to water and I got hiccups. Holy damned sh*t, this stuff is HOT! The whole table laughed at my attempts to control the effects of the hellish sauce. In the end I fled inside and asked Henk for a glass of milk, the best liquid you can get if you have eaten something hot. Unfortunately he did not have that but the glass of water he offered disappeared in my mouth within the blink of an eye.

Poor Mark...

Poor Mark…

Around 8 o’clock it was time to go home. We said goodbye to each other and stepped in the car. The ride home was pretty quiet, obviously everyone still had the fantastic day in their minds. Until Mark asked if Ed could stop the car, he needed to take a shit badly. Not so funny because he suffers from IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrom). So we halted at a gas-station where Mark quickly went to the toilet. Which took him quite a while. At one point some men where waiting in front of the toilet. Funny were the faces of disgust they pulled at the sounds and smells so to say. But I felt pity for poor Mark, luckily he was feeling pretty relieved when he joined us again in the car.

I want to thank Henk and Martin for organizing yet another great meeting and all who attended for the interesting conversations, the laughter and camaraderie. All pictures were made by Jan(neman), Klaas, Nick and Roelof.

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Pleasures of life in Belgium 2016

Group picture

Group picture

Like every year for me the annual meeting of the Dutch/Belgian Pipe Smokers Forum (PRF) at Wuustwezel (Belgium) halfway March always marks the beginning of spring. The lengthening days, the slowly rising temperatures and the anticipation of the meeting make all the shadows in my mind from the dark, grey and rainy winter disappear. For some reason (probably the location in Belgium near the Dutch border and cheap beer) the Wuustwezel meeting always has been the best attended one. This year about 70 people applied and like last year Matron, a Scotch-man and Florian, a German, both from the (in)famous Kaervaig Pipe Club, were there. Tobacconist Rudi even brought a special guest, more about that later.

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Gates at the Deventer train station

The day of the meeting began at 07.30 am but I was already awake because of my bad back… Great, ageing… But when I came from under the shower and had a small breakfast (their would be plenty of food and drinks during the day) I felt re-energized and ready for the day. Normally good friend Ed would have picked me up but he moved away from his old town near me to a location pretty far away due to some private stuff. So now I had to first pick Mark up at the train station in Deventer. I parked my car there and texted him where I stood but no response. And I waited, and waited.. In the end he turned up. At the train station they have small gates and Mark’s public transport pass malfunctioned so only after a lot of trouble with the security guards he could get through. That soon was forgotten and we drove to a parking lot somewhere beside the highway where Ed waited for us together with Johnny.

Pipe-smokers munching away

Pipe-smokers munching away

After a pleasant ride we arrived in Wuustwezel where, just like the other times, our first stop was the local liquor store. Only once a year I get the chance to properly re-fill my beer basement and I take that chance with both hands (while carrying a stocked beer-crate of course). “No cash payment  because we got robbed” said a sign on the door. How sad.. I mean, Belgian beer is so delicious that one could steal it but to actually do that.. Bastards.. Inside the store I noticed I was not the first Dutchman there that day because the shelf with the delicous St. Bernardus Abt 12 was already half empty. Luckily there was enough left and together with my standard favourites and a few tips from Johnny my beer basement bulges out again now. Then we went to the snack-bar. Unfortunately Zodiac from last year closed down permanently. No not the recession, the owners were old and decided to quit. Thank the fried-heavens another snack-bar was open, the one we went to in 2014: Fritsnack, with the remarkable choice of Dutch (sweet) and Belgian (sour) mayonnaise. I went for the Belgian one this time together with a snack called “Twijfelaar” (doubter), which includes small bits of all their meat snacks on one stick, very yummie! Half the establishment was already taken by hungry familiar looking pipe-smokers under which Matron and Florian (this time with no hang-over from the previous evening). Matron had brought the prices which I won at the KPC raffle with him: a tin of Bothy Flake and Holger Danske Royal Navy Flake. Thanks! I sat across Arjen who had a big portion of fries (and in Belgium that is BIG, I had a medium fries which was too much for me..) together with two more snacks. While we were talking I watched with amazement how he devoured it all in no time. Wowzers!

