Saturday, I spent a wonderful day at Ohlone Cigar Lounge in Fremont, CA, sharing the stage with the ever charming Joe Fabian, who was doing a “Trunk Show” of Savinelli […]
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Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 673. Our featured interview tonight is with Dustin Patterson. He got into pipe smoking about ten years ago when he was working in robotics and automation and he learned about Sherlock Holmes’ practice of figuring out problems by taking time to think while smoking a pipe. Something that was really puzzling would be deemed a “three pipe problem”. Dustin wanted to see if this would really work. Fast forward to today where he had the idea of putting AI to the test with pipe related questions and to see how they compare to Brian’s answers. So tonight we have AI vs. Brian. At the top of the show in Pipe Parts, Brian will talk about his Disney Pipe and Tobacciana Collection.
Before we begin, let me first insert a slight spoiler alert. We will be discussing the art found in our pipes. Now, neither all of the great craftsmen nor the most famous brands and manufacturers are mentioned. There are just too many skillful artisans in our hobby. That’s a monumental undertaking and we would need a book to get to most of the artists who carve our pipes. So, with the above alert that Pundit is not picking favorites, but only attempting to give a broad ranging look at how fortunate we are with today’s carvers and makers of fine pipes. With no further ado, let’s charge forward, shall we? Pipes and tobacco are more than pipes and tobacco. Consider a major art form. Yes, pipe art is as clear as a masterpiece gracing an art museum wall. And come to think of it, we have pipe art in museums. Vincent van Gogh comes to mind with a self-portrait smoking his pipe. Pipes are much more than their parts, of which there are many. Some refer to the shapes and designs as craftsmanship. True, but today, I want you to take a sharper and different look at the pipe you are smoking at this moment. Think of this wisdom from the ages. Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher, preached that the only constant in our lives is change. Things change. Life changes in front of us. And, of course, artistic creation over the eons produces a historical account of the past, present, and future. Now, think of that pipe in your collection and its contribution to art of another magnitude. Art in history. Ok, Pundit is going to reel it back to some sort of here and now. I have been looking at my many beloved pipes for several weeks now. It suddenly hit me that I have been looking at them with something of a jaded eye. I’m a pipe smoker. My pipe is the tool for smoking my favorite tobacco blends, of which there are many. And with that line of thought, it suddenly ran across my brain like a taped message: you are looking at art of another medium. Think of such paintbrush masters as Monet, Manet, Picasso, the already-mentioned Vincent van Gogh, to name but a few. Picture the connections between canvas for the painter and the briar ebauchon for the pipe craftsman. Pipe creators shape a hunk of aged briar into a functional piece of art, which we eventually purchase and fill with our favorite blends for pleasure and relaxation. It’s difficult to narrow down to just one pipe craftsman today. So many are gifted with the eye of an artisan and the skill it takes to design, shape, and find the beauty in the briar grain. Its ritual reaches back into the distant past, connecting us to history, to the past and present. Form meets function, turning our smoking experience a reach into the art itself. Think of just a few pipe craftsmen, such as Claudio Cavicchi, Sixten Ivarsson, Poul Winslow, Tom Eltang, the late William “Bill” Ashton-Taylor, names that rank with the top craftsmen in the world. And then the legendary pipe brands such as Castello, Ser Jacopo, Radice, Dunhill, and Peterson—seemingly on to infinity. I’ve left out so many more great craftsmen that there is not enough room in one column or a host of essays to identify all the artisans and their particular style, contribution and craftsmanship. If you take the time to observe closely your favorite pipe, you might be surprised to see what this discussion is all about today. We pipe smokers live in a world of rare art, urged from the earth or the bottom of a former sea (think meerschaum) into that mystical evolution of earth to art. I envision a painter before an easel or a sculptor with a wad of clay, shaping and painting. Pipe makers work in a similar world, only their artistic tools are in the form of wood carving lathes, files, a host of cutting implements, dyes, and sanding equipment. Holding my Peterson pipe at the moment gives me a notion of not just the pipe itself, but its form, its grain, and the stem rounding out the perfect picture. I’m smoking a piece of art brought to life just as surely as a masterpiece hanging in an art museum gallery. Study your pipe the next time you light, pack, and put flame to briar or a meer. And think for just a moment of the effort and talent that it took to bring you and the pipe together on this day. And now for a quotable quote: “Every morning I wake up and think good, another 24 hours’ pipe smoking”-J.R.R. Tolkien, via SmokingPipes.com. Now a parting thought: The evolution of our pipes is from earth to art, from past to present, a gift in time and skill of the artisan.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 672. Our featured interview tonight is with Jamie Marcey from Marcey Handmade Pipes. Jamie has been a pipe smoker since 2017, and he started making pipes in 2024. He is inspired by both Danish and English styles. He uses Italian and Grecian briar along with German Ebonite. He resides in Virginia. At the top of the show Brian will have a tobacco review of Cornell & Diehl’s Virginia Flake.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 671. Our featured interview tonight is with Anthony James. Anthony is a micro-blender of pipe tobaccos. He started smoking pipes in 2020, and because of his chef background he immediately became interested in blending tobaccos. He was led to pipe smoking after his wife’s grandfather passed away and they found 10 Kaywoodie pipes while cleaning out the garage. Anthony was already intrigued by pipes from his own great grandfather being a tough Navy man pipe smoker in WWII. He always had this macho image of pipe smokers and when he found the Kaywoodies, that was the last push he needed. In Pipe Parts, Brian will have a list of pipe smoking related things you must at least try once.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 670. Our featured interview tonight is with Beau York. Beau is the former co-host of the now ended pipes and tobacco based podcast, Country Squire. We’ll talk about his early days of getting into pipe smoking and meeting his former podcast co-host Jon David Cole when he was an employee at the store and not the owner. You’ll hear how pipe smoking is different for him now that it is not part of his job to talk about it each week along with some of his favorite memories from the show. Beau will also tell us about his new project – Midnight High Immersive Theater. At the top of the show Brian will talk about a bitter pipe that he has.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 669. Our featured interview tonight is with Kirk Keener aka “Kaptain_Kirk32”. Kirk is a member of the Indiana Pipe Club. We’ll be talking about their upcoming pipe show in Gas City, IN on September 20th. Kirk has worked as a machinist, and played guitar in bands in the past, and he has a YouTube Channel with 985 subscribers and 346 videos devoted to pipe smoking and tobacco reviews. At the top of the show, Brian will have a tobacco review of Cornell & Diehl’s Haunted Bookshop.
