Our Internal Best Self
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Fred Brown
- Sep 2, 2025
- 3 min read
With the announced retirement of Chuck Stanion at Smokingpipes.com, one of the true major-league pipe and tobacco writers has stepped back to enjoy the life of his many accomplishments.
On Aug. 8, the Daily Reader at SPC announced that after eight years and more than 250 articles, the master wordsmith is stepping aside.
It’s unlikely that the well-informed pipe smoker today is unaware of Chuck. But just by chance, you aren’t, check out Truett Smith in Pipe Line’s excellent piece on Chuck’s career before and after joining Smokingpipes.com.
It should also be evident that some of the best writers and thinkers over time have been and still are pipe smokers. I have long been fascinated by the collection of writers, major philosophers, scientists, historians, politicians, athletes, and on down the list of the movers and shakers of the past and present.
Of course, a couple of my favorites right from the start are Mark Twain and Albert Einstein. For you, dear reader, this might come as old ground from yours truly. Yet new bios seemingly arrive every decade or so on Twain and Mr. E=mc2, so great is the fascination with the lives of these two incredible historical figures.
In fact, it would take A-Z volumes of encyclopedias, or GPTs as it were, to record all the legendary pipe smokers of the mosaic magic of barn-aged leaf. But just a couple more and we’ll move on to more pressing matters.
Another of my favorites is John Steinbeck, who penned some of the finest fiction of his day, which has held up exceptionally well over time. For those of you unfamiliar, he was a pipe smoker adept at capturing literary snapshots of life in the “Grapes of Wrath,” and the Joad family during the rigors of the Great Depression.
Despite not earning a degree, he attended Stanford University and later became interested in marine ecology. One of his treasured books is “The Log from the Sea of Cortez,” a story with a marine biologist on a six-week search for marine specimens in 1940 in the Gulf of California, also known as the Sea of Cortez. If you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, I highly recommend indulging, coupled with your favorite billiard, apple, or lovat—favorites also of Steinbeck’s for their elegant simplicity.
Shelby Foote, author and historian, is another master of words who wrote a transcendent three-volume history of the American Civil War.
I was fortunate to get a couple of newspaper interviews with the well-known author at his lovely, 1920s brick-Tudor style home in Memphis, Tenn., where he quickly lit up his pipe, stuffed with his personal blend of Edward G. Robinson aromatic and Half&Half or Barking Dog, two rough-cut blends with which he cut EGR.
Pressing on, I am amazed at some of the new offerings from Peterson’s with their new cobble textured pipes to celebrate the 160th anniversary of the fabled company.
The cobble production is stunning. I am drooling now for one of the beauties across many of Peterson’s styles. The craggy cobble look also references Ireland’s classic cobblestone streets, shaped over hundreds of years of wear.
Check out All Pipes Considered: Peterson Cobble Aug Aug. 19, 2025, by Andrew Wike in Pipe Line. It will whet your appetite to add to the collection. These creations are gorgeous and historic, in the Pundit’s view.
To wrap up for now, a couple more Pipe Smokers of the Past, this time of musical persuasions:
Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, born April 18, 1924, in Vinton, Louisiana, and died Sept. 10, 2005, in Orange, Texas.
Brown was a virtuoso on a variety of instruments, including guitar, violin, viola, mandolin, drums, harmonica, and piano.
He sang country, blues, swing, Cajun music, and rhythm and blues.
He carried his pipe with him to performances and reportedly said, “No pipe, no show.” He smoked a special mixed blend of his own.
And one more pipe-smoking legendary musician, John Coltrane, born Sept. 23, 1926, Hamlet, N. C., and died July 17, 1967, in Huntington, N. Y.
Sometimes known as “Trane,” he played a variety of saxophones, including tenor, soprano, and alto, in addition to flute and clarinet.
His music style from 1945–1967 was mostly jazz and avant-garde jazz.
His pipe-smoking preferences remain unknown, according to historic reports. But it is known he smoked pipes, as evidenced by his many shows. His pipe tobacco choices also remain a mystery.
A final parting thought: Pipes provide a space to reflect on the creation of our internal best self.
Written by Fred Brown
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