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Kevin Godbee - Feb 1, 2012
- 5 min read
Russ Ouellette
The title of this article might seem familiar; it’s the last full line from Carly Simon’s Anticipation, and it got me thinking the other evening. I had seen a display of Pepsi’s Throwback on the shelves and remembered how different the old cane sugar blend tasted as compared to the one made with corn syrup. And then my thoughts drifted to other things like cars only using unleaded gas, how hard it is to find some old favorite items, like Teaberry gum and why cold cuts don’t taste as good as they used to.
It just seems that many, if not most things have changed in recent years, and in a number of instances, not for the better. Sure, we have better technology and things work so much faster than the old models did, but we’ve sacrificed durability for disposability and repairing electronics is basically unheard of; just throw it away and buy a new one.
We have space age non-stick surfaces for cookware only to find out that the most trouble-free non-stick pan is a well-seasoned cast iron one. The more choices I have for new programming on TV, the more I find myself watching reruns and older movies because the new stuff seems so trite and overtly commercial.
If this all comes across like the lead-in to a Jerry Seinfeld monologue, it should, since it felt like I was channeling him as I went through all these memories, lamenting things that had changed or disappeared. So, of course, I began to look at my livelihood, and how things are definitely different than when I began in the seventies, and if things have changed a lot in the last forty years, they don’t even resemble the way they were from a couple of centuries ago.
In the early days of pipe smoking, most pipes were made of whatever materials were readily available, and were usually made by the smoker or someone local. There are a number of examples of pipes made of clay, cherrywood, combinations of stone and wood, corncobs and many other materials. Pipe tobacco was often locally grown, and the variety was quite limited. As the 1800s arrived, a new material entered the picture- meerschaum. This light, white, gold or pink hued material was a good choice as it was easy to carve, attractive and heat-resistant. Most of these pipes were, and are, of foreign manufacture, making the availability spotty and the prices, at times, rather prohibitive.
By the middle of the 19th century, briar began to be made into pipes in France, and more varieties of tobacco became available, and some European products started making their way into the U.S. In the latter part of the 1800s some brands began to be distributed nationally, and the diversity of available items grew rapidly. During this time, the image of pipe smokers also began to change to one of sophistication and calm, which drew more people to take it up. The very image of gentility was the British gentleman, who was characterized by the bowler, bumbershoot, suit with waistcoat and the ever-present pipe.
The cigarette started making greater inroads around the time of World War I, as they were easier to use and didn’t last as long which made them more convenient when time was limited, but the smoke of choice was still the pipe. U.S. brands like KBB, which began to be distributed more or less nationally by the 1880s, were very popular and brands like Dunhill started to become available in this country. Blends containing Oriental tobaccos, Latakia and Perique were more plentiful, and pipe smoking as a pastime and hobby, rather than a habit, developed.
Pipe smoking was still strong through World War II and right on until the mid-seventies, when a precipitous drop-off began, but during that period, some legendary pipes and tobaccos were commonly found in smokeshops. The pipes included Dunhill, Charatan, Sasieni, Barling, GBD, Kaywoodie, Comoy’s among many others along with the influx of Danish-made products in the latter part of this period. Great tobaccos lined tobacconists shelves, like Rattray’s, Dunhill, John Cotton’s, the various Sobranies, Four Square, Marcovitch, Three Nuns and the list goes on and on.
By the latter seventies the decline in pipe smoking became so noticeable that a number of these companies began to fail and some of these beloved brands started to disappear, much to the chagrin of long-time pipesters everywhere. The downturn continued through the eighties and nineties, and things looked bleak for the hobby. Then things changed partly because of a subculture from an unexpected place- the United States.
In the last 30 years or so, American pipe makers have stormed onto the scene and have been recognized worldwide for their craftsmanship. People like Elliott Nachwalter, J.T. Cooke, Paul Bonacquisti, Lee Von Erck, Bruce Weaver, Brad Pohlmann, Jeff Gracik, Rad Davis among so many others raised the level of artisanship of U.S. pipemakers to a parallel with craftsmen from anywhere.
