Pipe smokers! Unite!

Should you ever find yourself in the area, you know where to find good company.

While I doubt I have (m)any readers based in Jacksonville, FL, especially since my critique of that city's flag, I would like to point out to anyone who may be visiting Florida's River City on the 3rd Sunday of any given month that a pipe smoker's club meets at the Island Girl Cigar Bar at 6:30PM.

As you may gather from the illustration above, the proprietor of this blog has a tenuous connection to the esteemed and gentle pipe smokers of Jacksonville.    

The Peterson Pipes Irish Sea imported from Dublin on the Emerald Isle.

Goodwill exists between the pipe smokers of the Pelican State and the Sunshine State.  Believe no one who tells you otherwise.  It's not just Louisiana and Florida either.  Pipe smokers, as an ever-rarer breed, bond like members of a secret society whether they hail from Seward's Folly, the Nutmeg State, the Heart of Dixie, the Gem of the Mountains, the Granite State, Big Sky Country, the Keystone State, the Old Dominion, the Beehive State, or Little Rhody.  Membership is open to all.

Whether you pocket a briar, a meerschaum, a corn cob, or an olive wood bowl....whether you hold in your hand a churchwarden, a bulldog, a pot, a poker, a calabash, an apple or an egg.... bent, quarter bent, straight, or some wizard-worthy, Renaissance faire confection....if you enjoy tobacco in a pipe you are part of a club wherever you happen to find yourself, be it in New Orleans or Jacksonville, FL.

Smoke 'em if you got 'em, folks.  If you don't have a pipe, you should consider it.  Ladies too.  Studies show pipe smokers live longer.  Early death statistics focus on cigarette smokers.  A cigarette is a nicotine delivery device direct to the lungs and if you read about how tobacco is processed to make a Marlboro it will make your cilia curl.  Pipe tobacco isn't inhaled, it is savored.  That difference separates the connoisseurs from the addicts.  Of course, I am biased.

Go into a pipe smokers's den and you'll be greeted by an aroma far different from a cigarette-freindly bar.  In the first, you'll inhale and want to linger so you can examine what's lying around and get a glimpse of what material adds to a thinking person's soul.  In the second, you'll want to wretch and order something quick to dull your senses.  To each his or own, of course.  I'm a natural snob.  You don't toss a pipe away when your done like a dead butt.  You clean it and care for it and get it ready for the next interlude with your thoughts mixed with the sublime, ethereal, vegetable gift the rich land of the American South offers up through the dedication of generations of farmers and experienced blenders.

And now I'll step off the podium.  For more information, you can e-mail jaxpipeclub@gmail.com.

If you are tempted to smoke, pick up a pipe.  It will change your life and your appreciation of it.  'Nuff said.