The Joys of a Drive to Glasgow

Yesterday (Saturday) we were working in Glasgow. Rather too far to made the journey and back in one day, we drove up on Friday and took the scenic route up Wharfedale, via Otley (James Barber’s) and on to Kendal (Airey’s of Kendal). While Airey’s had quite an impressive selection of snuffs and pipe tobaccos on offer, Barber’s was an Aladdin’s Cave of goodies! In fact I don’t think I have ever seen a wider variety of snuff and loose and tinned pipe tobaccos in any other tobacconist’s. Needless to say, I stocked up :slight_smile: And bought a new Peterson pipe… While it wasn’t far out of our way to visit Barber’s I must say it would be worth a rather greater detour just to see how a real tobacconist’s should be.

Please show us EVERYTHING you bought!!

I’m afraid I didn’t take any pics but the pipe is like this one: There are pictures of the shop here.For snuff I got 25g of SP100, 2 x 21g of O&G (one for my dad for Father’s Day today), Hedges L260 (to revisit) and a 25g tin of SG Zip. If I wasn’t already well stocked up on snuff I would certainly have bought more. Barber’s has the full range of F&T on the shelf and a good selections of WoS, GH and Pöschl. Pipe tobacco: (all 50g except as noted) SG Navy Flake, Full Virginia Flake, St James Flake, Chocolate Flake GH Bob’s Chocolate Flake (Barber’s calls it Golden Flake), Germain’s Brown Flake Murray’s Chairman’s Flake Peterson’s Sherlock Holmes MacBaren’s Dark Twist Roll Cake (100g)

I’ve noticed this shop before from the Internet. They had a large supply of French Rosewood boxes with various interesting silver inlays including a naked lady (hum). They are down to the humble four-leaf lucky clover now.

Tony you visited a great shop, not many left out there now unfortunately. I’ve had good and quick service from James on orders on the Internet.

@ PhilipsS, try and get one of those snuff boxes whilst they are some around, I’ll vouch for them.

James Barber is my local tobacconist (sort of). Very good shop and I’m pretty sure I have seen Jimmy Savile going in there so bonus points for that. I have one of the snuff boxes and it is by far my favourite. It was only twenty pounds in the shop for some reason so I had their arm off! Next time you are in Otley make sure to get a pork pie from Middlemiss! Almost worth a trip from Hull for that alone I’d say.

I couldn’t resist getting one of the four leaf clover boxes too. A steal at £19.95 and I’m not sure why they are listed at £34.95 on their web site. Now my dad wants one so I guess I’ll be making another trip that way before too long. Just a case of tying it in with one of my work trips. Those pork pies sound worth a try. Thanks for the tip.

Sounds like you had a great trip! Speaking of those rose wood boxes, I’ve been looking to acquire one, as well. I just saw one on eBay. Had to laugh at the descriptipn and the asking price. Unique Moroccan Silver Wood Snuff Box

Ah, the Moroccan shamrock - a rare and delicate plant! They’re having a laugh asking that much for it, though.

"@ PhilipsS, try and get one of those snuff boxes whilst they are some around, I’ll vouch for them. " Yes, I think the tabatière made in the Jura region of France are the best wooden boxes available. The genuine ones are made with tight-grained wood such as ebony, rosewood, or burl (or mixtures thereof including Madagascar wood) and usually have a zinc and nickel maillechort decoration. Cheap copies are made in the Far East and have a much lighter colour. The last one I bought (I’ve possessed two) was in Paris in 1979. It is very dark in colour and has metal ends. Despite very heavy use over thirty years it’s as good as when I first bought it. The secret to longevity is opening the box correctly. Way back every tobacconist in Paris had a good selection, but they are much rarer now. Many came from St. Claude, but the workshop (which also made pipes) has closed. Not surprising therefore that the boxes from James Barber have nearly all been sold.

I’ve been wanting one of these for awhile. Most ebay sellers are morons. They don’t know the difference between a four leaf clover and a shamrock, let alone what the box is. I’ve seen the same “Moroccan” box listed as an “Irish” box due to the lucky “shamrock” on the lid. Grrrr! That gets my blood boiling! The clover and the other available ones I’ve seen are not what want, or are overpriced, so I guess I wil go on seaching.

I was in there today, three left on the shelf. I thought I should check the pork pies, just to make sure you know. Still great and not even fresh out of the oven. They have to win something this year.

I wonder if they have any more of the snuff boxes behind the scenes. Now that my dad wants one as well I can see I’ll have to make the trip sooner rather than later. And also to grab a couple of those pork pies :smiley: