Mr D’s Pipe & Tobacco Shop

It’s unfortunate that the collateral damage of the «War On Smoking» includes Pipes and to a lesser extent, Cigars. My earliest introduction to pipe smoking was via shopping mall smoke shops, there with my father when he decided (rather short term) that he would eschew his Winston sticks for the refined, thinking man’s nicotine source, the pipe.
Victim of the war on smoking seems to be this particular pipe shop is no longer a pipe shop in the classic sense. Only a very small corner of this shop was dedicated to pipes, the rest was to e-​cigs, lotto, hookah, and cigars.
Pipes were not on a display where a typical person could really get any useful information out of them.
I was quite happy to discover that the shop’s custom blends include some non-​aromatic English-​style tobaccos, the two I ended up taking home with me were «British Knight» and «Light English». I’ve had a few bowls of each by now and they are pretty darn good. Among the in-​house offerings, I noted one tin of Peterson Holiday 2013 and maybe 8 tins of Sutliff Molto Dolce — which I almost caved in and bought one of, despite my home cellar being stacked with miscellaneous aromatics that I smoke once then store. Additionally he had some Borkum Riff and other OTC stuff but nothing I was looking for in an OTC like Prince Albert, Sir Walter Raleigh, or Carter Hall.
When I inquired as to the presence of a topping or cavendish in either blend, the gentleman was nice enough to read off the ingredients of the two blends in question which I thought was magnificent.
So for a rundown:
Pipes and pipe selection: F–
Besides a blend of Chinese and Missouri Meerschaum Cobs behind the counter, the only pipes on display were a handful of meers (looked to be Royal-​brand) or the Chinese «Sanda» ebay pipes. The pricing on a particular Missouri Meerschaum «General» Cob was almost $ 10 over MSRP (that’s saying a lot considering their MSRP is around $ 8).
In-​house blend tobaccos: A
I was impressed to see a non-​aromatic come from a local blender, typically in my own experience I find more cavendish, topping heavy blends that I just don’t really like. The pricing was fair, about $ 5/​oz for most of the blends.
Premium Tinned Pipe Tobaccos: D
There was one tin of a limited edition Peterson Holiday tobacco, and a half-​dozen tins of Molto Dolce
OTC Pouch Pipe Tobaccos: C
I would have enjoyed seeing some non-​Aromatic Burley OTC’s as you can’t even find them in drug stores anymore, brands like Sir Walter Raleigh, Carter Hall, Prince Albert… but there were 2 – 3 different brands represented.
In summary — I’ll be back for some of the in-​house blends, but not much more.