December 17, 2013

2014 PRF-pipe made by Ian Walker

The Dutch/Belgian Pipe Smokers Forum (in short: PRF) has had quite a lot of merchandise through the years. Shirts, caps, business cards, mouse-pads, ashtrays, poker-fiches, dice, stone tampers, tobaccos and.. Pipes! Belgian member Shaun took it on to himself to organize the creation of a yearly forum pipe. For 2012 and 2013 we had beautiful pieces from renowned Belgian pipe-makers Elie and Dirk Claessen. My favourite shape is the prince and after years of trying to bribe Shaun with beer, tobacco and beautiful women I finally got what I wanted: a prince shaped forum pipe! And not just that, it was made in Britain by respected pipe-carver Ian Walker.

This is how the process went, written by Shaun himself: Every year, right after Christmas, I start making a list of possible candidates for the forum year pipe. In this period I do a lot of research, mainly checking websites from pipe-carvers and feedback from their customers. After my initial research I start asking for feedback on the forum, this would be around March. Every forum member can send me suggestions of pipe-carvers they would love to make our year-pipe. This year we had a lot of discussions about the budget, because we wanted to create an opportunity for every single member of the forum to own a year-pipe. I knew it was going to be difficult as the goal was set around €90. This would be a nearly impossible task, because not many craftsmen are eager to make a pipe with this low budget while the expectation is that they still do the best they can. Despite everything I felt the need to try it and satisfy the forum members.

David Enrique

The first one I contacted was David Enrique from France. He wasn’t very happy with my proposal, but promised me that he would do the best he could. So he started searching for old briar blocks in closed Saint-Claude factories. But the following of this lead would soon turn out to be a failure. David contacted me back, said this would be impossible thanked me for the honour and pulled back out of the project.. After this call I felt he wasn’t very happy about me wasting his time on this budget matter. And I couldn’t blame the poor guy! I mean, in his place I wouldn’t settle for less than a good quality pipe. A forum is a great thing, but can also become a marketing nightmare for a pipe maker when the order turns out to be not that great.. Bad comments fly around the internet even faster than… You know what I mean.

The second lead brought me to Turkey. After a long search I finally found a guy in a remote village who had a phone.. With a shaky connection.. I tried in my best English, French and German to explain him that I wanted to place a large order. But due to communication problems and a very high telephone bill, this trail also was a dead-end.

Suddenly I had a plan, maybe I could contact Big Ben, the old Dutch pipe factory. A factory would certainly give me a good price. From the beginning I knew the chances were slim because a factory always sells to stores and never to individuals. And if stores found out they sold straight to customers, WWIII certainly would be on our hands. Still I gave it a shot but they never answered my mail. I was very disappointed in them because I always had a good contact with the director, Mr. Gubbels. After them I tried Peterson, Stanwell etc… When I saw it already was July I panicked and started screaming like a little girl..

Ian Walker

Then it suddenly hit me. On our forum I saw some work of British pipe-carver Ian Walker. Forum-member Dewitte (Sven) once bought a pipe from him. Actually a prince model shaped pipe, with a very nice cumberland mouthpiece. EUREKA! I soon contacted him, negotiated a price (€125), got things going and low and behold, at the beginning of this month the 56(!) pipes were delivered at the forum-members homes! Thank you Ian Walker!

George Walker

Talking about Ian Walker, here is some more info about him: The grandfather of Ian Walker, George Walker, started working for Duncan Briars in England in 1922. After 36 years in 1958 he left Duncan having been head-foreman in charge of production and started Northern Briar Pipe Repair Service, together with his son Peter. Father and son built their business repairing pipes for most of the quality pipe shops in the United Kingdom. When he finished school in 1972, Ian Walker joined the family business. Like everybody else at the factory Ian started as an apprentice, sweeping the floors and making tea (they’re British, duh!). Later he was allowed to polish some pipes and in the evenings he learned how to make silver bands from sheet silver at his Grandfather’s workshop.

A young Ian Walker and his father

In 1983 the parents of Ian bought a local tobacconist shop in Heaton Moor, Stockport. By this time Ian was doing all the repairs and had become one of the foremost pipe-repairmen in the United Kingdom. Wanting to further develop his skills, Ian started making pipes himself in the shop. These pipes sold well and he decided to expand this side of the business and was soon making pipes for other local shops. Further encouraged by several top British pipe makers (like Bill “Ashton” Taylor) to develop his talents, Ian has expanded his business and shortened the name of the company to Northern Briars. Today his pipes are sought after in Europe, North America and the Far East.

