This past Sunday marked our annual company picnic. From what I'm led to believe it's usually a fairly large affair, but with this year being our fifteenth year of operation, it was an especially big occasion, with every employee, wife, husband, boyfriend, girlfriend, child, and dog turning up.

It has become something of a tradition that I write the newsletter introduction for the update that falls closest to January 1st. In the past couple of years, I've written about the emergence of a new enthusiasm for pipes, especially among men in their twenties and thirties. In looking over those, they feel dated now. Not because they were wrong, but because they were so very right.

"I pity snails and all that carry their homes on their backs." In recent days, this quip from Tolkien's Frodo Baggins has brought a smile to my face more than once. We here at Smokingpipes.com, along with our sister company Laudisi Distribution Group, have been engaged in the challenging task of moving to a new home, a 30,000 square-foot office space and warehouse to be precise.