My Story
PCCA's Pipe and Tobacco Business

by RC Hamlin

Introduction

I started smoking a pipe on a part time basis at a fairly young age and started working full time in a professional pipe and tobacco store in 1973 having just turned 22 years old. The last 33 plus years have been a remarkable journey that has seen the ups and downs of pipe popularity, but more so than just the business of a successful chain of pipe stores, in 1984 I ventured outside the lines and created the Pipe Collectors Club of America.

Over the years, especially since starting PCCA in 1984, I have had the privilege of visiting pipe makers in Europe, visiting factories, having seen pipe tobacco operations first hand, attended and put on pipe shows, watched the online world go from 300 baud dial up to today's internet and "retired" in 2003. Retirement is over rated and so PCCA is being reinvented to doing business in 2006, which is also part of this story.

It has been suggested more than a few times that I write a book, that's not going to happen, however since the new pipeguy.com is being set up as an information and hobby-history site, I thought I might at least document what I've done, or at least what I've tried to do during the last 33+ years I've been involved in the hobby or profession of pipe collecting. I really don't know how long the story will be nor do I know at this point what I'm going to write, but I do hope to give you an insight into what I consider the golden age of pipe collecting which started in the early 1980's.  I also hope to give you an inside look at the groundwork of today's hobby, where we were just a short time ago and where we are today, along with those that created that foundation.

This series of articles will of course be from my point of view, having been there some of what I write will be based on my opinion along with facts. History is constantly rewritten by those that research the subjects, but even as bias as a first hand account can be, having experienced the events first hand, I expect to share with you the reader the good, the bad and the in between - we can argue the details later.   I hope you enjoy the journey as much as I have so far.

These links will become live as the chapters are written