Yet Somehow…
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Kevin Godbee - Dec 3, 2013
- 5 min read
Russ Ouellette
It seems like only yesterday, at times, that I started out working in a tobacco shop, yet it was actually 37 years ago. The landscape was much different then. Our focus was pipes and tobacco- nearly 75% of our business was pipe related. Premium cigars amounted to less than 10%, with machine made cigars being much stronger, and the balance was in accessories and the like. Through the end of the seventies and into the eighties there was a precipitous drop in pipe smoking, yet somehow, pipe smoking survives.
There were amazing blends available then that have disappeared from the scene. Among the late, lamented tobaccos: all of the Sobranie, John Cotton, Four Square, Elephant & Castle and Marcovitch lines have either vanished or have changed. One of my favorites, Bengal Slices, went through changes before vanishing entirely, sort of like extended death throes. Many brands died because there wasn’t enough of a market to make it commercially viable to continue. Others tried to maintain their product lines, but lack of availability of components caused radical changes that disappointed their customers and the blends withered on the vine. Yet somehow, pipe smoking survives.
Our little hobby has been unfairly lumped in with cigarette smoking, and therefore has been demonized as a killer. Forget the findings of the original Surgeon General’s report that showed that pipe smokers lived marginally longer than non-smokers. I don’t mind some of the restrictions that have been placed on all types of smoking. I don’t think that lighting up in a hospital waiting room is a good idea, with sick people being forced to smell smoke, for example. I do get a little peeved, though, in those few restaurants and bars where smoking is still allowed, that I’m asked not to smoke my pipe or cigar while I have to smell stale cigarette smoke. In some places, you can’t even smoke under an overhang or canopy outdoors, because those shelters are considered to be an enclosure. There are lots of parks and open spaces where smoking in all forms is banned. And now, more restrictions are being placed on people in their own neighborhoods and homes. Yet somehow, pipe smoking survives.
Usurious taxes abound in relation to tobacco. There’s a federal excise tax on all tobaccos products. Then the majority of states add their own tariffs, and there are even city taxes on some tobacco products. Additional fees are added by some manufacturers who signed onto the settlement agreement that pays a significant amount, annually, to states, supposedly to fund anti-smoking campaigns, but the money often goes elsewhere. For devotees of imported brands, another layer of cost is added due to import fees. Yet somehow, pipe smoking survives.
Most of us smoke briar pipes. Harvesting briar isn’t an easy job. The burls grow underground and the heath trees grow in rocky soil and hillsides, making access dicey, at times. Finding people who want to do this kind of work can also be difficult, and when it’s hard to get people to do a job, the ones who will do the work expect better pay. When a market shrinks, the way that the pipe market had for so long, the cost of raw materials has to go up to allow the suppliers to survive. The finishing work, even on inexpensive pipes, requires skilled labor, and we all know that training and ability aren’t cheap to come by. Profit has to be made from the people who find the wood, to the mill that prepares it for market, to the manufacturer of the pipes, to the importer and the retailer. There are other considerations, such as shipping, that add to the cost, and all of this has to get passed on to you, the consumer, Yet somehow, pipe smoking survives.
The specialty tobacco industry is much smaller than it used to be, yet the market demands new products, constantly. To some degree, this has weighed heavily on the brick and mortar tobacco shops. Even though their traffic is smaller than it was, the customer wants to choose from a broader selection of goods. Whether it’s pipe tobacco or cigars, variety is the name of the game, and it’s up to those of us who create and manufacture these items to meet demand. Some stores can’t, or refuse to keep up, and business suffers, maybe to the point of failure. Younger entrepreneurs look elsewhere for quick and easy profits, so there are fewer people to buy these concerns as the owners move toward retirement. Some stores who lease their properties find that the landlord doesn’t want to renew due to pressure from certain groups, insurance companies and the like, and in some states, the law doesn’t even allow smoking in a smokeshop. Yet somehow, pipe smoking survives.
Why does it survive? It does, in part, because we pipe smokers are a stubborn lot. This is part of our lives, and we’re not going to let go willingly, regardless of outside pressure. We enjoy it, and we feel that it adds to our quality of life. If the pressure is so great that our local stores are shuttered, we simply find another way to purchase the items we enjoy.
