The Cottom's Choice Pipes are here! Ok, so Paul Revere I'm not but I can't tell you how excited I am that the Cottom's Choice pipes are finally in our store and ready to go on sale this Sunday, July 1st, 2007.

For those of you not in the know, Tom Cottom and I went to Turkey earlier this year on a buying trip and to meet with carvers. This being Tom's first trip to Turkey, he was suitably moved and impressed with the amount of work that goes into making each of these as well as the skill of the craftsmen involved. 

He was inspired to commission a limited edition run of pipes, numbering only fifty for the 2007 year, that would be suitable for a daily smoker but also one that was elegant enough for refined company. He worked with the carvers in our workshop to come up a lightweight, and yet sturdy pipe that was similar in design to one of his favorites, the Dunhill 197.

This resulted in a traditional billiard-shaped pipe with a long, thin shank that is capped with a gold-plated band connected to a straight black stem. Each hand-carved pipes is packaged in individually fitted cases with a snappy burgundy leather finish. 40 of the run of 50 are smooth while the remaining 10 are hand rusticated. Each pipe bears the legend "Cottom's Choice 2007" on the left side of the shank and "Limited xx/50" on the right side. The results, as you can imagine, are nothing short of spectacular.

One of Tom's other requirements was that we keep the price down as close to $100 as we could. He really wanted this to become a treasured keepsake, and perhaps an entry point into meerschaum for loyal Tobacco Barn customers who have, to date, not smoked anything but a briar pipe. By limiting distribution of this pipe to our retail store and our website, we can bypass the distributor and wholesaler overhead and deal direct with our most treasured, repeat customers.

I can't wait to smoke mine (since I get my mitts on them before Sunday's sale date) but unfortunately it is about 2 hours away being photographed (in fact, that is my baby there in the picture at upper right). But, I'm hopefully I'll be able to light that bad boy up on Friday afternoon and settle back for a well-deserved first smoke. The question now is what tobacco to celebrate with. Anyone have any suggestions?

Don't forget to come either by the store or the website on Sunday to get yours before they are all gone!

Oh yeah, I almost forgot... James Sunderland, one of our regulars and an up and coming briar pipe carver suggested that we should hold a Pipe Coloring Contest for buyers of the CC2007 pipes to enter. Great idea James! So, anyone who buys a Cottom's Choice pipe is now eligible to enter our pipe coloring contest with the chance to win a free Cottom's Choice (either #49 or #50) pipe while second and third place finishers will receive gift certificates for the store or the website. You can get all the rules on the contest here.