"There are a lot of great pipes out there," commented Vernon Vig a few months ago. We had been chatting about his random pipe-smoking episode with Walter Cronkite in the '70s in New York City, but the conversation had drifted to the greater world of pipes, as it often did with Vernon. "A lot of great people are waiting to connect with them and each other. Pipe clubs and shows bring it all together."

Pipe shows were Vernon's specialty. He was the founder and past president of the United Pipe Clubs of America (UPCA) and a past president of the New York Pipe Club. Vernon passed away on February 13, and we are all the beneficiaries of his steady guiding hand and commitment to the pipe community.

Vernon was a Doctor of Pipes and a member of the Confrérie des Maîtres Pipiers de Saint-Claude, but his awards, citations, diplomas, and acknowledgments fade into obscurity when compared to his character, integrity, and resolve. Virtually everyone who has attended pipe shows since the 1970s knew Vernon. He wasn't ostentatious; he was quiet and reserved but always interested in the collecting experiences and interests of others, and he loved talking about pipes wherever he was.

As an attorney licensed in both France and the U.S. who traveled extensively, especially to Europe, he had lots of opportunities. In a Pipesmagazine Radio Show interview with Brian Levine, he talked about taking the Concorde, enjoying some breakfast and a pipe, and landing in New York before he left Paris, thanks to time zones, just as his pipe was finishing.

He took frequent business trips and found himself visiting many cities in Europe and South America, including London, Stuttgart, Paris, Copenhagen, Oslo, Buenos Aires, and Saint Claude, and he visited every pipe shop he could find in every city he visited, getting to know the proprietors and the tobacco and pipes that they maintained. Sometimes when he found pipes that were especially good value, he would buy two or three dozen and bring them back to New York shops, selling them at his cost. "I wasn't looking to make a profit," he said. "I just thought more people should know about them."

Living in Manhattan, he often visited the many shops that have been there from the '60s onward. Noted pipe collector and Doctor of Pipes Rich Esserman, also a resident, says that when he visited shops, he often found Vernon already there, quietly smoking and enjoying the atmosphere. "He just loved pipes," says Rich. "But I wouldn't call him a collector, even though he had thousands of pipes. He was never looking for a specific shape to round out a collection or a particular finish in a shape he was interested in. He just bought what he liked."

Rich says that the Wilke pipe shop was a regular stop for Vernon. "He used to go into Wilke's and buy Natural Billiards, and he found, unbelievably, the only Straight-Grain-Stamped Wilke pipe I've ever seen. He could sure find some unusual and impressive pipes."

The shape Vernon most often found himself pursuing is the Dunhill 3103 straight Billiard and permutations from other manufacturers. But he didn't let that limit his interests. "I still have this pipe acquisition disease," he said last fall. "I actually ordered two pipes yesterday from Chacom in France. Several years ago, Antoine Grenard gave me two old Algerian Briars, the Chacom Royal brand. And they have been just fabulous smokers for years. I smoke these things more than Dunhills or whatever. And so yesterday, I saw that they had come out with some newer ones like that Algerian, and I ordered two of them. We'll see. I shouldn't be doing this. I tell my wife I'm not going to buy any more pipes. But I like that Algerian briar, especially in French pipes. I think it's a little softer, it colors up nicely, and it's lighter. They're just wonderful."

While many collectors find themselves investing in more expensive pipes as their experience grows, Vernon was different. "I've gone in the other direction, regressing to my youth or something; I've gotten rid of a lot of my more expensive pipes and smoke the simpler, cheaper ones more. And I enjoy them."

Vernon was no pipe snob. His 60+ years of smoking experience made him as enthusiastic about $50 pipes as he was about his Dunhills. Having moved to France for several years in 1963, French pipes became a passion for him, and when he visited Saint-Claude, he became even more infatuated, meeting all of the pipe makers and learning more about their pipes and philosophies.

In the late '90s, he attended the World Cup Smoking Contest held by the International Committee of Pipe Clubs (ICPC), and it was such fun that he wanted his fellow pipe smokers in the U.S. to have the opportunity to participate. Only pipe clubs affiliated with the ICPC could be invited, so he came back home and started the UPCA to make that happen.

With Vernon's guidance as president, the organization started promoting pipe clubs and helping new clubs get started, and in 2003, the U.S. sent its first official contingent to the international smoking contest, though Vernon and collector Bob Page had received a special invitation to participate in 2000. The UPCA has followed up every year since 2003. With UPCA's help, more clubs began forming in the U.S. The UPCA website now lists 30 affiliated clubs in the U.S. They represent a lot of smokers who have found that clubs contribute to their enjoyment of the hobby.

Vernon Vig dedicated much of his life to the advancement of pipe smoking, and his motivation was to see as many people as wanted to share in the unique experience that pipe smokers recognize. He loved his pipes, and he enjoyed it when other people loved their pipes as he did.

As Vernon's health began to fail last year, his only complaint was that he was unable to travel to the smoking contests and pipe shows that he loved. "I wish I were able to travel. The Confrerie is meeting on June 1 in Saint-Claude, and there are a number of Americans being admitted. That's such a great event. It would be fun to see that. And the Europeans are now making their shows more like American shows. European shows didn't used to have a lot of pipes on display. It was more social, but things are different now. It would be great to attend the ones coming up in Italy, Germany, and France."

Although Vernon had a remarkable career as an international attorney, he rarely mentioned it. His conversational interests revolved around pipes. We in the pipe community will remember him with affection and gratitude for his many decades promoting the pipe-smoking way of life and being a role model for pipe smokers everywhere.

Bibliography

• Levine, Brian. Pipes Magazine Radio Show, Episode 243 (May 9, 2017)
• Page, Robert. "Innocents Abroad: American Invde Europipe 200, the European Pipe-Smoking Championship," (Pipes and tobaccos magazine, Summer 2001)