Ring Home: http://www.jack-tompkins.com/Pipes
Ringmaster: Jack Tompkins
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Pipes and cigars provide a rich tradition that has survived the ups and downs of fashion and politics. The Southwest Pipe & Cigar League is an organization dedicated to defending and promoting that tradition. Although the SWPCL has been mainly a social club, we have joined the cybercommunity of like-minded individuals in using the power of the Internet to make sure that our special way of life continues into the future.
"; tx += "To ring in the New Year, we\'re very pleased to announce that the 2nd annual West Coast Pipe Show is officially a go for the weekend of November 6-7, 2010. The show will be returning to the Palace Station Hotel in Las Vegas, and with a major improvement
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tx += "PipeSmoke Ring Provided by: Spiderlinks.Org Ring Home: http://www.jack-tompkins.com/Pipes Ringmaster: Jack Tompkins Join: PipeSmoke Ring PREVIOUS:NEXT:RANDOM:SITE-LIST | ";
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Meetings are held on the second Sunday of the month, unless otherwise noted.
Click on confirmed dates for a printable meeting flyer.
Date | ";
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tx += "" +loadFrameCal(printFlyer[i])+ " " +meetVenue[i]+ " | ";
tx += "" +loadFrameCal(printFlyer[i])+ " confirmed |
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tx += "tentative |
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tx += linkOut(bonfiglioli)+ "Alberto Bonfiglioli | ";
tx += linkOut(oompaul)+ "OomPaul.com |
About the SWPCL
by Steve Johnson, President
The Southwest Pipe & Cigar League (SWPCL) had its humble beginnings in 1984 as a small group of pipe collectors meeting in the back room of the (now defunct) Century City Tobacco Shop. I joined the club in 1986, at which time the membership had grown to the point that meetings were being held in area restaurants (back in the good old days, when you could still smoke in restaurants here in California!). Different locations were found for culinary variety or to replace a business that went under. At that time, we really had no leadership (a subject I'll come back to), so it was up to individual club members to help us get a spot for meetings if we lost the use of wherever we were going at the time. Because of this, our get-togethers became sporadic, and finally the club went dormant in 1990.
What got us back on track were the efforts and initiative of Jon Werner, who had been a very dedicated member since the time I joined up. He saw the value of trying to keep our club going, and found a restaurant in West Los Angeles that not only didn't mind a bunch of guys getting together and smoking pipes and cigars, but actually welcomed our presence once a month. (It was an Italian restaurant, owned by a family from Italy, which meant they didn't have the uptight attitudes about smoking afflicting Americans. This probably explains why it was the only place we could find in an area that has been especially snooty towards smokers - no other restaurant we approached in the westside wanted anything to do with us.) Jon did a great job of keeping the club together, and he was the de facto president until the economic situation in southern California forced him to move back to his native Minnesota for better job opportunities in 1993.
"; tx += "When Jon left, I took his place and shortly thereafter, the club made me the duly elected president, a post which I occupy today. During the '80s, I saw the anti-smoking movement almost kill pipe and cigar smoking. The experience made me something of an activist in challenging what officialdom had to say about the health aspects of pipes and cigars, and when I became the president of our club, it was decided by our key members that the club should likewise take something of a more activist role in defending and promoting our way of life. Our club had gone from a small group of guys getting together to swap pipes, to become an organization of people dedicated to actively ENJOYING our pursuit in the face of all attempts to destroy that enjoyment through brainwashing of both us and the nonsmoking public. This change of focus was reflected in the name we chose as the official one for our club - the Southwest Pipe & Cigar League.
"; tx += "If you're interested in promoting pipes and pipe smoking, what can you do? The answer - do a pipe show. Another one of our longtime loyal members, Mr. Roy Fazalare, put on a show in 1992, the first pipe show in Los Angeles since 1984. While the event was moderately successful, Roy experienced some major limitations being the only one to organize and run the show. The following year, we had the opportunity to put together another pipe show, but this time it was to be a club-sponsored event. Roy had some valuable experience to pass on, which helped me out a great deal since I headed up the organizing. But having the club behind me on publicizing and running the show made all the difference in the world, and the group effort paid off. Although organizing the show was still hell on wheels (if I had known what I was getting myself into, I probably wouldn't have done it!), our success inspired us to do it again, and we ended up putting on 5 annual shows from '93 until '97. By the way, one of the keys to our success was that we promoted not just pipes and pipe smoking, but also a sense of positivism about our pursuit which we felt was needed to counteract the massive negativity being forced on us by the anti-smoking movement.
"; tx += "In 1995, the cigar boom was in full swing, and at the suggestion of then-owner of the Briar Rose in Carson, CA, Shane Pappas, we decided to make our shows both a pipe and cigar event to boost attendance and stimulate crossover interest among people who were exclusively either pipe or cigar smokers. Shane proved to be a major asset to us, and he performed brilliantly in bringing together the cigar side of the show. His ideas worked very well, and in '96 our show's formula resulted in the most successful event we'd ever had, with over 2,000 people attending over the weekend. Our '97 show also did very well, but by then it was becoming pretty much impossible to deal with the smoker-very unfriendly attitudes which kept us from being able to find a venue that would have us back a second time. Will we have another show sometime? I wouldn't rule it out, but clearly it's quite a challenge doing it in California these days!
"; tx += "During the years we had the shows, we also noticed an interesting shift taking place among retailers. Before that time, almost all retail tobacconists were hostile towards the existence of pipe clubs. When things were so tough for the business back in the '80s, it would seem logical that retailers would've welcomed the pipe clubs' help in promoting pipe smoking. That's why we were always surprised the attitudes towards us were exactly the opposite. Indeed, the "bunker mentality" of those days caused retailers to view anyone outside their shops as competitors, us included. However, this situation has improved substantially, and while there are still some holdouts, most retailers now understand that there's real benefit to be gained from mutual support among pipe clubs and smoke shops.
"; tx += "For us the shift couldn't have come at a better time. During our show years, our supporting retailers provided us with a lot of help in publicizing our events, and also provided us with places where we could hold our monthly meetings. Since smoking in restaurants was banned here in California a few years ago, it has been our friends in the business who have made it possible for our club to continue on through our regular get-togethers. It's also given our club members the opportunity to participate in promotional events held at smoke shops. For example, in October of '99, one of our longtime and very loyal friends in the business, Poor Richard's Pipe & Tobacco Shoppe (San Bernardino, CA), had an event with CAO. This show included, of course, CAO meerschaums (some by retiring master carver Ismet Bekler), and also featured samplings of cigars and pipe tobaccos being introduced by CAO for the first time. More recently (in March 2000, to be precise), Marty's Cigar & Divan (Glendora, CA) had a showing of pipes by Ferndown, Caminetto, Barling, Armellini and Cassano, with samplings of new tobaccos by Caminetto and Ferndown. The rep, Tom Fitzpatrick, was knowledgeable and a great guy to spend time with. Being a part of these special events made those meetings two of the most enjoyable we've ever had.
"; tx += "The Future is Now
Before the Internet age, having a pipe club meant keeping it local. But now, we have the ability to reach people across the country and around the world. For those of you who either live in southern California or are visiting the area, the Southwest Pipe & Cigar League will continue to offer monthly opportunities to gather and enjoy the company of like-minded individuals. But even if you can't make any of our meetings, we hope that our efforts to promote our pursuit will encourage you to join.