Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 681. Our featured interview tonight is with pipe maker Jerry Nelson. His brand of pipes is Nelson Pipes by Jerry. Jerry was […]
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Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 686. Our featured guest on tonight’s show is the founder of the Pipe & Tamper Podcast, Mike Murphy. Mike started his podcast in 2018 and turned over the show to new co-hosts Bo Parker and Jay Furman in January 2025. Now that Mike hasn’t been doing the podcast, he has even more time for pipe smoking, collecting and going to pipe shows. Brian and Mike will have an extended chat revolving around the Las Vegas International Pipe Show that just occurred the last weekend in October.
The 2025 Vegas Pipe Show was a whirlwind of handshakes, conversations, friends new and old, in what has come to be a very social event of the year, and of course, the obligatory pictures of Nate King getting two double-doubles from In-N-Out on the daily. See previous years’ posts about that ongoing joke. The show really kicks off early every year with many folks arriving Thursday and Friday to head to the 14th floor, which is an all-smoking floor, room-hopping, enjoying the smoking lounge, and then the registration/check-in table opens Friday evening. This year, I arrived at the back of the line just in time to snag my tickets, and then our small group was off to Cleaver, which is a hidden secret in a Vegas strip mall. With more attendees, the show did look a bit more crowded down the aisles, and there was rarely a spare seat in the smoking lounge area. I chatted with Brian after the show, talking about this year’s changes, challenges, and numbers. The geopolitical environment (tariffs) affected a decent number of the international crowd, so we had a handful fewer tables this year, but the delta was made up by more attendees than last year. Domestically as well, some of the tariff costs were impacting folks who bought fewer tables than before, as they had to absorb those additional costs. Without some sponsorship this year from MacBaren and Sutliff, the show barely made it financially, just breaking even. The show had around 455 attendees and vendors, adding around 50 more than previous years. Additionally, there were fewer hotel nights booked where folks opted for 1-2 night stays compared to 3-4 night stays in years past. Next year, the show will be on Oct 23-25, 2026, and registration will open early on November 17th of this year so that you can reserve your spot! Preliminary prices may include some discounts for early registration as well. At this year’s Vegas Pipe Show round-up, I’ve got a handful of things to share in no particular order: a new carver interview, a new product, an old product, an insane carver, and things set on fire… I guess, really, the usual. So strap in! New Carver Spotlight: Dan Butler I met up with Dan, by suggestion of Neal Osborn, and chatted with him as the pipe community’s newest pipe carver. James: You’ve been carving for a little over a year and sold out this year at the show. How did you get into pipe carving? Dan: Well, I’ve been a pipe smoker for about 10 years or so, and I’ve always wanted to give it a shot for myself. You know, I always wanted to do it for myself, but there were always things that got in the way — until my wife, on my 30th birthday, got me a pipe-carving kit, and I carved it up. But I wasn’t happy. I couldn’t stand having the pre-formed stem on it once I carved the stummel. So at that point, I wanted to do it for years. I had researched it many times. I finally just bit the bullet, got the lathe, and then everything snowballed. James: Did you do any of the Chicago, like the workshop or seminar, or anything? Dan: No, haven’t done that yet. I hadn’t done any workshops. The thing that made the most significant difference for me is that I haven’t worked with anybody in person, but I did start talking with Jeff Gracik. He has a fantastic way of talking to you or getting feedback, where he’ll tell you what’s wrong without making you feel bad. You want to be better for him, you know. So, yeah, I think his critiques and help are responsible for a lot of the growth I’ve seen over the past year. Just having the right critiques and then digesting them with his help has made a massive difference for me. James: What has been the pipe shape that you feel you’ve nailed and you focus on? Dan: I got a kind of a weird answer, because I think it’s honestly the Fugu to say that I nailed the Fugu shape. I mean, that’s not what I’m trying to get at, but I had one at this show that I was actually pretty pleased with, and I thought it represented my own budding design language, so to speak. It was different. It wasn’t based on somebody else’s fugu. It was the byproduct of, like, the 30 to 40 failed fugus that I’ve put in the scrap in over the past four or five months. And so, you know, when you’re starting out, a lot of people are like, “It’s work on the classics —work on the classics, like billiards.” But see, the thing with me is I never smoked billiards. They never really were the most significant appeal to me, and so every time I went to make them, I didn’t have the passion for it. It felt like a mechanical exercise. My heart wasn’t in it, and I wasn’t being present with the shape, so I wasn’t learning very much, but playing with lines, with the Fugu, and learning how to do that, even though it was absolutely terrible, too. Yeah, it was a lot of fun, and that’s what kept me going. And so that’s maybe why I would say the fugu was good: because of all the failed iterations, finally leading to the two here at the show —the first two I’ve sold. And even though they’re not perfect, it was still so satisfying to go through that process and then share. You can catch Dan next at the 2026 Chicago Show sporting some more pipes. Adam Davidson Torch Pipe James: How did this new “torch” pipe come about? Adam: The inspiration actually came from me smoking meat a couple of weeks before the show. I had a partially burned piece of oak in my smoker, and thought the charred crackle was so pretty, […]
