The Pipes Magazine Radio Show – Episode 3
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Kevin Godbee - Oct 4, 2012
- 1 min read
Welcome to the third Pipes Magazine Radio Show. After the first two shows our listeners were debating which episode they liked better. We think everyone will agree that Episode Number 3 sets the bar to a new level. We worked very hard to make this show exemplary. Mary McNiel from McClelland Tobacco Co. will be tonight’s interview. If you’ve had the chance to meet Mary at a pipe show, then you already know that she is a sweetheart. She is immensely knowledgeable about tobacco, and a pleasure to talk to. McClelland makes many popular pipe tobaccos including the Frog Morton series. We will talk about the origins of Frog Morton and unveil some other interesting background information on McClelland tobaccos. Brian will also be talking about estate pipes, he will give you the answer to last week’s trivia question and you get a new tobacco trivia to think about.
We 100% guarantee that no matter what your taste in music is that you will love the featured song we have for this show.
We’d like to welcome 4noggins.com as our first direct radio show sponsor. Please listen for their ad at the beginning of the show. Finally, Brian exposes another anti-tobacco effort gone amuck in this week’s rant.
We hope you enjoy our 45-minute show produced just for you—the pipe smoker and collector. The following link will launch a pop-up player. Alternatively, you can download the show in iTunes after the initial broadcast is complete here.
Written by Kevin Godbee
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Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 657. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Ben Smith of Redeemed Pipes. Ben is a pipe restorer, buyer and seller. He helps collectors find the estate pipes they are looking for. He started Redeemed Pipes in 2022 at his first Chicago pipe show. He deals with all types of pipes from artisan to factory-made. He actually started smoking pipes in 2017, and soon became obsessed, and quickly progressed to collecting artisan pipes himself. At the top of the show Brian will discuss “Estate Pipe Buying 101”.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 656. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Nate King, the “King of Pipes” and of In-N-Out Burger. 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. Prior to becoming a pipe maker in 2005, Nate worked in the Indy race business as a transmission specialist. At the top of the show Brian will have a tobacco review of Low Country Atalaya. It is a Virginia/Perique blend made in the Cornell & Diehl factory.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 655. Our featured interview tonight is with Mike Morales. Mike showed up at the Vegas pipe show last year with a bunch of professional video equipment and spontaneously arranged interviews with show exhibitors and Brian. The video he produced was at a professional level of a TV show, so Brian had to have him on the show. Mike is a pipe smoking enthusiast that is quite intrigued with the community aspect and history of pipe smoking. He is on a journey to devour as much of this information and experience as possible. 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.
Ahh, Spring has sprung! Cherry blossoms are sprouting into bloom, the weather is giving some of us a bit of relief (looking at you, allergies). But there is also the other side—the, uh, spring cleaning side. I’m talking pipe herd spring cleaning, of course. Over the years, the herd has become unruly and very inconsiderate. Pipes seem to arrive and begin elbowing for a spot in the numerous pipe rack stalls. So, I began a long journey this current spring to shoo away the unwanted, weed out the ugly growths, and start afresh. Dear friends, there are hundreds in the herd! See, Pundit began his pipe smoking journey and pursuit of happy hobby hunting in college. I admired my pipe-puffing erudite English Lit professors, the fuzzy history profs, and pomp and circumstance philosopher profs, one of whom entered the classroom, smoking a pipe and reciting “ Sic Parvis Magna,” or another of his favorite Latin phrases. I always loved hearing that prof walking in from the back of the classroom and spouting over his clenched pipe, that Latin phrase “greatness from small beginnings.” What wasn’t so much fun arrived at the end of a year-long study of Shakespeare. The Shakespearean scholar teaching the class penned a note at the end of the single exam we had all year, “Deus vobiscum,” God be with you. English Lit majors had to make a B or higher on the exam in order not to repeat the year-long study of The Bard. I was in my senior year, as were most of the Lit majors. Repeating the year was not the best of outcomes. I digress. Back to the herd. In all my searching, I always wanted to find an estate pipe carved and created (ahem, like me, of course) in my birth year. Now, we won’t go into the actual birth date itself, but let’s just say it ranges around World War II. I never found that estate pipe, but the herd is full of old and dated versions around that birth year. Some very new herd additions help ease that search. There are so many old memories and stories surrounding the ancients, though. One quick one for you. This happened on a beautiful catch-and-release Ozark Mountain river stream along the Missouri and Arkansas border. The stream was one of those mystical waters. Mists floating off the morning current whets the imagination in anticipation of mayflies