Sea Shell pipe

Ian Walker sources his briar from Italy where, according to many pipe-makers, the best stock can be found. Every pipe is totally hand-crafted by Ian himself and all pipes have hand cut stems using the best grade German vulcanite. The rustication of Ian’s Roc Cut pipes is a time consuming process which is done entirely by hand. This unique finish has proved to be extremely popular as well as finishes of Ian’s own imagination like the Sea Urchin and the new Sea Shell. Ian’s skill in silver mounting also enhances many traditional styles of pipes.

FLTR: Martin, myself, Ian Walker and Paul

I met Ian at this year’s Inter Tabac Fair in Dortmund. A very jovial, enthusiastic man who immediately noticed the Dunhill I had dangling from my mouth, “Ah! British made! Just like my pipes!” As much as he talks in real life, as little does he write in e-mails unfortunately. I asked him some questions by mail and got decent answers. Only, not long answers.. But Ian had a good excuse, he was very, very busy finishing our forum pipes. Here is the interview:

Ian Walker and the late Bill “Ashton”Taylor

From who did you learn your craft? I heard somewhere that Bill “Ashton” Taylor was one of your teachers, is this true? I was taught to make pipes from my Grandfather and Father. Whilst the late Bill Taylor was a good friend, I already was a pipe-maker when I met him. The only thing Bill advised me to do in 2005 was to visit the international shows.

You source your briar from Italy because you believe the best briar comes from this country. What makes Italian briar superior? The Italian briar I use continues to give good results, so why change? My supplier supplies many artisan pipe makers.

What kind of curing has your briar and why? I do not cure the pipes as such. Good dry seasoned briar is the secret. However, I do something to the pipes which my Grand father taught me. Alas, this is a secret, I am sorry.

You solely use vulcanite for your stems, why is this and why not acryl? I use vulcanite as this is a English tradition. Dunhill, Les Wood/Ferndown etc. The Cumberland mouthpieces are the best quality German vulcanite available. I make acrylic on order.

Can you tell us something more about your regular pipe-series? I mean the Bruyere Premier, Bruyere Regal, Rox Cut Premier and Rox Cut Regal? The Bruyere Premier’s are made from straight grain plateaux. The Bruyere Regals are made from cross grain blocks. The Rox Cut can be made from plateaux or cross grain.

From your Specials-serie I very much like the sea-urchin, helix and oriental. What was the inspiration for these models? I watch for shapes on the internet and shows and also the odd pipe that comes in for repair. This year I have made a pipe, the Sea Shell, just by looking at a sea shell on the window sill.

Ian’s boat containing his workshop

Can you tell us a bit more about your beautiful signature Roc Cut rustification? This has changed over the years as I tried different techniques of rustication. Last spring I went to a wood festival in Wales and there was a stall selling old tools. I bought a few old gauge switches which proved to be successful. As I work on the boat there is unfortunately is no room for a sandblast machine.

When you have a piece of briar, do you already see a shape in it? Let you dictate the briar which shape is going to come out? When making stock pipes for shows, a block can change shape two or three times for the original idea I started with.

Please describe the whole process from start to finish from having an idea for a pipe (or an order) to the final end-product. 1 briar block. Turn the bowl and drill the tobacco chamber. Turn the shank, bore the shank. Then grind the bottom to marry up with the turned bits. Fit the rod and shape into the stem. Then sand the complete pipe with finer sandpaper wheels and pumice then polishing mops. Stain, stamp and final polish.

When did you began smoking pipe? I started pipe smoking in mid 1970’s.

Northern Briars Uncle Paul

What are your favourite pipe shapes and why? All pipe shapes are interesting to a pipe maker. Whilst I like Uncle Paul and Hungarian shapes they are the most difficult to make.

What are your favourite pipe brands (besides your own brand of course) and why? Any artisan pipe makers pipes. There are so many good young American pipe makers around. I also like Alberto Bonfigliolo and Les Wood/Ferndown. I am always interested when their pipes come in for repair.

What are your favourite tobaccos, what do you like to smoke yourself? It seems that when I find a good tobacco they take it off the market.. I did like Balkan Sobranie flake in a green tin. Then Dunhill Light flake but they changed it and it is not the same.. I smoke Samuel Gawith Full Virginia flake.

On which pipes that you made are you most proud? All the pipes I make. But to make a new shape that I have not made before is always one to be proud of.

