The Pipes Magazine Radio Show – Episode 1
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- The Pipes Magazine Radio Show – Episode 1
- Kevin Godbee
- Sep 20, 2012
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We are pleased to bring you the debut of The Pipes Magazine Radio Show starring Brian Levine. In this first show, Brian will tell you a little bit about himself so you will get to know who your host is. He has A LOT of experience with pipes and tobacco, and some pretty interesting stories and opinions. He will also talk about pipe shows and pipe clubs, and play some music from a local New Orleans band he heard while visiting “The Big Easy”. Finally, he will share the epic fiasco of trying to smoke his pipe while on a cruise ship that was supposed to allow smoking.
We hope you enjoy our premiere 45-minute show produced just for you—the pipe smoker and collector. The following link will launch a pop-up player. Alternatively, you can listen on iTunes.
[Disclaimer: This premiere episode will have absolutely no collector’s value on eBay in the future.]
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Written by Kevin Godbee
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Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 602. Our featured interview tonight is with Kevin the Hobbiton Piper. Kevin was originally on the show in August 2021. The Hobbiton Piper YouTube Channel has 9.24k subscribers and over 120 videos with pipe and tobacco reviews, box openings, food, drink, and more. Kevin’s interview was one of our early novice pipe smoker features, so we’ll check in and see how his pipe smoking and YouTube channel have progressed. At the top of the show, we’ll have an “Ask the Pipemaker” segment with pipe artisan Jeff Gracik.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 601. Our featured interview tonight is with Rich Esserman. Rich is one of our regular guests that has been on the show many times, and is returning after a 15-month hiatus. Rich has penned innumerous articles about pipes and tobacco for several publications, and he is known for collecting quite large pipes. We’ll get caught up with Rich, and also get his take on some of the same questions we asked Steve Fallon on his recent episode. At the top of the show we’ll have a tour of the tobaccos that Brian is most coveting in his collection right now.
I confess. I’m a Latakiaphile. Ever since I first smelled the smoke of the dusky leaf, I’ve been in love with it. I know this is no surprise to anyone who has followed any part of my weird journey through pipedom, but I wanted to state it openly, get it off my chest. Mostly, because I seem to have been in something of a weird state of denial about this fact myself for some months. It started innocently enough during the heat of last year’s summer, a time when I find myself feeling the gravitational pull of lighter tobaccos. While winter weather and bigger, bolder Latakia mixtures have always been my ideal companions in the colder, moister clime, they can be a bit overwhelming to me when the mercury rises. While I enjoy the taste and aromas of those first few puffs, as the bowl progresses, my senses soon feel fatigued, overwhelmed, like putting on a comfortable but heavy top coat and wandering out into the blazing sun. In the summer months, I have always turned to “lighter” blends, sometimes with just a whisper of Latakia, more often with none at all. Virginias, with or without the added condiment of perique or oriental leaf are just the ticket when short sleeves and tee shirts are the uniform of the day. Even burley blends tend to feel more apropos then. I know there are many who smoke the same blends year-round, but I’ve never been one of them. If I’m honest, I am a little jealous of those folks. It’s a bit of a curse to have my tastes tied inextricably to uncontrollable forces of nature. (Though, I do recall a rather oddly delightful experience of finding myself, exactly once, smoking a pipe in the shower. Another story. Another time. Maybe.) Last year presented no exception to the rule. Once spring had come and gone, I put away the dark mixtures, and turned to the softer, gentler side of tobacco goodness. I always enjoy this little “reset,” but equally, I look forward to the return of the cooler days and colder nights when I can come back home to the comfort of those mixtures that have always provided me with an indescribable solace. I love fall and winter the most, and not just for smoking. I don’t really hate the sun, but I’ve never thrived in its heat; my constitution prefers cooler weather. I’ve always been a fall and winter