It survives because people recognize the relaxation and serenity that a pipe can bring. People looking to slow life down a bit are turning to our pastime as a way to accomplish this. The beauty of a well-made pipe is a, mostly, affordable way to bring artistry in our lives. If flavor is an important thing, eating out in fine restaurants can be costly, but even the most expensive tobaccos are a bargain in comparison.
It survives because some of the more tolerant people are willing to give us a pass, as they have fond memories that tie the aroma of pipe tobacco with a relative, or that kindly older gent who used to chat with them when they would walk past his house when they were children. Add to that the fact that the worst pipe tobacco smells better than the best cigarettes.
It also survives because we, predominantly, as a group are considerate and won’t light up at inappropriate times, unlike many cigarette smokers.
But more than anything else, it survives because we enjoy it, and refuse to give up something that makes life more tolerable in these crazy times. There’s a lot of gloom and doom being forecasted for our little hobby, but I don’t buy into it, because, well, we’ve survived to this point, and don’t plan to go anywhere.
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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 Bethlehem, PA. 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.
Thanks for the enlightening article, it’s inteesting to see where we have been, where we are at right now, and where we are headed.
Thanks Russ. What we’ve been through is sad but I feel as you do we will carry on.
I know it’s been said before but this is a “golden age” in pipedom.
Carry on Gentlemen.
Dan
Gabrieli Pipes
Thanks, great job! I love how you keep it in perspective and positive. Being on the forums and keeping up here, it makes me appreciate living in an area when we don’t have these crazy restrictive laws.
Interesting to hear from someone in the biz so long. I smoked a pipe during college because others in class (you could smoke in classes then) were less offended (in fact the girls liked the smell of pipe), but I had started with cigars in my teens, and smoked them exclusively after college…until in the 90s all of a sudden it became a yuppie fad and the cost of good cigars syrocketed to truly ridiculous levels. Today a 50g tin of premium tobacco costs less than one halfway decent cigar. Sure there’s the cost of the pipe(s) but carefully-chosen and maintained estate pipes are depreciation-proof for the most part.
Interesting insights, Russ. All good things will persist in the minds and hearts of men, at lng as they draw benefit or pleasure from it. The pressures come from those who do not draw the same benefits. Someone will always see a snake in the woodpile.
Thanks for keeping the magic in the tobacco, my friend.
Nice article, Russ.
This is a lovely, sensitively-written article, neither banging the drum too selfishly for ‘our’ side nor damning the ‘opposition’ too heavily. You steer a careful course through the minefields that exist today. And, right on the nail, you state correctly that pipe smokers are a generally conscientious bunch of citizens who enjoy their hobby without imposing it on others. At the same time, the resurgence of this delightful pastime might give pause for thought to those who condemn all forms of smoking. I am not sure what the future is for smoking in general. I hear rumours of countries planning to ban it all together, in which case, where do we stand? I don’t know as yet. I hope I might be allowed to continue my pastime as I have done for the last twenty years. In the meantime, your article provides a welcome measure of sanity, careful argument and an invaluable framework of years of experience. Thank you, sir.
G.
Well put, Russ. We ARE a stubborn lot and good for us. As a 40+ year pipe smoker I do miss some of the classics that went away but I also appreciate the art of today’s blenders who offer us so many quality blends. We shall persevere.
Great article Russ, thanks. I think as long as there are people who consider pipe smoking to be a lifestyle, then the pipe industry will survive. There will always be a segment of society who refuse to buckle to being told what to do. The more they try to take away our places to smoke and to tax our tobacco, the more determined we get. As said above we are a stubborn lot and we will not yield. I believe part of the resurgence is due to young people realizing that pipe smokers are a different lot and they like they idea of being a maverick and a bit outside societal norms.
Very well written, Russ.
Great post, Russ. An enjoyable read.
Thank you for company on a walk down memory lane. As a survivor, I’d also thank you for providing more economical variety. I’m looking forward to H&H.