Some of the best quality and most innovative tobaccos during this period have come from companies such as McClelland, Cornell & Diehl, Altadis and G.L. Pease, plus a number of smaller "boutique" manufacturers. The newfound supplies of some Oriental varietals and the resurgence of Perique processing have aided in this movement, and the market currently has the widest variety of blends in memory.
With the myriad choices that today’s pipe smoker has, the hobby is seeing a new spark of life. We’re seeing a not-inconsiderable group of college age adults recognize the enjoyment and serenity that pipe smoking can provide. These new smokers are finding themselves in the middle of a new "golden age", and they’re probably not even aware of it.
Having started in the tobacco industry in the mid-seventies, when pipe smoking was still fairly strong, but starting to decline, I’m encouraged by the wonderful pipes being made and the top-notch blends being produced. There’s no doubt in my mind that in another 20 or 30 years, people will use the same reverent tones in speaking of today’s pipes and tobaccos that we "old guys" use in reference to many of our past favorites.
I may miss some of the lines of pipes I used to enjoy and I still wax nostalgic about a bowl of Bengal Slices, but in my years of being a pipe smoker, I look upon today as the new "good old days".
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Russ Ouellette is the blender/creator of the Hearth & Home series of tobaccos for Habana Premium Cigar Shoppe and www.pipesandcigars.com in Albany, NY. He has been a pipe smoker and blender for over 30 years, and enjoys feedback from the pipe smoking public. You can reach Russ at russo@pipesandcigars.com or by calling 1-800-494-9144 on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9 am to 5 pm and Friday from 1 pm to 5 pm. |
Written by Kevin Godbee
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Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 636. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Barry Kane. Barry started smoking a pipe in 1961 when he was 14-years old. Back then it seemed like everybody smoked, and you could buy pipes and tobacco just about anywhere. Barry is a true old-school pipe smoker, sticking to just one blend. See if you can guess which one before listening. At the top of the show Brian will give his take on Scandinavian Tobacco Group’s purchase of Mac Baren and Sutliff Tobacco and their announcement that they will be shut down.
There’s a pipe in my collection that I cannot bring myself to smoke, though I’ve had it for more years than I care to recall. It’s old, or shall I say, well experienced; that experience, that oldness came to it long before it was in my possession. The pipe is an old Comoy’s Grand Slam from the 1940s. The shape (#93), a slightly canted, stack billiard (sometimes referred to as a Belgian) is right up my alley, and it’s a beautiful example of it. It came to me with some wear and tear; nothing unusual for an old pipe, but more the signs of one that has been well loved, smoked a lot, treated as a favorite tool, cherished, in a sense, by frequent use. It’s the pipe equivalent of a vintage car that’s been driven a lot, enjoyed fully and maintained adequately, rather than one kept in a spotless garage, dusted and detailed weekly, brought out only for leisurely Sunday drives, or to be ogled behind the ropes at the next Concours d’Elegance. When it arrived, those uncounted years ago, it wanted a little restoration. Nothing dramatic needed to be done to it, but the stem was oxidized, the finish a little dingy. The cake was even and fairly thin, and the airway was relatively clean, both signs that its previous owner cared for it, but the bowl’s surface was a little drab and dull. It took little effort to reveal its beauty, to show the lovely contrasted stain and interesting grain beneath the old wax. I often think I should do before and after photos of pipes that I work on, but those thoughts always come after the work’s been done. This one would have been a great illustration of how years of handling that can sometimes make a pipe more beautiful, can other times make it just look grungy. Once I’d cleaned up the externals, it was time to address the inside bits. I approach this a little bassackwards, I realize. It would be more sensible to take care of the inside before addressing the outside, but it’s how I roll. If an old pipe isn’t pretty to look at, it’s unlikely that I’ll care much about it, and cleaning is usually the hardest part, or at least the most boring part of any restoration for me. Alcohol and pipe cleaners. Lots of pipe cleaners. That’s why I leave it for last. Sometimes, I’ll even give a pipe a test smoke before a deep