Which of your pipes would you recommend for beginning pipe smokers? Any Group 3 size or Group 4 size pipe. Not to big, not to small and straight or with only a slight bend in any finish that suits you best.

Any last words to readers? It has been a pleasure making these pipes for the Dutch/Belgian forum. It would be good whilst on holiday somewhere to see someone smoking one of the forum pipes. All pipe makers know their own work.

For about a week and a half I have the 2014 forum-pipe in my possession. Ian did a great job considering he had to make 56 pipes! According to him he never got such a big order from a forum! For a prince the pipe is quite a robust one, I am used to more slender shapes. Also it is “only” a group size 3 which is a bit surprising for such a large pipe. But then again it really is a unique piece in my prince collection. Technically the pipe is flawless. Thick walls and a pipe-cleaner passes easily through the stem and bowl. I like the used briar, it reminds me very much of the old Dunhill Root Briar. Although that was made from Corsican briar and Ian uses Italian.. I must say he took a real risk with the finish, it is smooth without any rustification or sand-blasting. Very hard to find 56 pieces of briar who are all flawless enough to make smooth finishes. So some pipes have fills I heard (and saw) from other forum-member. Not mine, it just has some kind of small flaw on the bowl which does not bother me at all. The most important is that it smokes good, and that the pipe does. I had a “magical fit between a tobacco and a pipe” with it. The tobacco in question was Penzance, absolutely very yummie!

So, if you’re a pipe-maker and you are interested in making an edition of the annual PRF-pipe, please contact Shaun: hetpijprokersforum@gmail.com

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

December 8, 2013

The quest for forum tobaccos – Part 2.

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Hans Wiedemann

Fasten your seatbelts ladies and gentlemen. At the time I wrote part 1 I never, ever expected that there would be a part 2 of my quest for forum tobaccos. I just experienced too many disappointments and thought that it would all end in nothing. But…. As you can read in the last response at the bottom of the page Hans Wiedemann from HU Tobacco once again took pity on me and helped me out. Once again it often was not smooth sailing, but we persevered and in the end overcame all obstacles.

So, to refresh our memories, why the forum tobaccos? Well, this year the Dutch/Belgian Pipe Smokers Forum exists 5 years. Because of that last year the idea arose for some special forum tobaccos to celebrate the jubilee. 3 tobaccos to be precise, a latakia mixture, an aromatic and a Virginia flake. Of course I had to open my big mouth and I became responsible for the creation of those tobaccos and the artwork. Why? Because it is a dream of me to see a blend which is created by myself is made available for others. And that is more difficult than I thought..

A lot of things were possible with Hans BUT only if we were buying 50 tins of 100 gr. per sort. So that is 150 tins in total! 15 kilo! I thought that the forum-members would never buy such an amount. Deeply disheartened I explained the story on the forum and asked how many tins the members were willing to buy. This because I had to have to money upfront. No Rudi this time to buy all the tobaccos and later see how he would sell them. To my utter and absolute amazement within only a couple of hours the amount of 50 tins per sort was reached! The next days the quantity kept growing. And that without knowing an exact price or having the actual blends! In the end 73 tins of the aromatic were ordered, 109 tins of the latakia and a whopping 116 tins of the flake. A total of 298! 29,8 kilo of tobacco! Wow! Unnecessary to say that Hans and I could continue. The role of Hans would be that of advisor and mediator between myself and the tobacco factory he sometimes worked with. I was responsible for pretty much everything else. The creation of the blends, the artwork, collecting the money from the forum members and the distribution of the tins.

Round 1. My first idea for the flake was that of a light Virginia flake in the vein of Orlik Golden Sliced, Dunhill Flake and Capstan. So I asked for a light natural Virginia flake with only a slight topping of tonka-bean and even less orange. Unfortunately the tobacco factory thought this was to be the aromatic so they applied way to much of the topping. Hans first got the sample and well, he did not like it to say the least.. Also the tobacco factory were not happy with having to add an aroma to a flake. It would not work they said. On top of that the first samples Hans send to me to my home address did not reach me and got lost in the mail..

Round 2. From this time on Hans decided to send packages to my working address. That way we both know they would arrive. In the package I got were 3 flakes, 3 aromatic samples and 3 latakia samples. Let’s start with the flakes. Because the application of an aroma on a flake was not a good idea I had to choose between several already existing flakes. The first one I smoked was bland and uninteresting. The next couple of flakes were pretty decent but had the same problem: they were available here in The Netherlands.. So I had to step off the idea of a light, pure Virginia flake. I told Hans to search for a flake, as long as it did not have latakia, that was not available here or too well known in these parts.

