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 560! Our featured interview tonight is with Jon David Cole. JD is the Owner/Tobacconist at The Country Squire in Jackson, MS, and he is the former co-host of the podcast, Country Squire Radio, which ended their 10-year run earlier this year. There was a big event to close out the show that we’ll hear about, as well as JD’s first experience as a vendor at the recent Chicago pipe show. At the top of the show, we’ll have an extended “Pipe parts” discussion with two user submitted questions – one about aging tobaccos and if there’s any difference between topped and non-topped tobaccos related to aging, and the other asking for suggestions on how to slow one’s pipe puffing cadence.
In attempting to make sense of my years-long pipes and tobacco hobby, I have looked back and ahead through the mists of time. My muses on June’s contemplative journey with you are quotes from the Pulitzer Prize-winning and former U.S. Poet Laureate, Robert Frost, the great New York Yankee catcher Yogi Berra’s unassailable philosophy of life, and the distinguished historian and writer James Michener. First the Poet: “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.” Now the Catcher: “When you come to the fork in the road, take it!” And the Historian: “…millions of years ago, when the continents were already formed, and the principal features of the earth had been decided, there existed, then as now, one aspect of the world that dwarfed all others. It was a mighty ocean…” Until one day when… “with a patience difficult to comprehend… trees and vines and crawling things eventually crept.” These philosophies describe much of my passion for pipes. I realize this is an odd viewpoint, but it has been a truth-seeking trip as well as a personally rewarding adventure. Like others in Pipelandia, you, as I, have marveled at the many profound thinkers and remarkable artists who have taken up the pipe. This enthrallment fits with Pundit’s love of geology and how it describes not only the earth we share, but even us pipe smokers as well in some ways. For example, let me recall an experience far back in time. One bright morning, standing atop a high point in the Blue Ridge Mountains, my geologist friend pointed to a shimmering cerulean-hued rim illuminating in the distance. That range, he announced, was once the bottom of the ocean off the coast of North Carolina. How many years ago? I asked. Oh, the geologist replied, 600 million years ago, give or take a million or two, when the world was flooding, erupting, uplifting, arising. That’s known as the orogeny, or mountain building time. These spectacular events took place as massive tectonic plates muscled against each other for dominion. Thus did the valleys and ridges of our very own Blue Ridge Mountains form. In fact, all portions of our present land assembled in similar fashion and pace, followed by our vast oceans and all flora and fauna. Trees and oceans are the two major sources for many pipes we enjoy today. The burl of the flowering heath shrub is native to the Mediterranean and provides briarwood for our precious pipes. Briar burl is part of the tree’s root system. Seas off Turkey formed the ancient raw materials for meerschaum pipes. Meerschaum translated means “sea foam,” or sepiolite, from compressed prehistoric animal bones and sea shells. The silica-like glittery detritus of animal bones and sea shells settled on sea floors near Turkey over the eons. And why is Pundit staring out into space? It has to do with looking back over a lifetime of writing and pipe smoking, give or take a year or two. Like you, I have pipes dear to the heart. Smoked, loved, and retired as good soldiers must. And there were the missed opportunities. In the 1960s, a young Pundit failed to do the right sort of search and research for his pipes and tobacco obsession. Many famously named pipe brands sold for what today would seem bargain-basement prices. But out of reach of a poor college student. Looking at some of those same pipes today on estate sales has Pundit’s head a-twisting. Like those tectonic plates. And have you noticed the price of vintage tobacco? Yes, like you, Pundit cellared his favorite blends, especially the beloved and now departed McClelland’s brand. Not just some of them. An entire range of the treasured McClelland blends have faded over the horizon. The thrust of this epistle is today we have more opportunities to soak up treasure-troves of pipe and tobacco knowledge from online sites such as PipesMagazine.com, and a host of others—all of them rich in wisdom and advice. One can learn an encyclopedic amount of pipe knowledge in an afternoon. And this is not even close to addressing what can be found on sites selling estate pipes and tobacco. It’s enough to make your head swim in a sea of questions and answers. At the same time, many apex pipe prices that once seemed out of reach, have now risen to stratospheric heights. But now let’s switch from orogeny and ocean-formation to more historical happenings. While reading a bit of history recently, I was reminded once more of the generosity of Pipelandia. How many times have you joined your pipe-puffing buds in the local pipe club, and someone brought in a bag of tobacco to share all around? Perhaps even a bag of delicious, cellared Virginia leaf! Or, in some cases, be given a pipe with which to puff said aged blend? During World War I, Alfred Dunhill and the historic Dunhill Company sent boxes of tobacco and pipes to the boys in the trenches. If you have ever visited the graves at Verdun, the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, or the Somme-American Cemetery, you know why those pipes and tobaccos were important to the soldier boys. The boxes were from home, providing a bit of love and relaxation in a world in turmoil. Now for a notable pipe smoker of the past: Burl Ivanhoe Ives, was born June 14, 1909, and died April 14, 1995. Ives, as most of us old-timers know, was a folk-singing legend in the 1950s through the 1990s, and narrator of the classic and much-beloved 1964 Christmas television special “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”, which still airs around Christmastime to this day. In addition, he was an actor and country music star over six decades. His hit song, “A Holly Jolly Christmas,” became a holiday standard in the 1960s. Let us end June’s visit with a quote from the great, jolly singer: “When you’ve set goals and dreams, you don’t feel old.” Now that, my […]
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 559! Our featured interview tonight is with Jason Smith. Jason has lived in Cincinnati most of his life, and his first influence towards pipe smoking was from his grandfather who seemingly only didn’t smoke his pipe if he was sleeping. This is the ninth in our series of interviews with “Journeymen Pipe Smokers” – guys that have been smoking pipes between five and 10 years, and Jason has a great journey to tell us about. At the top of the show, Brian will have a review of Solani Blue Label Blend No. 369. Sit back, relax with your pipe, and enjoy The Pipes Magazine Radio Show!