lover. But, something strange happened last year. Even when the temperatures dropped, even when the air got misty, the rain began falling, and I traded short sleeves for sweaters, I kept reaching for my summer blends. Occasionally, I might dip into the jar of Westminster, prepare a slice or two of Spark Plug, or reach for one of my vintage tins of Orient Express #11 or Bengal Slices, but I found myself routinely returning to the lighter side of things when it was time to fill my bowl. Nothing about this should be upsetting, of course, but it’s just not who I am. It’s out of character. It’s like I was subconsciously denying something that is fundamental to the very core of my pipe smoking existence. Looking back on it now, it feels like I was in some strange parallel universe, an alternate reality. It strikes me as just plain wrong. It’s an odd thing. For most of my pipe smoking life, I’ve always enjoyed these forays into the lighter side of things, but at the same time, my craving for Latakia forward mixtures has always ruled. I remember when I first began exploring Virginias, I’d reach the end of a bowl, feeling somehow unsatisfied, and would immediately want something else, something smoky to scratch the itch that remained. As I became more familiar with them, that itch gradually subsided, but never fully disappeared. The pull of the dark side remained strong. I’d spend the summer enjoying my Virginias, but always looking forward to the season’s change so I could once again dive happily into the deep, smoky richness of my most favored leaf. Last year, though, I kept on an almost steady diet of Virginias all summer, of course, but also right through the cold and wet months. On a whim one cool, blue day recently, as the sun revealed itself from behind wispy clouds, I pulled an open tin of my beloved OE11 from the Tupperdor in which the open tins reside, savored the aroma for a few minutes, then filled a bowl with those luscious dark ribbons and enjoyed an almost magical smoke, rich, deep, satisfying, the wonderful incense-like scents enveloping me as I puffed in absolute bliss. Then, reality hit me over the head. With spring teasingly peering out from around the corner, last year’s winter having pretty much come and gone, I realized I’d managed to miss out on all those wonderful cold, damp days and the perfect harmony they create when the misty air embraces the leathery, campfire aromas and rich flavors from my beloved mixtures, and I didn’t even notice. It’s not just that the window of opportunity for my yearly Latakia fest was about to be slammed shut, but, worse, it’s that I wasn’t even aware that I was missing it. It’s not that my tastes had changed, or anything so dramatic; I’d simply fallen victim to the power of inertia. I was enjoying what I smoked, and simply, unconsciously paid no attention to the fact that the season was coming to a close. Hot weather is on its way, and if history holds, it’s probably coming fast. Soon it will be time to return full-stop to tee shirts, cold showers and lighter tobacco fare. It feels like I’ve slept through Latakia season, like I’ve missed out, and I’m feeling a little melancholy about that. I’ve got at most a few weeks to catch up, to make up for lost time. Hopefully, we’ll see a few more days of rain before that […]
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 600. Our featured interview tonight is with Dylan J. Schlender. This is the return of our series of interviews with “Journeymen Pipe Smokers” – guys that have been smoking pipes between five and 10 years. Dylan started smoking in 2018 with a Winslow pipe, and Captain Black. (He soon learned that he likes English-style blends much more.) He resides in CT and works in IT. He also co-hosts his own podcast, “Reels of Justice – The Official Fake Movie Court Podcast”. He is one of four co-hosts where they put a movie on trial each week. At the top of the show, in celebration of upcoming St. Patrick’s Day, Brian will read “Paddy Larrigan’s 100th Birthday” by Chuck Stanion. It was originally published on SmokingPipes.com’s Daily Reader.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 599. Our featured interview tonight is with Jeremy Reeves. Jeremy is the Head Blender at Cornell & Diehl, which is one of the most popular boutique pipe tobacco companies in the USA. Jeremy has been a pipe smoker for over a decade and is passionate about pipes, pipe tobacco, and blending tobacco. Tonight’s discussion will focus on Oriental Tobaccos, and Brian said HE even learned something. At the top of the show, Brian will continue the tour of his pipe collection with the “Satou Reds”.
