Robin pipe club

Sunday the 3rd of August

2008-08-04T19:08:00.000-07:00

Well after a rather hot afternoon of playing petanque and being beer garden season we finished our last game of the day early to head off to Mitsukoshi dept store where they have a rooftop beer garden which is all you can drink & eat from 5.30pm until 9pm. It turned out to be too hot for Mitsukoshi to hold their beer garden outside and they were worried it might also rain as well. After confirming with the staff that we could smoke inside, we settled down on a large table close to the beer machine's & food. Minagawa san had some nice Cuban cigar's which we enjoyed throughout the afternoon and in between smoking our pipes we had a few more cigars ( Thanks Minagawa san ) . Minagawa san also had a new pipe tobacco called " Orange Dream " which was rather sweet but it was a rather nice smoke. Ken also had two of his fantastic new pipes to show us which he had just finished making, as usual his work was outstanding. After the beer garden closed around 9pm I departed & headed for home and the other's carried on to our regular spot at Robin Irish pub to partake in a few more beers & pipes.

Don Speden
Niigata City Pipe club

July the 6th meeting

2008-07-07T17:47:00.000-07:00

Well after a hot day of petanque it was rather nice to relax at Robin Irish pub with a few pints and a relaxing pipe or two. There were only 3 of us there Ken, Minagawa san & I but we spent several hours chatting drinking and of course smoking. Ken now has an agent in the US which is called Smokers Haven who sells his pies which is fantastic news and he had one of his new pipes at Robin with him plus a new custom made black billard pie with an ivory band that Minagawa san had ordered which was very nice. Pictured above is a photo of kens new pipe that he had just made.

June the 1st meet

2008-06-01T20:27:00.000-07:00

Well after a afternoon of Petanque & a dinner party Minagawa san & I headed to Robin for a pipe & pint. Upon arriving we found Ken sitting waiting for us and he proceeded to show us his latest pipes that he had made. One was a fantastic billiard shape with Ken's trademark colored stem plus this pipe had a nice ivory band as well, it was a custom order for a new member of our pipe club. The other pipe is kens first attempt at using some bamboo for a pipe stem extension and to make the bamboo look different he hand colored the bamboo using a Japanese laquer ware technique. As you can see from the above photo both pipes are fantastic.

May pipe club meeting

2008-05-06T22:57:00.000-07:00

Well after some of us had had a hot day playing Petanque outside at Nishi ohata park there was nothing better than a pint or two and some fine tobacco. Ken had just finished a fantastic free hand cavalier pipe with a deer horn stem fitting and matching tamper. This pipe was a custom order for Ishikawa san one of our new members who was very pleased with his new pipe and started smoking it that evening. Ken's outstanding craftsmanship has to be seen to be believed and this new pipe was no exception as the overall design of the pipe is very unique and well balanced. We all enjoyed some of Ishiwaki san's vast array of pipe tobacco and as usual the hours past by very quickly. Our next pipe club meet will be on the 8th of June. Pictured above is Ken & Ishiwaki san enjoying their pipes and a close up of Ishiwaki sans new pipe.

Happy smoking
Don

April pipe club meeting

2008-04-06T18:35:00.000-07:00

Well after a break of a month we had another pipe club gathering at Robin where 8 people showed up, which is the largest crowd we have had at pipe club for quite some time. Among the pipe smokers was our new member Ishikawa san and a couple of his friends. Ishikawa sans pipe collection seems to have grown with some nice new additions such a a new Peterson pipe and one of Kens hand made pipes. He also brought along some fantastic tobacco that we hadn't tried before such as " Devils Holiday " made by Dan pipes a fantastic aromatic tobacco. Minagawa san made the journey from Guma for Petanque in the afternoon and Pipe club in the evening and offered us all some fantastic Cuban cigars to try. So on behalf of everyone at Pipe club Minagawa san I'd like to say thank you for providing us with the chance to smoke some nice Cuban cigars. Also Minagawa san purchased my semi bent apple pipe I made some time ago so I'm glad it's gone to a good home. Also Ken had one of his new pipes he had just made which was a super fine free style blowfish shape it was very beautiful and lighter than my pipe tamper, to see more of ken's work please visit his home page at Kenpipes.com
Our next pipe club meeting will be 4th of May so if you're free please come along. Pictured above a few photos taken at Robin last night.

Cheers Don
Robin Pipe club

Feb Pipe club meeting

2008-02-04T17:15:00.000-08:00

After a long break from Robin due to people being busy and bad weather a few of us met at Robin on the 3rd for a few pints and a smoke or two. Ken had recently ordered some fantastic Italian Briar wood and he brought along three new pipes which were made using his new stock of Briar. Pictured above are two of Ken's new pipes which were stunning , his original designs and craftsmanship are outstanding if you want to see more of his work check out his new up dated website at kenpipes.com

The other photo's on this posting show myself with Ishikawa san a new pipe smoker who joined our group for the 1st time on Sunday and Ken & I . The next pipe club gathering will be on the 2nd of March.

