Oh, yes! One month left. That’s right. You do know what I’m talking about, right?

The Chicago Pipe Show, of course!

For those of you who have never been to a Chicago Pipe Show — oh, wait, that’s me! — the show is put on by the Chicagoland Pipe Collectors Club. According to its website, the club “started in 1993 with a small group of pipe smokers meeting at local lounges and restaurants for companionship and trading information and ideas about the hobby of pipe collecting. Over time we established meeting venues where we could display our pipes and other smoking items and buy, sell and swap from each other. Oh, and smoke together for an evening. Our first ‘Chicago Show’ was held in 1996 and has steadily grown to one of the largest hobby shows of it’s type in the world.”

In the sixteen years since the start of the Chicago Pipe Show, it has made an incredible name for itself, featuring over 300 different exhibitor tables, lots of different events and speakers, and one of the most incredible assembly of pipes in one place in the entire world. If you can dream it, it is either there or has not been invented yet. (If it is the latter, I would just contact Stephen Downie and he can make it happen!) Read more