Pipe Friends and Amen
-
Fred Brown - Aug 2, 2024
- 4 min read
This is going to be one of those friendly chats between friends. That’s you and me, pipe smokers of the realm. As I have mentioned before in praising pipe puffers: we are the mind workers of the world!
“Friends” is the word of the day. One of my besties is my pipe. I take it everywhere. On a visit to Rowan Oak, way back there, the beautiful country home of legendary author William Faulkner, I was stunned almost silly walking through the rooms where the Nobel Laureate author lived and wrote of his extensive southern view.
I have described this adventurous trip to Oxford, Mississippi, before. A well-smoked pipe was stuffed inside a tweed coat pocket with his favorite blend of the day. The tobacco was dried inside the bowl almost to the consistency of dust. The coat was draped over a wooden peg in a hallway as if awaiting Faulkner’s return.
That scene inspired Pundit to emulate one of his favorite authors, beginning a habit that continues: pipes go with me everywhere, in coat pockets, bags, satchels, etc.
Pipes are especially important in my outdoor jaunts when the sun also rises. Mr. Hemingway was an occasional pipe smoker, great angler, and outdoorsman, in addition to being rather good at penning stories.
Recently reading about environmental concerns, which involve us pipe smokers since our beloved hobby is earth-bound in agriculture and nature, I encountered a beautiful line by writer, Krista Langlois, in Sierra, the magazine of The Sierra Club.
She authored a story about sitting off in the distance and observing the Sleeping Ute Mountains near Cortez, Colo. The mountain, she says, is sacred and managed by the Ute Mountain Tribe. She longed to hike the mountain but had to settle for taking in the view, just as we must do as well when following the sun and just stopping long enough to light a pipe and take in the natural beauty.
“But as a mountain, I will forever look at and never touch, it becomes something else entirely: a physical reminder of all I can never understand or conquer, and all I can learn by sitting still,” she wrote.
Isn’t this what our pipes are for? To help us understand and perhaps conquer all we can by just being still and observing. Puffing our pipes and seeing a full moon in August. It’s known as the Sturgeon Moon, a time when Native Americans knew freshwater fish was abundant in nearby waters.
Or, like the great Yogi Berra, the New York Yankees baseball philosopher/manager (who loved his cigars) once said, “You can observe a lot by watching.”
And, just guessing, but that might have been time after a large sturgeon catch to pull out the pipe and smoke some of that native tobacco Native American tribes fostered.
Not to belabor this point too much, but in California where sequoia trees are sacred to tribes, a certain rare tobacco plant is a coveted reward found near the giant trees. It is said tribes will trade buckets of fish for a small bag of the rare tobacco.
A note now about an upcoming pipe show I know is already on many a calendar, if not hotel rooms already rented. The Conclave of Richmond Pipe Smokers hosts its 40th anniversary Expo Sept. 13-15. This year’s event coincides with the legendary Sutliff Tobacco Company’s 175 anniversary. It will be staged at the Keystone Truck and Tractor Museum in Colonial Heights, Virginia.
You can check out all the details at PipesMagazine, which has already noted the CORPS Expo, at CORPS and Sutliff.
One of my fondest memories is going to the historic City of Richmond event and seeing not only zillions of pipes on display but also people who love pipes and love talking about them.
I listened to CORPS’s founding member Linwood Hines during that trek and knew I had found kindred souls.
For a terrific story on Linwood Hines, you need to read Chuck Stanion’s piece in The Daily Reader at SmokingPipes.com.
Not only is this a superb story on a legend in Pipedom but also you might learn a thing or three about some nifty tobacco blends from Linwood.
Ok, on to Pipe Smokers of the Past. Some large names from the movie and theater world; literature; and the man who gave us the telephone.
Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, born Aug. 13, 1899, died April 29, 1980.
Gwyllyn Samuel Newton “Glenn” Ford, a Canadian American actor, born May 1, 1916, died Aug. 30, 2006.
Henry Jaynes Fonda, born May 16, 1905, died Aug. 12, 1982.
Bennett Alfred Cerf, born May 25, 1898, died Aug. 27, 1971.
Alexander Graham Bell, born March 3, 1847, died Aug. 2, 1922.
Alfred Tennyson, born Aug. 6, 1809, died Oct. 6, 1892.
If you saw the Hitchcock movie “The Birds,” you know what a “murder” of crows can do to your nerves. The master of scary suspense, Hitchcock is reported to have enjoyed Dunhill pipes and tobaccos, along with his love of cigars.
With that said, I’ll take my backyard birds with a nerve-settling pipe.
And I can’t depart without a quote from artist and pipe smoker Vincent van Gogh. He wrote in an 1875 letter to his brother, Theo, describing his pipe as an “old, trusty friend, and I imagine we’ll never part again.”
Amen, brother.
