Kim
	
	I finally had time today to give the pipe my full attention and it's first 
	half bowl.
	
	After my experiences with breaking in other new pipes I was amazed by the 
	fact that there was no discernible change to the taste of my favourite 
	tobacco. No bitterness, no strange aftertaste - just the taste that I get 
	from that tobacco when smoked in a pipe that has been well broken in. I 
	only got back into pipe smoking at the end of last year so I've broken in 
	7 pipes prior to this one and this is the only one that has had no impact 
	on the taste of the tobacco when new.
	
	I put the posting below up on Smokers Forums together with the images of 
	the pipe and from the comments there I suspect that you and / or your 
	wife have gained some new admirers. I will certainly be keeping an eye on 
	your site for any new pipes that appear.
	
	Many, many thanks to you and your wife for a wonderful smoking and visual 
	experience.
	
	Chris

	Warning: This is a long post due to pipe induced bliss.
	
	A few weeks ago I visited the Penguin Pipes website and saw an amazing 
	pipe. All my pipes until now have been traditional shapes with traditional 
	finishes but there was something about this pipe that said "Buy me, buy me." 
	I resisted valiantly for a few days but then saw the piece here about 
	Penguin pipes and how good they were and it became clear to me that this 
	was fate and resistance was futile. I revisited the Penguin site and the 
	pipe was still for sale - definitely fate. A quick exchange of emails with 
	Kim at Penguin followed; which was impressive in itself as this was over 
	the US Labor Day weekend so I was expecting some delay with any reply to 
	my first enquiry but there wasn't.
	
	On Monday this week I arrived home to discover a card from the postal 
	service saying they had attempted to deliver a parcel. I was expecting to 
	have to arrange for it to be redelivered but when I looked further down the 
	card they had been sensible and left it with a neighbour. The parcel was 
	retrieved and sure enough it was from Kim and it took some getting into as 
	it was, thankfully, very securely packed. Inside the package was a blue velvet 
	pouch and inside that the pipe bowl and the stem wrapped in tissue.
	
	I have attached a photograph taken from the Penguin site and it is a very 
	good photograph but no photograph can do justice to this pipe. In the past I 
	have always regarded a pipe as a tool for smoking tobacco so was always more 
	concerned with a pipe's technical smoking qualities than the aesthetics but 
	this pipe has changed all that. For the first time I understand why collectors 
	buy pipes and display them without ever smoking them. Unfortunately on both 
	Monday and Tuesday evenings I was tired after days of wrestling with clients' 
	computer problems and couldn't give this pipe the attention it demanded for 
	its first smoke.
	
	Today I'm working from home and the moment arrived to christen the pipe. I 
	had already decided after Kim emailed the pipe's dimensions that it was 
	going to be dedicated to Grousemoor so I loaded up half a bowl. Normally I 
	light my pipes with a pipe lighter but I didn't want to risk any unnecessary 
	scorching of the bowl so I dug out some sulphur free Davidoff cigar matches 
	and lit up.
	
	Bliss - it was difficult to believe that this was the first bowl in a brand 
	new pipe. Even with my sometimes inept smoking abilities it was a beautiful 
	cool smoke and the full flavour of the tobacco came through. Having that 
	experience with the very first bowl I can only imagine the pleasures to come 
	when it is fully broken in.
	
	The pipe was actually made not by Kim but by Mrs Penguin - whose real name I 
	still do not know but who appears to use the name Puff (there is a small Puff 
	dragon on the underside of the shank) - and I can only congratulate her while 
	proclaiming "I am not worthy." Under normal lighting the grain on the pipe is 
	far more pronounced than in the photographs; it is certainly the heaviest pipe 
	I own but given it's size, the volume of tobacco it can hold, and the thickness 
	of the bowl walls it is by no means overly heavy and with the bent stem is well 
	balanced for holding in the mouth without a supporting hand. The stem is 
	beautifully coloured and suits the pipe perfectly with quite a wide mouthpiece 
	which further helps to balance the pipe. Technically it is perfect and the draw 
	is excellent.
	
	What more can I say - perfection!