Runowski Wins Contest No. 2

Maestro, a little drum roll, if you please.

Our PSI Contest No. 2 Winners have been chosen!

You literary types had to finish the line from Rudyard Kipling: “A woman is only a woman. . . “, but a pipe is. . . .

If I can get the envelope open. I’m so nervous with these things.

And, the winner is (taa daa!) Bob Runowski. His winning entry: “And a woman is only a woman, but a good pipe is a . . . “pint when I’m dry, a bed on which to lie, and a glimpse of heaven before I die.”

Well done, Bob! Our judging panel was mightily impressed. I was, too.

We also pay second, third, fourth, fifth and honorable mention. In this case, payment is your choice of an 8 oz. tin of tobacco from our dear sponsor, Cornell & Diehl Tobacco Mfg. of Morganton, N.C.

Without further ado, Second Place goes to: Robert, who wrote, And a woman is only a woman, but a good pipe is: “friend, a faithful companion in trial and tribute alike, a quiet and thoughtful guide through the mundane, the vexing, the sorrowful, and the sublime.”

Third place winner is: Del Breazeale, who wrote, And a woman is only a woman, but a good pipe is: “a lot less expensive in the long run.”

Uh, he said it. I didn’t.

Fourth place goes to John “GoJohn” Goldberg, who penned, And a woman is only a woman, but a good pipe is: “a joy to behold, to fondle, to get solace from and if it should turn sour, it won’t take half your income to replace.”

Fifth place goes to Scott Williams, who wrote, And a woman is only a woman, but a good pipe is: “a quiet room, a spark, and the space to contemplate the day.”

Honorable Mention: Tom Lattimore whose entry went thus, And a woman is only a woman, but a good pipe is: “a spiritual solace. The more you use it, the sweeter the reward. It will not nag you to take out the trash.”

Ahem. Again, Tom is the author of this, not I.

We had about 15 entries. I say about because with the demise of my desktop, I did lose some emails. In fact, I lost all of them! My entire address book, old emails, many email files, all of my saved email folders, and the misery goes on.

I did have a backup on my laptop of most of the emails, however. So, I feel certain that I got most of the entries. Well, maybe. . .

If indeed I missed any of your wonderful words, you will find peace in the knowledge that we will have Contest No. 3 beginning today, just as soon as I can figure out how it should go. So, stay tuned for that.

In addition, I want to thank all of you who entered No. 2. It was great fun, with some very interesting entries.

Since I am running late with this contest, I will give you to the end of October to get in your entry for Contest No. 3. Nothing like ending on Halloween!

It would help if you would put in the subject line of your entry “PSI Contest No. 3″ and send them all to: editor@pipesmokersintelligencer.org

Remember, your entry must be 25 words or less (some of you edged up to that limit this time), one entry per contestant, and it would be of great help if with your entry you would write in your snail mail address. These addresses are so I can send the winning entries on to C&D so they can mail your 8 0z. tins. Nothing else is done with that address, I promise.

Now, pay close attention to this:

The winners this time will have to send me, at editor@pipesmokersintelligencer.org, your snail mail address. You can see, I have to double the work to get your tins to you. I don’t mind, but it would be very helpful to be able to include the home addresses with the entries one time only.

My hearty congrats to the winners. And to those of you who entered, there is always tomorrow! Keep trying!

And thanks for entering. This is great fun for me, as well.