Nice article, Thanks Russ.
Thank you Russ. That was very enjoyable.
Pipe smoking it’s never going to disappear! There is always going to be some one who will enjoy the freedom that comes from being part of a different group and take time to relax and see the world from a different perspective… I enjoy being part of this, people coming and asking what I’m smoking and listening how the smell bring back memories of grandfathers or friends lost in time and above all enjoy the link that has created between me and my family because I know that when my children grow old they smell some one smoking pipe or when they decide to smoke a pipe as I do they will always think about me.
That article gave me chills. Among all you have listed, Russ, the bond between us men and women who share the pipe is one of the strongest I’ve seen in an hobby or past-time.
Amen Brother, Amen.
Great read Russ. The fight has to be harder that ever at this point, but with well spoken, educated folk like yourself, we should be just fine. Point smoking not only will, but MUST survive.
Thanks for sharing Russ, you wrote an excellent article and I enjoyed reading it.
Thanks Russ this is a great read. The only thing that I can add is that in this day and age when they are slowly making Pot legal that we pipe smoker still have to be overly taxed and shunned.
jfox520- Your comment has made me wonder how long it will be before when someone who wants to be a smartalec will ask a pipe smoker- “So, do you smoke TOBACCO in that thing?”
Russ
That happened to me- in 1972!
Wow! What a great article! Proud to be part of the new generation that is keeping the flame alive. I’m so thankful to be accepted into such a warm community that is still thriving. Best wishes everyone!
Although pipe smoking has survived and even seen a resurgence in recent years I think it is only a matter of time before it takes a turn for the worse. There are a variety of factors that have contributed to the survival and recent rise in in pipes smokers – the cigar boom of the 90s and celebrity smokers, cigarette smokers looking for a safer alternative, cigar smokers looking to save money and try something new, a reaction against the horrifically hectic pace of modern life, the shedding of its grandfatherly image to counterculture coolness, etc.
These things have occurred organically, but that’s not good enough. There is one big factor missing in all that…advertising/promotion. Retailers and producers remain too scared to actually recruit new smokers. It is this lingering and pervasive fear that will doom this cottage industry (and smoking, in general). The only way to combat the rising tide of onerous restrictions and taxation is to increase the number of people who feel harmed or aggrieved by them. Granted, there are restrictions on tobacco advertising, and some entities won’t even entertain a request for advertising. About the only tobacco advertising you see is Camel ads in Car and Driver. But until retailers and producers actually start advertising (both in print and in person) to show they’re proud of their products and businesses, AND suggest people smoke, we’ll eventually plateau, and then decline. When I see a Savinelli or smokingpipes.com ad in a regional or national context then I’ll have some optimism.
Thanks, Russ. That was truly beautiful.
Eric
Inspiring, Russ, and glad you wrote it. Way to rally the troops!
Thanks Russ for yet another outstanding read. I too think the hobby – err, lifestyle, dare I say religion (for me) – will persist well into the future. We current tobacco pipe smokers represent the historical legacy of a community of world pipe smokers, a community which, in the not too distant past, encompassed some 35% of the adult males in the United States. Lest it not be forgotten, these anonymous pipe smokers were our grandfathers, and allowed for the freedoms many of us enjoy today. Although far fewer in number today, we nevertheless still hold the candle to the memory of these men and the deeds they accomplished, with, of course, a pipe in hand.
Another fine article.
Many thanks.
Your fine article is political but every word and thought is said as an unassuming statement, not intended to make waves against the forces that besiege any type of smoking, anywhere. It is to raise the esprit de corps of all of us trying to fit a simple pleasure into a society grown vastly intolerant.
As an example, I had my brother mail me some cigars, sending them from Chicago to North Carolina; it’s been three weeks since he sent them regular mail and they haven’t arrived. The Post Office informed me that tobacco must be mailed via Priority or one of their extra-fee services. They were good cigars, three, amounting to $40.00. I’m glad I didn’t lose more; I’d never heard of this.
So yes Mr Ouelette’s article buoys my anti-tobacco beleagured senses, stating that pipe smoking has and will survive.