The world was still up in the Covid frenzy, and my wife and I were still transitioning from life in Bulgaria to setting up shop in Golden, Colorado. One of the necessities of life I was looking for was a comfortable lawn chair that I could relax in while enjoying a bowl of my favorite blend in the back yard. She is far more precious than jewelsβ¦.
She reached out to the gentlemen living in nearby Lakewood who had it for sale and made the deal. That day, I drove to his house to pay the gentleman and to collect my new chair. When Google maps found his house, I was met by a gentleman sitting in his chair in the shaded driveway puffing on his pipe.
The money was paid, but when one meets another pipe man puffing in the wild, conversation was bound to happen. I shared what I did with pipes β collect, restore, and sell to benefit the Daughters of Bulgaria and that I would be interested to see what was left of his collection if he was still finding new homes for them.
He went inside and came back out in a few minutes with some nice specimens β 6 stummels, but only 3 pipes mated with stems and one rogue stem. Thrown in were two genuine Czech tools.
He said that he had more pipes in a box inside that he would have to find, and he thought there would be more stems that needed to be mated. I asked if he might be willing to sell the others and his response was affirmative, but he needed to go through them first and would call me.
