Spring break must be here - I can tell by the (surely only) modestly inebriated young ladies yelling at my car last weekend, not to mention the sudden increase in mumbling young men on the main thoroughfares at around 2:00 AM asking if I know of a restaurant that's open after 2:00 AM. The Day-Glo orange Lotus Exige I witnessed being piloted by a young man in a tank top and revving its engine to several thousand RPMs as it backed into a parking space, is likewise a sure sign indeed. As much as I do appreciate half of my home state of New Jersey (along with various New Yorkers, Canadians, Delawareans, and so on) coming down to Myrtle Beach for a visit several months of every year, it does at times get a bit trying - particularly now that I've moved into an apartment only a block or so away from the beach itself.

Still, even as tourist season begins to blossom once more into a bouquet of folding chairs, beach towels, giant umbrellas, shouting children, remarkably loud automotive entertainment systems, seasonal hedonists, and so forth, a man with sufficient patience, and properly night-owlish tendencies, can still find solace. Which is why I found myself sitting on the beach last weekend, at some unheard of hour in the deep, dark AM limbo, smoking a pipe and watching the amber-hued lightning of a distant storm dancing through clouds far over the ocean. It only goes to show that, if you're willing to look hard enough, you can find a quiet moment to be left the hell alone and allow your frontal lobe to put its proverbial feet up just about anywhere.

In order that you are well-prepared when the opportunity arises, today we present quite an extensive update. There are high-grades from both Peter Heeschen and Hiroyuki Tokutomi , fresh pipes from Peterson, Neerup, and Stanwell, an impressive selection of Winslow, Ashton, Randy Wiley, and L'Anatra briars, plus two-dozen meerschaums from IMP. There are a full ninety-two estate pipes for your perusal. Last, but certainly not least, there is the cornucopia of thirty-odd blends being newly introduced to Smokingpipes.com from Hearth & Home.

Eric Squires: Copywriter