or caddisflies emerging from larvae to pupae, rising to the surface, drying its wings and taking flight in a new form, promising me greatness from their small beginnings. I was enjoying my pipe, casting for wild trout when I heard a shout behind me. It originated from a rock-dimpled canoe. A large bearded fellow slapped the paddle beside me as the entourage of two bearded guys and two bathing suit clad ladies floated by. The loud smack on the water scattered the trout, ending fly fishing on that stretch. Time to retreat. As I slowly backed upstream, keeping an eye on the dented canoe, it crunched ashore on a nearby sandy stretch. The bearded guy in front got out and as one of the ladies was emerging, he snatched off the top of her bathing suit. I sped up my retreat as the shouting began. In the melee, I dropped my pipe into the stream, but quickly retrieved it with my fishing net. Pipes always produce the best memories and stories. Pipe Smokers of the Past: Albert Einstein, Mr. E=mc2 was born March 14, 1879, and died April 18, 1955. He was a celebrated theoretical physicist and pipe smoker, and seldom seen without his pipe and puffy plumes of Revelation tobacco floating above his bristly bushy head of hair. I never think of the future. It comes soon enough—Albert Einstein Albert King, Mississippi blues man, and guitar master, was born in Indianola, Miss., April 25, 1923, and died Dec. 21, 1992, in Memphis, Tenn. He was known as “King of the Blues Guitar,” and sometimes, “King of the Pipe,” since he often smoked his pipe while playing a blues gig. Rose Kiser has an excellent biography of King and his love of pipes in a Nov. 10, 2023, Pipe Line column at SmokingPipes.com. A quote from one of his blues songs: All your loneliness I’ll try to soothe, I’ll play the blues for you—Albert King, “I’ll Play the Blues for You”. A parting shot: Pipes provide us with fond farewells in our memory. They have been friends and family, there for all the happy times as well as the difficult days, as we all experience. It’s sad to see some leave the fold, but there are fresh rose-tipped horizons to be seen with a new kid joining the beloved herd.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 654. Our featured interview tonight is with Rich Esserman. Rich is one of our regular guests that has been on the show many times, and is returning after a one-year hiatus. Rich has penned innumerous articles about pipes and tobacco for several publications, and he is known for collecting quite large pipes. We’ll get caught up with Rich and see what’s new with him. At the top of the show in our Pipe Parts segment Brian will talk about the “Delayed Gratification Technique” or “DTG” as we call it in the forums.
Good show. I thought you might want to know that Marshalls and Tjmax are owned by the same company.
Brian,
I and your friend Bill Kotyk listened to the show tonight. He said the show must be easy for you to do because it is just an extension of your personality. Bill is smoking an estate Roush with some 55 year old Friebourg & Treyer while listening to you. Damn, guess Bill will now be over every week to hear your show since he is computer illiterate.
Best wishes
John
Glad you liked the show Photoman. I thought it was great myself. Brian is really in the groove now. Marshalls and Tjmax – ok they are on the list too.
LOL John!
I think the show will only get better with time. He will become more comfortable than he already is and I’m sure there will be more great interviews. It is strange that he talked about algerian briar as I just received my first one yesterday. I got it really cheap and turned out to be an Edwards. Very exciting!
I have an Edward’s Algerian briar pipe too!
That was the best show yet!
The interview was great
The Pipe song was awesome. Cool.
that was great interview.. Each interview is cooler than the previous one..
all were great but that was the best among them..
Brian: Mary told me that your radio show would be on tonight. I then proceeded to stand in front of the radio, and I asked, “AM or FM?” She then informed me that the show was on a computer. I said, “they have radios in computers?” Brian, you know I am behind in all this techno stuff. I’m still getting over the fax machine. God, how does that thing work? Do you really want to know what I think of your show? I loved it, and you know I’m a critical person. I yell at myself at least 10 times a day. The sound effects are great and well placed. I think you’re a great interviewer. In all these years, I never realized you had a wonderful talent. The show was so good, I almost thought, “Mike, you need to learn about computers.” I am really looking forward to the next show. Well, I have to go now. I’m about to try something called “popped corn”.
Fun show, Brian. Enjoyed hearing Mary McNeill. Loved the pipe song!
Great show! Your rant was right on target, unless of course, the Target was at a mall in upstate NY. 🙂
What a great show this week! The interview with my “cousin” Mary was outstanding. (Her dad’s village and my mom’s were less than ten miles apart, in the Peloponnesian mountains around Tripoli. I’ve joked with her that we could be distantly related.) She is such a terrific example of why ours is such a warm and friendly community. Her contributions to the hobby are legion and legendary. I found the “Frog Morton Story” fascinating. I also enjoyed the “drop-ins” and the pipe song. Again, congratulations Brian!
Another fine show. Mary McNiel is just as nice a person as you can ever meet and is super knowledgeable. Mike and her are just a wonderful team.