For the aromatic I had already mailed several ideas to Hans which were translated into 3 samples: 1. Black cavendish, burley and bright Virginias with an aroma of coconut and vanilla. 2. Black cavendish, burley and several Virginias with an aroma of passion fruit and ahorn. 3. A lot of Black cavendish, bright Virginias and a bit of burley with an aroma of coffee and vanilla. I smoked all the samples and could not find a clear winner. So I send some samples away and let a couple of folks smoke them. All had the same favourite, the one with coffee and vanilla. But for me it lacked a certain punch, it needed some more aroma.

I mailed Hans some ideas for the latakia mixture and he mixed two samples himself of which he thought I would be satisfied with. The third sample was mixed by the tobacco factory after an idea of Hans. Before the samples were send through to me Hans already smoked the factory sample and he was raving about it which made me feel very positive.. ..Until I smoked the actual sample. It tasted bitter and I did not like it one bit. Having learned my lesson with the aromatics I send away some samples hoping for some sound opinions. After all, my taste is not the taste of everyone. When I received the feedback it became clear that the blend indeed was too bitter. To make things worse I also was not impressed with the samples Hans made himself. Solid and well crafted blends, don’t get me wrong, but nothing special. And I wanted something special. So at the end of round 2 Hans and me were not happy men. We still did not have a flake, the aromatic was not good yet and the latakia mixture also was not up to par. In the end we tried to be as positive as possible.

Round 3. I received 2 flake samples which were not available in The Netherlands. Hans already had smoked both and very much liked one of them. I also tried this one and indeed, it was absolutely superb! The other one was pretty good but that was it. To be 100% sure I once again let people smoke from the samples and luckily everyone opted for the one Hans and I were enthusiastic about. With the flakes we had a very clear winner, yeah!

With the aromatic the tobacco factory had a slight problem. They could not boost the aromas they had used any further, they were at their maximum. Whaaaat?? Luckily they opted for some other but similar tasting aromas. Those were of higher quality but also more expensive. Well, so be it. I had already decided to not cut down on the quality of anything regarding the tobaccos. When I received the sample I could not have been happier. Exactly what I wanted, here we also had a winner, I liked it very much!

What I did not like was the new latakia mixture sample. For me it looked, smelled and tasted not special enough. Luckily I had a plan B. I once smoked one of the house-blends of a German tobacconist and I absolutely loved it. One of the best latakia mixtures I ever smoked. Period. So I asked Hans if he wanted to inform if we could use it as a forum tobacco. And we could! BUT I had a big dilemma now. I already told the forum that the flake was an existing one but that the aromatic and latakia mixture would be unique blends. Now the latakia mixture was available somewhere in Germany.. I needed some advice about what to do and found it by some friends from the forum. They said I should be open about it and let the forum decide if the project should stop or go ahead. So I opened up to the forum members and clearly explained the situation. Thankfully the vast majority (you can never please everyone) was very understanding and said I should go on.

Yesss!!! I had 3 winners! Now the financial part. I am very straightforward and told Hans immediately very clear what kind of price I wanted for the tins and why. Well, I offended him bigtime by doing it this way.. It took me a lot of e-mails to smooth things out between us. A lesson well learned. Needless to say we got the tins for a very good price thanks to Hans. I could have made a bit of profit on the tobaccos but I decided to keep them as cheap as possible.

I got busy creating the artwork, collected the money from the orders of the forum members and relaxed a bit. I send the finished artwork to Hans who would send it through to the tobacco factory. He also arranged some blank sample tins for the Heukelum meeting. I printed the labels at my work and put them around the tins. Absolutely stunning! Just before the meeting I got the sample artwork which was printed by the tobacco factory themselves. Compared to my own prints it was a bit grainy and dark. Still ok but I am a perfectionist, it was not up to my standards. The thing was, I forgot to ask Hans how we should do things with the labels and Hans forgot to inform me that we were better off printing the labels at a professional printing-company. Another lesson well learned. Now I luckily can perfectly live with the printed labels.

So, FINALLY here are the 3 Dutch/Belgian Pipe Smokers Forum tobaccos:

Genietmoment

GENIETMOMENT
Contents: Black Cavendish, Golden Virginia, Burley
Flavouring: Coffee, Vanilla
Packaging: 100g tin
Tin description: Create an enjoyable moment for yourself with this high quality mixture, consisting of Black Cavendish, Golden Virginia and a bit of Burley topped with an aroma of coffee and vanilla.
Background information: One of my ideas for the aromatic forum tobacco was to do something with coffee. I come from the Dutch province of Noord-Brabant where taking the time for a nice cup of coffee is common. But a coffee flavour is very difficult to incorporate in a tobacco because it has a tendency to dominate. Despite that Hans and myself were successful in creating a delicious mixture by the addition of some vanilla. The main ingredient is Black Cavendish (also typical Dutch) with some Golden Virginia added and a bit of Burley. The inspiration for the artwork I got from coffee and beautiful women. Both enjoyable for most men. I also found it nice to put a woman on the cover because of our female forum-member, Monique (Milleluci).

Janneman Flake

JANNEMAN FLAKE
Contents: Brown and Red Virginias, Perique
Flavouring: None
Packaging: 100g tin
Tin description: Pressed brown and red fire-cured Virginias, full and soft of taste, are cut into long flakes and together with a pinch of perique, to round off the whole, they provide a fitting tribute to the “pater noster” of the Dutch/Belgian Pipe Smokers Forum: Janneman.
Background information: On the PRF Rotterdam-meeting last year we talked about forum-member Janneman, that he meant a lot to many starting pipe smokers. Many folks of the forum got there because of the movies or Pijpenboek from Janneman. Would it not be nice to honour him with something? We asked ourselves. At that moment the whole forum tobacco story had just begun so I said “Isn’t it a nice idea to honour Janneman with a forum tobbacco?” Everyone agreed and I kept the idea throughout the whole journey. So Janneman, thank you for inspiring many of us! The flake itself is very natural, full and interesting of taste and contains Red Virginias, firecured Brown Virginias and a bit of Perique. The artwork stands for another hobby of Janneman: flying of kites.

Brullende Leeuw

BRULLENDE LEEUW
Contents: Light and Red Virginias, Latakia, Oriental, Black Cavendish, Perique
Flavouring: None
Packaging: 100g tin
Tin description: The exquisite balance of this exotic mixture stands for the unity between the Dutch and Belgian Pipe Smokers Forum members. That together many pipes may be smoked!
Background information: Like I already told,when it became clear that the latakia mixture was not according to my standards I decided to fall back on Plan B, using an already existing supreme quality tobacco. I immediately knew which one I wanted, I did not know if I was able to actually get it. And luckily I could get it. The blend is beautifully balanced with light and Red Virginias, Latakia, Oriental tobaccos, some Black Cavendish and a pinch of Perique. For the artwork I was inspired by the unity of the Belgian and Dutch forum members. The lion stands for a nice shared symbolism, thus the name “Brullende Leeuw” (Roaring Lion).

The forum tobaccos are available for everyone at the webshop of HU Tobacco.
For your information, HU Tobacco also ships to the US and other countries. For questions please e-mail Hans Wiedemann, he speaks English (and German of course): hu-tobacco@t-online.de

Kind words of Hans to the forum who sums it all up pretty well

Last but not least I want to thank:
– Hans for the wonderful cooperation, without you this all would not have been possible!
– The members of the Dutch/Belgian Pipe Smokers Forum for being a great bunch (thanks for the whisky!) and having faith in me.
– The tobacco testing members of the forum who’s opinions and advice about the tobaccos and other things have been very valuable to me.
– The forum tobacco distributors in The Netherlands and Belgium, you made my work a lot easier.
– My dear friend Ed.
– My girlfriend Ellen for her everlasting support <3.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

November 9, 2013

Hospitable Heukelum 2013

Brewery ‘t Kuipertje

Like I told in my Zestful Zutphen post the Dutch/Belgian Pipe Smokers Forum currently roughly has two big annual meetings. Well, three with the meeting in Wuustwezel, Belgium. But the “mother” of all our meetings is the one in a town in the Dutch province of Gelderland called Heukelum. Well, this is not entirely true.. First Martin organized the meetings in his nearby home-town of Leerdam on the upper floor of a restaurant housed in an old train-station building. Unfortunately after 2 cosy meetings the owners did not want us there any more plus the group got too big. So Martin had to look out for another location which he luckily found in brewery “‘t Kuipertje“.