A number of years ago, I was fortunate to be able to visit historic Fort Monroe in Hampton, Va. The famous military stronghold in later years became a museum and a national monument. It was notable for its place in history at the end of the Civil War for the incarceration of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy. Much later in a pipe shop in Atlanta, Ga., I came across a remarkably close replica of the Davis pipe. Mine is now quite nicely colored with age, which reminds me not of nostalgia for the man, but of the unexpected ways history is often embedded in objects we encounter. In my tour of the fort that day, I was drawn like a magnet to metal to a glass display featuring the meerschaum pipe Davis smoked during his incarceration. As a longtime admirer and collector of meerschaum pipes, I was enthralled by the fact that Davis smoked a meer, and the stunning beauty of that pipe. Meerschaum is mined from a rare mineral located in deep underground Turkey. Meerschaum is molded from mounds of seashells pressed for eons in deep mines once on a sea floor. It is porous, light and produces a gentle, cool, and dry smoke. Meers are also prized for their artistic aspects. When the meerschaum is first brought up from deep mines in Turkey, the material is soft and can be carved. Skilled artisans carve a wide variety of shapes, from mythological scenes and realistic figures to intricate patterns and abstract designs. Each pipe is a work of art. These unique shapes become highly prized in a collection, such as Pundit has worked toward for years, reflecting both my passion for pipe artistry and my interest in the way such objects serve as vessels of personal and historical stories. I fell in love with meerschaums the first time I saw them on display in that Atlanta pipe shop. I just had to have one and have been hooked since. My meer collection is a large part of my present pipe herd. Thus, the Davis replica. However, my love of history extends beyond artifacts. I have been fortunate to interview Shelby Foote, the renowned Civil War historian and author, several times. Foote, himself a dedicated pipe smoker who blended his own tobaccos, often spoke about how pipes were an integral part of his writing routine. His insights remind me that objects like pipes can serve as quiet witnesses to history—connecting us to the past, while also inviting us to reflect on its complexities. Research has turned up several notable meer pipe enthusiasts, including poet Rudyard Kipling, Alfred Dunhill, known for manufacturing the majestic Dunhill pipes—of which Pundit has snagged a few—and Albert Einstein, whose image also appears on meers. A couple of reasons why meerschaum pipes are quite popular now is craftsmanship and cool smoking properties are highly appealing. And the more a meer is smoked, it develops a patina that darkens the pipe. The creation of a beautifully smoked meer is a kind of personal history of the pipe smoker’s preferences. As a point of pride, Turkey’s government halted the export of freshly mined meerschaum in the 1970s, according to online reports, to safeguard its national carving commerce. This also ensured training new pipe makers with crafting skills for carving meers remained strong. Now for some notable quotes from Pipe Smokers of the Past: Walter Cronkite was born Nov. 4, 1916, in St. Joseph, Mo., and died July 17, 2009, in New York City. “Uncle Walter” was the top broadcast journalist for CBS for 19 years. He smoked a Wilke pipe and Wilke’s Mixture 72, according to research on his pipe and tobacco preferences. And that’s the way it is. I can’t imagine a person becoming a success who doesn’t give this game of life everything he’s got—Walter Cronkite Archibald Alec Leach (aka Cary Grant) was born Jan. 18, 1904, and died Nov. 29, 1986. Grant, the famous American film star, was born in Bristol, England, before his movie acting days in the U.S. He notably smoked pipes and pipe tobacco especially blended for him by Kramer’s Pipe Shop in Beverly Hills, Calif. The blend was the “Blend for Cary Grant.” It was a mild English aromatic mixture of Virginia, Latakia, Orientals, Black Cavendish, and a light Irish Mist for flavoring, according to his printed history. Destiny is not necessarily what we get out of life, but rather, what we give—Cary Grant And a Parting Thought: Many days we worry about small things in life, but our pipes and tobacco invite us to reflect, keeping us rooted in the occurrences that really matter.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 685. Our featured interview tonight is with pipe maker Garret Woo. He has an undergraduate degree in Classics from UC Santa Barbara. He was a teacher for a while, and then a private investigator working with his dad that is a former FBI agent. Now he is a durometer technician and pipemaker living in West LA. He started smoking pipes when he was 18 years old. At the top of the show in Pipe Parts, Brian answers a listener’s question on how to smooth down a blend.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 684. Our featured interview tonight is with Skeet Stribling from The Story Teller’s Pipe online pipe and tobacco shop. Skeet first took up pipe smoking in college. In later years, his friend Sean blended tobaccos for him, and he was the original owner of The Story Teller’s Pipe. When Sean decided to retire, Skeet, also in retirement took over the online store which he runs with his wife Cindi. He is continuing Sean’s blends and has added some new ones. Check out their store if you’re looking for some new unique tobaccos to try. At the top of the show we’ll have an Ask the Pipemaker segment with renowned pipe artisan Jeff Gracik.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 683. Our featured interview tonight is with Eugene Falco from The Uncanny! Material and the Greywoodie Podcast. Eugene is super creative in the world of pipes, art, and podcasting. His creative output spans beyond pipes, including his tobacco tin art and his role as co-host of the Greywoodie podcast alongside Nathan Davis of Kaywoodie. In addition, he helps organize the Capitaland Pipe Show. His pipe making style is characterized by a balance of traditional forms and his own quirky twist—often through bold, colorful stems and unconventional rustication techniques. At the top of the show in Pipe Parts, Brian will answer two listener’s questions by taking a deep dive into the size of the pipe bowl and what it means for your smoking experience.