China is the #1 producer of tobacco.
I just listened to the 3rd show in my office this Friday. Great show; loved the mood of the show today! The interview was fantastic. I’m looking forward to future interviews.
Brian: Wow! After our interview, I thought: “Oh, good grief, I don’t know. Brian’s put his whole show in jeopardy because of this….but then you added special effects, songs, rants. Heck, that’s entertainment! If our political candidates had you, their appearances would be smokin’ instead of smellin’! Thanks for my introduction to social media. That’s what it is. Right? I know you’ll have great success in the future with your show. You’ve got the touch!
I just listened to the first and second show. The second was better than first and I suspect they will continue to get better with time.
Being fairly new to pipe smoking I really like any type of educational and historical information.
I would like to say Thank You to Kevin for taking the time which must be considerable to put together the show.
Kevin maybe a sponsor would offer a special of some sort only to listeners (use a “code” you broadcast). Great way to increase sales and listeners.
Another suggestion is have question and answer section, you maybe working on this already.
Ps I agree with you about the cigarette only section on the cruise…..stupid rule!
Another great show, Brian, including your terrific discussion with Mary. You can’t believe how much faster you make my commute go on the 405 Freeway on Friday afternoon in traffic-clogged Los Angeles. I agreed with almost everything you said about estate pipes being a great value and of the difference between restoration and re-engineering. However, don’t forget the levels of alteration that daily use over a period of decades does to a pipe.
You cited used Sixten Ivarsson pipes as possible bargains if you can find them. Let’s say someone bought a new Sixten pipe when it was first made in 1962, and you buy it in 2012, after the original owner has smoked it thousands of times for half a century. It would not be surprising to find a serious cake in the bowl. You said you would want that reamed down to a thin layer of existing coating, with no artificial coating added over it. I agree. But just like the diameter of the tobacco chamber, which closed as the cake built, there is a similar cake inside the shank. Sixten drilled his air holes at 4 mm, but the used Sixten pipe might be 3 mm because of the cake inside the shank. The only way to bring the pipe back to its original dimensions that I know of would be to re-drill it at 4 mm. I would call that restoration and not re-engineering.
In a sense, you could say that the pipe was “re-engineered” by the daily smoking over a period of decades. I love it that you got me to think about these things!
I forgot to thank Kevin as well for this fantastic new contribution to the hobby!
The opening about estate pipes was so right on. I buy a lot of estates and mostly from either artisans or higher line factories. The deals out there are incredible if you take the time to research and to learn the market both on Ebay and from the online estate dealers. For example, on Ebay Upshall prices are in the toilet, you can buy any P grade for less than 125.00 where as the online dealers are still trying to get 180-350.00 for the same pipes.
I liked the interview with Mary, she sounds like a real sweet lady and someone with tons of knowledge. The rant is a great one, I wouldn’t give my money to a mall like that either, screw em. All in all it was a great show, thanks Brian and Kevin for providing some great entertainment.
@Rick – That’s ok. When you said Brian, I thought you were talking to me. 😉
When I wrote the note thanking you, Kevin, I actually had the same thought. For those of you who don’t know what we’re talking about, in the latest edition of “In Search of Pipe Dreams,” there is a photo of Kevin and Brian, and I mistakenly called both of them Brian in the caption. Maybe in the next edition, I’ll call both of you Kevin. That might even things out.
Ha ha ha Rick!
Thanks for a great show. They have all been great and they keep getting better.
The interview with Mary was great. I only had wished it were longer!
Hi Brian… Your show has great potential, keep up the great interviews and product reviews! As a copywriter if I could make one observation, I would urge you to consider renaming the show. The current name (I feel) is a little antiseptic, boring if you will. By doing so you will establish the show as an independent “brand”, which would (with a snappy name) attract more attention and of course more listeners.You may even want to announce a contest, for your listeners to enter potential names.
columbialion – Thanks for your input.
It was a well thought-out decision to name the show The Pipes Magazine Radio Show. Pipes Magazine IS the brand which the radio show falls under. It is part of the same business with the same audience and same advertiser base.
I am thoroughly enjoying the show, thank you. Here in Australia where anything to do with smoking is treated as devil spawn (note our well over 300% taxes and plain packaging laws) it’s so refreshing to be able to listen to free thinking rational people who understand that our hobby is, above all, good fun. The more positive views on Pipes and Cigars being presented the better. Keep up the excellent work. As an aside, on the anti-smoking Australia lobby, Tasmania, one of our states is looking to bring in a law that would effectively ban all smoking for anyone who turns 18 after 2014… barbarians! Oh and one other thing, if I may be so bold, as a non user of iTunes a link to a downloadable mp3 would be great. Thanks!!!