Pipe Clubs

Pipe clubs are voluntary communities where pipe smokers and collectors gather at regular intervals. Most are founded at the scale of a city or region, and run on a written charter with an elected leadership. Above the local clubs sit national federations, and above those, an international coordinating body; this three-tier structure forms the community's present-day organised face. For the historical predecessors of these clubs, see the History of Pipe Clubs entry.

How a Local Club Works

A typical club meets once or twice a month. The usual content of meetings is blend tasting, examining pipes and stamps, a talk on history or collecting, and swapping experience. Membership ranges from a few dozen to a few hundred. Founded on 23 February 1970, the Pipe Club of London is an early example in that most of the forty-five members who attended its founding meeting had ties to the pipe and tobacco trade; its first chairman was Rupert Davies, the actor who played Maigret on the BBC. The club was originally founded under the umbrella of the Pipe Club of Great Britain, and continued to operate independently after that umbrella organisation dissolved at the end of 1978.

Some clubs turn into show organisers over time. The Chicagoland Pipe Collectors Club, formed from the merger of two separate groups on Chicago's north and south sides in the late 1980s and registered as a nonprofit in 1995, held its first show in 1996. This event's history is covered in the Frank Burla entry. In North America, a group founded in 1993 under the name Ohio Pipe Collectors took the name North American Society of Pipe Collectors in 1997, once its membership had spread to twenty-eight states and Canada.

Federations and the International Body

At the national level, clubs unite in federations. In the United Kingdom this role is filled by the UK Federation of Pipe Clubs, and in the United States by the United Pipe Clubs of America; federations help new clubs get established, coordinate calendars, and organise national championships. Britain's "Pipe Smoker of the Year" title, awarded since 1965, was ended in 2004, on the grounds of regulations banning tobacco advertising; the title was awarded once more in 2014 by the UK Federation of Pipe Clubs, at the national slow-smoking championship held in Newark. That year's title did not go to a celebrity but to the federation's outgoing chairman, in recognition of his role in reviving the national championship.

The international umbrella is CIPC (Comité International des Pipe Clubs), a name that can be rendered into English as the International Committee of Pipe Clubs. The committee was founded in 1973 in Saint-Claude, France's briar pipe centre, as the joint organisation of national club federations. Its purpose is to bring clubs together, preserve the community's traditions, and apply shared rules in competitions. Member countries include established communities such as Italy's Accademia della Pipa circle.

Slow-Smoking Championships

The most visible activity of club culture is the slow-smoking competition. The first European championship was held in 1969, and the first world championship in 1971; both took place in Arona, Italy. Under CIPC rules, every competitor uses the same amount of tobacco, a comparable pipe, and the same type of tamper: three grams of tobacco are packed into the bowl, only two matches are given for lighting, and the goal is to keep the pipe burning as long as possible without relighting. CIPC holds an international competition each year in one of its member countries; within this calendar, the world championship, following a decision taken in 1982, has been held every four years, while the club-team world cup began in 1985. Times are measured in hours; Italian pipe maker Claudio Cavicchi's result at a world championship, exceeding three hours and nine minutes, is counted among the longest known times.