Also - a link to the Virtual Smoking Lounge where I bought the pipe. This was my first order and I'm happy to say everything was top notch from beginning to end.

I learned about his great reputation on YouTube. A lot of the pipe smokers there do business with him.

When I contacted Dave about some pipes, he helpfully responded immediately - that day.

He's on the Mainland United States somewhere (Michigan I think) and I'm in Hawaii. I pulled the trigger received the shipping email Thursday night. Monday afternoon the pipe was filled with some Artisan's Blend in my happy kisser.

The pipe was in perfect condition - he did a hell of a nice job carefully packing it and threw in a nice little gift.

I am a very happy customer and plan to do business with him again.

Buying pipes online can be daunting. Here are some ideas on how to reduce a lot of the unknowns to make purchasing a pipe online more comfortable.

Anyway, I hope you'll take a few minutes to read the article - here's the teaser:

"The internet is rapidly evolving and pipe smokers can keep up. There is no need not to. With the advances and innovations in technology and Web2.0, not only are the ways pipe smokers can interact, share, and discuss smoking pipe tobacco improving, they are becoming easier. Here are several ways pipe smokers can enhance their pipe smoking hobby by taking advantage of better ways to interact with other pipe smokers faster, easier, and more efficiently."

This is something I'll be spending a lot of time on in the near future - working to get pipe smokers motivated and informed so they'll take advantage of some of the Web 2.0 type services out there that will enhance our hobby and pipe smoking community. Smoking pipe tobacco with a group of other pipe smokers in person is a dwindling opportunity. This Web 2.0 stuff is the next best thing.

Technorati Profile

What is Twitter?

If you haven't heard of Twitter a brief explanation is in order. Twitter allows us to communicate with short little messages (140 characters or less) called “tweets.” It is different from an instant messenger service in that a person's history of tweets are similar to posts on a blog in that they are available for anyone to browse to if the author has allowed them to be public.

This means you could go to my Twitter page, even if you only began following me today, and have a look at what I've been up to.

When you follow someone on Twitter their tweets show up for you. You decide where they show up. You have have them sent to your instant messenger, use a desktop application like “twhirl” (my choice), have them sent to your mobile phone, or just use Twitter's web page.

You can also subscribe to individual users with an RSS feed reader. Twitter lets you communicate with others instantly without being intrusive because every Twitter user has complete control over when, how, and from whom they receive updates.

What do you say?

This is where I believe they come in really handy for pipe smokers! Traditionally the answer is “what are you doing now?” For pipe smokers, change that to include “what are you smoking now?” If you have a blog about pipe smoking, you can use it to announce new posts to your friends. (Friends are also called followers on Twitter.)

Did you just see a great deal on an estate pipe listed on Ebay that other pipe collectors might be interested in? Tweet it. There are even plug-ins for web browsers that allow you to share a page like this with the click of one button. Use your imagination.

What are you waiting for?

Twitter is absolutely free. The best way to understand Twitter is giving it a try. I have to admit, when I was new to using Twitter it made no sense to me. At some point something clicked and now I won't be without it. But I need my fellow pipe smokers there with me!

Start using Twitter by creating your own free Twitter account and following me – I'll be sure to follow you back. I have an account set up just for communicating with other pipe smokers, but don't think you can only talk about pipe smoking. Update about anything. Really! Its all good.

Twitter Tools

To make the most of Twitter, you'll want to take advantage of a few tools that will help you use Twitter during the flow of whatever else you are doing.

I think twhirl is a must. It is a small program that allows you to monitor your Twitter friends' traffic.

Discussing pipe smoking with a new friend on twhirl

There are also other plug-ins that you can use with your web browser that accomplish the same thing but I've had the best luck with twhirl and is works on all operating systems.

If you are interested in giving Twitter a try, but need help, by all means please contact me. I'm happy to help however I can.