cleaning, just for a point of reference. I gave it a sniff to get an idea of what I was up against, and it stopped me cold. There in that bowl was an aroma that I had not smelled in decades. My head was instantly filled with memories of being in the back room of a fabled Berkeley tobacconist’s shop where I stumbled upon a few jars of long discontinued blends. One of them, a blend called Forty and Eight, had the most engaging and unusual scent of any tobacco I’d stuck my schnoz into. It was sweet, but not in a candy store way. There were none of the usual vanilla, cherry, berry or anise notes of typical aromatics, nothing that could be compared to aftershave or deodorant soap, but something almost musky, a little earthy, something exotic. The shop’s owner couldn’t tell me what was in it, how, or where it had been produced. The old blend had been retired before he’d bought the place. The printed catalogue gave no clues, either, other than being overprinted with the word “DISCONTINUED” in bold, rubber-stamp type. (And, I don’t recall it as being “highly aromatic” as the description indicates.) There was still quite a bit in the jar. Being, at that point, an intrepid explorer of all kinds of tobaccos, whether I thought I’d like them or not, I had to give it a try. It was burly based, but also comprised a good measure of virginia leaf, and maybe some other varieties; I didn’t have enough experience at the time to really pick it apart. But, that aroma was unlike anything I’d experienced before or since. It was something now completely lost to time. Until it wasn’t. Memories are powerful things, and there is no sense more tightly bound to memory than our sense of smell. One whiff was all it took to carry me back in time, conjuring a vivid recollection of something long submerged in the inky depths of a subconscious mind. Look, I know as well as anyone that pipes are meant to be smoked, and that many feel it almost sacrilegious to have a pipe and not set it to its intended task. In this case, I simply can’t. I won’t. Ever. Rationally, I am fairly certain this pipe would probably be a great smoke. It was too well loved by its previous caretaker to be anything less than that. My choice not to smoke it is an emotional one, not something rational. Of the thousands of pipes that have passed through my hands over the years, this is the only one to create such a singular and vivid, almost Proustian recollection of temps perdu, of lost time. It revivified a long dormant memory that is mine, and mine alone, and that’s enough. I keep it in a drawer with other old English pipes. In some ways, it’s nothing special, just a nice old pipe. I don’t lavish it with any particular care that arguably befits the hidden treasure that it holds. It’s not in a special box, or displayed preciously in a glass cabinet. Every once in a while, I take it out, point my nose bowlwards, and every time, those memories return just as powerfully as they did the first time. I have no idea how long it’s been since its last owner smoked it, but in the years I’ve had it, there seems to have been very little degradation of the aroma, and that’s […]
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 635. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with James Ravenwood. James is the boutique tobacco blender of Ravenwood Blends. His blending started out as a fun hobby, and he now has professionally packaged commercially available products with some great tin art. Part of his interest in pipe smoking goes back to fond memories of a retired Navy Veteran that lived on his street while he was growing up that would sit in his driveway smoking a pipe all day. Later, in 2011 he began smoking pipes and soon after started experimenting with mixing different tobaccos. His other hobby, that he has been doing for 30 years, is photography. He takes wonderful photos of outdoor spaces, and still life pictures of pipes and tobacco. You can see them on his Instagram @thebriarfellowship. At the top of the show we’ll have an Ask the Pipemaker segment with renowned pipe artisan Jeff Gracik.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 634! Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Warren Ertle. Warren is an extremely accomplished musician with a PhD in music. He started early as a percussionist in sixth grade. Later his grandmother got him a cheap Casio keyboard which he taught himself to play. He started playing in blues bands in high school, and has been a pianist with jazz big bands for years. Even though he was already a professional musician, he took his first real piano lesson when he enrolled in college with his studies in classical music. He is of course a pipe smoker. 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.