February’s International Pipe-Smoking Day was more than just another moment of relaxation for Pundit. It took me back to a time in Paris when I was wandering somewhere around the 10th Arrondissement of that great city and happened upon a shop with a sign that read: Tabac. I had to go inside and look around and gaze at the goodies. Inside that delightful French pipe shop I had my first encounter with French pipes of any sort. Pundit was enamored of English pipes at the time and was dimly aware of much else. Let alone historic French-made. The shop owner walked us around his charming very French shop, flooding me with his broken English. My college French had lived beyond its best by date. The owner waltzed over to a counter and showed me a Chacom, of the famous Chacom and Comoy family of Saint-Claude, a small town in eastern France, which is the self-described “world capital of (the) pipe.” For good reason as it turns out. A billiard Chacom was purchased immediately. But now sadly, or perhaps inevitably, that particular Chacom pipe from the Paris Tabac shop has been lost to time. Who knows where or how it disappeared? Traded, perhaps? But the time in that tobacco shop was well spent. It was here that I learned something of Saint-Claude and its pipe history, foreign to me up to then. Never mind it was the birthplace of briar pipes. Yes, there are holes in Pundit’s knowledge of pipe history. Briar pipes were born in Saint-Claude, with Chacom. Giving the French pipe bragging rights as offspring originals of pipes we love today. It’s even more remarkable that we can still find pipes that have been seasoning in the historical air of Saint-Claude for years and purchase them at extraordinarily reasonable prices. Many pipe smokers are attracted to the history of pipes, Pundit included. And those made in Saint-Claude are some of the most genuine, historically relevant pipes that any enthusiast can enjoy. While roaming the “Ville lumière,” the City of Light, in the early 2000s, Pundit felt like a foot-loose expat in Paris, say of the 1920s. For Pundit it was something akin to hanging out with the original expats such as Sherwood Anderson, Ezra Pound, Ernest Hemingway, Picasso, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Henry Miller, and James Joyce, just to name a few of the Pundit’s favs. Naturally, a couple of these literary icons smoked pipes: Ezra Pound and James Joyce certainly. Hemingway—however, there are arguments on both sides of “did he or didn’t he?” smoke a pipe. Since Hem was a Pundit “code hero” I favor the “he did,” side of the question. Now before drawing any wild conclusions, this is no manner of imagination means to infer that Pundit is included in the writing circle of the above names. But you get the idea. The expats of the 1920s were singular. I suppose I became overawed when I discovered Hemingway’s Paris apartment and then later enjoyed dinner in the corner booth of the famous literary restaurant Les Deux Magots where Hem and wife Hadley had night-out repasts. You get the notion, I hope, that Paris was special. And the Tabac shop made it even more of an event of a lifetime. And if you need further reading on the birthplace of briar pipes, I suggest you check out Chuck Station in Pipe Line at SmokingPipes.com. His piece on the history of the Comoy and Chapuis pipe families is simply fascinating surrounding the advent of briar for pipes. And now, some pipe smokers of the past. Let’s start with Albert Einstein, the German-born master of theoretical physics. We think of Mr. E=MC2 as the greatest scientist of any generation. He was also famously known for smoking a pipe, mostly Revelation (of course) tobacco. Einstein was born March 14, 1879, in Ulm, Germany, and died April 18, 1955, in Princeton, N.J. By now you are familiar with Einstein’s famous quote about pipes. If not, here it is again: I believe that pipe smoking contributes to a somewhat calm and objective judgment in all human affairs. Next up is Vincent Willem van Gogh, a Dutch Post-Impressionist. In his masterful works, Van Gogh painted self-portraits of himself smoking his pipe. And you can find some shapes named for him in Ser Jacopo’s Picta Picasso Pipes. Van Gogh was born March 30, 1853, in Zundert, Netherlands, and died July 29, 1890, in France. The famed artist demonstrates how much he loved his pipes with this observation: To do good work one must eat well, be well housed, have one’s fling from time to time, smoke one’s pipe, and drink one’s coffee in peace—Vincent Van Gogh. And to finish with a bit of musical flair is Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer known for orchestral music such as the mighty Brandenburg Concertos. Bach was born March 31, 1685, in Eisenach, Germany, and died July 28, 1750. And as we enter the stretch run into spring, here is a parting shot from one of the most celebrated of pipe smokers: In the Spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours—Mark Twain.
no show
Anything that starts with Ozzy has to be good!
I added a player into the page that will work.
