Wet Shaving, Pipes, and Gentlemanly Pursuits
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James Foster - Feb 5, 2015
- 10 min read
James Foster
In the past year, PipesMagazine.com has broadened it’s horizons by reaching out past just pipes and tobaccos to include other topic areas of interest for the pipe smoker lifestyle. We have Steve Morrisette’s column,
the Gentleman Smoker, and Ethan Brandt’s column, The Speakeasy for example. While participating in our little pipe smoking and collecting hobby, we’ve noticed that some of you also have a hobby of growing big, large beards. Well, this article isn’t for you … unless you want to do some wet shaving. For further proof that wet shaving and pipe smoking go together, read this forum post from 2008.
WetShaveClub.com was nice enough to send me a box to sample and asked if I would write an article about it. Since old school wet shaving and the pastime of pipe smoking both have an air of nostalgia to them, we thought we’d give it a go. Also, there is a story here that involves a pipe smoker. So naturally we’re going to cover the box I received but I’m also going to talk about one of the products that a fellow pipe smoker (and cigar smoker) happens to peddle.
Wetshaveclub.com is like some of the other companies out there that is a monthly “box” type of club which is all the rage nowadays. What sets them apart is they spend time looking for great products to include in their boxes for shavers that are niche, and outside of the normal purview. When you sign up for the club at $29 a month for 1 month or $24 a month for 3 months or as little as $19 a month for an entire year, you receive first a box with a razor, soap, brush, after shave, and blades. Then each additional box contains other shaving products to bolster your shaving needs and introduce you to new products that you might decide to make your daily shaving product.
Much like the many pipe-smoker starter kits out there that weigh quality, value, and price in the selection of the items I think wetshaveclub.com is a great way to introduce you to wet shaving or re-introduce the time-old tradition of wet shaving. The price point on this really is great to be able to sample products across a longer time period.
The box I was sent was the “January” box and it included a wetshaveclub razor, boar brush, some aftershave from Local Gent Shaving Co. and Ellington’s Soap — where the inside of the cover states “A Gentleman thinks before speaking, dresses for the occasion, and loves his mother.”
Ellington’s is the brainchild of Obie Hughes who is a tattoo artist by day, saxophone player by night, and purveyor of fine shaving and skin products everywhere in between. Oh, and lets not forget: A Pipe Smoker.
For his day job, Obie is a tattoo artist extraordinaire and cut his teeth working early on with Corey Miller (Better known on the TV show LA Ink) for about 10 years before opening his own art studio and parlor Speakeasy Tattoo.
“It is a private, appointment only type studio located in an industrial complex off the beaten path so you won’t see any neon tattoo signs or anything. It’s decor mimics the styles of the early 1930s and has the feel of the old underground drinking establishments during the prohibition era in America… like an old “speakeasy” complete with velvet curtains, vintage wallpaper and rich mahogany trim .. hence the name of the studio,” Says Obie.
See if I wanted to get a tattoo, that sounds like just the right place for me to get one. And I suspect the music I would hear would also hearken back to the same era. Much like Obie’s nighttime gig playing Baritone Sax for the group Rumble King (www.rumbleking.com)
“We have performed at all the major festivals that feature roots rock n roll over the years and have had a steady gig at Disneyland for about 10 years now. You can also catch us at nightclubs regularly on the west coast.”
Not only that, they have 4 full length albums out, a couple singles, and a short music video and they have been doing this for over 18 years!
Obie’s story is unique and what had started out as merely a product review for wetshaveclub.com turned into a full on interview so I’ll share with you what I found out:
You’re a throwback type of guy, how did you grow up?
As a child and through high school, I had always been drawn to the culture and music of the past. My first car was a 1955 Chevy Bel Air and have since owned a dozen or so classic cars and Harley Davidson’s in my day. The first time I ever greased my hair back (Murray’s and Tres Flores Pomade for decades before switching to water based) was at 10 years old but truly started living the lifestyle as a freshman in high school. Musically my earliest influence was Elvis Presley via my Mom who is still a huge fan and from there I just dug deeper. Researching the musical influences of Elvis lead me to all the rhythm and blues artists of the 1940s and then to all the jazz musicians of the 20s and 30s.
How did you develop your line of aftercare products?
With my background you can understand a little about where the marketing influences are drawn when it came to establishing my ideas for Ellington’s All Natural Gentleman’s Aftercare. This was not a marketing scheme trying to capitalize on a growing trend. With my background in the art, music and culture, I design by hand or computer everything from logos, labels, t shirts, shop towels, containers to websites for the company. And Like the artwork, all of our products are also hand made. About 5 or so years ago I was exposed to the art of making handmade all natural organic soap and lotion through a company called Gypsy Soul Organics, owned by Yoga instructor and Aroma therapist Amy Mullin, who also happens to be my “better half” and the brains behind the Ellington’s Recipes.
