Pipe Smoking 2006

This year's championship was held, as usual, at the Old Silhillians' Club, Solihull, Warwickshire, on Sunday June 11th. It was a truly memorable occasion, in my opinion one of the best since it began around ten years ago, and I have not missed a single one.
The organizers must be congratulated on their efforts towards achieving this throughout the year. It is an awful lot of work. Likewise, the Trade were extremely generous in their sponsorship and never had such an array of quality pipes and smoking related prizes been available. Sincere thanks to them, too.
This year's event was won by Andrew Briggs, several times champion and currently holding the British record. His time was 1 hour, 50 minutes and 1 second. Second was Len Ellis, another past winner, with 1 hour, 29 minutes and 17 seconds.
I was delighted with my own performance, my best since winning the championship in 2003. My time was 1 hour, 15 minutes and one second. The pipe was a splendid Dr. Plumb, and the tobacco, Samuel Gawith's 'Westmorland Mixture'.