Henk Kuiper © K.H. van der Linde

In 1987 brewery ‘t Kuipertje first started when Frits Kuiper, after a reorganisation at his day-job, could work for half days only. The first beer was brewed on February first 1988. Frits, an amateur-brewer, soon decided to completely leave his (half) day-job and go full-time with the brewing. After being an apprentice at several breweries he made his own brewing-installation and started his business under the name “Gelderse Bierbrouwerij ‘t Kuipertje”. In 1990 he moved into the former coach-house of an old stone-factory at the border of Heukelum where the brewery is still located today. At January 1th 2002 Frits left the brewery, his son Henk took over business.

The big nightmare of the Dutch railways: leaves on the tracks..

The big nightmare of the Dutch railways: leaves on the rail-tracks..

So on October 27th at the end of the morning Ed arrived to pick me up. Also in the car was Maurice, the more the merrier! Together we drove to the train station of Deventer to pick up another forum-member, Mark. But after some waiting there was no sign of our big friend. Suddenly I got a text message from Mark, the train which he was supposed to be on was delayed.. Grumble, bloody Dutch railways.. If you are ever in The Netherlands, do not go by train unless you don’t mind delays. In wintertime there is snow, in autumn there are leaves on the rail-tracks, in summer maintenance is going on.. Grrrr.. Anyway, Ed, Maurice and I had enough to talk about and before we knew it Mark arrived, his train finally had come.

Rob from Brabant © K.H. van der Linde

Because of the delay we were a bit late in Heukelum. Normally we are amongst the first ones to arrive so you can greet everyone more easy as they come in. Now we immediately were immersed in a cloud of friendly pipe-smokers who all wanted to say hello. While shaking hands I first began with some “business”. When I visited the big Heinrichs store I bought a tin of Heinrichs Golden Sliced and Dunhill Deluxe Navy Rolls for forum-member Klaas. He was curious about the famous Escudo and Deluxe Navy Rolls come very close in taste to that one. And he also had something for me. The week before the meeting he and his wife went to Prague where he bought some Stanislaw (made by Samuel Gawith) tobaccos. This were the ones I saw at the Inter Tabac fair at the Samuel Gawith stand! Wonderful! Apparently they are only obtainable in the Czech Republic. After we exchanged tins I tapped Rob on his shoulder. I had a bag of rare Penzance for him. Really a treat because Rob loves to smoke latakia blends. Well, you can’t go wrong with Penzance then! When I turned around I saw another Rob (many folks called “Rob” on the forum). He lives in a place near the town I grew up in the province of Brabant and has that typical joviality and accent of most people there. Rob has a passion for Ireland and I happen to have some authentic Irish Murray plugs (Erinmore Plug, Warrior Plug) which were gathering dust in my tobacco-closet. “Aah!! Fantastic! What do you want for them?” he asked. “Absolutely nothing, smoke them with much pleasure” I answered. I always like to see tobaccos I don’t smoke get a good home. Last but not least I walked over to like-minded Robbin. We both love old English blends and prince-shaped pipes. I had an opened tin of the German version of Presbyterian for him which he was curious about. I also presented him a sample bag of a nameless mixture I once made which I knew he liked.

La Trappe bockbeer

Then I finally could relax a little bit and order a beer. I asked Henk, who also was the bartender, if he had a dark beer, for which I have a fondness. He offered me his self brewed Bokbier which is a special kind of dark beer that in The Netherlands is brewed only in autumn and often has a bit of a dark sweet caramel taste. After I gulped down the tasty liquid my nerves went down a bit. Nerves because I had to introduce the brand new forum tobaccos!

Get that hand out of the pocket boy! © K.H. van der Linde

For those of you who read this blog regularly, last year and this year I have been busy organizing 3 specially made tobaccos for the forum-members. This because this year the Dutch/Belgian Pipe Smokers Forum exist 5 years. If you read the last comment on that post you can see my “quest” continued because master-blender Hans Wiedemann from HU Tobacco took me under his wings. What happened after that is a story in itself which I shall tell in a future blogpost. I introduced the three tobaccos, told what my inspirations were, said what the tobaccos roughly were made of and encouraged everyone to try some. Of course I brought sample tins. After my speech Paul walked towards me and presented a gift to me from the forum members for all my work on the forum tobaccos: a bottle of peated whisky! Yummie! And not just a regular bottle, no, a very special one! A 23 years old Jura ‘Signatory’! So to all the forum-members who contributed to this great gift, a big thank you!!! And because this was the 5th meeting organised by Martin he also got a well deserved bottle of whisky.