Written by Fred Brown
Recent Posts
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 640. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Ben Rapaport. Ben has been known internationally as an avid pipe smoker, antique pipe collector, and book author. His first book on pipes was published in 1972, and his latest book – his 10th – is out now in very limited quantities. The distribution has already sold out, but you can still get a copy of “The Wide World of Wood Tobacco Pipes. Two Centuries of Craftsmanship and Creativity” by contacting him directly at ben70gray@gmail.com. At the top of the show we’ll be turning the tables on our recurring Ask the Pipemaker segment. This time, Jeff Gracik will ask the questions, which Brian will answer as a pipe collector, and you can give your answers too.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 639. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Per Billhäll. Per is the owner of Scandinavian Pipes, which is an online retailer of high grade pipes. He started smoking pipes in the 1960s. His first high grade pipe was made by Hans “Former” Nielsen, who is one of the living legends from Denmark. That led to Per becoming a huge pipe and tobacco collector, and show attendee where he became well known. Along with pipe book author Jan Andersson, they started The Pipe Club of Sweden in 1991. Then in 1999, Per started “Scan Pipes”. He is now one of the pipe retailing legends from Sweden. At the top of the show Brian will talk about holiday blends, and other special pipe tobacco blends.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 638. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Fae “The Sassy Pipe Lady” Simmons. Fae is the owner of Tobacco Treasures, which sells new, vintage, & estate pipes, and smoking accessories on Etsy. She has been in business since 2017, and has been surrounded by pipes and tobacco most of her life. Her father and his brother smoked pipes, and so does Fae. Her husband is also a retired tobacconist that worked all over the industry from coast to coast for several different companies in the industry. She has a great story of how her business got started with a great inventory of unsmoked vintage pipes. 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.
Ok, so it’s that time of year, as we all know. Family feasts, houses, yards, and big trees festooned with lights and dangling ornaments, just high enough to keep the cats from reaching a paw into the greenery. It’s also the time of year when your pipe-smoking-significant other makes vast hints about a new pipe. That’s to be expected since he or she was a good boy or girl during the year. Yes, ladies smoke pipes, too. Oh, you want an example? Okay, try Actress Greta Garbo, Millicent Fenwick, Mary Frith, and my late grandmother (who died when she was 93) dipped snuff and smoked a cob occasionally. So now that we have settled that the gentler side of life will puff a pipe too, let’s move on to the upcoming biggest holiday of all. Of course, that huge event is brought to us by the hefty fellow in a red suit, puffing his pipe all the way in a sled filled with presents, being led by a reindeer with a red nose. Or some such. That’s Santa Claus, of course. Becoming a bit more serious, Christmas is such a wonderful time for families and friends. It’s also quite special for pipe puffers. For many of us, this brings up a nostalgic look back to our pipe-smoking or cigar-smoking friends who have died during the current year. A great journalist pal whom I often joined in a local brick-and-mortar pipe and cigar shop. I puffed my pipe, and occasional cigar, as he enjoyed a cigar. He died in October and will be missed. On the happier side of things, Christmas is also a time when mind workers of the world renew their collections with fresh additions. Pundit included. A French passion has overtaken Pundit, from reading more Albert Camus, a heavy cigarette smoker, as were many French intellectuals of a certain time. Instead of cigarettes many of us prefer the more relaxed enjoyment of pipes for that “calm and objective judgment” in the comings and goings of the world. This brings me to French pipes. While visiting France once in the long ago, I happened by a “Tabac” shop in Paris, Tabac Des Vosges. I purchased a beauty of a Chacom bent. I also later bought a Ropp made from ancient briar. To learn more about the dawn of briar pipes and beginnings, take a peek at a well-done piece by Davin Hylton in Pipe Line on April 12, 2023, on Saint-Claude, France, the birthplace of briar. Also in the long back when, on a cold Christmas afternoon, Pundit wandered into an Atlanta bricks and mortar pipe shop to look around. There, resting in an enclosed glass counter was an exquisite Comoy. An older gent, smoking a beautiful bent, asked me if I wanted to look at that pipe. It had a $100 price tag. A college student working for a grocery store chain to help with college tuition at the time, Pundit didn’t have one hundred cents, let alone a C note! I declined and found a $5 basket pipe. A Christmas tradition had just begun. Since that early time, Pundit has made it a holiday ritual to either reward himself, or a special friend, with pipe or tobacco. A Claudio Cavicchi would be nice. Just sayin.’ And now for a couple of December-born Pipe Smokers of the Past: Joseph Rudyard Kipling was born on Dec. 30, 1865, and died on Jan. 18, 1936. I always prefer to believe the best of everybody; it saves so much trouble—Rudyard Kipling. Martin Van Buren, born Dec. 5, 1782, and died July 24, 1862, U.S. President, 1837-1841 As to the presidency, the two happiest days of my life were those of my entrance upon the office and my surrender of it—Martin Van Buren. And one more note to recall a deceased World War II veteran who loved William Somerset Maugham, the author. Maugham, a pipe smoker, was born in Paris, France, on Jan. 25, 1874, and died on Dec. 16, 1965. One cool afternoon as the veteran and I talked while sitting in his backyard patio, he looked off into the distance as if studying something. Nothing in particular. Just looking. He turned to me and said if I wanted to learn about life, “read Somerset Maugham.” I did. It wasn’t until late in life that I discovered how easy it is to say, ‘I don’t know’ –W. Somerset Maugham And now a Parting Shot: Any day with an old friend with pipes and tobacco is a good day.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 637. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Nate King. 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. To be inducted into the Confrérie, this past May Nate travelled to Saint-Claude, France with master tobacco blender G.L. Pease, who was also inducted. It was quite a time in France, and at the ceremony. We’ll hear all about those adventures on the show. At the top of the show we’ll continue the virtual tour of Brian’s pipe collection with six of his Satou Dublin-shape pipes.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 636. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Barry Kane. Barry started smoking a pipe in 1961 when he was 14-years old. Back then it seemed like everybody smoked, and you could buy pipes and tobacco just about anywhere. Barry is a true old-school pipe smoker, sticking to just one blend. See if you can guess which one before listening. At the top of the show Brian will give his take on Scandinavian Tobacco Group’s purchase of Mac Baren and Sutliff Tobacco and their announcement that they will be shut down.
