From: ??????????????????????????
Subject: A belated introduction

Dear Steve

After a year-and-a-half of passive reading of your digest, I feel it's 
time that I wrote something myself. My name is Jeremy Martinson, and I 
work as a Postdoctoral Research Assistant at a medical research 
institute in Oxford. In addition, I teach Human Genetics and Evolution 
for the Oxford University Human Sciences and Anthropology degree 
courses. I'm 32 years old and have smoked a pipe for two years now: in 
that time I have amassed the great number of twelve pipes, including 
one high-grade which I have just bought this weekend. They are all 
briars - I want to buy myself a meerschaum, and I know just the type 
that I want (I just haven't seen it in a shop yet!). I haven't yet 
established a preference for any one type of tobacco: I have two 
tupperdors, one of English blends, one of aromatics. My current faves 
are Dunhills 965 and Nightcap for the English blends, and an in-house 
aromatic blend called Pirate's Mixture which I bought from a 
tobacconist at my parents' home town in Cornwall. The only other item 
on my CV is that I became a father last May for the first time (a 
daughter, Elizabeth).

I am a regular reader both of the digest and of the a.s.p. newsgroup. I 
dabble occasionally with cigars, but I find the prices here in the UK a 
little too high to allow me to experiment properly. Both resources have 
been tremendously helpful to me as I learn about pipes and tobacco, but 
I find this Digest a particular haven of sound advice, reasoned & 
civilised debate, and a refuge from both intrusive tirades on the ills 
of tobacco and adverts for snake-oil stop-smoking remedies. I think 
Steve does a sterling job.

I was particularly interested in one item in the latest PD (no 207 if 
memory serves) about the availability (or not) of Condor in the US. 
Interested, and bemused, as here in the UK Condor is regarded as a 
supermarket/drugstore tobacco, rather than as a premium tobacco that 
one would actively seek out. I've never tried it, so I'm speaking from 
ignorance here :-). 

I do have one piece of news that may be of interest to US readers 
though. Those of you who follow a.s.p. may remember that earlier this 
week I shamelessly plugged a demonstration of pipemaking held here in 
Oxford by Bill Taylor of Ashton pipes. I got quite a few replies to 
that from US readers keen to buy pipes in absentia. I know that a 
couple of people rang Avery's pipe store (the venue here) and were able 
to buy hand-made Ashton pipes at a very good price. I hope they're 
pleased with their purchases! When I went in to buy my pipe this 
weekend I mentioned to Bill that it was I who had advertised his 
demonstration on the internet. He was very interested, and told me that 
he will be in the US later this year and will be holding a similar 
demonstration at McCranie's Pipe Shop, Charlotte NC in April. You will 
be able to see a master craftsman finish off some of his finest pipes, 
and buy them at a bargain price. Remember, you heard it here first!! 
Oh, and those who remember reading my first paragraph will have 
realised that me first high-grade is, of course, an Ashton. The 
improvement in smoking quality over my usual pipes is incredible. 
Bill's invited me to visit him in his factory when I'm next in London 
and you can bet I'll be going there soon.

Another customer at Avery's while I was there was Clive Humm of the 
Pipe Club of London. We exchanged newsletters - I have a copy of the 
PCoL's latest Journal, and Clive has a copy of PD#207! Clive has a 
computer, but no modem as yet, although he now plans to get one so he 
can join us here. And I've joined the PCoL so it was a very successful 
cross-fertilisation! Clive also gave me a sample of his Bengal Slices. 
Now THERE's a tobacco that I'd like to see over here.

That's enough from me for now. I'll end with a question. I visit the US 
quite often, and have been to several excellent pipe stores there 
(Peretti's and Ehrlich's of Boston spring to mind). One that I also 
like is Grant's of Market Street, San Francisco CA, but I have not seen 
it in the Resource Guide or heard it mentioned in the Digest. Do you 
Bay Area readers know something about it that I don't? I've not bought 
a pipe from them, but I have several of their tobaccos and I think 
they're great.

Bye for now. I'll try to make it less than eighteen months before I 
write again!

regards

Jeremy Martinson

[ You're correct, Jeremy; Grant's is not in the Guide, for some
reason.  (Probably no one's sent in the address.) Thanks for the words
on Condor, and welcome! -S. ]


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