It is always remarkable how fast time goes when you are having a good time. You chat with someone for a bit, walk around, somebody starts talking to you, you go outside for a fresh nose while continue having conversations etc. So many nice folks and so little time.. In the mean time Henk had ignited the 2 BBQ’s and soon the coals were hot enough to begin with dinner. Like always the provided meat was of excellent quality. We could choose from beef, bacon, cutlets, hamburgers, meat skewers, all kinds of sauces, baguettes and salads. Aahh.. Grilled meat, tasty beer, a good pipe-smoke and great people. What more can a man wish for?

Group-picture of the 2013 Heukelum meeting

After dinner we sat down for a couple of more drinks and conversations and too soon it became time to go. We said our goodbyes to the remaining people, picked up a bottle of the specially brewed 2013 forum beer and went to the car. Once home I thanked Ed for the ride, said farewell to Maurice (we already brought Mark home) and went inside the house. I kissed my girlfriend Ellen, put away my bag full of tobaccos and went to bed where I had some nice smoke-filled dreams.

Here are some more pictures because they tell more than a lot of words!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

August 27, 2013

5 year jubilee of the Dutch/Belgian Pipe Smokers Forum

On August 24th 2013 the Dutch/Belgian Pipe Smokers Forum, of which I am an active member, existed precisely 5 years! This also means that I have been a pipe smoker for 3 years. I registered myself on the forum August 24th 2010 and started smoking pipe around that date. But the forum itself started earlier, in 2008. I have to thank Shaun for writing down the history of the Dutch/Belgian Pipe Smokers Forum. I only translated it:

Janneman

Who in early 2009 searched on the internet for “pijp roken” (pipe smoking) did not find much, A website of a pipe smokers guild with some practical tips on lighting and burning a pipe. Luckily there also was a fantastic website from Jan Kusters from the Dutch town of Sittard with its extensive and excellent “Pijpenboek van Janneman” (Pipebook from Janneman). Which later pretty much became the standard for every beginning (and more advanced) pipe smoker who spoke the Dutch language.

Victor

But… There had to be more??? Therefore on February 3rd 2009 a beginning pipe smoker frantically was searching for more tips, tricks and information about pipes and tobaccos on the internet. Result after result was clicked, page after page was carefully watched. Unfortunately, not at all complementary. Until suddenly in the depths of the Internet on page 10 of the Google searching results a pipe smokers forum popped up! Victory! The end of a long search, what a blessing it would be to receive a warm welcome by fellow smokers. But alas… The disappointment was great: the forum exactly had one member and a message. It was the smallest of all the forums at forum2go.nl, the initial host. After the first disappointment the beginning pipe smoker directly registered as second member under the forum name “Victor Baarn” and through a personal message contacted that first member, the admin: Pim123. Pim123 founded the forum on August 24 2008 as a learning experiment in how to create a forum. Since Pim123 at that time just was learning how to smoke pipe the forum became a pipe smoking forum by accident.

Victor Baarn asked Pim123 whether he might attempt to make the forum bigger. Pim123 gave Victor Baarn the permission to promote the forum and conveniently made him moderator. The weeks after that the search on internet continued and Victor Baarn collected every e-mail address that even remotely had something to do with pipe smoking. A little over a week several dozen e-mail addresses were collected and on February 13th 2009 an invitation e-mail was send throughout the country and abroad (Belgium).

Antonius

And low and behold, the days after several new members applied, the first one (of course) being Janneman. But it did not go very fast.. Pim123 and Victor Baarn were busy opening new topics, the one after the other, in order to create conversations for the members. At first the forum looked more like a public dialogue between Victor Baarn and Pim123. So it was difficult in the beginning and in the first weeks it was to became clear if the forum would be viable. But luckily, despite the calm, there were some folks who kept on posting. Active members in the first days besides Pim123 and Victor Baarn mainly were Janneman, Antonius, dr. Watson, Joey Peters, Rob, Superpelic, Don Carlos, Bas and Vier Heeren Baai. A club of a few men who nicely chatted away with each other. Without their contributions the forum would not have been viable at that time. What definitely contributed was Janneman’s Pipebook for which he granted Pim124 permission to place it on the forum.

First forum meeting in Leerdam

There was one certainty: that regularly, weekly a new member applied. Slowly but surely the number of members expanded. The more the merrier: more discussions and terminology. Google picked this up and pushed the forum upwards in the search results, thus creating new members. Another trick to promote the forum was that Victor placed links to sites about pipe smoking that scored high in the Google ranks. This resulted in more points in the search machine and… More new members. On Saturday September the 18th 2010 the first forum-meeting took place in Leerdam with an attendance of 11 members. After a few months the forum stood on page 1 of the search results. After that it went fast.