What was your first product?
The first product we decided to develop out of more necessity than desire was what is now our Ellington’s SuperNatural Salve. This took the longest to research and develop. Originally, this was created to help heal recently tattooed skin. I had grown weary of recommending petrolatum based healing agents to my clients and wanted to create a more natural and organic healing agent. Something with simple ingredients that I could in good conscious recommend for my tattoo clients. I also wanted it to be affordable. There are a few other all natural healing agents but most are double the price of more commonly used petrolatum based skin products. So I wanted something that was organic as well as affordable. After a good year of research, development and personal use, we finally came up with a product that we love, believe in, and use daily. And in the process of creating what was meant to be catered to the tattoo community, we realized that the salve had many other uses. Through personal use and feedback from friends and family, we discovered that not only did the salve work great for tattoos, it worked for just about any minor skin irritation such as bug bites, diaper rash, cuts, scrapes, minor burns, chapped lips, dry skin, eczema, and most recently as a beard balm.
Ok, so how did you migrate to shaving soap?
An annual birthday tradition for me personally, is the classic hot towel shave. Which has always been another intriguing art form often glorified in classic Hollywood gangster films. So the Ellington’s Gentleman’s Shaving Soap seemed like a great idea for the second product. With Amy’s experience in making organic soap with Gypsy Soul Organics, we were able to figure out a beautiful recipe that gives Ellington’s that nice rich lather. For convenience we decided to offer the soap in a classic gold can with room to lather without the need of a shave mug. And for fun, each can includes a hand drawn instruction sheet and hidden trinket at the bottom. The shaving soap is off to a great start and as you know was featured in the January Wet Shave Club. We followed up the Shaving Soap with our “Wide Eyed Whiskey Cider Aftershave. An all natural apple cider vinegar base with woodsy spice aroma and a splash of bourbon. In the very near future we will be offering the soap and aftershave with a second aroma. On the opposite end of the spectrum, we are almost finished with our new minty tropical citrus aroma. And we use the term aroma not to sound fancy but because we only use all natural essential oils as opposed to synthetic chemical fragrances.
How did wetshaveclub.com approach you to include your soap in their box did they say “Hey, we need a metric poop-ton of soap from you,”?
Pretty much. I’m guessing that they just did a search for shaving soaps on etsy and liked the look and concept of Ellington’s. I’m not sure if it was the logo or the fact that it was all natural or both. At any rate we sent them some samples. They loved the lather and scent and decided to use us for the January wet shave club. Our original gold tin can was a bit heavy for their usual box so we decided to use the plastic container for the order. We had already been experimenting with the disposable plastic container idea for a travel version of Ellington’s and for single use shaves for our barber shops clientele. The wet shave club contacted us in early November so it was good we had a little time to fill the order. All of our products are handmade so it was good to have some advance notice.
How long have you been a pipe smoker?
Just a couple years. Still a bit of a rookie at the art of packing a pipe and overall etiquette. I have some very close friends that are avid pipe smokers that help me along the way. Like I said I’m quite a bit more experienced with cigars. What I do like about a pipe is that the smoker has the option of packing a 10, 20, or full hour worth of tobacco “on the fly” as opposed to a predetermined cigar size. My favorite pipe is my Vauen pipe I picked up in Germany.
What type of tobacco do you like?
I don’t necessarily lean toward English Tobacco, it’s just what Santa Claus brought me this year. I tend to like a more bold flavorful complex smoke whatever the brand or where it is grown. Anything that changes it’s flavor as the smoke continues is a plus. I’ve never been a cigarette smoker and don’t care for that at all. So the further away from the taste of a cigarette, the better. I am not big on the flavored tobaccos. Earthy, Spicy with a hint of sweet is perfect. Any recommendations ?
And that sums it up. Feel free to drop Obie a line on your recomendations for him and you can learn more about Obie’s shave soap at www.ellingtonsaftercare.com. For those who follow instagram you can also check out his instagram account here. And more about wetshaveclub by going to www.wetshaveclub.com. A special thanks to forum member msandoval for his expert photography.
 James Foster goes by the online handle of Pylorns in the forums, and he is the creator of an app for keeping track of your tobacco cellar inventory called The Pipe Tool and serves as the President of the Austin Pipe Club. |
Written by James Foster
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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. 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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 […]
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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! 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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. 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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.
