Sure, you know the '84 Tigers World Series champions or the '97 Michigan College Football National Champions. But you've never heard of Jessie Rudle, Michigan's National Pipe Smoking champion.

Rudle was from Flint and competed in the 1954 Pipe Smoking Championships.

An article that appeared in the Battle Creek Enquirer on August 16, 1954 reports on the outcome of the International Pipe Smokers Club championship.

Jessie Rudel kept her pipe (filled with 3.3 grams of tobacco) going 55 minutes to take top honors In the women's division. Twenty-five contestants were entered in the contest at the club's annual convention.

Flint Is the World Headquarters of Pipe Smoking?

The International Association of Pipe Smokers Clubs still exists and it's been holding championships since 1949.

Not only is the IAPSC based in Flint (647 South Saginaw Street inside Paul's Pipe Shop if you want to visit) but many of the world champions have come from Michigan. 34 in fact with winners coming from Flint, Burton, Saginaw, Swartz Creek and Lansing.

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