Rob and his home-made tin-guitar

Rob and his home-made tin-guitar

When we arrived at the Bellekes Hoeve, the location of the meeting, organiser Jan sat beside the door to collect the money for the traditional Belgian sausage rolls and rent of the place. Which by the way was only €1 per person due to the fact we drank so much last year. Jan used the profits he made then to keep the entrance fee low for us. First thing I did when I put away my belongings and shook a few hands was order a Vlaamsche Leeuw at the bar. Utterly delicious! Which was also the opinion of Matron, Florian and Ed who all praised the Belgian beer. Then I bumped into Rob who had made a guitar out of an empty tin of WO Larsen Indigo, hilarious! On a table I made some space to place a mason jar which had to serve as a money box. In September my girlfriend Ellen is going to climb the Mont Ventoux in France for a cancer fund. Louis, one of the forum members, suggested that I put a money box at the meeting so people could make a small contribution. Well, small, in the end €131,60 was put in the mason jar! So unbelievably great! By the way, supporting Ellen is still possible through this site.

Marielle

Marielle

For Marielle I had some Amphora pouches. The evening before the meeting she asked on the forum if anyone had some and could bring it to Wuustwezel. Last year on the Inter Tabac PipesMagazine.com host Brian Levine gave me some Amphora pouches since MacBaren produces them. I never smoked Amphora and to be honest the blend not really seems my cup of tea, so giving hem away to a lovely lady was pretty easy. And in return she gave me a tin of one of the only aromatics I smoke: DTM’s Sweet Vanilla Honeydew. But I had more for Marielle. For some years I own a small 1980 Dunhill group 1 pipe which in essence is a ladies pipe. It came from the time when I snatched up every Dunhill below a certain price but I never had a click with it. So Marielle could have it, I mean, a pipe is meant to be smoked. But surprisingly she did not want it. What I did not knew was that Marielle is a filter-smoker and the Dunhill is non-filter. So she said “Give it to someone who really wants it and is really going to smoke it.” Ok, so if any female pipe-smoker reads this and you want this Dunhill, mail me at arnovangoor@gmail.com with a picture of yourself while smoking pipe and perhaps you are the lucky one! And gents, please no pictures of yourself in a dress or lingerie while puffing away ok? Thank you.

Per Jensen and his wife

Per Jensen and his wife

Talking about Amphora and MacBaren, Rudi tapped me on the shoulder, “Look there, our special guest, he wants to speak you”. I turned around and saw Per Jensen, the product manager of MacBaren who I already met at the Inter Tabac. Wow! I know he goes to big American meetings but a humble Dutch/Belgian one.. So nice to see and speak to him again. He brought all kinds of MacBaren tobaccos that are not for sale here so we could try them out. I lit up a pipe filled with the excellent HH Pure Virginia. Per had a question for me, he was busy with re-creating an old Amphora blend but he could not find any info of it. So if I perhaps could dig up some information. I’ll do my best Per! Of course I also had question for Per. This year I am busy with a new forum tobacco made by Samuel Gawith, but over 2 years perhaps MacBaren is a nice option. So a bit hesitant I asked Per if he was interested in producing one of our forum tobaccos. Hesitant because I know MacBaren only produces large quantities and around 250 tins is just total peanuts for such a company. But surprisingly he was willing! I get back to you in 2 years Per!

Freek

Freek

The generosity of the people on the forum never ceases to amaze me. I saw Freek sitting and he motioned for me to come closer. Last year at the Heukelum meeting I got a bottle of Westvleteren blond from him. One of the best blonde beers I ever drank. But now with a sly smile he produced 2 bottles of the mythical Westvleteren 12! “Here, these are for you. They were a gift to me but I don’t really like the beer.” Wowowowowowow!!! I mean, Westvleteren 12 is chosen as best beer in the world multiple times. What Balkan Sobranie is in the pipe-tobacco world, Westvleteren is in the beer world in my opinion. Last week I drank one bottle and I must say, a truly exceptional brew! Thanks Freek!

Klaas on the left

Klaas on the left

Still with a smile I bumped into Klaas, one of my pipe tobacco mentors. “Arno, I enjoyed your Upper Ten blogpost so much, here is a tin of De Graaff Kegelbaan for you.” Wow again! One of the earlier latakia blends I smoked through Klaas was the no longer made Kegelbaan, one of the house-blends of the once famous tobacconist De Graaff in The Hague. This mixture is really something special and spoiled my taste buds. It contains Syrian latakia, Old Belt Virginia, Brown Cavendish and the elusive Yenidje. Thanks Klaas! Later I spoke with Andre, who has a very good site where he sells refurbished estate pipes for beginning pipe smokers or people with a small budget. At Heukelum he gave me a blasted Orlik bulldog, a surprisingly fine smoker, and now he produced another Orlik, a good looking billiard. I could also have that one. Thanks Andre!

print-19-mar-2016_em5-7612Suddenly every one was being hushed to silence. Nick took the floor and directed himself towards Arjen. In a couple of months Arjen is getting married with a lovely Canadian woman called Misty. Behind his back the forum members collected money so we could give them a dinner at a restaurant. Well, we ended up with giving the soon to married couple a 5-course meal at the fancy Las Palmas restaurant, a night at the Hotel New York Rotterdam and two glasses and a bottle of bubbles.