Soon now, supposedly, our neighborhoods will shift from grinning pumpkins, skeletons in various assortments, and zombies dashing about to pretty reindeer, angels, and flashing lights illuminating homes with sparkling stars and laughing, scurrying Santas. But, lest we forget, there is the turkey season, fancy pie aromas wafting from kitchens, and a national pardon of a big Tom Turkey. Remember, now, that only one of these holiday personalities is a pipe smoker. And that is the hefty, bearded fellow in a bright red suit sitting in a sleigh with a herd of deer hitched up and ready to streak across the globe, bringing tidings of joy and many presents. Ok, the scene is set for the next couple of months, right? So, before we get too far off the beaten path, let’s just take a deep breath of fresh autumn air, shall we? Ahh. That’s better, isn’t it? What’s got the Pundit in a snit is not all the Halloween spooks who came a-jostling for candy. Or the wild turkeys gobbling in the backwoods or all the fuss and feathers over the big one—Christmas. No, it is that we might need to take note of all the little things that mean so much to us. Like a good sunrise (seriously, Pundit has not gone all Pollyanna.) Mayhaps we need to appreciate more of what we have than what we have not. Or something like that. Like, a good pipe in the morning with coffee as the dawn brings us coolish weather now that we have flipped the calendar to autumn. But it also brings beautiful leaves that have become a spectacle of technicolor in the wind. It is the little things. The rereading of an enjoyable book and finding something you did not see or learn in the first go-round. Or a stunning phrase you commit to memory with the re-read, while smoking that favorite pipe. And you notice a superior puff that just seems to be different. It’s in the air and the seasons of meaningful little things. It’s aromatic! Or perhaps it is that sense of satisfaction knowing and appreciating you made it to another day. With the world in a kind of rinse-and-repeat history, reminiscent of a Shakespearean play, it is perhaps a good moment to remember some of Pipedom’s philosophers whose cogent thoughts brought light to clear a path in the mists of confusion and confounding opinions. Ok. No gloom and doom. Just some down-home thoughts. Think of times in the past when history was running off the rails. It took our pipe-smoking thinkers (the mind workers of the world) to speak of better pathways to more light. Think for a moment, with a pipe in hand, these wizards of the world and word: Albert Einstein, J. R.R. Tolkien, Mark Twain, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Edwin Hubble, Bertrand Russell, C. S. Lewis, and Jean-Paul Sartre. All learned and enlightened. They offered wisdom instead of storms of meaningless roads to nowhere. All while smoking their pipes! Maybe especially with the help of their pipes in the art of thinking and philosophy. Recall the words of Mr. E=MC2 when he said, “I believe that pipe smoking contributes to a somewhat calm and objective judgment in all human affairs.” Amen and amen! Dealing with world-rattling events takes a calm and objective view of things, to the Pundit’s way of summing it up. You just don’t go messing around with quantum physics without a calm and objective approach, methinks. Or as the extraordinary physicist Robert Oppenheimer said after he and a team in the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos Labs developed a way to split atoms into bombs during World War II. “I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds,” said Oppenheimer referring to the development of the first nuclear bombs dropped on Japan. It must be pointed out that Oppenheimer was more of a cigarette smoker than a pipe smoker. Nonetheless, pipes were part of his personality. Now, if you have read some of the great authors of the past and present, their pipes were always nearby. Reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle can be a three-pipe problem at times. S. Lewis and Jean-Paul Sartre require time with your pipes to reflect on the existential problems and solutions these authors provide in learned novels and other narratives. Or take Edwin Hubble and Bertrand Russell, philosophers of another world. Pipes are required for reading. The quantum lode of ideas Pundit is attempting to sort out is that our pipes are relaxing and stimulate our thoughts and creativity. Especially in these last months of the year. Many times Pundit has had that light bulb flick on while smoking my beloved pipes. And friends in Pipedom, it ain’t easy to turn on the lights in Pundit’s rock pit head. Now it’s time for a quote from a Pipe Smoker of the Past. Shelby Foote was born Nov. 17, 1916, in Greenville, Miss., and died June 27, 2005, in Memphis, Tenn. A fact is not a truth until you love it—Shelby Foote. A parting thought: It is said that famed Southern author William Faulkner carried a packed pipe in a coat pocket wherever he went. That’s one effective way to deal with workday conflicts and confusion. A calm and objective judgment in our everyday human affairs, as the quantum man said.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 633. Our featured guest tonight is Jon David Cole. JD is the Owner/Tobacconist at The Country Squire in Jackson, MS, and the accompanying online store. We’ll have JD and Brian talking about what’s new at the store and in the business in general. At the top of the show, Brian will discuss tobacco growing, what happens to the leaf, and provide updated information on where tobacco is being gown today. Tobacco production originated in the United States and we were once the #1 producer. It’s quite different now.