Ken Pipes new website

2007-12-17T18:51:00.000-08:00

Hi Everybody

As we didn't have pipe club at Robin for Dec I thought I'd tell you about Ken's new website. He has just opened a new website at www.kenpipes.com/ and on his new site which is in Japanese & English you can see all the pipes he has for sale and fantastic photo's of his work. Pictured above is a photo taken of one of Ken's pipes that's currently for sale . If you have time please check out his website and see what he has for sale.

Don

Robin Pipe Club

Nov pipe club meeting

2007-11-04T21:29:00.000-08:00

Well as most of the Pipe club members are also in the Petanque club we were rather tired after our day of petanque & drinking etc. But it was nice to relax at Robin with a pipe & Minagawa san also had some nice Cuban cigars for us as well which made a very pleasant evening. Ken had been busy as usual and had brought along a fantastic large horn shaped pipe with outstanding grain and a beautiful hand colored stem. He really has perfected the art of making these hand colored stems as they really complement the pipes he makes. Pictured above is the pipe in question showing it's fantastic grain.

Oct Pipe club

2007-10-09T17:36:00.000-07:00

Well after a busy day of Petanque ( most pipe club members are also members of Niigata City Petanque club ) it was nice to get to Robin and have a meal and a few pints of Guinness. By the time I had arrived Ken & Minagawa san were already there smoking and enjoying a drink. Robin was packed and very busy due to Monday being a public holiday. Ken had brought 3 of his new pipes to show us and as usual they were fantastic. He was also smoking a test pipe that we managed to sell to one of the Robin patrons who took an interest in our pipes. Before we knew it the chap had asked his wife for 15000 yen and then he was the proud owner of one of Kens pipes. I hope we get to see him at our monthly pipe gatherings in the future.

Sept pipe club at Robin Irish Pub

2007-09-04T00:29:00.000-07:00

After taking a break from our monthly gatherings at Robin due to their 3 year anniversary party being held elsewhere and the Niigata fireworks display. We were back at Robin on the 2nd of Sept to smoke pipes & cigars ( thanks Minagawa san for the cigars ) and it seems now that most of the regulars to pipe club and also members of Niigata City Petanque club which also meets on the same day. So it's a nice way to relax after petanque , smoking a pipe and drinking some real ale. Ken has been busy as usual and had two pipes with him. One of them was a nice modern billiard shape which Ken had rusticated with some fine hand carving and the other was an oil cured test pipe which he has been smoking. Pictured above are the two new pipes which Ken had made. Also we were very lucky to have some fantastic shop blended pipe tobacco from Colorado which a friend had brought back for me from his recent trip back home.

August pipe club

2007-08-06T20:45:00.000-07:00

Well as it was the weekend of Niigata festival we decided to hold our pipe meeting at Yasuragi Tei along the banks of the river as that is were thousands of locals gather to view Niigata's fireworks. Some staff from my English school were very kind and had reserved a great spot close to bridge. It was very hot & humid outside but after a few beers it didn't seem so bad. Pictured above is Ken & I at the river side enjoying a pipe

Kens new pipes

2007-07-26T21:08:00.000-07:00

Apart from checking out Kens new lathe I also saw some of the new shapes Ken has been making recently. His designs are very unique and he is now trying out some new techniques for oil curing briar but that's still in the experimentation stages. He has also mastered the art of hand colored stems ( similar to the famous pipe maker J T Cooke who Ken had the chance to met last year ) .
If you want to see more of his work check out his work on the Pipedo website at

http://www.pipedo.com/pipes/sakurai.html

A visit to Ken's

2007-07-26T20:55:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week I had a phone call from Ken and he told me he had just purchased a large metal lathe for pipe making, so as I had a day off on the Thurs 26th I decided to take at cycle out to Ogikawa to visit ken and to check out his new lathe. Upon arriving at ken's we went upstairs to his large workshop where I saw his new metal lathe. It is fantastic and just what every pipe maker dreams of owning as with a metal lathe you can do so many jobs from drill bowls, turning stems & tapering bowls ( such as the bulldog pipe shape etc ) . He was lucky to find this lathe at a very good price on yahoo auctions and it was so heavy it took 5 men and a crane to get it into Kens 2nd floor workshop and onto the custom bench Ken had made for it. I'm sure when ken gets it set up he'll be making even more pipes than before. Pictured above is a photo of Ken with his new lathe

