Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 614. Our featured interview tonight is with Kirk Womack. Kirk is a 27-year old locksmith and is part of our new series of pipe smokers that are under the age of 30. One of his passions is participating in Civil War reenactments, and that is what led him to pipe smoking. He’s been smoking a pipe for three years. At the top of the show, Brian will discuss room note.
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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.
Publisher & Founder of PipesMagazine.com
Certified Master Tobacconist (CMT) #1858 from TobacconistUniversity.org
My grandfather didn't smoke a pipe, but my uncle and some of my elementary school teachers did. In 1998, my neighbor Sam invited me out, and we ended up back at his place where there was a cigar humidor, and pipe rack on the coffee table. I had my first cigar, and then decided to try pipes too. I love the elegance and relaxation of smoking a pipe. In 2002, I started learning how to make websites, do SEO, and create content. I had a cigar content site and forums from 2005-2008 when it was bought out. In 2009, I launched PipesMagazine.com, which is now the largest, busiest community forums, and article content site for pipe and tobacco enthusiasts. We have one of the longest running pipe and tobacco focused podcasts since 2012 with lifetime industry veteran, Brian Levine.
Your discussion of “room note” will probably be quite useful to the new smokers among the listeners.
Kirk was a fun and interesting guest, very personable. For as young as he is, he is well along in his pipe journey. I enjoyed his backstory of coming to pipes through his reenactment activities.
He had some great questions for you.
Dom’s “Nobody Wrote It Down” was a powerful song, and a good choice to usher in Juneteenth.
Florida oranges took a huge hit this year and last due to hurricanes and a new disease called “citrus greening”. I’m as sad as you are about this. They’re working to improve the crops. Fingers crossed.
Thanks for another always entertaining show.
Dino
It was nice discussion on room note though it was of any use to me. I only smoke at the pipe shop I frequent and at home so It’s okay as long as you’re smoking tobacco. Anything goes as Cole Porter would say.
Kim Womack was pleasant and very outgoing. He tobacco knowledge was tolerable. I was greatly interested in his re-enactment of Civil War battles. I never re-enacted anything myself, but I went to several major re-enactments, particularly the 125th Battle of Shilo that had 8,000 re-enactors there. The actual battle had 100,000 soldiers there. Shilo is the damnedest place to get to. I can’t believe the two sides found each other.
Dom Flemmons is always good to listen to. It is a good way to celebrate Juneteenth!!
I’m with you on your love of fruit. Pears, peaches, cherries, bananas, apricots, etc., are just wonderful. Sad to see the Florida crop got just about wiped due to disease.
Great to hear Kirk on the show! As he mentioned, we got to meet at one of the Indiana club meetings, and honestly I thought he was my age or a little older. When he signed up for our mailing list, I thought my sister was playing a joke on me cause her married name is Womack. Which it sounds like he may be related to my brother in law, we had a good laugh about that.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 640. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Ben Rapaport. Ben has been known internationally as an avid pipe smoker, antique pipe collector, and book author. His first book on pipes was published in 1972, and his latest book – his 10th – is out now in very limited quantities. The distribution has already sold out, but you can still get a copy of “The Wide World of Wood Tobacco Pipes. Two Centuries of Craftsmanship and Creativity” by contacting him directly at ben70gray@gmail.com. At the top of the show we’ll be turning the tables on our recurring Ask the Pipemaker segment. This time, Jeff Gracik will ask the questions, which Brian will answer as a pipe collector, and you can give your answers too.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 639. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Per Billhäll. Per is the owner of Scandinavian Pipes, which is an online retailer of high grade pipes. He started smoking pipes in the 1960s. His first high grade pipe was made by Hans “Former” Nielsen, who is one of the living legends from Denmark. That led to Per becoming a huge pipe and tobacco collector, and show attendee where he became well known. Along with pipe book author Jan Andersson, they started The Pipe Club of Sweden in 1991. Then in 1999, Per started “Scan Pipes”. He is now one of the pipe retailing legends from Sweden. At the top of the show Brian will talk about holiday blends, and other special pipe tobacco blends.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 638. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Fae “The Sassy Pipe Lady” Simmons. Fae is the owner of Tobacco Treasures, which sells new, vintage, & estate pipes, and smoking accessories on Etsy. She has been in business since 2017, and has been surrounded by pipes and tobacco most of her life. Her father and his brother smoked pipes, and so does Fae. Her husband is also a retired tobacconist that worked all over the industry from coast to coast for several different companies in the industry. She has a great story of how her business got started with a great inventory of unsmoked vintage pipes. 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.
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.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 637. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Nate King. Most people know of Nate as an excellent pipe artisan. He also has an honorary Master of Pipes degree from the Chicagoland Pipe Collectors Club, and is a member of the prestigious Confrérie des Maitres Pipiers de Saint-Claude. To be inducted into the Confrérie, this past May Nate travelled to Saint-Claude, France with master tobacco blender G.L. Pease, who was also inducted. It was quite a time in France, and at the ceremony. We’ll hear all about those adventures on the show. At the top of the show we’ll continue the virtual tour of Brian’s pipe collection with six of his Satou Dublin-shape pipes.
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.
Your discussion of “room note” will probably be quite useful to the new smokers among the listeners.
Kirk was a fun and interesting guest, very personable. For as young as he is, he is well along in his pipe journey. I enjoyed his backstory of coming to pipes through his reenactment activities.
He had some great questions for you.
Dom’s “Nobody Wrote It Down” was a powerful song, and a good choice to usher in Juneteenth.
Florida oranges took a huge hit this year and last due to hurricanes and a new disease called “citrus greening”. I’m as sad as you are about this. They’re working to improve the crops. Fingers crossed.
Thanks for another always entertaining show.
Dino
It was nice discussion on room note though it was of any use to me. I only smoke at the pipe shop I frequent and at home so It’s okay as long as you’re smoking tobacco. Anything goes as Cole Porter would say.
Kim Womack was pleasant and very outgoing. He tobacco knowledge was tolerable. I was greatly interested in his re-enactment of Civil War battles. I never re-enacted anything myself, but I went to several major re-enactments, particularly the 125th Battle of Shilo that had 8,000 re-enactors there. The actual battle had 100,000 soldiers there. Shilo is the damnedest place to get to. I can’t believe the two sides found each other.
Dom Flemmons is always good to listen to. It is a good way to celebrate Juneteenth!!
I’m with you on your love of fruit. Pears, peaches, cherries, bananas, apricots, etc., are just wonderful. Sad to see the Florida crop got just about wiped due to disease.
Great to hear Kirk on the show! As he mentioned, we got to meet at one of the Indiana club meetings, and honestly I thought he was my age or a little older. When he signed up for our mailing list, I thought my sister was playing a joke on me cause her married name is Womack. Which it sounds like he may be related to my brother in law, we had a good laugh about that.