Great morning read with a gentle perspective on the yesterday vs. today thing.
The article title though…. “Anticipation” has become todays brainworm! Not a bad thing really (-:
Really Nice article! It makes me want to either try some new tobaccos or just smoke my pipe in general. Cursed canker sore…
I also began smoking on the 70’s ; this story is so true.
Great morning read.
I’ve wondered if the throwback Pepsi line is a test to see how it’s received since corn syrup’s reputation has been (rightfully, imo) tarnished.
I haven’t been smoking a pipe for very long (and was only 2 years old by the time 1980 rolled around) but I can already see myself missing a few blends if they were to disappear.
I do feel fortunate to have picked up the hobby at a time when the craftsmanship seems to be at a high and NOT taken for granted.
Words so true. Great read.
I can’t think of a time since the late 1960’s when I first took up the pastime, that pipe smokers had a greater variety of, and easier access to, pipes and tobaccos. This is due in no small part to internet marketing and social networking. I have enjoyed “my” good old days, and the celebrated blends that have since gone by the wayside; but I revel in our current golden age of tobacco too. Thanks for contributing to and sponsoring PipesMagazine.com — a seminal publication in the industry, and springboard to the bounty we currently enjoy.
That was fun read Russ!
Perfect with my cup of Joe and a bowl.
Great article. I wish I could have experienced the days when smoking was something everyone did.
I feel very fortunate to have been born in the U.S. at this special part in time where I am able to enjoy such a dawnting amount of variety. The choices are overwhelming. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. Good job on the article.
Thanks . great read for this morning;. I feel like WE know each other.
Oh the good old days. Thanks for the interesting history lesson.
This is not unlike the way we carry on when we see a classic automobile, but there is absolutely no doubt that the most reliable cars ever built are the ones being built today.
There are more great pipe carvers to day than ever before. Sure we miss the work of some of the giants who have passed on, but there are giants working today.
From your article is to feel the sentiment, but there is also a great hope for the future. It is the cycle of life. Good things always had and have a chance of success and the people they always find a way to them. Thanx for your article Russ!
thank you sir, summs up my feelings quite well…
Enjoyed the whole article and its sentiments.Studying the past is always helpful to understanding the present and future.
Great read, Russ! I also started smoking a pipe in the ’70’s, and was in the business for about 8 years (Tinder Box) starting around ’78, so I can relate to what you’re saying. I also miss some of the old blends that are gone now, especially my beloved Bengal Slices. I recently acquired some Bengal slices from a friend from the late ’80’s, and savor a bowl once in a while when I want something really special. But the good news is we do have so many good blends to chose from now, and pipe smoking is on the upswing again.
A most excellent article, Sir.
Good stuff!
Great article!
Very nice! Thx!
Great article Russ! I never thought about it like that!
I can only imagine what the expression on my face must have looked like when I was smoking Bengal Slices, the Sobranies, John Cotton’s 1 & 2, etc. That’s one of the reasons that I have so much fun at pipe shows because I get to see the look on other peoples’ faces when I can tell that they’ve become enamored with one of my blends. It’s that same flush of satisfaction and happiness you get when the folks at the cookout rave about your spare ribs.
Russ
You did it again Russ..Great Article!!! I started a pipe somewhere around the 60’s in high school but never got it down to a science until college. And I am still learning more and more from people like you. Thanx again for a good read…..