July 1st meeting

2007-07-02T21:24:00.000-07:00

Well as it was Robins 3 year anniversary party Minagawa , Ken & I went to Goia Mia restaurant as that's where the party was held. It was an all you can eat & drink party with 4 live bands, Irish, Rock, Gospel etc. Sanako the owner of Robin dressed up as Cindy Lauper and sang " Girls just want to have fun " and there was also a rock band dressed up as " KISS " that were very good. It wasn't the best place for a pipe club meeting as the music was quite loud , but it was great fun. Ken had brought with him two of his new pipes which had just been finished and looked stunning with nice straight grains running through them. We'll be back at Robin for our next pipe club meet on August 5th. Pictured above are a couple of photos taken at Robins 3 year anniversary party

Happy Smoking

June Pipe club

2007-06-03T23:20:00.000-07:00

Well last night 4 of us gathered at Robin to have a pipe or two and chat, plus we like their beer so that's another good reason to go. Ken brought along some photos of his latest work , now he's up to pipe number 41 and his designs just keep getting better, he had already shipped his latest work of to Pipedo ( The store which sells his work ) so we were unable to see them first hand but judging from the photos they are very nice indeed so I'm sure they'll sell quickly once their photos are put online. Also Robin is celebrating their 3rd anniversary next month, so next mouths pipe club will be held at Gioia Mia near Furumachi as Robin is hosting their party there. The doors open at 17.00 and the party starts at 17.30 and it costs 3900 yen for two hours of eating and drinking plus there will be 4 live bands preforming as well. The above photo was taken at Robin last night.

May Pipe club at Morgenrot

2007-05-08T01:06:00.000-07:00

This months Pipe club was held at Morgenrot a German bar located in Furumachi as Robin was closed due to Golden week. We had a small gathering manly due to the bad weather and different location but Minagawa San from Gumma came along and Kenta showed up as well. We enjoyed drinking some steins of German beer and smoked a few cigars as well as pipes. Minagawa San had his new pipe that he bought from Ken and he allowed me to smoke it and I was very impressed as because of Kens fantastic engineering the pipe smokes very easily. Pictured above is a photo taken at Morgenrot before Minagawa San & I headed off to have Ramen. Next months gathering will be held at Robin on the 3rd of June.

Happy smoking
Don

Kenichiro Sakurai's new work

2007-05-07T22:50:00.000-07:00

Over Golden week I cycled out to Ken's house to pay him a visit as I was interested in seeing what he had been up to recently. While smoking and having a few beers Ken showed me the new pipe stems that he has been making and fitting to his new pipes, they are hand crafted and he mixes the colors himself in the same fashion as J T Cooke ( the well known American Pipe maker ) . Also I was able to see his latest pipe that he had just finished, a fantastic large bent sitter with fantastic grain, Ken is always looking for new ways to improve his pipe making skills and I'm sure he'll be among the top high grade pipe makers in Japan in the near future.

April the 1st meeting

2007-04-01T17:47:00.000-07:00

Well four April fools showed up at Robin for our monthly gathering and Minagawa san brought along some fantastic engineering tool catalogs from work which had Ken & I drooling over the nice metal lathe that was on sale ( We both need to save more money I think) a metal lathe is probably the most expensive machine that a tobacco pipe maker needs as it can turn stems & drill Briar blocks with great accuracy as well. Also Ken had been experimenting with making his own stems from mixing up acrylic resin and had a sample for us to take a look at, it looks quite good as he had mixed a few colors together to give a marble effect but by all accounts mixing the acrylic resin gives off a strong smell which is not so pleasant. Ken also had a copy of the new Tsuge pipe catalog which shows all their products plus the other brands which they are agents for such as Peterson pipes and other well known european brands and tobacco & cigars etc. Also in this years Tsuge catalog they have a few pages devoted to the history of the Tsuge company in Japanese & English which was very interesting. Pictured above is Minagawa san checking out Tsuges new 2007 catalog. The next meeting date will be on the 6th of May

