After seeing a couple of pipe posts on some other blogs (here and here), I was reminded of my days back in Birmingham when I first got into pipe smoking. Fortunately, Homewood (a suburb of Birmingham) boasts one of the best pipe shops, I would say, in the entire country.
Housed in a 100+ year old farm house (and featuring one of the two working outhouses in the city of Homewood), a trip there is a must if you are going to be in the Birmingham area. The store features hundreds, if not thousands, of pipes, ranging from corncobs to $1,000+ pipes crafted by one of the store's owners, Skip Elliot.
Speaking of the owners, they and the rest of the staff are great guys--laid back and friendly. They are just as helpful if you are buying your first or fiftieth pipe. They have dozens of tobaccos, including house blends (try the Yorkshire or Black Gold), a sizable walk-in humidor, and just about every pipe or tobacco accessory one could ask for. Plus, they have a living room with leather furniture where regulars often come to chat and smoke.
Their website, while rather aesthetically humble, is actually pretty great and you can purchase many of their pipes and tobaccos online. For more info, check out an article that was written about the store in Birmingham's Black & White paper.
None of the photos were taken by me; they are all from the Briary website
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3 comments:
I've heard about the Briary on some of the pipe forums. Those pictures are great. I can't resist a good tobacco store, and even though I'll probably never get there it's nice to see some pictures of it.
Consider me as one who would linger at one of these shops. The fragrances - captivating.
A splendid array of pipes
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