Reload the page and look for the play button below the link.
where`s the play button?
Little button that says Audio MP3 just above the iTunes link
Thanks for the help, Kevin. I`m sort of slow tonight. Looking forward to the show.
Brian, Hi there, nice clear radio show. Now listening 🙂
The Radio Show was worth the wait!
Running down the road with my laptop streaming the show!!!!!! Love it!!!!
Excellent !! Great idea !!
Got started a little late, but enjoying the show… Thank’s Kevin and Brian
Nice Show,Looking forward to future programs. Nice Job Brian,Kevin.
Ozzy Rocks!!! Awesome intro!!
Will have to download later. Work computer is obsolete.
Simply priceless but how do we download it for permanent posterity?
Got it on now.
FYI … I aint gots Itoons so how do ya download it?
Excellent show!!!! Will definitely enjoy listening to future episodes during my evening pipe experience!
I enjoyed the show.
Download it here.
[code]https://pipesmagazine.com/wp-content/2012/radio-show/09-2012/01/pipes-magazine-radio-show-01.mp3[/code]
What was your favorite part, Patty? The song from the band in New Orleans? 😉
Wow Brian, you sure covered a lot of material in a very short time. Look forward to future shows and new topics. Your “complaint” section at the end was very entertaining too. Keep up the good work.
Great show Brian!
I suggest some weekly tobacco trivia.
The over the top entire lengh of a CD song was my favorite! I can hardly wait to download that exciting part again!
Great suggestion on the tobacco trivia Patty! Ha! I knew you loved that song.
The host was fun, cool, and laid-back!
Good Night fellow Pipe Smokers! I’ll be sure to be tuned in next Thursday at 8:00pm
great show. More More More. Enjoyed listening to it while I was working in the shop and enjoying a few bowls.
Good show!
Nice job Brian! Great segment on the pipe shows. I attended my first show this year at Columbus. Certainly won’t be my last. Hope to catch up with you at Chicago next year. I’ll be listening next week.
I enjoyed the show Brian is a very entertaining host.
I just got a chance to listen and I enjoyed the show a lot. I am new to pipe making, but this is my second go round at smoking them. I smoked cheep tobacco in the navy 25 years ago. I quit soon after I got out. I decided to pick it back up last year and I saw a pipe kit from Tinsky and the bug bit me. Now I am on an intense learning quest. I am looking forward to listening and learning. Keep up the good work you have a pleasant voice goes good with a quite smoke after the kids go to bed!(I am a single dad of 2 little ones my days are chaos)
Sitting on my deck, listening and smoking a bowl. Very funny, informative & interesting. Like the idea of some pipe trivia in each show. Well done.
Brian, good show. I enjoyed it very much. I look forward to your next show.
Thanks.
Great show!Congrats!Quite enjoyed it but, I would suggest a “noise gate” for the “tape hiss”.Granted I do love the analog warmth, but the “hiss” takes away from the professionalism put into the recording.Not to criticize as it may have been unnoticed while being live.It’s just that I personally could hear it since I do recording myself.Great show overall and can’t wait for next week.
Great show, loved the music, lots of usefull info. Thanks.
Hey thank you I had a great time and plan to tune in again .
Bravo!
Awesome show! I really like hearing about his history in the pipe world. Kevin you definitely chose the right person!
I’m glad you guys enjoyed the first show. I thought it came out pretty good, especially for the first attempt. Just wait for the future shows. They will be even better as we get more practice at this. Thanks for listening, and tune in again next Thursday at 8pm eastern, please.
Nice job, Kevin and Brian. Good start, look forward to the evolution of the show. — Sandy
Good show last night, helped me forget I was living in a small city south of Texas and I was somewhere else with other pipe smokers. Cheers!
That was a great show, really enjoyed it. Looking forward to the next cast!
Brian,
I have sent to all the TAPS Pipe Club members, in Raleigh N.C,notice of your excellent
radio program.Loved the format,humor and the content.Looking forward to the next installment.Happy smoking!
Great job guys!!! Brian, the Brigham Klondike #619 that I picked up in Chicago last May is smoking like a dream!! The perfect VA pipe!!!
