The Pipes Magazine Radio Show – Episode 121

Hi Brian,
The holidays were good to me. A nice Sherlock Holmes meerschaum and two Clarence Mickles hawkbills. They are all good smokers, the Clarence Mickles large hawkbill being the best.
Your reason for your experimental difficulty are probably correct. You will do better next time.
Ricardo Santia is a person I do not know. Gee, my guitars are here in my den and I smoke around them all the time. I think it makes them sound better, it's definitely not my playing. I have not smoked a cob in many a years. Prior to tonight, I was not aware of anyone 'upgrading' the corn cob pipes. Maybe I may try one down the road. The ones on Ricardo's web page are intriguing.
Keith Moore's selection "Promise Land" was very good. I kind of miss not seeing him at shows anymore.
Rant - I do not watch commercial TV either. Enough said.
Nice show Brian.

Enjoyed the pipe parts even though my interest in tobacco blending ends with "I wonder what Greg Pease, Mike McNiel, and Russ Ouellete have concocted for me today".
The interview was fine. I have seen some of Riccardo's work and if you are into cobs (I am not) it looks like interesting stuff.
Hard to get away from commercials. They provide an important service. How else would we know we need Viagra if they didn't tell us a 100 times an evening? Likewise, aren't you relieved to know we have a seemingly unlimited supply of ambulance chasers in case of personal injury? And it has to be reassuring to know that 90% of our insurance premium is going to broadcast ads with Flo and the Lizard.

Brian
Another great show. Ricardo Santia was a interesting guess. I loved the Promise Land. Keep up the good work.

Hi Brian - Listening to the radio show is something I very much look forward to every week. A few episodes ago, you mentioned some companies refusing to hire smokers and such. Well, I started smoking a pipe about five years ago, ten years into my career with a large, well-known company. I'm in very good health, exercise regularly, bike, hike 14,000'+ mountains annually, etc. Last year, during my annual open enrollment for my medical insurance, I came across a new question. It asked if I used tobacco of any form in 2014. This included cigarettes, cigars, pipes, snuff, smokeless tobacco, and even vapor products. Unless I certified that I had not, they would tack on a $50 per month tobacco surcharge. This blew my mind. Up to some time before that, I would partake of, on average, about ten bowls per week. I did some reading and found that we have the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to thank for this. It opens a huge can of worms to discuss, but wow. This certainly falls into one of the realms of, how did you once put it, "$hit that really pi$$es me off." Anyway, if you're interested, and in case you haven't heard about this yet, here is a link. http://healthylife.com/blog/?p=574.
All the best to you.
Bill