Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 660
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Kevin Godbee - May 6, 2025
- 1 min read
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 660. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Kevin Godbee. Kevin is the owner and founder of PipesMagazine.com, which launched in 2009 as a resource site for pipe smokers and pipe and tobacco collectors. The site has numerous articles from well-known pipe authorities as well as the largest and most active community discussion forums, and of course this podcast. This is an extended interview where Brian and Kevin will talk about the Chicago pipe shows from the past as well as the current show that just took place this past weekend.
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2025 Doctors and Masters of Pipes Presentation
The Pipes Magazine Radio Show features interviews with pipe makers, tobacco blenders, pipe and tobacco aficionados, collectors, and more. Episodes air every Tuesday.
Our show is sponsored by SmokingPipes.com, Cornell & Diehl, Missouri Meerschaum, Savinelli Pipes and Tobaccos, Peterson Pipes and TinBids. Please give them some consideration when making your next pipe or tobacco purchase.
We hope you enjoy our 1-hour show produced just for you—the pipe smoker and collector.
Written by Kevin Godbee
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Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 690. Our featured guest on tonight’s show is artisan pipe maker JD Wolf. JD just started smoking pipes a little over a year ago, and he started making them at about the same time. His impetus for becoming a pipe maker came from the problem that his preferences in artistic handmade pipes were out the reach of his budget. He strives to make precise smoking instruments that are also a handcrafted piece of art that the “average workingman” can afford. At the top of the show in Pipe Parts, Brian will have a holiday gift giving guide for pipe smokers.
This may seem out of character for Pundit, but I am truly captivated by the Ser Jacopo Insanus. Years ago, I purchased an enormous, barn-sized pipe and tucked it away, only to forget about it. Recently, the urge to hold it resurfaced, prompting a frantic search through my collection until I found my prized Insanus. It’s an impressive, beautifully rusticated paneled bowl with bamboo shank extension—possibly weighing just over five ounces. I love it! To clarify, “insanus” in Latin can mean “incredible.” I must admit, I learned this not from my distant high school Latin but from consulting a dictionary. Okay, a few pipe makers go for heavy-duty pipes, of course. But the Ser Jacopo brand has not been shy about creating, well, great ol’ big ‘uns, and a few that defy the imagination. Some of the Ser Jacopo creations seemingly belong in a museum of art. Which makes sense when you look at the name’s origins. Giancarlo Guidi founded the brand and possibly named it for a 16th-century Italian painter. Now, Pundit does not go gaga for all the Insanus versions. Especially those that appear to have been in a bad accident and are broken and wired together. Or the larger-than-life bowl that twists back onto the stem to surveil your tobacco brand preferences before you load up. Do not get Pundit wrong, here. If your choice is the Insanus that is wired up or the pipe that looks back at you, then I will cheer you on. They are fun and spark a great deal of curiosity, especially in your pipe club gatherings. In research about Insanus pipes, I found that Guidi and Bruto Sordini founded Ser Jacopo in Pesaro, Italy, after leaving Mastro de Paja. They aimed to blend expertise and creativity, establishing Ser Jacopo as a distinct force in Italian pipe making. According to my research, Guidi was inspired by the imaginative art of Picasso and Van Gogh. This led Ser Jacopo artists to push creative limits, carving pipes by drawing inspiration directly from the briar and their artistic instincts. Pundit also owns a couple of Ser Jacopo’s more “sanus” (sic) pipes, including some of the beloved Picta Van Gogh rusticated styles, which have been put away for safekeeping. These pieces stand out for their unique craftsmanship and artistic flair. Van Gogh, you might recall, was a pipe smoker. He painted many self-portraits smoking a pipe. These paintings served as one of the blueprints for the Van Gogh Picta series. I first saw the Picta Van Gogh at a pipes and tobacco show in Nashville, TN. It was love at first glimpse. I bought it faster than you can say Van Gogh. I barely had time to get out my credit card, worried someone else would snatch it up. Some Insanus designs, such as those that appear broken and wired together or feature oversized bowls that twist back toward the stem, exemplify the brand’s boundary-pushing approach. 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I always prefer to believe the best of everybody; it saves so much trouble. —Rudyard Kipling A Parting thought: We pipe smokers are part of a rather large family. And with the holidays in full bloom, it is time to be grateful for the artists who create magnificent pipes and craft exquisite tobacco blends. Just for us! Happy Holidays!
