Ah, it looks like the following command might do it - was using the wrong pacman switch. Should have been -remove instead of -uninstall...

  cd $LSST_HOME
  pacman -remove LSST:boost-1.33.1
  eups distrib -i -C boost
  ...
  boost-1.33.1 installed and declared to EUPS.

SUCCESS!

OK, so where were we... Ah yeah, we were actually trying to run Ess-cons.

becker345:cd $LSST_DEVEL/
becker346:cd DC2/
becker347:cd scons/
becker349:scons
   ...
   Error: Failed to find boost -- do you need to setup boost or specify boost=DIR?
   Failed to find vw/Core.h in None
   Failed to find visionWorkbench -- do you need to setup visionWorkbench or specify visionWorkbench=DIR?
   Failed to find cfitsio in /lsst/lsst_root/Linux/external/cfitsio/3006/lib
   Failed to find cfitsio -- do you need to setup cfitsio or specify cfitsio=DIR?
   Failed to find xpa.h in None
   Failed to find xpa -- do you need to setup xpa or specify xpa=DIR?
becker350:setup boost
becker351:scons
   ...
   Error: Failed to find vw/Core.h in None
   Failed to find visionWorkbench -- do you need to setup visionWorkbench or specify visionWorkbench=DIR?
   Failed to find cfitsio in /lsst/lsst_root/Linux/external/cfitsio/3006/lib
   Failed to find cfitsio -- do you need to setup cfitsio or specify cfitsio=DIR?
   Failed to find xpa.h in None
   Failed to find xpa -- do you need to setup xpa or specify xpa=DIR?
becker352:setup visionWorkbench
   ERROR : product visionWorkbench with version  cannot be found.
   FATAL ERROR: setup failed

So next up, I need to get visionWorkbench I believe...

becker353:eups distrib -i -C visionWorkbench
   No version of visionWorkbench is declared current to eups_distrib
   Please specify a version or a manifest file with -m

Another roadblock... Ah ha, look at this, another blog by RobertLupton ! Somehow he has gotten ahead of me, and much less verbosely... :(

Says RHL :

It's all working on mops2.lsstcorp.org if you want to steal table files etc. 

Now if I just understood what tables files etc. are... Or had access to mops2.lsstcorp.org.