JR's

[WingRider]

Seeing the mention of JR's in one of the threads as a great place to get some good pipe tobaccos at a good price, sent me searching to see if there were any threads discussing JR's. None of my searches returned any hits, which, since I know the term exists in at least one thread, does call into question the search results. But, I digress....

I am fortunate to live not too far from two of the three JR stores that exist. The home store in Burlington, NC on I-40, and the Smithfield store, right off of I-95. I also travel enough further west to have gotten to the Statesville NC (junction of I-40 & I-77) store on a number of occasions.

Just wondering how many of you all had had the pleasure. For those of you that have not, they all have lounge areas within the cigar stores with free coffee, and comfy chairs and sofa's. I used to stop there quite a bit when I was motorcycling more often. Made great places to take a break, smoke a pipe, meet people, and wander around looking at what they had. They would often have specials not advertised online, as well as sometimes having stuff that showed as "out of stock" online.

In any case, especially for those of you in other parts of the country, if you're ever travelling through, contact me, maybe some of us that live in this area can meet up with you at JR's for a few bowls.

 

[Hermit]

I've been a customer for many years,
but I haven't had the pleasure of
visiting one of the stores.

 

[Boxerbuddy]

From Wingrider's quotes:
Free people can treat each other justly, but they cannot make life fair. To rid unfairness among individuals, one has to exercise power over them. The more fairness one wants, the more power is needed. Thus, all dreams of fairness become dreams of tyranny in the end.



I'm sorry this is off topic Wing, but I absolutely love this quote. Did you write this yourself? If you didn't who said/wrote this. I'd love to learn more about them.

 

[WingRider]

From Wingrider's quotes:
Free people can treat each other justly, but they cannot make life fair. To rid unfairness among individuals, one has to exercise power over them. The more fairness one wants, the more power is needed. Thus, all dreams of fairness become dreams of tyranny in the end.



I'm sorry this is off topic Wing, but I absolutely love this quote. Did you write this yourself? If you didn't who said/wrote this. I'd love to learn more about them.

Glad you like it, and thanks for asking. I wish I could claim to have written it, but alas.... The reason I'm glad you ask is that I generally like to attribute quotes to their authors, and I'm not sure why I did not in this case. Not absolutely sure, but I think this is where I found it: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204683204574356241709682828.html

At least, that is who I'm going to attribute it to.

 

[DrT999]

My pipe-smoking snowbird of an older brother almost always stays overnight in Statesville for that very reason. So while I've had dinner in the same plaza as the JR store, so far it's been closed by the time we've finished. One of these times, he'll come through on a day I can drive over ahead of time and visit the store.

 

[billmess]

I have been to the JR's in North New Jersey. It is a great place to eat/drink/smoke.
There is a pipe club that meets the second thurs. of every month.
So if you are ever in North NJ stop by for a few.

Bill

 

[bronxbill]

I've been to all three stores. Ranked in order of my preference; Burlington, Smithfield, Statesville. The Smithfield does usually have a better selection of pipes

 

[alfredo_buscatti]

The last time I was at the Burlington JR's, pipe items were reduced to a small island of tobacco. This is down from 2 large countertops with pipes, that island, 3 or more stands full of tobacco and large shelves filled with same behind one of the counters.

Once I pushed an employee to get an explanation of why, although they carried Gawith, they never carried Best Brown. He sneered, "This is a CIGAR STORE. Lou only carries a certain amount of pipe items for the convenience of the cigar smokers." I didn't feel further conversation would be profitable and withdrew.

 

[Cadfael]

Probably just a question of economics - what sells is what gets floor space.

 

[alfredo_buscatti]

I can't agree. JR has made a living off cigars since it was born. They have neither the will nor the knowledge to make it from pipes.

 

[Cadfael]

I remember some years ago that Burlington had a lot of pipe baccy on the floor.

 

[alfredo_buscatti]

That was some years ago. I don't go there often, probably only 3 or 4 Xs a year, but I've seen the pipe end of things steadily diminish.

 

[thesmoker]

I lived in Charlotte for 7 years before moving to sunny Florida. One of my favorite things was to visit
JR in Statesville. I remember that you were greeted by very friendly personnel and they were glad to offer you
a cigar of your choice and light it up for you... but I digress.. these used be the good old days.. I am going back
now to 15 + yrs. They used to carry Dunhills for very nice prices and I've bought 4-5 of them.

Nowdays, after Lew sold the business, JR has changed a lot. They still have some of the best prices around for cigars
and pipe tobacco but the old magic is really gone !

 

[Cadfael]

Well . . . they did away with the free cigars years before Lew sold! I started going there right at the end of that era of kindness. I was told too many people were coming in, lighting up, and putting them out. But it sure was a great perk while it lasted!

 

[alfredo_buscatti]

A free cigar just for walking in the door! My, how JR has changed!

 

[Hunter5117]

Been a loyal JR's customer for over 10 years. Both pipes and cigars. Have always loved his catalogs, don't know if Lew is still involved in the writing but always enjoyed his stories of he and Lavonda getting their start in NYC, or his days on the farm out in Kansas.

JR has gotten a pretty good share of my loose change here lately, some of his holiday season specials are really good deals, mostly on the cigars that I prefer in between pipes.

 

[user 2027]

I live about 20-30 minutes from the one in Selma on I-95. I head in there about 3 times a year. For awhile they stopped carrying the Dunhill tins but last time I went I saw they were back. Happy about that. They also have the full line of McCelland's which I hit pretty hard as well.

I also hit Pipes By George in Raleigh now that I work at Centennial near NCSU. Happy about that! I now have a place to hang at lunch when the weather is too cold or rainy!

 

[alfredo_buscatti]

How is George's shop and George doing? The last few times I've been there in the last several years everything looked austere. He had some good tins but only had multiples of University Flake. I've never seen anyone buy a pipe or even be interested in a pipe.

 

[WingRider]

Wow - I started this thread, but for some reason even though I'm "following" the thread, I got NO emails about this thread; so I had NO idea there had been this many responses. Where to start:

@ everybody who's mentioned Lew, free cigars, or past glory days: I must have missed all these, but then I only started into this hobby coming up on 3 years ago. Having said that, I've seen the amount of space dedicated to pipe tobacco, and the breadth of the selection go down even over that time. I still enjoy going there, however, because with the advent of the NC no smoking laws it's simply one of the few public places left you can go hang out and smoke in. In any case, sorry I missed the "Glory Days."

@bronxbill: Yeah, I'd agree with your order of preference.

@billmess: I think a different JR's. To my knowledge, and looking online, our JR's only has the 3 stores in NC. They also don't have a restaurant in any of the stores. I will definitely have to stop in at your J-R's if I'm every up your way.

@geoffc and alfredo_buscatti: I got my start at George's, or I should say I thankfully discovered Georges shortly after getting my first pipe at a Smoker Friendly. And I have a Bjorn Lindstrom pipe from their that was the first "expensive" pipe I ever bought. Unfortunately I soon discovered pipesandcigars.com, smokingpipes.com, McCranies in Charlotte, B&Bs in Asheville, and JR's all of which had a combination of wider selections, better prices, a willingness to deal, and just a bit friendlier, or at least they were in my estimation. So, I haven't been back for several years now.

@geoffc: I was just in Fuquay today on the motorcycle. We ate at the Chinese buffet there by Wal-mart.

Sure good to hear all the stories.

 

[sand18f]

I have been a JR's customer since 1991. I one of his catalogues, that he use to write filler short stories, opinions, etc. in, he commented on how much he hated pipe smokers. I'm sure it was about 50% B.S. but...