WinslowYou probably know the feeling when you see a pipe and that it just speaks to you like in, I am beautiful, I will smoke good, buy me! I got that when I looked at a pipe amongst Rudi’s wares. A gorgeous D-grade Winslow bamboo. It was precisely what I was looking for, a small to medium sized pipe in which I could smoke Virginia or VaPer mixtures and flakes. And Winslow bamboos are relatively rare. I already have one (a B-grade) which is a terrific smoker. I must say, all my Winslows are excellent smokers and I can’t say that of all my Dunhills.. Rudi saw me (almost drooling) looking at the pipe but the only thing holding me back was the price. But Rudi knew he had the fish on the hook and only needed to haul it in. He made me an offer I could not refuse, a discount. I immediately shook his hands, the deal was closed.

IMG_0138I am a big fan of Lemmy from Motörhead and so is Matron. When we heard about his death we were both devastated. During an e-mail conversation we came up with the idea to bring a toast to Lemmy in Wuustwezel. Of course that would happen with the favourite drink of Lemmy, a Jack Daniels/cola. So I brought half a bottle of Jack with me (the other half I drank on the evening of the day I heard Lemmy died..) and to my delight I saw that Matron had taken 2 Motörhead shirts with him. His shirt was without sleeves. “You know, this shirt once had sleeves. But on a day when I was hiking I realized I forgot to bring tissues with me when I just had taken a shit. So I ripped off the sleeves of my shirt…” The shirt he had for me was a perfect fit, “size fat bastard” he said to me with a wink. We filled our glasses and raised them in honour of our fallen hero. R.I.P. Lemmy!

My acquisitions

My acquisitions

In the morning when we drove to Wuustwezel Johnny said “Always when I go to a meeting time suddenly goes very fast from the moment I enter the building until I leave it.” I also precisely had that. It was a fun day as always, I had spoken with lots of people, also did not speak with lots of people (better next time!), the sausage-rolls were delicious, the tobaccos great, the beer tasty etc. Around 20.30 we shook hands with the remaining forum members and half an hour later (you know how it goes..) we finally sat in the car on our way home. After a long journey which seemed short we arrived at the parking lot beside the highway. It appeared our cars were well guarded by some men around and in a van who were.. Ehmm.. Jerking off. So we hastily said goodbye to each other (and of course wished the masturbating men a pleasant evening) and went on our merry way.

I want to thank Jan, Sas, Miep and Dirk for organising the meeting and keeping us all hydrated. All pictures were made by Klaas, Jan, Dirk, Nick and Jef.

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oremy_28oremy_71EDIT 09-05-2016: The Dunhill ladies-pipe has a new owner! Lots of pictures of ravishing pipe-smoking ladies were send in. Some even showed me totally new and quite interesting ways to smoke a pipe.. And no you pervs, I won’t show those photos! In the end there was a clear winner: Italian pipe-smoking lady Emilia. She is the vice-president of the Pipa Club Italia and owner of one of the biggest pipe-smokers website communities: Fumare la Pipa. She started smoking when she was 21 years old. Her first pipe, a Savinelli, was given to her by a friend. Her second pipe she bought at the Peterson factory during a study-holiday in Dublin. Today Emilia attends many events where she had the opportunity to meet many pipe-smokers and pipe-makers (like Tom Eltang and Manduela). For 90% Emilia smokes Italian made pipes. Her favourite is the Kronos pipe, made by Bruto Sordini from Don Carlos. Surprisingly (for a woman) Emilia likes the taste of latakia! Her favourite tobacco is GL Pease Maltese Falcon and she often likes to smoke Tuscan cigars. Emilia is also participating in the slow smoking Italian Championship for several years. Last October she even contented in her first World-Championship in Italy near Venice: 71st out of nearly 300 participants. Currently she holds the women’s title in Italy. Emilia, I wish you lots of happy smokes with your Dunhill!

