The custom pipe maker will head up company’s pipe division.

By John B. Virata

Drew Estates has hired Grant Batson to head up the company’s pipe division, including the Drew Estates Classics pipe tobacco line and the Drew Estate Pipe Collection by Tsuge. According to the company, Batson has been a pipe enthusiast for more than 20 years and has been building pipes completely by hand since 2012.

I’m humbled and excited to be a part of the Drew Estate team,”Batson said in a statement released by the company. “I’m a huge fan of Drew Estate’s cigars and have been a Drew Estate smoker for many years, so I was naturally excited to hear they would be getting into pipe tobacco a few years ago. It’s hard to imagine that I’ll be part of the team now. I can’t wait to hit the road and meet some of the good folks out there and talk pipes.”

The pipe tobacco market for Drew Estates is tairly new, having entered the market in 2013. In 2014, the company announced it was the exclusive distributor of Japan’s Tsuge Pipe in the United States and Canada, and introduced a line of Drew Estate designed pipes made by Tsuge Pipe in Japan.

Said Jonathan Drew: If you look historically at the talent pool of Drew Estate, both in Central America and the USA, one shouldn’t be surprised to see the addition go Grant Batson to the team. It was time for DE to activate some Southern Blood to the diverse mix of current Dirty Rats.”

For more information on Drew Estates, visit its website at http://drewestate.com/