Muletown Pipe Show 2023
March 17-19, 2023
Briarworks in Columbia, Tennessee
By John (Tab) Peryam
The 2023 Muletown Pipe Show kicked off with a massive party on the evening of Friday, March 17, 2023. The parking lot and all nearby streetside parking spaces were filled to the brim by 2:30 pm with the vehicles of pipe smokers eager to take part in the pre-show activities and fellowship. A pipe finishing demonstration and Q&A session was given by Pete Prevost and Sam Adebayo of Briarworks on Friday evening at 7:00 pm. Food service for the duration of the show was provided by two food trucks: Loosewheels (big, delicious cheeseburgers) and Hen House (many chicken offerings). The party lasted until closing time at midnight and was attended by a host of pipe enthusiasts.
The pipe show opened to a burgeoning crowd on Saturday, March 18, 2023 at 11:00 am. Attendees waited in a long line to enter the show floor and the show quickly became very crowded with people elbow-to-elbow in the initial hours of the show. All of the tables were filled with pipes and pipe-related merchandise by vendors from all over the country. A side room held all kinds of Muletown Pipe Show and Briarworks clothing items as well as many Briarworks pipe offerings. In the same room, Laudisi and Sutliff offered some of their pipes and tobaccos. At 2:00 pm, Jeremy Reeves, head blender at Cornell & Diehl, held a pipe tobacco blending demonstration.
On Sunday, March 19, 2023, the show opened again at 11:00 am but attendees were fewer in number and several of the vendors present on Saturday had unfortunately left the show. A drawing was held at 2:30 pm to give away the pipe that was made during the pipe finishing demonstration on Friday evening. The Muletown Pipe Show is growing by leaps and bounds every year and is the premier pipe event in the southeastern states.