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 558! Our featured interview tonight is with Dr. Kyle Andrew a.k.a. “The Pipe Professor”. Kyle holds a PhD in the field of educational leadership. His “The Pipe Professor” YouTube Channel has 93 videos, and 2.3k followers, and he has been at it for eight years. He reviews all kinds of pipe tobacco, and does an occasional cigar review as well. At the top of the show we will have an installment of Pipe Smoking 101 covering the inside of the bowl, or the tobacco chamber. Sit back, relax with your pipe, and enjoy The Pipes Magazine Radio Show!
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 557! Our featured interview tonight is with Steve Davenport. Steve is a geologist working in the field of environmental consulting. This is the eighth in our series of interviews with “Journeymen Pipe Smokers” – guys that have been smoking pipes between five and 10 years. At the top of the show we will have Jeff Gracik reporting on the “Battle of the Briar” pipe making competition that was held at the Chicago pipe show. Sit back, relax with your pipe, and enjoy The Pipes Magazine Radio Show!
It doesn’t happen very often – I’m usually a pretty laid back guy – but there are times when I can get really cranky. Usually, it’s over a driver performing stupid human tricks on the overcrowded California highways. Or it can be some loudmouthed wackadoodle, clearly unfettered by even a rudimentary knowledge of the pertinent facts, regurgitating preposterous propaganda. Most often, it’s something I’ve read on the interwebs about things I care deeply about that raises my ire. Maybe I’m not quite as Jimmy Buffett laid-back as I’d like to be. A brief holiday in Margaritaville might be in order, or a cheeseburger in paradise. If you haven’t sussed it, I’m proudly wearing my cranky pants today. Why? A friend made me aware of comments made by a self-styled expert in which a tobacco was described as “garbage.” No, it wasn’t one of mine; the manufacturer and the blend are irrelevant. What set my neck hairs on edge was the fact that this “expert” hadn’t even finished one bowl of the blend, and felt fully and righteously justified in proclaiming it as worthy only of being consigned to the rubbish bin. We’ve all seen similar comments; they’re all over the interwebs. A brief scan of the review sites for any kind of product reveals similar silliness; the web has made it far too easy for people to say all kinds of nasty things without the restraint of being eye-to-eye with someone when they do it. This sort of thing drives me crazy in general, but when it’s about pipes and tobacco, the twisting of my knickers is soon to follow. I haven’t tried them all, but it’s highly improbable that any pipe tobacco being made today is deserving of this sort of damning. Every manufacturer of premium pipe tobacco on the planet carefully selects their leaf, and contrary to statements made by someone who should have known better, the leaf available to us today is as good, and in many cases better, than it’s ever been. By the time we make our selections, inferior leaf has all gone on to other products, and we’re choosing from high-quality, carefully aged tobaccos. All of us. We are actually afforded some slight benefit from the fact that our little corner of the overall tobacco market is a small fraction of what it was decades ago. The competition for premium leaf is not as high as it once was, so we get to choose from some really good stuff. The leaf we’re offered is carefully managed from grower to supplier, is properly cured and aged. It’s then skillfully processed into thoughtfully considered blends. The finished product may not be to our tastes, but that’s okay. There’s a lot of stuff out there that I don’t care for; that doesn’t make it bad. Different horses for different courses. Making statements like, “This is just crap,” is not only insulting to the people behind the product, it’s also insulting to the many who might actually like it. Economic forces pretty much ensure that products would not survive long in a crowded market if there weren’t people buying and enjoying them. Garbage? I’d be hard pressed to find anything currently produced that deserves that appellation. But, the bigger deal, the thing that really gets me het up is this. I’ve said it a thousand times. Okay, maybe not, but I’ve thought it at least that many times. If we smoke a single bowl of any tobacco in a single pipe, we actually know very little about it. Last month, I talked about the ghosts of tobaccos past that haunt our bowls, and in a way, this is sort of an extension of that, and this morning’s bowl serves as an excellent example. I filled a great smoking pipe with some wonderful vintage leaf, and the resulting smoke damn near set my senses on fire, and not in a good way. There are a few factors that might have caused this: my own mood, or the way I packed the bowl, or the lingering effects of my morning java, or what I ate for dinner last night, or, I dunno, maybe cosmic rays or space alien mind-control experiments. That very same tobacco smoked later in a different pipe was pretty darn marvelous. Neither of these two experiences reveals much about the tobacco itself. I’ll have finished the tin before I would be willing to tell its story, and, to be completely candid, there is not one tobacco that I’ve enjoyedl that hasn’t disappointed me in some way at least once along the road to grokking it. This doesn’t mean we have to smoke a dozen or more bowls of anything to discover whether or not we like it. But, putting something we don’t care for aside for a while, coming back to it another time still might not be a bad course of action. Tastes change, sometimes with the seasons or the years, and what suits us today may be very different from what brings us joy later, but most of us have a pretty good idea of what fits our tastes today and what doesn’t. I’m pretty confident in my own tastes after all these years, and if someone offers me a bowl of Cherries Jubilee, I can fairly accurately predict that I ain’t gonna like it, but that certainly doesn’t mean it’s bad, and someday, I might change my mind and give it a fair shot. Pronouncing judgment without a trial would be in violation of the Pipe Smoker’s Constitution. (There isn’t one. Maybe there should be.) If a tobacco is in a style we enjoy, and we decide to try it, don’t we owe it more than a few minutes of our time? More than a bowl or two? After all, for some reason, we were enticed by it enough to buy it. Fact is, no matter how long we’ve been at this, pipe smoking remains an art of exploration. It’s all about experiences, […]
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!!!