Hospitable Heukelum 2015

"Smoking Blonde" 2015 PRF-beer

“Smoking Blonde” 2015 PRF-beer

Luckily in these dark days there is also some light. Light coming from a small brewery located in the tiny Dutch village of Heukelum. There one of the annual meetings of the Dutch/Belgian pipe-smokers forum is held. People from all layers of society sitting together, chatting away, drinking, eating, in general just having a good time. As it is supposed to be. Like the previous years stone-cutting tamper-maker extraordinaire Martin organised it. Unfortunately the entrance price went up a little bit, but eejj, everything is getting more expensive. Despite that it still is excellent value for money. I mean, you get two drinks, there is a big BBQ with all kinds of tasty fresh meat, sauces, salads and baguettes, the rent of the brewery is included and last but not least you get one bottle of special forum-beer with a label designed by myself!

Louis looking at the wares

Louis looking at the wares

With every meeting there is a lively trade going on between the forum members. Pipes and tobaccos are being sold or exchanged to such an extent that the members have to write down whole lists on the forum in order to keep track. I also had to do that.. To start with I had a pouch of the dreaded Clan (by Theodorus Niemeyer) for Louis. The good man must have taste-buds of solid steel! And how did you get that damned pouch huh? One might think. Well, it was given to me by a friend, for my birthday. Needless to say he is no longer a friend. For some hilarious reviews of Clan please go the blog of the Demented Dutchman. For Freek I had some Jurewicz Neumarkt Special Mixture No. 99, Peter Heinrichs Dark Strong and Boswell Northwoods. All blends I did not really enjoy so I only asked a couple of drinks in return for them. Freek came up with something better, a bottle of one of the best beers in the world: Westvleteren blond. Woww!! That stuff is even harder to get than the new Balkan Sobranie! Normally I am not really a lover of blond beers but this one.. Whoah.. Something special!

On the left 2 loudmouths: Jorg and Kees

On the left 2 loudmouths: Jorg and Kees

Loud-mouth Jorg had a 2004 tin of the divine Abingdon by GL Pease for me. In exchange he only asked for 100 gram of Peter Heinrichs Curly Block plus a sample of the delicious Motzek Strang. A fair trade in my opinion, Curly block is ok but no more than that. The Motzek Strang is way better. Because my pipe-cabinet is getting a bit crowded I decided to sell off some pipes for a friendly price: a Talbert Ligne Bretagne and an olive-wood mix between a prince and a bulldog made by Meindert. Reason? Both fine smoking pipes but I did not have a connection with the Talbert and the Meindert was too little for my taste. Just a few minutes after I put them on the forum I got a message from Willem, he wanted to buy them both! Talking about Meindert, the poor man got loads of defunct pipes at the meeting for him to repair. I also had one, a Dunhill with a broken shank from another Rob (we have loads of Robs at the forum). Last but not least I had some snuff tobaccos from the Kralingse Snuifmolens for organiser Martin. I hope he liked them.

Martin and Henry

Martin and Henry

Then I finally could grab a beer, one of the few that day. With earlier editions I had the advantage that my good friend Ed picked me up and drove all the way and back. Only, due to some private stuff he moved away from his old town near me to a location pretty far away. So now I had to first pick Mark up at the train station in Deventer and drive to a parking lot somewhere beside the highway. There Ed waited for us together with Johnny and we all got into his car. I really would not miss these rides, they are fun! At the meeting I was talking to Henry who just got into the wondrous world of latakia. He was raving about Samuel Gawith’s Squadron Leader and I suddenly remembered that I brought a tin with me of the excellent, spicy Charing Cross by GL Pease. I let him smell it and, the dick that I am, I totally forgot to offer him a sample.. I made it up later by sending him some through the mail.

Peter receives the forum pipe

Peter receives the forum-pipe

Suddenly we were all asked to be quiet and we gathered around one of the forum moderators: Peter, forum name”Eliminator”. A tough name for a tough looking man, big and lots of tattoos, but with a heart of pure gold. Peter does a lot of work for the forum, he keeps it organized, keeps discussions in check with reason and sensibility and in general makes everyone feel welcome and at home. It was time to put him in the limelight and thank him for his continuing effort. This was done by giving him 2 tins of tobacco: his favourite Peter Heinrichs Dark Strong and Peter Heinrichs Golden Sliced. On top of that he was gifted the new forum-pipe made by Briarworks with an inscription of his forum-name and a tamper made by Martin. Neat and well deserved!

