From our back yards to the front lines, our troops are there to protect and serve. Today we take a moment to think of you and honor you. Thank you for all that you do.

Last week, I experienced the privilege of counting pipes for our quarterly inventory. Yes, Adam took the day off while we newer recruits did busy work. But I felt very excited to have been selected to assist in counting pipes. Looking at our pipes each day on-line is one thing, but handling a pipe … holding it in your hands to appreciate the beauty is something else altogether. I am quite often still in awe.

Every day here is a celebration. But this week is special for me because it’s my 1 year anniversary with our company. After 18 months of being unemployed, I was hired to work here in customer service. Although I had years of experience in customer service, I had little-to-no knowledge of pipes, tobacco and smoking accessories. Being a cigarette smoker, I was intrigued by what I saw here. But I had no idea that this would turn into a really fantastic job! Yes, I’m extremely happy to be here!

Over the past year, I have learned many things. I’ve read a few books, attended training classes, sniffed tobacco, rubbed out tobacco, watched others demonstrate the art of smoking tobacco in a pipe and smoked a pipe myself, a few times. Okay, the first time I ate the smoke and felt it in my stomach for about 18 hours. But I am learning. Last week, Ted gave a few of us our very own starter-pipe. And in our Smoking 101 class we packed our bowls, watched Ted demonstrate lighting his pipe and then we all lit up! We tried a straight Virginia tobacco. I was so excited - I was shaking in my boots. Okay, maybe dancing in my boots. After all that I have learned, I now feel ready to try smoking different tobaccos to experience the pleasure of pipe smoking. Wish me well!

In closing I’d like to thank my colleagues for all the training and inspiration they have shared with me. Mark celebrated 2 years with our company in January and Leila is moving beyond 90 days next week. I am surrounded by dedicated people doing a terrific job to provide quality products and service to our customers. We each have our strengths and weaknesses, but we all reach out to go above and beyond in what we do. And our team efforts help us to reach our goal. I’d also like to thank our customers for your continued history with our company. Without you, we would not be here. Thanks for sharing your comments, ideas and knowledge with us. And we look forward to serving your future needs and wishes.

Happy smoking everyone!

Okay, there are 9 days until Christmas and I haven’t even started my shopping! No worries, that’s normal for me. I like to wait until the last week to shop. I’ll jot down my list at the last possible moment and then have a huge breakfast before venturing out to do it all in one day. Yes, one day!

Here at Smokingpipes.com we’ve been processing orders for holiday shoppers for about two weeks now. Many people are taking advantage of our holiday specials. If you haven’t noticed we are offering many great deals for this special time of year. For instance, if you purchase a Peterson pipe, you get a tin of Peterson tobacco for free! How great is that? Or if you purchase a new Dunhill, Castello or Becker pipe, you get a copy of In Search of Pipe Dreams by Rick Newcombe for free! And be sure to check out our banner advertisement at the top of our home page to see our daily 21 Days of Christmas Sale. Each day we are offering a different product at a reduced price. Sykes is having a blast with this one, as he is the only one who knows what is going up and when it will be posted on each day. Crazy, but fun, huh?

And check out what showed up in our receiving area last week. How would you like to have this trunk of cigars under your Christmas tree? I just had to snap a picture of it to share with you.

Today, I thought I would offer a few tips for navigating around on our site. For example, if you put the word gift in our search engine you will get a list of products that contain that word. Search results bring up our Cornell & Diehl Sampler Packs, Gift Sets that have lots of goodies inside and include a tin of Aromatic, English or Virginia tobacco. You will also see our Collegiate Starter Kit, a Lampe Berger Gift Set and quite a few cigar gift sets; some even include an ashtray. And one actually comes with golf balls! How sweet is that? Then put in the word sample. This will show you even more cigars. One comes with a humidor and one even comes with a beautiful torch lighter! I snapped a picture of this one. Talk about a fantastic deal!

If you’re considering a pipe as a gift, you may want to check out our How To Choose Gifts For A Pipe Smoker and How To Select The 'Right' Pipe. Then move on to our PIPE LOCATOR tool. It’s on the right just above our listing for Fresh Pipes. This tool will allow you to select specific criteria about the pipe you are looking for. You can search by Brand, Finish, Shape, Price and more. Key factors to remember are straight versus bent and filtered or unfiltered. You may also have a budget and this tool will narrow the search for you and perhaps save you hours at the computer.

We have many items that are perfect for stuffing in a stocking for your special someone. We have pipe tampers, pipe tools, pipe stands, cleaning supplies, candles, lamps and lamp oil. We have cigars, cigar cutters, humidifiers and humidors. Okay, think really big stocking for the humidor! We have all kinds of tobacco and all kinds of pipes. Photographed here: See the wonderful display that Susan helped me set up?

