Category Archives: The Pipe Pundit

Curing the Rough Edges

Some favorite blends that go well in spring, or anytime, especially when outside. (Photo: Fred Brown)

Ahh, just the thought of April showers bringing May flowers is enough to demand a commune with flora and fauna, to look up and around and admire nature’s latest colorful […]

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Je suis la pipe

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Let’s take a quick trip to the long, long ago. Back of the beyond, as the wanderlust mountain adventurer and pipe-smoking author Horace Kephart once said of a hiking trip […]

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The Pipes and Tobacco Life

A couple of "authors," better known as Savinelli 320s, worth packing with good leaf and topping off with a good book. Photo by Fred Brown

Ah, yes, March rolls in a-roarin’ like a lion and trots out like a sweet, innocent little lamb. So they say, whoever they are. Let’s not forget college basketball’s March […]

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Happy Pipe, Happy Life

Some old friends take center stage at beginning of a new year of pipes and tobacco. From left, an ancient Ashton Brindle, an English made Royal Fallings basket pipe from the 1960s and a Deluxe Peterson System 9S, one of the large bent billiards in the Deluxe System chart. (Photo by Fred Brown)

Walking about a rock-strewn riverbank, flyrod in hand and pipe clenched firmly, it came time to just sit and observe life around me. It was a misty morning, coolish, water […]

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Happy New Pipe Year!

From left: Cornell & Diehl Charles Towne Cobbler; Southport Ferryman; Kingston Judge; and The Honeypot Photo by Fred Brown

Now, don’t take this the wrong way. The Pundit starts each new year with a new cob. It’s been a custom since the beginning of time. Call it a cob […]

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Ghosts of Christmas Present

The Peterson Christmas 2022 B42 Darwin in all its copper glory. Photo by Fred Brown

Two of the larger-than-life names at this time of year, other than the pipe-puffing big white bearded guy in the North Pole, who runs a shop full of elves and […]

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Of Pipes and Dancing Elves

From L-R: The Rich Lewis Custom Bill NASPC 2014 POY atop a fresh tin of Low County Atalaya a ready-rubbed blend combining Red and Bright Virginias from 2019 with C&D's proprietary Red Virginia Cavendish. Peterson’s Grafton System Pipe Travel Case specifically designed for Peterson System pipes, with matching leather pipe stand and a green suede tobacco pouch. Front: Peterson's Thinking Man pewter tamper, attributed to Peterson’s 1905 slogan, "The Thinking Man Smokes a Peterson Pipe." Far right: Fresh tin of C&D Low Country Edisto blend, Red Virginias pressed and sliced into flakes. Photo by Fred Brown

For the old Pundit, who has been puffing pipes since his college days in the 1960s, this time of year is what is known here in Punditland as the “in-betweens.” […]

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Autumnal Comings and Goings

October is that deep-breath month we take when the sizzle of summer begins to fizzle and fades into the joys of autumn. The month always puts me in the mood […]

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Truer than True, a Thing or Two

Old friends of the Pundit Precious Herd. From left to right a vintage Peterson St. Patrick’s Day, a 1960s basket Dublin, a Michel Deluxe Lovat Made in England of unknown purchase date and a Dunhill 5103 Amber Root, also of unknown purchase date. Photo by Fred Brown

Call me an Anglophile. That’s okay. I become all misty-eyed when I think of the British Isles. Now, don’t get Pundit wrong, I’ve visited France and Germany and enjoyed tripping […]

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More Is Better, Maybe!

L-R: Missouri Meerschaum Southport Ferryman from Cornell & Diehl to honor the company’s Carolina history; Northern Briars Countryman, group five, handmade by Ian Walker in his Northern England shop. (Photo: Fred Brown)

Ah, the dog days of summer. Just think of your poor family dog who must endure the heat and humidity in a fur coat. The Pundit’s beautiful Golden Retriever just […]

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