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Smoking Night - What would you include?
I am going to create a regular smoking night at my home. I know what I think makes a great experience: comfortable location, ventilation, community of great folks, good conversation, great music. I love hospitality and welcoming friends into my home, so I'd like to pick your brains.
What would you like to see included in a "smoking night" with good friends? Food, drinks, supplies, anything else?
What would make you want to attend and return?
Thanks- Fletch
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One day, for my smoking area, I want to add a dart board as part of the decor. I remember when growing up seeing a big arcade dart board at a restaurant I'd go to with my family. The cabinet was adorned with a Sherlock type, man in a deerstalker, pipe in mouth, ready to throw a dart. Since then, I've associated pipe smoking and darts together. Haven't had too much experience playing darts, but with a pipe? I'd give it a shot.
Never saw a Board in an Irish Pub.
Hey, Badger, we should start a Pipes 'n' Wrasslin' folder..... Or maybe not....
@thebadgerpiper - Chris Jericho is scheduled to "wrestle" Kenny Omega in NJPW's next major event.
I think Vince might have begun building to AJ Styles vs Nakamura at Wrestlemania.
Their NJPW match was one for the ages.
Fan made promo for WM:
Actually my introduction to "professional" wrestling goes back to the 1960s when my mother was a big wrestling fan and we lived in Beaumont, Texas. Every Saturday night was a wrestling night and occasionally one of the big names from that era would be the main feature. We also had a local tv station which had live wrestling on Saturday afternoon and allowed 100 viewers in free to fill the stands. We were in the audience when one of the favorites, Pepper Gomez was severely injured when his opponent jumped off the top rope and landed wrong.
None of it was politically correct back then either. We had midget wrestling and midget women wrestling. I remember seeing people like The Sheik, Johnny Valentine, Gary Hart back in the mid to late 1960s.
A friend and I went to both a WWF wrestling meet, and a Roller Derby for just one reason: to see exactly how they faked them. The wrestling match we had front row seats. First off these guys were introduced as like 6'-7" and weighing 330 pounds and such. The truth was some were not much larger than me, don't get me wrong these dudes were very athletic....they did however pair them up size wise so you had nothing with which to compare in the ring. What amazed me were the 'rabid" older women who were also ringside cursing and screaming. We could see the opponents whispering moves to each other the entire match. The ring 'surface" is so resilient and flexible that it probably deflected a good 6" or 8" when someone was slammed, the energy from which was dissappated as the "slammer" positioned himself in a slightly "arched" position so to avoid his entire mass to NOT land on the "slammie". Interesting enough, the body slams almost ALWAYS happen in the center of the ring where the surface is most flexible. Anybody who would really be flattened by a "6'-4" and 330 lbs." does not smile and whisper anything to the other dude.
The Roller Derby was a bit different, even not being as close to the track, you could still see the skaters "talking" to each other and signalling often, even to indicate what side they were going to try and pass. What made me decide that this was NOT quite as fake as the WWF, there was a skater who got rocketed off the track into and over the side rail and was out cold. At about that time we decided this was enough, and we left just as the EMT's were attending to the victim. We go down to the basement parking as they bring out the skater on a gurney and just by happenstance we actually followed the ambulance and saw it go into the local hospital ER. So either they play the script right to the end, or most likely he was hurt by accident.
Those were the last times I have ever gone to these events.
Nakamura was kept down in NXT for so long until he was able to assure the powers that be that he would not kill a top WWE performer by accident.
As it is, look what he accidentally did to Samoa Joe, who is no cream puff.
Obviously this is for folks that are new to pipes.
I haven't had an opportunity to have any experienced pipers over to my mancave, but definitely need to get something planned.
As for the snacks and drinks?
Pork rinds and PBR of course
Funny enough, I have encouraged a younger man at church to host just such a gathering tonight.
It looks like he will have 30+ guys smoking pipes and cigars and enjoying a few bottles of wonderful bourbons, whiskeys and other fine beverages.
He holds the gathering out in the middle of the central valley of California at an old drafty barn. There will be a bonfire and some BBQ'd beef and pork for nibbling.
Easily my favorite night of the month!
When I was a kid, I went through the stages of discovering that wrestling was both fake and predetermined. While it was disappointing at first, I still enjoyed the soap opera and kept watching both the WWF and WCW. I was a huge fan of Bret and Owen Hart (RIP), Jericho, Benoit (at the time...), Sting, Flair, and Goldberg. I stopped in high school due to time, but it was a huge part of my young life.
I never got to meet any wrestlers (other than the Bushwackers at a signing), but I met a guy who knew George The Animal Steele, and my orthodontist was friends with Lanny Poffo, and went to school with Randy Savage. I loved hearing the stories they'd tell about them, and how they were real people, rather than the characters portrayed on tv.
Now that I'm back into it, I'm glad I had the time away. This new crop of wrestlers constantly impress me with their skill, especially the womens wrestling. Sadly, I can't watch it on tv, because my wife hates wrestling with a passion. She'd rather be around me while I smoked the stinkiest blend in my cellar over watching Raw or Smackdown.
If someone were to make a Pipes and Rasslin' thread, I'd post in it.
Speaking of Ric Flair, @PappyJoe ESPN just aired a 30 before 30 episode on the Nature Boy. Supposedly, it's very good, but I haven't had a chance to watch it yet.