Old Town Traders
The Cigar and Pipe Shop
By Des Wilson
Behind the shop doors in the Old Town you discover a special kind of personality. Their stories are love stories, fired by childhood dreams that they realise by determination and hard work. Chris Chamberlen’s story begins when he was 13 and on holiday on the Isle of Wight. While his family enjoys the scenery and fresh air, Chris falls in love with an atmospheric old cigar and pipe shop. Its owner, a man in his seventies called Joe Siggins, was retiring in seven days and he let Chris occupy a corner of the shop for the week and take away some 50-year-old posters, a few colourful cigar boxes, and one or two old pipes. He also inspired Chris to take away a dream – to have his own pipe and cigar shop.
CREDIT: Dave Young
In 2007, now 34, Chris opens his own small pipe and cigar shop, at No 15 George Street. He and his wife Sam live above it, where Sam keeps the books and handles the admin. Chris, with his good humour and infectious enthusiasm, is ‘front of house’, having learned his trade from a shelf-full of 40 books on cigars and pipes. He rates one called ‘The World of Cigars’ as the best. The shop has many of the characteristics of classic pipe and cigar shops all over the world – rows of shiny pipes and glass cases full of cigars. The walls are covered in 1950s posters and the shelves with cigar boxes from years before. There are 100-years-old tobacco scales and two 120 year old jars.
The 250 pipes in the shop come mainly from Italy and sell from £35 all the way up to one at £895. The 500 cigars come mainly from Central and South America. They are displayed in humified cases, one devoted entirely to Cuba. There are no cigarettes; Chris does not smoke or sell them, believing (rightly or wrongly) that cigars and pipes are safer. His 150 or so regular customers also buy from him pipe cleaners and cases and while I am in the shop he takes calls from some, each with their own special requirement.
CREDIT: Dave Young
Cigar and pipe shops are few and far between, especially in the UK, but when you find one, whether you smoke or not, you will be enchanted – they’re like old-fashioned chemists’ shops and have a unique feel and atmosphere. They’re like living and working museums. Sherlock Holmes, who would tell Dr Watson that a particular mystery was a ‘two pipe problem’, would have been at home in Chris’s shop.
But there’s something else that is special about Chris’s shop. He has put a table and chairs outside, and every day has a small number of regulars, some of them former servicemen, who puff their pipes, keep each other company, keep an eye on the George Street crowds, and thrive on Chris’s cheerful welcome and a cup of coffee. This is more than just a shop, it’s a community centre for these guys. Usually, first to arrive and last to leave is Malcolm, a former serviceman who most will remember as a bus driver of many years. Malcolm is there every day.
You don’t have to be a smoker to love Chris’s shop. It is where George Street’s heart beats most strongly.
Read about other traders in this series:
Hare and Hawthorn
Robert’s Rummage
We hope you have enjoyed reading this article. The future of our volunteer led, non-profit publication would be far more secure with the aid of a small donation. You can also support local journalism by becoming a friend of HIP. It only takes a minute and we would be very grateful.
Leave a Reply