Writing a pipe column in a mostly cigar-centered magazine can be a little isolating. Seldom do I receive feedback from readers, positive or otherwise. I have occasionally wondered whether anyone would notice if I ran dirty pictures instead of poetic words. So in the last issue, when I wrote a column that cast a shade of doubt on the future of pipe smoking, I asked myself whether this might finally elicit some kind of reader push-back.
Well, indeed it did! And I am glad for it.
Mr. John David Burns, Certified Retail Tobacconist on staff at The Country Squire in Jackson, Mississippi, wrote in with an account of brisk sales and enthusiastic pipe customers at his location. And even though he took me to task for my rather dejected approach in the last issue, I must say I am grateful for his buoyant take on the state of things in the pipe kingdom. It restores some needed balance to my own perspective, and it corrects an omission I had committed: I should have quoted someone more firmly grounded in Main Street retail pipe sales. Of course, I always knew that vibrant pipe communities were still bustling out in the land, here and there. It served as a bracing tonic to hear from one such place.
In the hope that readers will appreciate Mr. Burns’s take as much as I did, his message is printed here in full.
Mr. Nelson,
I am sorry, you missed the mark at least a little in your article “How, really, is the pipe world faring?” in Volume 2/2023 of PCA The Magazine. I work at The Country Squire in Jackson, Mississippi, and it is faring quite well in respect to the pipe business and community. The Country Squire was established in 1970 by the Reeves family and sold to the current owner, Jon David Cole, who has worked tirelessly to grow the business but also to maintain the traditions of the shop.
It seems in your article that you did not speak to any retailers. I am sure those you referenced are attuned as you claim, but the ambivalence and obsolescence mentioned hardly apply to the pipe community I witness. I have been with The Country Squire for over five years, and in that time there has rarely (if ever) been a week when I did not sell pounds (yes, pounds) of our private blend tobaccos and at least one pipe. We have about 35 hand blends and 500 pipes for sale in the store on any given day. Altogether, my co-workers and I usually sell four to five pipes (in some cases more) and 15 pounds or more of tobacco in a six-day work week. But that is my estimate. I am the cigar guy, the bastard/stepchild. I do not smoke a pipe as a general rule. Still, I felt your article was inaccurate. (No offense. I usually enjoy your articles.)
As you mentioned, we too have seen a decline in pipe club activity, but the members are no less active in the hobby. They still come in to smoke and purchase and socialize as much as before. Witness the recording of the 500th and final episode of The Country Squire podcast done a few months ago. We had fans from across the United States and a contingent from Canada, not to mention representatives from major vendors, attend to watch the taping and enjoy the festivities. Rarely do any of us go a day without someone asking us to help them learn to smoke a pipe—in person, yes, but lately wanting us to teach them over the phone. Or when we released our Whalesong tobacco in two-ounce bags—450 pieces sold in 45 minutes. (We only have one phone line, and it crashed at least three times.) The annual demand for Mirkwood, Cordial Friends and Figgy Pudding; the success of our newest blend, Cherry Limeade…I could go on.
Pipe sales are strong. Unlike the experience quoted in your article, a great many of our pipe sales are in the $100–$300 range—I would say half. The other half of our sales would include our Wall pipes (most would refer to them as “basket” pipes), a very few corn cob pipes, but also pipes in excess of the $300 range. One customer seems to have started collecting Castellos; another customer collected every size/shape of the Chacom Pine Cones. As you know, pipe smokers become pipe collectors.
Ambivalence? Obsolescence? Hardly!
Ask Jon David Cole, the owner of The Country Squire. Come to Jackson, like so many of our pilgrims from around the world (literally), and see The Country Squire. While they may not be “in the wild” walking down the street or next to you in something other than a bar, you will see pipe smokers enjoying this hobby in a safe sanctuary and wanting to talk about pipes or exchange tobaccos, and maybe even a curmudgeonly old guy smoking a cigar. We would love to have you. The first bowl is on me, or rather the first ounce. (Cherokee is our most popular.)
John David Burns
The Country Squire, Tobacconist
Jackson, Mississippi
Thank you a thousand times for your wonderful email, Mr. Burns. It gave me a lift, reminding me again of something I have really known for 40 years: Pipe people exude a passion for this hobby that will never let the felicity and solace of pipe smoking pass from relevance. It also reminds us of the sales potential in the pipe-smoking market for any retailer who takes an interest in educating our tobacco clientele and actively promoting the pipe side of the business.
Mr. Burns’s story is a vignette—a snapshot, if you will—of one retailer’s success in serving pipe customers well, with education and advice and encouragement. Anecdotal though one retailer’s report may be, it still brings to mind that the only businesses which never seem to need this kind of stewardship are rather more tawdry. We who take an interest in life’s subtle and elevated pursuits, like pipe smoking, have a sacred duty to preserve the truth, beauty and wisdom that pipe smoking promotes. Mr. Burns and his co-workers at The Country Squire in Jackson are more than doing their part, setting an example we should all admire and emulate.
This story first appeared in PCA The Magazine, Volume 3, 2023. To receive a copy of this magazine you must be a current member of PCA. Join or renew today at premiumcigars.org/membership.
– Story by William C. Nelson. Photo: Shutterstock.