Great perspective, Russ. I enjoyed it. I suppose we are in the early days of a golden era, if only in the pipes and tobacco and virtual socialization. Everybody keep up the good work, and perhaps it might arrive for all to see.
Simon
Great story Russ! I have attended a lot of pipe shows in recent years and each time I go, it is a friendly reminder of some of the great things of the past, BUT, I truly think that we ARE in the best of times in the pipe and tobacco world right now. We have hundreds of great blends available to us and a huge crop of great pipe makers. These are the good old days!
It’s a sadness for Brit’s that our industry has so declined; the good side is the US blenders picking up the torch. Just the Revenoor’s obstructing us now!
I guess this article must have hit home with a number of you, and that makes it all worthwhile. I can’t express strongly enough my appreciation of Mike and Mary McNiel, Greg Pease and Craig Tarler for driving the artisanal pipe tobacco market and creating a path for those of us who have followed. The American pipe crafters who have brought a new level of workmanship and creativity to this side of the pond are also largely responsible for the feelings I expressed. Maybe I’m being a bit too optimistic, but I can’t wait to see what’s coming next.
Russ
I don’t so much lament the blends of the past as I do all the blends of the present that I will probably never have time to get to in my limited days on this planet. We are certainly blessed to be saddled with the curse of so many blends!
I’ve been a pipe smoker for over 50 years and remember the many now-departed blends that I enjoyed in solitary content. Now it is much more pleasurable to try the many blends that you have created with cohorts at our Pipe Club that get a great explanation of the intermarriage between different types of tobaccos.Thanks Russ for the education and the camaraderie at our meetings-we are very lucky to have you.
One word. Amen!
Great article, Russ. For years, my local pipe shop only carried standard shapes by GBD, Savinelli, and some other mainstays. The only unusual shapes were Danish freehands and I still have a couple from the 70s. Today, there are so many excellent carvers in so many countries – even the US! I no longer am confined by what my local store carries, I can buy new, used and skillfully refurbished “antiques” with a few keystrokes. What a deal. Local artisans can market their creations worldwide. We old timers can truly appreciate how this has expanded the options in pipes (and tobaccos), but I try to patronize my local stores too. I’ve seen numerous shops close up and that is sad, so I encourage my younger friends to patronize the local stores in addition to Internet dealers. It is a great time for us pipe smokers.
A very pleasant article and made me think of the late sixties when tobacco stores had more pipes than cigars. My local shop now isn’t really worth visiting. Pipes and a very limited selection of tobaccos are considered an afterthought and end up in a distant dusty corner.
I especially remember Demuth’s (sp?) in Lancaster, PA, supposedly the oldest pipe store in the Americas.
And Smoker’s Haven in Columbus with what had to be the largest selection of GBD’s in the country. I ordered tobacco (Pure Pleasure and others)whne I was stationed in Viet Nam – No internet, just a sticky, dusty envelope and quick return service.
Does anyone know where I can buy “Richmonds Navy Cut”? I bought in Germany in the late sixties and recently picked up a tin while on vacation. ($18.00US !!)
Great article, I’m glad I live i Denmark, where we have such a rich numbers of good and exelent tobacos.
Mr.Ouellette, writes an interesting perspective. I too am a pipe smoker (on and off) for more than 30 years. The internet has been an excellent source of information as well as a virtual pipe shop. It is still great to walk into a brick and mortar store and “sniff” around.
Russ, some of your remarkable blends are terrific examples that we are in a golden age of tobacco blending. You have a gift.
Wonderful article, and while I agree with you mainly, the two areas of pipesmoking that have suffered terribly, are public acceptance and the health of street level retailers. Without the internet pipesmoking would be as possible as home-built nuclear reactors.
Thanks for all the feedback. I want to wish everybody a Happy International Pipe Smoking Day. I’ll have a pipe in honor of the day, shortly.
Russ
A great perspective, Russ, and very true–let’s just do what we can to make sure it’s not the end of an era with obscene tobacco legislation! VOTE and use your VOICE!