Around the BBQ, the one with the chef's hat is Jos

Around the BBQ, the one with the chef’s hat is Jos

Around 5 o’clock Henk, the brewer, said that we could begin with the BBQ. He already prepared the coals so that we could instantly scorch the excellent meat, which comes from an actual butcher! Well, a lot of folks eat supermarket flesh.. But you can taste the difference! There even were some vegan products to roast for our veggie-man Robbin. During dinner I accidentally thought that the beer glass of Jos was my glass. So when he asked for it I said it was mine. But when I turned around I saw my own glass standing on another table.. Doh! Rapidly I brought Jos’ glass to him but he already had ordered a new one. Fortunately Jos made no fuzz about it and even gave me the beer he just ordered! So Jos, you are going to get a beer from me at the next meeting in Wuustwezel!

34i36l2When everyone had their dinner darkness had almost fallen outside and inside everyone was sitting content smoking and chatting away at the tables in the atmospheric, dimly lighted room. I stood at the side with Ed and overlooked the whole. I am not an emotional man but that perfect moment got to me, seeing all the forum members peacefully and content together. I was so glad that we after all these years still were a part of it. Ed saw it and said with a smile, “Want a hug?” So we hugged. When I stood at the bar drinking a non-alcoholic beverage (boohh…) I got into a conversation with Philip. He is a doctor and he even gave a round of drinks to all. Earlier he got a patient with tuberculosis and he feared he was infected. If that was not the case, drinks for everyone! So you can guess the outcome. Philip also writes an excellent blog: The Tall Tales of an Urban Beardsman. He (amongst others) loves Castello and Peterson pipes so I asked if he could make an article about the latter for my blog as a guest-writer. And he was willing, so stay tuned!

mol0zAt 8 o’clock the fun was over, Henk called it a day. He was surprised everyone politely thanked him personally for his good care. Not more than normal! The way home was fun! Ed had some radio-station playing in the car with all kinds of rock-classics. So I sang along with Deep Purple’s Child in Time and Metallica’s Nothing Else Matters. Even Johnny had tears in his (strangely panic-stricken) eyes, probably from the sound of my beautiful voice.. Anyway, I want to thank Martin for once again organising a wonderful meeting, the men in the car for all the fun on the road and all the forum members for the great day! All pictures were made by Martin, Klaas, Stanley and Dirk.

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Zestful Zutphen 2015

Store of Willem Schimmel

Store of Willem Schimmel

On a warm and sunny June Sunday it was once again time for the annual Zutphen meeting of the Dutch/Belgian Pipe Smokers Forum. Unfortunately like last year my good friend (and part time driver) Ed could not make it, it was his birthday. Also it turned out once again that the original date was the day after the Fortarock festival and for quite a few visiting forum members a meeting after a day of metal and beer was just too much. So once again I waited on the train (I live in a tiny village but somehow it managed to have an intercity train-station!) praying it would arrive at all, on time and get me safe in Zutphen. With the Dutch railways you never know.. Luckily it did all that and when I walked out of the station building in my place of destination I bumped, like last year, into Freek. “Oh, you here again?” Some things never change. Together we walked through the old streets to the store of Willem Schimmel.

IMG_2197At 11 o’clock sharp we entered the shop, precisely on time. It was not too busy yet so I had enough time to greet Willem and his staff after which I climbed the stair to the smoking lounge on the floor. I fell into a chair and noticed a new face, Hans, who looked pretty tired. It turned out he had just worked a night-shift and then came to the meeting. No wonder! But a nice man to talk to, I hope to see him at a next meeting. After chatting away with some people I decided to look downstairs where I saw some new Tsuge pipes that had just came into the store. I already saw those at the Inter Tabac last year and I was still amazed at how small they were. I mean, it was optimistic to think that smoking some of those pipe would last 15-minutes. However, because I got some explanation by the Tsuge salesman I was able to tell someone of Willem’s staff that with a certain model you had to screw off the bowl and fill the space beneath with tobacco. Why? Because it then functions as a filter.

Further below like every year stood Mr. Josef Nöring with his wife. He always has very nice high end pipes (Wallenstein, L’Anatra etc.) but sadly too pricey for my budget. I just bought some tobacco and… some cigars. Huh? Cigars? Traitor! No.. I have no interest or ambition whatsoever to know a lot about cigars (I just learned the difference between a short filler and long filler so go figure..). But last year I had a mini-meeting at Willem and at the same time there was this dude who knew really a lot about cigars. Being naturally curious I asked if he could pick out 4 (not too expensive) ones for me so I could venture a bit in the world of rolled tobacco sticks. From those 4, after smoking them, one (the most expensive..) stood out: My Father Cigars La Antiguedad. So I bought a couple of those more so I could enjoy them at warm summer evenings. Mr Pease already said this once, but cigars are just designed for hot climates. They definitely are not made to smoke indoors in my house. Once I smoked such a cigar in the small living room and had to apologize to Ellen because the room literally looked blue with smoke.. Whoops..

