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Show There's more than smoke and hot air to be found at Pipedream Newsstand " v Ji. - wr-" -r FL -S''-a "r? If f rejects r Q , ., ) f -.f" Churchill I -y - . , 4 i.u.uimiw ' .- MkJJ.toj.jM .... a. t - - . : . . . .. the store he opened " in late November in the Holiday Village Mall. Pipes, cigars and imported cigarettes cigar-ettes are the center of attention. Hoffman carries pipes that cost $15 and up. He also handles collector's pipes, some which are over 2,000 years old. And if you need to ask the price, you're not interested. Hoffman compares briarfields to oilfields that is how precious they are. That is easy to understand when it takes 300 years to restock. Most of his pipes are imported because America pipemakers lacked foresightmost fore-sightmost of the domestic briar is used up, Hoffman says. Hoffman started in the pipe business in 1974 in Trolley Square. That shop did so well that he looked for another location. While relocating relocat-ing to the Holiday Village Mall space, he started five "satellite stores," to which he gave his name and expertise for a small fee, from Seattle to Kansas City. He retains a cooperative buying arrangement with those and other stores. Hoffman said cooperative buying in quantity allows his shop to keep on its shelves more imported lines of cigars and pipes, and such items as Garam clove cigarettes. Hoffman also is experimenting with carrying a variety of magazines in the shop and plans to stock out-of-town newspapers. There are also two racks of used books he will trade or sell for one-third the cover price. The shop also offers Gregorian Copper and hand-made pillows. Pipedream is open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week. Mike Hoffman shows off his cigar collection in the shop's soon-to-be completed humidor. photo by Randy Hanskat by Randy Hanskat When you talk with Mike Hoffman at his Pipedream Newsstand store in the Holiday Village Mall, you get the idea he knows his smoke, be it from a pipe or a cigarette. He details the difference between the pipes he carries and the pipes you can buy at other places. He tells you pipes are made of briar, and the only good pipes are made of well-aged briar. He tells you mass-produced pipes are made from briar that is only 35 to 40 years old, but his pipes mostly imported and made in limited quantities are made of briar that is at least 300 years old. And that is good, he says, because the older the briar the harder it is. That is why cheap pipes "burn up" quickly he says, while his can last a lifetime. As Hoffman tells you this you get the idea he not only knows his smokes, he knows his business and what the customer wants. This desire to fine-tune his wares to the clientele guides Hoffman in stocking |