If you’re looking to see what’s on sale, just look to the right and click on ‘Specials’. If you’re looking for what posted on our latest update, click on ‘Fresh Pipes’ or ‘Other Arrivals’. These are all key tools to assist you when browsing our site.

Please remember to check our shipping schedule posted for the coming holidays. You will find this on the banner advertisement posted on our home page. The clock is ticking and we better get busy, myself included.

Okay, I better get this wrapped up. (Wow, that made me think of something else I have yet to do – wrap the gifts that I have yet to buy.)

In closing, we hope that your shopping experience with us is always a pleasant one. We appreciate your business. And we wish you all a safe and happy holiday season. May your heart be filled with love and good cheer … today, tomorrow and in the New Year!

So… I’m a little hesitant to put this out there. I fear having banana peels or rotten tomatoes thrown my way. At the same time it’s only fair to extend a (at least) modicum of credit to those of you who know and love Smokingpipes.com and especially, if only because you’re reading this, to those who follow our blog. Thus it is with no small amount of trepidation that I announce an itsy-bitsy price hike on Dunhill tobaccos.

BUT WAIT! A preface, please.

Once upon a time you couldn’t buy Dunhill tobacco in the United States for like three years. Then, suddenly last week, you could (as far as we’re concerned out here in Little River, South Carolina). We were excited. We wanted you to have it. We reduced the price. Then we launched these bad boys without considering how the consumer might feel when we were forced to adjust the price tag back to its proper retail value.

On the one hand we thought our inventory of 4,500 tins might have lasted for more than 5 days which would have pushed this inevitable price adjustment somewhere down the road. On the other hand we were so busy trying to get these tins out to you that we hadn’t really thought much on prefacing the issue. Only now, as we sit here on our second installment of tins do we begin to wonder if we’re about to make some folks upset. If you are one of those folks, then we apologize.

NEVERTHELESS! This is only the bad news. The good news is we’ve more Dunhill. Kind of promising isn’t it? And really now, our price on Dunhill tobacco is still better than most (if not every single one) of our competitors. I’m just saying.

In 1919, United States President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed November 11th as a holiday, Armistice Day. In 1938 Armistice Day became a legal holiday. And in 1954 Congress amended the name, replacing Armistice with Veterans, and it has been know as Veterans Day since.

When I brought up the idea of posting a blog entry on Veterans Day at our managers meeting, everyone thought it was a good idea. And so over the past two weeks or so I have been thinking on what to write about. My thoughts came clear yesterday morning. I won’t keep you long, but I thought it important to recognize this day.

I don’t remember the date or the name. I just remember standing at attention in the hot South Carolina sun for a retirement and retreat ceremony at Shaw Air Force Base. We were honoring a career officer who was retiring after 33 years of service. Thirty-three years, I thought … now that’s dedication.

As the Master of Ceremonies read word after word about this decorated officer, I began to sweat. And later as the sounds of retreat played and the flag was lowered, I began to cry. There’s nothing quite like standing in formation, at attention, with silent tears streaming down your face in the hot setting sun. It was a moving experience for me that day.

So today we say ‘thank you’ to our U.S. military veterans. Thank you for your time in service. Thank you for your dedication, your sacrifices and your service for our country. Today we remember you. Today we honor you.

‘Freedom is not free’, I say. Blood, sweat and tears have been shed for our freedom. So if you know a veteran, call them up today. Shake their hand. Sit and talk for a while. And you will hear the voice of dedication, sacrifice and service.

To all the men and women who have served …

Thank you.

We’ve got bats nesting over our bulletin board. And I think we’ve gone through a hundred or more of those miniature candy bars over the past two weeks. But that’s okay. I just keep filling up the candy bowl. This week we’ll be hearing that phrase ‘Trick or Treat’ and stepping into the end-of-year holiday season. With that thought in mind, we’ll be offering you, our customers, lots of treats this year. So be sure to watch for special announcements coming up over the next few weeks.

As I wandered through our retail store last week, gathering ideas and items to photograph, my eyes were drawn to the two life-sized wooden Indians we have standing in one of our display windows. Then I stepped out the front door and stole a kiss. Ever wonder why there’s usually a wooden Indian outside your local tobacco shop? Take a step back in history and imagine a Native American Indian reaching out to offer his pipe to the foreign speaking explorer.

Then take a walk through history to the first Thanksgiving feast shared between the Native American Indians and the pilgrims. Gifts were exchanged, food was shared and probably pipes were passed around. And so the wooden Indian has become a symbol that lets one know that tobacco is sold inside or there is a tobacconist on-site. As early as the seventeenth century, European tobacconists used figures of American Indians to advertise their shops. These figures arrived in the Americas in the late eighteenth century. It’s an honorable post to stand. I hope they last forever. And this year as we give thanks, let’s not forget the gift of tobacco.

So write out your list, check it twice and get your mouse ready to shop, shop, shop! Stay tuned for part 2 in the coming weeks.