On the right the elder gentleman

On the right the elder gentleman

When I was below an elder gentleman holding a pipe entered the store. Apparently he saw the shop was opened and he needed to buy some tobacco. While in essence it was a closed meeting Willem thought like, well, business is business! I talked to the man, he had never heard of the forum and asked for a contact card. Ehrr.. I did not have one on me so I just wrote the internet address on a small piece of paper. The pipe of the man was interesting, it had a white dot on the mouthpiece. So or a Dunhill or a Vauen. I was allowed to look at the bottom of the pipe, it was a Dunhill Shell from 1972. “Ah, that could be correct!” said the man, “I believe I bought that one in 1973. How did you see that so fast?” Well.. Ehm.. I am a bit of Dunhill nerd so.. I also asked what he liked to smoke to which he answered that he liked latakia. So for the most part the Dunhill tobaccos that contained the dark leaf. Quickly I grabbed my tin of GL Pease Odyssey and let him smell it. He put up big eyes and made approving noises. “If you become a member of the forum and tell what you think of the blend you may keep the tin.” I said. He thankfully nodded and shook my hand.

Me with the fez of Jos

Me with the fez of Jos

A new face to a forum-meeting was Frisian pipe-maker Meindert. Because of his health it was a bit shaky if he could make it (a 2 hour drive) but his daughter had come with him and drove the distance. It really was good to see and talk to him and I think he thoroughly enjoyed the whole meeting experience. I almost forgot I owned him a tin of tobacco but Meindert is the type of man that reminds you of that. Earlier he refurbished one of my Dunhills and the tobacco was his payment. I did not even need to ask what he wanted, “A tin of that new Peterson St. Patrick’s Day please!” So I got it for him. On the first floor I sat down for a while and chatted a bit with Mark when Willem came along with a fez which obviously belonged to Jos. Jokingly he put it on my head while Mark snapped a picture. It came out rather nice!

In the late afternoon at the end of the meeting it was time to eat. Willem had arranged a BBQ at Fort Bronsbergen in the Zutphen countryside. Luckily I could ride along with Rob(bie-San) and we took Pascal with us. After a bit of a detour (Rob his Garmin GPS device had other thoughts about the route) we arrived together with Jos. The friendly lady behind the bar guided us outside to the big wooden terrace on which we had a stunning view of the surroundings: a little lake with lots of green around it. Unfortunately when it came to drinks the choice was a bit limited. Rob could not drink a heavy beer because he had to drive and the only pilsner they had was Heineken. Ehrr… No, no sewage water please. “Do you have Coca Cola then?” he asked. Nope, just Pepsi. Rob buried his face in his hands and made crying noises. Luckily for him they had a brand of Weißbier and for me there was one excellent Belgian beer: Affligem Dubbel. On the good side, we were outside so we could smoke! Also, thanks to Rob I tried my first bit of snuff, some mint flavoured one from Pöschl. A not unpleasant experience.

The BBQ was not really a BBQ but (sometimes pre-grilled) meat on a hot plate. It was ok but only just that. I mean, perhaps I am a nitpicker but at least properly defrost the garlic-butter before serving it, provide a small trash can for bones and clean the hot plate now and then instead of baking all the meat in already charred black fat. I appreciate Willem’s arrangement but next year Rob and I will be eating in the old Zutphen city centre again where there is a restaurant which serves the most delicious spare-ribs. After the BBQ Rob hastily drove me to the station because otherwise I would miss my train. When I stepped on the platform it was already waiting so I quickly hopped on. While I saw the sun going down over the green fields, all by all I could look back at another wonderful day.

I would like to thank Willem, his staff and Mark for organizing the meeting. All pictures were made by Meindert, Paul, Mark and myself.

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Lohmar pipe-show 2015

Lohmar_2015While a big part of the pipe-smoking world had their attention focused on the enormous Chicago Pipe Show, another, smaller, European-German part, attended the interesting and cosy Lohmar Pfeifenmesse. I went there last year and had a blast despite the gruesome weather. So on the morning of the pipe-show I opened the curtains a bit nervously and… Sunshine! I knew it was going to be a good day. After a quick shower Rob (forum nickname Robbie-San) already rang the doorbell, just as last year I rode with him. The only difference was that we did not have to pick up the other Rob (forum nickname: Smoking Rob) because he had a gig with his band that evening and could not make it. Yoda greeted me once again in Rob’s car and like last year I had made cheese-sandwiches for the road which we both happily ate while chatting away.