DrFretboard

So fast that on November 7th 2010 Pim 123 announced that he had started the forum as an experiment and, now the forum had 200 members, would like to hand it over into more fanatical hands. Thus, on November 9th 2010 the fanatical DrFretboard became the new admin. And once again things moved fast. This time with regards to the technical progress of the forum. DrFretboard lifted the forum onto a higher technical level and introduced many improvements in the forum structure. Because of the busy traffic several moderators were introduced. The pipe smokers forum really grew up. The strict vision of DrFretboard about the forum led to a lot of discussions after a while. Dissatisfied smokers were found to be huge troublemakers. So on April 29th 2011 DrFretboard voluntary stepped down as admin with the question who was willing to take it over from him. After some discussions Nekker and Massis became the new admins on May 7th 2011.

Massis and myself

From the beginning Nekker and Massis had a common target. First the human contacts, second to create the largest encyclopaedia about pipe smoking (in Dutch) that exists on internet. With that also the realization grew that the reigns had to be slacken. A more relaxed vibe sprouted and things started to fall into place. From this grew a hard core of people who not only got along with each other online but also in real life. Many initiatives proved this like mini-meetings, the Leerdam meeting etc. Then there was the big milestone in the forum history. Massis, who also takes care of the technical side of the forum, made the upgrade from the amateurish Forum2go to a professional forum. From then on everything kept on going forwards to (hopefully) never be stopped.

Eliminator, one of the “metalheads”

So in 2010 I was searching for info about pipe smoking and of course stumbled upon the forum which included Janneman’s Pipe Smoking Book. Eventually I registered and bought my first pipe and tobacco, which is described in my post Humble Beginnings Part 3. I am not a social kind of person. I have a mild form of autism, I stutter sometimes and being an only child is not really good for your communication skills. But the laid back vibe on the forum worked wonders with me, everyone was accepted the way he was and I became more open. Also the amount of metalheads was reassuring (and surprised me!), good folks!

My first Leerdam meeting 16-01-2011

I did not go to the first forum meeting in Leerdam, I only was a member for a short time. For the second one I initially said I could not come, but after some thinking I decided to go after all. Best decision ever. I stood before the old train station building in Leerdam where the meeting was organised and I was thinking like: “Arno, you really must be out of your mind.. You are in a town you have never been before and you are about to walk into a building where a meeting for pipe smokers is organized. And you know no one! Except for some forum posts of course.” Still I went inside and I had a blast! Very friendly people and I came to the conclusion that I could have a conversation with everyone because we all had one thing in common: pipe smoking.

And gradually real life friendships developed like with Ed (St Patrick). At the beginning of 2012 I left my car keys inside the car at Ellen‘s place in Olst while the spare keys were in my apartment in Oss where I still lived at that time. Nobody was willing or had the time to drive me so I could get the spare keys so in the end I desperately called Ed, who I then only just knew. “Oooh, well, then we are going to get the keys Sunday morning in Oss. During the ride we can smoke a pipe, relaaax.” I was flabbergasted.. And this kind of stuff characterizes the forum. The kindness, the generosity etc. etc. Of course there were some “hiccups” like the affair with DrFretboard. Also sometimes there are some differences of opinions but it is always solved in a civilized manner.

Stunning PRF ashtray made by Bart Iron with designs by my hand

Because of the forum I crawled out of my shell and I became more social. Also the forum gave me a lot of creative impulses. After I won the “make a new banner competition”, organised by Pim123, I also made artwork for wallpapers, shirts, caps, more banners, business cards, mouse-pads, ashtrays, poker-fiches, dice, (forum)pipes and for some wonderful stone tampers made by Martin. Besides this I got motivated by the forum to combine some of my “old loves”, history and writing which resulted in this blog. Also I am still busy organizing the forum tobaccos.

So… Let’s go for another 5 years! And then 5 more and 5 more and 5 more……

Here are some pictures of meetings and mini-meetings from the years that I am a member:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Dutch Pipe Smoker

Tag Archives: Dutch Pipe Smokers Forum

2014 PRF-pipe made by Ian Walker

The quest for forum tobaccos – Part 2.

Hospitable Heukelum 2013

5 year jubilee of the Dutch/Belgian Pipe Smokers Forum