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 689. Our featured guest on tonight’s show is artisan pipe maker Patrick Kehler from Marchand, Manitoba Canada. He grew up in a strict religious environment where his behavior was restricted and smoking (and drinking) were frowned upon. One day, when he was older and in the process of providing himself more freedoms, a co-worker showed him a pipe. He was captivated. Hear the whole story on tonight’s show. At the top of the show in Pipe Parts, Brian will have a review of four different brands of pipe cleaners.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 688. Our featured guest on tonight’s show is Texas-based artisan pipe maker Ryan McCawley from Smokin’ Barrels Briars. Like many of us, Ryan was attracted to the scent of aromatic tobaccos. Also, like many new pipe smokers, he burned the heck out of his tongue. That was a long time ago. Now he is a regular pipe smoker and he has been making his own pipes for five years now. He started with classic shapes, but now he is more interested in Danish-style freehands. At the top of the show Brian will discuss cake. Not the cake that you eat, but the cake that builds up in your pipe bowl. This is based on a question sent in by a listener.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 687. Our featured guest on tonight’s show is Canadian pipe maker Evan Wiseman. Evan has been making pipes for ten years (minus a two year break) and is quite well-known and respected in the field. His path started with cigars in college, but they became too expensive, so he switched to smoking pipes, and then decided to make them. At the top of the show we will have an Ask the Tobacco Blender segment 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.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 686. Our featured guest on tonight’s show is the founder of the Pipe & Tamper Podcast, Mike Murphy. Mike started his podcast in 2018 and turned over the show to new co-hosts Bo Parker and Jay Furman in January 2025. Now that Mike hasn’t been doing the podcast, he has even more time for pipe smoking, collecting and going to pipe shows. Brian and Mike will have an extended chat revolving around the Las Vegas International Pipe Show that just occurred the last weekend in October.
The conversation about the Chicago Show that you and Kevin had was just plain fun. It was also well detailed and descriptive, full of interesting personal stories and very complimentary to the Chicago Show, it’s organizers and volunteers.
Reconnecting with you and Kevin at the show was a special treat.
Thanks Kevin, for the shout-out, you pompously good guy!
Dan Locklair’s “The Peace May Be Exchanged” was indeed the perfect metaphor for one of the overriding aspects of our Show and others.
And yes, there’s always a lot of friendly huggin’ and kissin’ at the Chicago Show!
Thanks for a very entertaining episode.
Dino
Wonderful episode this week. For what it’s worth, I really enjoy hearing from Kevin. He seems like the kind of person I’d get along with and I hope to meet him one day.
But the main thing I wanted to say was rest in peace Mark Ryan. We’ve lost some pretty notable people in the pipe world recently, but this one hurt a little more than most for me. We hosted Mark years ago at a monthly New Orleans Pipe Club meeting and he was the life of the party, so to speak. Joyous. Funny. Excited. He LOVED tobacco, especially and obviously perique. While he was with us, he graciously gifted me some of what they coined Acadian Black, or Cajun Black, which to my understanding is DFK that has undergone the perique process. Incredibly unique. I’m not sure it’s used in ANY pipe tobacco blend at this point since the Daughters and Ryan sale AND after McClelland closed up. I THINK Drew Estate still uses it in their KFC cigar.
Anyway, all this to say, he had a gift. A few years later, and a few years ago at this point, I saw Mark again at the Drew Estate Barnsmoker in Convent Louisiana at his farm. He immediately came up to me, remembered meeting me, and we chatted for a bit before the event was in full swing.
That is the kind of guy he was. He was so, so special.