Yesss! Excellent weather!

Yesss! Excellent weather!

To Rob’s delight I pulled out an aged tin out of my bag of Peterson Sweet Killarney, one of his favourite tobaccos, as a “thank you” for driving me. The journey went a lot faster this year, I guess it helped that the German highways did not look like rivers now. Just before 10.30 am we arrived at Villa Friedlinde in the heart of Lohmar, the annual location of the pipe-show. 2015 was a special edition, the 10th one, still organized by pipe-maker Volker Bier. Like last year a large section of the surrounding park also was part of the show. That Volker closely works together with the local authorities was proved by the fact that even the mayor of Lohmar attended the Pfeifenmesse.

dunhill_princeOnce inside I immediately looked for the stand where I bought the Dunhill Shell cherrywood-shape last year, hoping to find more of those gems. But instead I bumped into Eddy. He mailed me some time ago that he recognized one of my Dunhill prince-shaped pipes in my Prince of Pipes blogpost. To be precise the Dunhill Bruyere from the early patent era. Apparently that pipe once belonged to him! He asked me where I bought it, at Esterval, I answered. That also was the vendor where he once bought it. Sadly the old mouthpiece got so thin by all the maintenance over the years that it had cracked. Eddy had it replaced by German pipe-repairman Marco Janzen.

Eddy

Eddy

Unfortunately he was not 100% happy with the new mouthpiece because it was thicker and wider as the old one. On top of that he always had been a little afraid of smoking this fragile prince too hot. So Eddy traded it with another German against a Dunhill bulldog-shape and probably that man sold it to Esterval again. We exchanged some pictures and from seeing those we both came to the conclusion that I now had the old prince of Eddy. After all the mailing we did we decided to meet at Lohmar and bring some of our Dunhill princes. Eddy had brought a Dunhill Shell patent era with him which could have been the brother of one of mine, exactly the same style mouthpiece. During the day we now and then bumped into each other and every time kept chatting a bit. Wonderful guy.

Rainer and Markus at the HU Tobacco stand

Rainer and Markus at the HU Tobacco stand

A stand I did not wanted to miss was the one of HU Tobacco. Sadly owner and master-blender Hans Wiedemann could not come to Lohmar. I mailed him about a question of his excellent Fayyum Kake a couple of months ago and heard to my terror that he had suffered a heart attack. Thank the heavens he is well on his way to recovery but the Pfeifenmesse came to soon for him. So for the day two friends of him, Rainer and Markus, took over business. I also know Rainer, we regularly mail with each other, swap tobacco samples and he helped me out with my blogpost of the vintage Dunhill London Mixture which was made in Germany.

IMG_3089

Yummie home-made liver-pâté

It already was very busy at the stand but Rainer immediately recognized me and we shook hands. I had some things for him and he for me. I brought some Germain Rich Dark Flake with me for him and traded a pouch of Condor against some local made liver-pâté. Believe me, for someone who does not like the soapy Lakeland tobacco aroma it was an excellent exchange. The liver-pâté was made by the local butcher in Rainer’s home-town and is mouth-watering yummie. On a side note, Rainer gets his tobacco canned at that same butcher. Meat or tobacco, what is the difference? Also Hans had a surprise for me, Rainer handed me over a bag with a tin inside. “Guard it with your life, the contents are very wanted!” he said. Inside the bag was one of the last tins of Fayyum Kake! Thank you very much Hans! Fayyum Kake is no longer made (for now), it is pressed by Hans himself and with his condition it just became too much work. For the rest I bought some delicious Balkan Passion and Director’s Cut at the stand.

