Are You A Hunter or A Gatherer of Pipes?
March is Kaywoodie month at Briar Blues. For the entire month, if you buy a Kaywoodie pipe you can get an additional 15% off, WAIT the code is Kay20. I have to go back and double check. It’s 20% off! What da!? Wow, that’s pretty good. You can get that 20% off by entering the code Kay20 at checkout.
I stayed away from going on the site for a day because I knew I was going to buy one of those Radice pipes. There were two I really liked and there was no way I would have been able to control myself. It’s early in the year so it’s a little easier to stick to the list I have on my desk. The pipes I’m searching for, and nothing else in the meantime.
If this were October and I had not found one of the pipes on my list yet, I have a feeling all bets would be off. Those pipes sold so fast. Pretty sure there are only a few left by the time I’m writing this. If you want to see what’s left, hit that link above and click on Latest Arrivals. Even if you’re not an Insider you might be able to see them.
Hunter
That brings me to the topic for today. I was thinking about tobacco cellaring strategies and the old adage about either going wide and not deep, or deep and not wide. Referring to whether one focuses on only a few blends and acquires a lot of it, or if they like to try a lot of blends and want to have a huge variety.
I would say I’m on the deep end of that spectrum. Although, I’ve seen photos of some people’s cellars and they go both wide and deep.
When I considered that philosophy and put it in the light of buying pipes I wondered if it might be the same. Do people stick to one or two brands and go deep, or try to obtain a big collection of everything they can get? For me, that wasn’t as clear. I have a few favorite brands, but am open to anything. This year I have a list and am off on the hunt. That made me think, maybe a better analogy would be if one is a hunter or a gatherer.
Just like the tobaccos, I have changed over the years. I used to be a gatherer. Taking it all in. Then it seemed to be that I wanted a smaller collection of a much higher quality. The hunt was on.
Same thing for the tobaccos. There are only a handful I want, and if I can’t find any I get myself on the alerts that some retailers offer. I suppose in this analogy, the gatherer would stay put and when new blend come out, they just pick themselves up what’s available.
Hunting for Pipes
Ever since I’ve been thinking of it in that light, the idea of hunting has appealed to me. Not only are you out looking for specific pipes, but looking for that trophy. Why not set your sights high and elevate your whole collection?
Not sure if it’s the best way to describe it, but it appeals to me. I think I have to develop the theory some more. But I have the basics down. Under those parameters, I’d have to say, I’m a hunter of both Pipes and Pipe Tobacco. Although, as far as tobaccos, I’m more of a coon hunter. Pipes, a trophy hunter.
Very Puzzling
Very busy today and tomorrow. End of month kind of stuff. Therefore the new Pipe Puzzle won’t show up until Friday at the earliest. It’s a pretty good puzzle this month. Matthew thinks it’s a bit on the hard side and he could be right. But what fun is it when the difficulty is always the same? Get some tough ones in there to really challenge the puzzle lovers out there. I hear that Matthew has some ideas coming up that are sure to interest you.
Any feedback on the puzzles is greatly appreciated. If you like certain kinds of puzzles or want to see different levels of difficulty, just let me, or Matthew know and we will happily design puzzles for what people want. I think you crossword lovers out there will like this month’s puzzle. It’s themed, if you like those, but we aren’t going to tell you what that theme is.
Odds & Ends
Don’t forget to check out The Pipe Ninja channel. He’s currently fighting YouTube who doesn’t think you should be watching his channel. Little does YouTube know who they are messing with. It’s not The Pipe Snowflake channel! Since the content seems like it’s being throttled, be sure to share it with your friends, and don’t trust that YouTube will notify you of any videos. You’ll have to do that yourself. I’ll let you know if any new videos come out.
Nashville Mafia Live is on tonight. If you aren’t to terribly busy, check them out.