Furukawa Tobacco store

2007-03-08T19:26:00.000-08:00

I've just returned from a trip to Furukawa tobacco store which is located about a 20 minute walk down old Honcho. The Honcho shopping street is lined with fish markets, vegetable stores and clothing stores selling the latest in fashion for seniors. Just off the end of the old shopping street and around the corner is located the Furukawa cigarette shop which has a window display advertising the different kinds of pipe tobacco, cigars & cigarettes they sell although the choice of pipe tobacco is not so large the brands he does stock are well worth buying such as Borkum Riff & W O Larsen etc. This is the kind of small family run tobacco store that is slowly disappearing from streets of Japan as now most people prefer smoking a fast cigarette to a leisurely pipe and the cigarette smoker usually buys their pack of cigarette's from a vending machine or their local convenience store. After purchasing a tin of W. O. Larsen's selected blend no.80 Aromatic mixture at 1400 yen about NZ $ 17.35 and receiving a pack of matches featuring a memorial photo of J F Kennedy on the cover and a vinyl slip case of pipe cleaners as service we had a short chat about the current state of pipe smoking on his business. Mr Seiji Furukawa explained that around 20 years ago or more he had a regular client base of senior pipe smokers who would call in regularly to purchase their tobacco and pipe cleaners etc, but alas these days most of his customers are only out for the quick fix of a cigarette and are not interested in taking up the leisurely pipe. He also has a small counter top humidor stocking a small selection of fine imported cigars and I did see two kinds of snuff on sale as well. I don't have a favorite tobacco store in Niigata city as I like to shop around the different stores from time to time. As far as I know there are only six stores located within the city that stock pipe tobacco. Pictured above is a photo of Mr Seiji Furukawa inside his shop.

Kenichiro Sakurai Pipe maker

2007-03-06T19:18:00.000-08:00

In this post I'd like to introduce Ken Sakurai one of the early members of the Robin pipe club and a pipe maker. Ken started off pipe making in the usual way by using Tsuge pipe kits which were pre drilled and then after leaning more about pipe making started buying Briar blocks which gave him more freedom in designing his pipes. He now purchases briar blocks which he drills and turns his own stems from ebonite rod. Ken has a good eye for design and his pipes have improved rapidly since I have known him. Recently as I mentioned in a previous post that Ken has started selling his work through Pipedo and has sold several of his high quality pipes in the last few months. I'm sure as more collectors and pipe smokers become aware of Ken's work through Pipedo his sales will increase. His designs are often very unique and he takes full advantage of of the grain in all his work and does some fantastic contrast staining as well. The photo of the pipe in this post is of one of his new pipes that was only completed last Sunday and is sitting apon one of his new pipe bags which is made from Japanese washi paper as another of Ken's talents is making his own washi

March 4th meeting

2007-03-06T18:44:00.000-08:00

Well last Sunday we had 4 pipe smokers show up at Robin including myself plus one pipe smoker from Nagaoka who forgot it was a pipe club night and didn't have a pipe on him at all, I'm sure he'll remember next time as the aromatic blends we were smoking were driving him crazy with envy. Ken Sakurai a local pipe maker and club member brought along one of his new pipes he had just finished that day. It was a beautiful Danish inspired pipe with fantastic grain and I must say that Ken's standard of work has improved very quickly since I first met him almost 2 years ago. He now sells his work through http://www.pipedo.com/pipes/sakurai.html an online website in Japan and had recently come back from a small pipe show at the Pipedo store where he met the world renown American pipe maker and master of the sandblasted pipe J T Cooke. On Sunday night we also enjoyed some fine La Flor De Cano Habana cigars ( Thanks Minagawa san ) which were very pleasant to smoke. I was Lucky to have a nice silver mounted Peterson " Arran " to smoke that was lent to me by a close friend along with some great shop blended tobacco from Louisiana. Pictured above is a photo that was taken last Sun night

History of the pipe club

2007-03-06T18:05:00.000-08:00

Well since returning to Japan almost 3 years ago and getting back into pipe making again I thought it would be a good idea to start up a Pipe club in Niigata City. I had heard from the master at Taste Ekinan ( a well stocked tobacco store in Keiyaki dori ) that there used to be used to be a pipe club in Niigata several years ago and they held monthly gatherings at the Silver Hotel in Bandai but that club was no longer in existence. So with the help of one of my work mates and a fellow pipe smoker Mike Horan we set about making a small advertising poster which I then took around to the tobacco shops in Niigata City who stocked pipe tobacco. Since the club first start almost two years ago we have had members come and go and introduced the joys of pipe smoking to some novices as well. The club holds it's monthly gatherings at Robin an Irish pub located behind Niigata station just off Keiyaki dori where we have a table reserved for the first Sunday in every month. The club is very informal as there are no membership fees at all and everybody is welcome to join. If you have an interested in smoking tobacco pipes or cigars or even taking snuff please come along. Robin opens at 6pm and I'm usually there around that time and other members come and go throughout the evening. Robin's master is also a pipe smoker himself and Robin has a good range of beers on Tap such as the Irish pub favorites Guinness & Kilkenny and Tokyo Black ( a porter ) and an Ale from Yona Yona brewery in Karuizawa, Nagano and Sapporo beer. Apart from their tap beers they have a good selection of most drinks and a wide choice of single malt to choose from. The food is typical pub fare such as fish & chips, Guinness stew etc. So if you're a keen pipe smoker or want to know more about pipe smoking come along.