From: Steve (?????????????????????????)
Subject: An unscheduled mailing

Well, I'd planned on mailing only once every week or so, but there
have been so many letters coming in that I thought it would be nice to
go ahead and let some out of the mailbag, and get some good threads
going. (Perhaps in the context of pipes, it should be "wisps"? :-)

I'd also like to thank Elias Mazur, the co-founder of the pipes
mailgroup, for suggesting the idea in the first place and having the
courage to put it on the net. Without Elias, it probably wouldn't have
happened, and I'd have never learned about Balkan Sobranie. Elias
apparently got rather harsh treatment from the newsgroups he posted
to; I don't know whether I'm getting flamed or not, because I'm taking
the precaution of not reading the groups I posted to! :-) (Seriously,
I've only gotten a couple of nasty letters, but given Gene Spafford's
dictum to crosspost rather than post separately, I think I'm within
net.etiquette; and you can't argue with the results!)

In any case, thanks to all for joining, and I hope you enjoy the
mailgroup as much as I'm enjoying putting it together. I hope you'll
join me in lighting a bowl of your favorite blend.

Smoke in peace,
~\U Steve.
~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U ~\U