Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 471
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Kevin Godbee - Sep 21, 2021
- 1 min read
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 471! Tonight we have an exceptional show that kicks off our 10th year with our special guest-host, Rich Esserman. Rich is quite well known in the hobby. He has been smoking, collecting, and writing about pipes for over 40-years, and he is best known for collecting large-size Dunhill pipes. We will turn the tables and have Rich interview Brian. Brian is our regular host, and both Rich and Brian hold the title of Dr. of Pipes. At the top of the show, Rich will answer the question, “When should you get a high grade pipe?” He’ll also tell you the smart way to go about it. Sit back, relax with your pipe, and enjoy The Pipes Magazine Radio Show!
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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. 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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Ok, so it’s that time of year, as we all know. Family feasts, houses, yards, and big trees festooned with lights and dangling ornaments, just high enough to keep the cats from reaching a paw into the greenery. It’s also the time of year when your pipe-smoking-significant other makes vast hints about a new pipe. That’s to be expected since he or she was a good boy or girl during the year. Yes, ladies smoke pipes, too. Oh, you want an example? Okay, try Actress Greta Garbo, Millicent Fenwick, Mary Frith, and my late grandmother (who died when she was 93) dipped snuff and smoked a cob occasionally. So now that we have settled that the gentler side of life will puff a pipe too, let’s move on to the upcoming biggest holiday of all. Of course, that huge event is brought to us by the hefty fellow in a red suit, puffing his pipe all the way in a sled filled with presents, being led by a reindeer with a red nose. Or some such. That’s Santa Claus, of course. Becoming a bit more serious, Christmas is such a wonderful time for families and friends. It’s also quite special for pipe puffers. For many of us, this brings up a nostalgic look back to our pipe-smoking or cigar-smoking friends who have died during the current year. A great journalist pal whom I often joined in a local brick-and-mortar pipe and cigar shop. I puffed my pipe, and occasional cigar, as he enjoyed a cigar. He died in October and will be missed. On the happier side of things, Christmas is also a time when mind workers of the world renew their collections with fresh additions. Pundit included. A French passion has overtaken Pundit, from reading more Albert Camus, a heavy cigarette smoker, as were many French intellectuals of a certain time. Instead of cigarettes many of us prefer the more relaxed enjoyment of pipes for that “calm and objective judgment” in the comings and goings of the world. This brings me to French pipes. While visiting France once in the long ago, I happened by a “Tabac” shop in Paris, Tabac Des Vosges. I purchased a beauty of a Chacom bent. I also later bought a Ropp made from ancient briar. To learn more about the dawn of briar pipes and beginnings, take a peek at a well-done piece by Davin Hylton in Pipe Line on April 12, 2023, on Saint-Claude, France, the birthplace of briar. Also in the long back when, on a cold Christmas afternoon, Pundit wandered into an Atlanta bricks and mortar pipe shop to look around. There, resting in an enclosed glass counter was an exquisite Comoy. An older gent, smoking a beautiful bent, asked me if I wanted to look at that pipe. It had a $100 price tag. A college student working for a grocery store chain to help with college tuition at the time, Pundit didn’t have one hundred cents, let alone a C note! I declined and found a $5 basket pipe. A Christmas tradition had just begun. Since that early time, Pundit has made it a holiday ritual to either reward himself, or a special friend, with pipe or tobacco. A Claudio Cavicchi would be nice. Just sayin.’ And now for a couple of December-born Pipe Smokers of the Past: Joseph Rudyard Kipling was born on Dec. 30, 1865, and died on Jan. 18, 1936. I always prefer to believe the best of everybody; it saves so much trouble—Rudyard Kipling. Martin Van Buren, born Dec. 5, 1782, and died July 24, 1862, U.S. President, 1837-1841 As to the presidency, the two happiest days of my life were those of my entrance upon the office and my surrender of it—Martin Van Buren. And one more note to recall a deceased World War II veteran who loved William Somerset Maugham, the author. Maugham, a pipe smoker, was born in Paris, France, on Jan. 25, 1874, and died on Dec. 16, 1965. One cool afternoon as the veteran and I talked while sitting in his backyard patio, he looked off into the distance as if studying something. Nothing in particular. Just looking. He turned to me and said if I wanted to learn about life, “read Somerset Maugham.” I did. It wasn’t until late in life that I discovered how easy it is to say, ‘I don’t know’ –W. Somerset Maugham And now a Parting Shot: Any day with an old friend with pipes and tobacco is a good day.
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Man, Brian, that was the fastest hour and a half ever. What an amazing show! Rich was an outstanding host, and you were a terrific guest. I quite frankly didn’t want the show to end.
I know the seasoned pipe smokers really enjoyed the conversation, and I hope the newer pipe enthusiasts realize what an incredibly warm and welcoming community they have embraced.
Great music choice, Rich. I truly love Tony Bennett’s voice and musicianship, and Bill Charlap is a master jazz pianist and sensitive accompanist. Thanks.
Congratulations Brian for another milestone in Radio Show history!
Dino
Great episode!
Congratulations on 10 years! It’s been an amazing ride. Very thankful for all the good times and great information the show has brought. I raise my bowl to another ten years. Sweet smokes to you Brian, and Kevin and the entire audience!
Happy 10th Anniversary!!!
I am new to the Pipe Smoking Community (5 months) and I was fortunate enough to stumble upon your show very quickly. It has instantly become my favorite pass-time on my hour long commute to and from work (I am a Locomotive Engineer at Canadian Pacific Railway). You can imagine my delight at having almost 10 years of catching up to do.
From novice smokers to heavy hitters in the pipe industry, your guests are all very interesting and I enjoy their Super Hero Origin Stories as well as their varied insights into the world as it pertains to pipe smoking.
Mr. Eltang has been my very favorite guest so far at least until today when you got put into the hot seat.
Anyways, I just wanted to drop a brief line to congratulate you on 10 years and Here’s to another 10 years (and infinitely more) of great entertainment. You are doing a great service to the Pipe Smokers across the span of the globe that are fortunate enough to be able to enjoy your show.
Great Job Brian and Thank You
Dave Hariniuk
This was a great episode. Great novice interview with that Brian Levine guy. I think he’s probably one of those fellas that will stick around the hobby for sometime. Seems to have a pretty good feel for what is going on with the pipe. Blessings to you all! – Nathan
You need to break it to people that it is your ninth anniversary, not your tenth. But nonetheless it is a tremendous accomplishment to say the least.
It was an amazing show and Rich’s advice on how to get into high-ends made tremendous sense to me. Either save your dough or go the estate route, both are excellent ways to get into high ends. I continue to marvel at Rich’s ability to combine tobaccos and get some thing decent out of it. I’d ruin every tobacco I tried to do that with. And I must say I enjoyed him interviewing you very much.
For as much as I have enjoyed your Sinatra and Crosby selection over the years I just don’t like Tony Bennett artistically.