TAA Is Underway and Armchair Piper is Wrapping Up
This has been the leanest blob schedule in the history of the only “daily” pipe smoking blog in the history of the internet. I have a few minutes and wanted to catch up and head off any one who is thinking about abandoning ship. The Briar Report is still chugging along, just a little light on the blobs lately.
I know that might be a perk for some of you, but I don’t want my keen pipe smoking news skills to get rusty. You never know when a pipe smoking dog will save someone’s life or an FDA bureaucrat might want to legislate from her cubicle. I want to be right there to bring you the latest breaking news.
In fact, I have some inside info on a major announcement from a pipe retailer that you might be very interested in. Soon, might even be days away. An already major player that is going to step into the ring with the big guys and give them a run for their money. Very exciting and you will be among the first to know. That is if you read The Blob. I guess I’ll put it on the News site as well, it is pretty big.
Mr. Armchair Ed
Today is the last day for the Armchair Piper’s Third Anniversary give away entry. I didn’t enter because I shy away from contests but also because the answer was hard for me. While I love the YouTube Pipe Community, I try my best not to be pigeon-holed there. I want The Briar Report to be a broad spectrum resource for pipe smokers. Don’t care if you’re a YouTube guy or an Instagram user or even someone who just pops on the internet for a quick pipe news update.
No doubt the YTPC is a fantastic group of people. It’s how I spend any extra time I might have. Nothing better than watching some of the videos people put out. I don’t think anyone looks forward to new Flatcap Piper videos more than I do. I actually get excited. Watching Yardism always gets me thinking for the rest of the day about all kind of topics. Some philosophical and some just interesting. For instance, how can someone sit on the steps for three hours and not have to go to the head? It’s unnatural.
The YTPC holds a special place for me, and I can’t imagine not having it. I really appreciate the work and creativity so many people put into their videos. Armchair Ed being right at the top of the list. Happy Anniversary Mr. Armchair Piper.
Flat Cap & Co.
Speaking of Mr. Flat Cap Piper, this coming week he will air a new episode of Popping The Tin with his co-host Lady Fire. In honor of the final episode of Country Squire Radio they will be reviewing Mirkwood, a Country Squire blend. The show is five days out, but you can click on the “get notified” button while you’re thinking about it. That will be April 4th at 2:30 Eastern time.
They are also going to tackle another cigar. This time a StillWell Star Navy #1056. The first one they did had a ton of views in just a few days. As long as people keep watching, they will keep making them. There are a lot more cigar smokers out there, so if you know any, pass along those videos. YouTube is not going to recommend them, so we will have to. The cigar review comes on Saturday at 9 am Eastern.
Stogie Convention
You will notice that our News site is heavily weighted towards stogies lately. That’s because the Tobacconists’ Association of America kicked off its trade show this week. Lots of special edition cigars rolled out for the show, and that’s where all the news is. Next year they are moving that show to the fall since it would conflict with the PCA show. I wish pipe retailers had such problems.
$$$
Did you see the new Dunhill pipes available on the Smokingpipes website? I rarely get sticker shock when it comes to pipes but when I saw the drop I almost choked on my Phoenix pipe. I saw one I really liked and when I clicked on it to get the price I was actually stunned. Someone will probably buy it, but not me. Nice pipe though.
Not to say anything bad because I’ve had nothing but A-1 service personally. But in the last couple of weeks I’ve heard two stories about people having less than favorable things to say about SP. One was in a video and one was in an email. Both were surprised at their customer service.
Hopefully those are isolated cases since they have an excellent track record in that department. I joke around a lot about their surprising lack of advertising on The Briar Report, but in reality they have spent a lot of time and money to get where they are at and deserve the benefit of the doubt. But if this is the start of a trend, that would be a shame.
In Closing
Don’t have a lot of time right now, but still wanted to do a quick check in. Look for the newest Pipe Puzzle to come out in a couple days. It’s a fun word search that I printed out and stuck in my pocket. Got most of it done and isn’t too hard. I know a lot of people like those searches, so we have that on deck. If you haven’t tried this month’s crossword puzzle give it a try as the solution will be on that post along with the new puzzle. I know it was a hard one, but a few people already told me they aced it.