TOBACCO PIPE MAKERS AND TOBACCO BLENDERS COURT LUNCHEON: 22 MARCH

Coat of arms of the Tobacco Pipe Makers and Tobacco Blenders Company

The Worshipful Company of Tobacco Pipe Makers and Tobacco Blenders held their Election Court Lunch in the Hall on 22 March.  They were kind enough to invite me.  As I have mentioned in past blogs it is always a pleasure to be a guest in one's own Hall and the luncheon with the Tobacco Pipe Makers was no exception. 

The Tobacco Pipe Makers made me most welcome and quite a number of the Court members has links with the trade.  One retired pipemaker ruefully remarked that demand for pipes in England had declined but that demand was holding up in eastern Europe.

The Master, Julian Keevil, and his American wife, Mary, were charming hosts.  Both gave amusing speeches and Mary was particularly interesting in that she spoke about her family links with the City.  She comes from an old Virginian family that had trans-Atlantic links with both civic London and the Haberdashers particularly  in the eighteenth century. 

Julian and Mary now principally live in Virginia on a site where Mary's ancestors lived - Julian is using a lot of saved airmiles commuting regularly to London on Company business.  I think it entirely appropriate that the Master Tobacco Pipe Maker and Tobacco Blender has close roots with Virginia.

For more information about the Company go to http://www.tobaccolivery.org/   On this site you will also find an excellent blog written by the Master.  This has been going for some time and was started by one of his predecessors.

The company very kindly gave me box containing two replica Elizabethan clay pipes