IMG_3040

Standing in the queue before the food-wagon

Unlike last year the food stand now was outside the villa, a wagon with a big round plate beside it where potatoes were baked. The stomachs of both Rob and I grumbled a bit so we decided to get some Bockwurst. What I did notice was that the prices had gone up, €4 for a simple Bockwurst with one tiny slice of bread was a bit on the expensive side for me. Next year I’ll bring more sandwiches with me.. Behind me in the queue before the food-wagon stood German blogger Ralf Dings of the excellent Jogi-wan blog. He did not immediately knew who I was but when I said “Dutch Pipe Smoker” an expression of recognition came over his face. We talked a bit about how close HU Tobacco came to closing down because of Hans’ heart attack and that that really would have been a crying shame. When Rob and I finally could order some food and drinks I made a strange movement with my hand and accidentally slapped the Dunhill Root Brair I was smoking out of my mouth. It just missed the hot surface of the big baking-plate and hit the side with a loud bang. Under the worried looks of the people in the queue I rapidly picked up the pipe and… Not even a scratch. *Pheww!!*

Foundation by Musico pipes

Foundation by Musico pipes

With our bellies filled it was time to properly look at all the stands. Compared to last year I was a little less impressed with the selection of pipes. The stand where I bought the Dunhill Shell cherrywood shape did not have any new models that I liked. However, they still had the same prince I saw at the previous Lohmar edition but because it was from the 90’s I choose not to buy it. Yes I know, I can be a snob.. I very much liked the offerings of Foundation by Musico, classic shapes with sometimes beautiful blasts. Sadly only just above my budget.. Which I had with quite a lot of pipes. Oooh, this one is nice! Owww, €250.. Nevermind.. As a rule I never pay more than €150 for a pipe (only 1 exception, I once bought a Winslow Harlekin). Partly because I am a cheap ass Dutchman and partly because Ellen will kill me if I come home with an expensive piece of smoking-wood. (“When do you spend some money on me, you cheap ass bastard!”)

IMG_3057

Morta pipes by Colja Schoppe

Maike from Maike pipes has a better price-quality ratio, which resulted in almost selling all of her available pipes. I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for new offerings from her. Holger Gunia, master of the short, stubby pipe also did some good business. Few pipes were left when I examined his stand. Obviously inspired by Roger Wallenstein but taking it to a new level a real eye-catcher were the pipes of Uwe Maier. Good to smoke and put on your livingroom-cupboard as a piece of art. The large morta pipes of Colja Schoppe were also very impressive. Not my thing but I can perfectly imagine lots of pipe-smokers will like his offerings.

Rob

Rob

While walking around we bumped into Fred, d’Artagnan and André. The last two also were there last year. After having talked a while Fred and André went their own way and d’Artagnan joined us. Beside pipe-stands there were also stands who sold other hand-made things. Last year I bought Ellen a dark blue bracelet so now I wanted something different and found just that. A lady had for sale all kinds of rings and pendants. I picked 2 pendants, one with a stone which had a purple hue (the favourite colour of Ellen) and one with an ammonite in it. d’Artagnan liked that last one so much that he decided to buy one for himself. Because of the lovely weather we all had dry throats and there was only one cure for that: beer! The voluptuous lady at the stand of the local Lohmar brewery recognized us immediately. Last year we told her we were Englishmen but now we decided to tell the truth, that we were merely Dutchmen. Luckily her smile stayed the same and the beer was once again pretty good (although it could have been a bit colder..). We then went to park near the villa and sat down on one of the wooden benches to catch some sun, chat and smoke a pipe of course.

Rob at the beer garden

Rob at the beer garden

Soon it became time to go, the Lohmar Pfeifenmesse was getting quieter and quieter. I already had in mind to go eat something at the local Brauhäuschen. But the restaurant was still closed when we got there and a note on the door said it was reserved that evening. Later I found out that it was reserved for the Lohmar crowd.. We drove on and found a nice beer garden where we sat down and had some tasty German beers. Unfortunately the kitchen of the beer garden opened late so once again we went looking for a place to eat. “All I want is a picturesque, decent restaurant preferably in a good looking setting” I grumbled to Rob.

Prost!

Prost!

d’Artagnan has some fancy navigating devices in his Mercedes so he pointed us towards just the place I was looking for: Café Restaurant Meigermühle, located in an historical timber framed building at the edge of a forest. To our surprise their neighbour was the local Lohmar brewery (who had a stand at the pipe-show remember). As soon as we stepped out of our cars the same voluptuous lady saw us and invited us inside, where we got a short tour in which she explained the making of their beer in rapid German. Afterwards still smiling we went to the Meigermühle and sat down on the outside terrace. The choice what to eat was easy for all of us: Schnitzel! And to be perfectly honest, the one I had was far better than the mediocre one from last year in Kleve. Tender and tasty with a delicious pepper-sauce, ooooh yeah! After dinner we went our separate ways, d’Artagnan was going to nearby Cologne and Rob and I drove back to The Netherlands. Back at my sleeping address in Brabant we shook hands and we thanked each other once again for a wonderful day.

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