A Passion for Pipes is no more

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sjfine

Part of the Furniture Now
Mar 4, 2012
653
4
Neill Archer Roan has, "after a long deliberation," decided to take down his site, A Passion for Pipes.
Another sad day for pipe smokers.

 

dmcmtk

Lifer
Aug 23, 2013
3,672
1,685
Very sad to see. There were some great articles/blog posts well worth reading in the archives, and additionally beautiful photographs. :(

 

doctorbob

Part of the Furniture Now
Mar 18, 2014
772
1,157
Grand Ledge, Michigan
I think the difference now is that the site is gone, at least I cannot access it. He is a great collector, and a valuable source of knowledge. I wish him well.
Doc

 

georged

Lifer
Mar 7, 2013
5,491
13,920
Not updating regularly is one thing, unplugging the site entirely is another.
Any of you tech guys know what the hosting fee would be for a site like that?

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
It does raise a question about the durability and longevity of anything online, in the cloud, or otherwise on digital media. History, blogs, video, etc. Nicholson Baker wrote a whole book about the misguided campaign to destroy paper library archives including newspapers, magazines, and other periodicals, and submit them all to microfilm and later microfiche, which turned out to be far less durable than paper. The man (Baker) took it upon himself to retain and store tons of discarded printed materials in a barn, and eventually found a home for it at Duke University. The microfiche fanatics, with all kindly intentions, did perhaps more damage than the Taliban has done to historical sites in the Middle East with sledge hammers and explosives. Shouldn't there be an archive of blogs? This illustrates that technology isn't as benign, free and open as it was visualized when the inventors and creators were young. Now it's just another revenue stream, destructive as any other.

 

deathmetal

Lifer
Jul 21, 2015
7,714
32
If he has an archive, he can pass it along to someone else who can host it, like Pipepedia.

 

cigrmaster

Lifer
May 26, 2012
20,249
57,280
66
Sarasota Florida
Sometimes you just get tired or you lose your passion for something. I am sure Neill thought about this for a long time before he pulled the plug. From what I know about websites, I believe he could put it back on line if he chose to do so. The price of a yearly subscription from Go Daddy is about 100.00 bucks a year. Neill didn't have to pay Google to optimize his site as all pipe people had no problem finding it. I will certainly miss his writing and looking at his Comoy collection, it was something to behold.
Neill, if you read this, thanks for the years of a great site and I hope you find what ever makes you happy.

 

philobeddoe

Lifer
Oct 31, 2011
7,403
11,569
East Indiana
Shiiiiiiiiiiiiit! I loved reading the archives and had hoped he would start posting again, but it looks like he has moved on. Neill, your thoughts and insight will be missed, I wish him the best in whatever he puts his energy into next.

 

tennsmoker

Lifer
Jul 2, 2010
1,157
7
Sad loss. I really enjoyed reading the posts. I learned something new on each occasion. I sure wish there could be a way for Neill to find a way to keep the archives up, like deathmetal mentioned. There does need to be a method for keeping the great stuff around like Passion.
I recall when The Pipe Smoker's Ephemeris by Tom Dunn last went to press. I had only caught on to the Ephemeris and was just enthralled. Then it stopped. I know there is a book out now with some of the old copies, but I can't pay the asking price for the tome.
Anyway, just saying, I wish these real word and picture arts of pipes could be saved in some manner today with all the technology available to us at this moment in time.

 
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