Old pipe shops from the 60's and 70's

[hemlocktree]

Man i miss a few of the special places and the Balkan 759 and Bengal slices and also the whole feel of the shps and their magnificent pips that were offered back then and the Preben Holm's awwww -- my youth....

soooo old i am...

[kxg]

The world keeps changing, eh? But there is a whole new world of tobaccos out there.

[IMpipedude]

I have to drive an hour to visit an old style pipe and tobacco shop. It's Paul's Pipe Shop in Flint, MI. A long drive, but worth the trip. Like traveling back in time.

[Kevin Keith]

I have to drive an hour to visit an old style pipe and tobacco shop. It's Paul's Pipe Shop in Flint, MI. A long drive, but worth the trip. Like traveling back in time.

A trip to Flint and Paul's is on my bucket list for sure.

[Fr_Tom]

I have to drive an hour to visit an old style pipe and tobacco shop. It's Paul's Pipe Shop in Flint, MI. A long drive, but worth the trip. Like traveling back in time.

+1

[CoreyR]

When I was a kid we used to go to "Cloverleaf Mall" on the line between Chesterfield county and the city of Richmond, Virginia. Cloverleaf was the first enclosed mall in the Richmond area and was VERY big deal back in the 1970's. It is gone now. Torn down and replaced by some crappy apartments and a Kroger.
Anyway, We used to go there on Sundays, after church and have lunch at the Piccadilly cafeteria and then "walk the mall." We were usually too broke to buy much but we could look! To a kid the K&B toy store was great, the pet store window always was worth a stop, there was this "womens fashion" place that had the most interesting front to it. It looked like...I dunno, a bungalow on a french island in the south pacific or something, complete with palm trees. Really neat.
...and then there was my favorite, the tobacco store. As I recall it was a "Tinderbox" and it always smelled so good. The pipes would be on display in the window. that aromatic smell of the blends which were popular back then permeated that whole section of the mall, and the guys who went in and out of there were always the best looking, best dressed MEN in the mall. Usually with the prettiest wives on their arm. A fact which did not escape a young boy.
The Tinderbox, indeed the entire mall, is gone now. I never got to go in it. Yet, it will always be that impossible standard to which I hold B&M tobacco shops up to. I understand that there are still some "TInderbox's" left, it was a chain after all. Should I ever come across one I am sure that I will be sadly disappointed for what can ever live up to the imagined delights of a kid?

[Fr_Tom]

When I was a kid we used to go to "Cloverleaf Mall" on the line between Chesterfield county and the city of Richmond, Virginia. Cloverleaf was the first enclosed mall in the Richmond area and was VERY big deal back in the 1970's. It is gone now. Torn down and replaced by some crappy apartments and a Kroger.
Anyway, We used to go there on Sundays, after church and have lunch at the Piccadilly cafeteria and then "walk the mall." We were usually too broke to buy much but we could look! To a kid the K&B toy store was great, the pet store window always was worth a stop, there was this "womens fashion" place that had the most interesting front to it. It looked like...I dunno, a bungalow on a french island in the south pacific or something, complete with palm trees. Really neat.
...and then there was my favorite, the tobacco store. As I recall it was a "Tinderbox" and it always smelled so good. The pipes would be on display in the window. that aromatic smell of the blends which were popular back then permeated that whole section of the mall, and the guys who went in and out of there were always the best looking, best dressed MEN in the mall. Usually with the prettiest wives on their arm. A fact which did not escape a young boy.
The Tinderbox, indeed the entire mall, is gone now. I never got to go in it. Yet, it will always be that impossible standard to which I hold B&M tobacco shops up to. I understand that there are still some "TInderbox's" left, it was a chain after all. Should I ever come across one I am sure that I will be sadly disappointed for what can ever live up to the imagined delights of a kid?

There was a Tinderbox at the Dutch Square mall when I was a kid. I used to go in and would get my father a cigar for his birthday or something. This was back before they cared that you were 14.

There are current Tindebox franchise stores out there. For the most part, they have a dusty display of Savinelli pipes, some jars of relabeled Lane and a lot of knickknacks. The employees don't seem to actually smoke or know anything about pipes.

[arturo7]

There is a Tinderbox in mall near me.

The guys that work there smoke like chimneys.

Always a pipe.

[Houtenziel]

Yeah.. the good old days of 60's and 70's tobacconists.. I remember... wait, I as born in 1983.. nevermind.

[Mr Beardsley]

The tinderbox that I try to frequent (same one Arturo mentioned I'm sure) is actually pretty respectable. Decent selection of tobacco & quite a lot of pipes, employees are always smoking. It still has "that smell" that conjures up so many memories