Brian….Enjoyed the first show…..bought back memories of talking to you at shows when you worked for PS…..Good luck and I will see you in St.Louis…
Larry V. from the former “Moore’s Tobacco Shop” Danville, IL.
Good show! Subscribed on iTunes
We need a archive link that will contain all the broadcasts so we can download them to a desktop or notebook in MP3 format.
Brian was fantastic! I’m hoping he will tell us more about himself in upcoming shows. As I recall, he told me that his parents were hippies and he was brought up in a commune at various times, and, while he is close to his parents, he rebelled by embracing the world of tobacco. If that’s true, we’d love to hear more. For those of you who have not met Brian, he truly is a great guy.
This was just a wonderful first show!! It will be great to see how this show develops over time. Highly Recommended.
I really enjoyed the show I sure hope you stick with you did an outstanding job oldd boy.
An auspicious beginning Brian. Interesting hearing your bona fides. With your varied background you should make an excellent host.
Loved the show, can’t wait for future installments!
I thought that was absolutely amazing. I loved to humor and the info that was involved. I will certaintly be tuning in next week to listen. Great job and loved the Greg Pease joke.
Great show Brian! I listened to the podcast and you can count me as a regular! Bravo!
A terrific show, Brian. I enjoyed all aspects of the program, including the “rant” on your cruise experience. I read yesterday of a new farpotshket British study that tested a very small number of folk, and came up with the “possibility” that second-hand smoke affects memory! What next? However, I can’t remember where I read it, or how many people were tested. Perhaps I should avoid smokers. I’m sure it has nothing to do with me being in my late sixties. Perhaps a rant on these knuckle-head “scientific” studies. Now, where the hell are my glasses?
Really enjoyed your show! Entertaining. Keep up the good work!
Great show Brian. Next episode, let us know when and where the new tobaccos you will carry will be avaiable.
Excellent show. Great information and style. What was the best was the Cruise ship information. Brian, I agree with you and I will never go on those cruise ships. They apparently do not want us and I do want to be where I am not wanted. They would rather have a bunch of drunk, overweight, cigarette smoking customers. Well too bad for them.
Great show, Brian! I really enjoyed it. Had a feeling it would be good, knowing you, and sure enough… Looking forward to more!
Great show. I’m a loyal briar pipe man. Can you convince me to buy a meershaum?
Just got done listening to the radio show and really liked it! Had alot of great info and insight. I have to admit, I have been involved with the youtube pipe community and to be honest i’m pretty burnt out with it!! You can only watch so many videos with a guy doing a YABO and lighting a pipe.
Keep up the great job and look forward to next week….Joe
Fun, lively and down to earth. Great host and subject. Thank you PM!
I thought this was a wonderful, relaxing show with good humor and attitude. Keep up the good work! I felt the cruise ship rant ran a little too long — though Brian’s narrative style kept it interesting. I enjoyed the whole show so much I don’t know where the time went.
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I second Patty’s suggestion for a weekly trivia segment. It’s interesting, and probably no coincidence that 4noggins was one of the e-mag’s pioneer sponsors, and here they are again stepping-up to support this unique format. Hmmm, I think I’ll place an order for a big batch of their Prairie Wind blend.
Excellent Show Brian! Enjoyed the Industry “insider” info. and humor. Would like to hear more of your dealings with Dunhill,Stokkebye etc., and other fun “war stories” you might be willing to share…
Great Job! The time flew by quickly – Can’t wait for more!
Ejoyed the first episode have not heard 2nd yet o but I will this weekend!
fun radio show, thanks!
fr dave
Nice show. I felt a little sting when you mentioned YouTube presenters not having good information. I understand you weren’t making a sweeping statement, but I still winced a bit.
Cheers.
Long over due. Great job!
Is there somewhere else to get other than iTunes? I was getting the previous 20 episodes via iTunes, but today, I was logged out. Now, when I lot in, I can’t download the shows unless I put in my credit card information. I don’t really use iTunes for anything else and I’m reluctant to post that info. But, I’d love to get Episode #21….