Pipes in the Dark Days
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Fred Brown - Feb 1, 2022
- 6 min read
“Tis the times’ plague, when madmen lead the blind.”—William Shakespeare
“How now?”
“Even so quickly may one catch the plague?” — William Shakespeare
There we were, thinking the plague seemed to be fading. And then, omicron, the little Greek “o” with a big “Omen” arrived and set the world ablaze with virus.
Sometime, in the days before the current darkness, at a pipe show in Raleigh, Va., PipesMagazine’s Radio Show host Brian Levine, the pipes and tobacco veteran, told me an old tale: a British doctor was perplexed by the plague of typhoid deaths. He happened by a water source in which the citizenry pumped their daily water from a public well supplied by an underground aquifer.
He studied the source and then advised town authorities the way to be rid of the scourge: “take the handle off the pump.”
That was in the late 19th century, and it was later discovered that typhoid, Salmonella enterica, was the culprit. Historically, the bacteria were said to have caused the death of Pericles, Greek Athenian leader of sometime in the 460s BC.
Oh, the horror!
All, right, enough of this sorrowful start. Onward, shall we?
I have been thinking of an old friend who smoked nothing but Bugler tobacco. That tobacco, manufactured in 1932, was primarily for roll-your-own cigarette smokers.
My friend, a really fine writer who once authored a book published by Random House, smoked Bugler because it was a cheap blend of Turkish and burley or Virginia or both. It was a grand-slam mixture of tobacco and is still produced for cigarette smokers.
I tried a bowl given to me by my writer buddy, who later became a public relations spokesman for a prominent Washington politician.
That one bowlful taught me a valuable lesson: watch what you ask for in pipe tobacco. To say that I had an out of body, otherworldly experience, envisioning an alternative existence—pretty well sums up my one and only foray into Bugler tobacco!
I never sampled that sort again and have remained cautious about burleys and Virginia combos ever since.
One more note about strong tobaccos. Now, I realize many of you are stout enough, experienced enough—to smoke old shoe leather, but take heed as I share another tale.
Once upon a time, in a now-departed brick and mortar pipes and tobaccos store a young pipe smoker wanted to try one of Samuel Gawith’s strongest tobaccos.
My tobacco merchant friend recommended Samuel Gawith’s 1792 Flake, a Virginia based of Tanzanian leaf laced with strong Tonquin bean but recommended caution. The Newbie cast restraint to the winds, stated with youthful confidence he could handle it, opened the tin, filled his pipe, lit it up and took a deep draw: Newbie hit the deck after that big puff.
Why go into all this? Well, the Pundit has been contemplating a great deal about pipes and tobacco in our time of plague. They comfort us, and if we follow our instincts about smoking a pipe, follow our feelings, follow our best thoughts, we will find enjoyment at the end of these dark days.
I moved on from that early Bugler experience to find wonderful tobacco blends, from aromatics to, yes, burley and Virginias—but touched up with Perique, and Orientals.
So this bit of advice for all you new pipe smokers out there. Don’t give up. You will find that right blend.
However, if a pipe reviewer such as Jiminks on tobaccoreviews.com says your choice is strong, beware. Jiminks is an exceptionally reliable source, a veteran pipe smoker, who knows blends, strengths, nicotine power and more.
Another piece of advice from an old deep South barbecue chef whose famous restaurant I once frequented: slow and low is how you cook the best “Q.”
Of course, you must also have the right “Q” sauce, which I won’t reveal here on pain of severe punishment from my barbecue chef pal.
But slow and low is how I prefer to puff. No matter whether or not it’s an aro or one of those magical mixtures by true masters of tobacco blending.
And here is another old-world tip from the Pundit: Yes, I like pipe lighters, and I have drawerfuls of ‘em; some famous brand names, some collectibles, some lesser knowns.
But the best and safest method by which to light your bowl I have found is with an old-fashioned wooden kitchen match. Say, the “Diamond” brand. The stick is, roughly speaking, two and three-eighths inches long and the flame is soft and round enough so as to not scorch that beautiful birdseye rim on your precious pipes.
By the way, for those of you of insatiable curiosity on all things tobacco and pipe-related, Chuck Stanion has an excellent essay on pipe rims in his August 2020 Pipe Line column on SmokingPipes.Com
Now, with cobs, or, say, an old basket pipe, I haul out flame throwers.
This month, the shortest of the year, we honor a rather famous World War II journalist, author, historian and pipe smoker: William L. Shirer.
Shirer, who wrote the top-selling The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany in 1960, was born Feb. 23, 1904, in Chicago, Ill., and died Dec. 28, 1993, in Boston. He was 89.
Shirer, who was once characterized as something of a “pipe-smoking” professorial type, was a prolific writer. He also combined his journalistic skills with radio broadcasting back to the U.S. with CBS while in Berlin during the opening year of World War II.
His two books that put the Pundit on the road to delving into World War II history were Berlin Diary, published in 1941, and his work on the Third Reich.
In particular the Pundit likes this Shirer quote:
History must speak for itself. A historian is content if he has been able to shed more light.
And, before I let you go not so gently into that good and dark February night, our time together would not be complete if we did not consider our Founding Fathers. With hallowed President’s Day soon upon us, it is important not to forget this is also the month we honor U.S. presidents on President’s Day.
The holiday was begun initially to honor President George Washington on his birthday, Feb. 22. But all that changed due to calendar goofs and then a move to honor all presidents.
This year, President’s Day falls on Feb. 21, and Washington’s birthday is Feb. 22.
Confused? So is the Pundit. Just know that many of our Founding Fathers were tobacco planters, and most of them enjoyed a bowl or two during their busy founding days.
And in modern times, we have accounts of Presidential pipe smoker Gerald R. Ford (1913-2006), 38th President (1974–77), who was rarely seen without his pipe.
Photo by Fred Brown
Written by Fred Brown
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Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 619. Our featured interview tonight is with Corey Hays. Corey is a 26-year old pipe smoker that is part of our ongoing series of pipe smokers that are under the age of 30. He is from Mississippi and has never lived more than 20-minutes away from The Country Squire Tobacconist. He was influenced to smoke a pipe by reading J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and 20th Century American History. He has been smoking pipes for three years. At the top of the show, Brian will have a tobacco review of a special tobacco that you could only get a pipe show.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 618. Our featured interview tonight is with AJ Khaled. AJ is a 22-year old pipe smoker that is part of our ongoing series of pipe smokers that are under the age of 30. Interestingly, he wasn’t initially inspired to take up the pipe by The Lord of the Rings, but more so by the author Tolkien himself while he was reading some of his other works. AJ has some really unique custom made pipes where he gave design specifics to and had them made by pipe makers Chris Askwith and Arcangelo Ambrosi. At the top of the show, we’ll have an “Ask the Pipemaker” segment with pipe artisan Jeff Gracik.
The other day, I was having a conversation with a friend about tobacco moisture. He tends to believe that a freshly opened tin presents the blender’s notion of the ideal moisture content for that tobacco, and that’s how it should be smoked. He’s not wrong, but as with so many things in our wacky world, it’s a little more complicated than that. When thinking about ideal moisture content for any specific tobacco, there are criteria for determining “correct” levels that can sometimes be at odds with one another. The proper moisture content for packaging tobacco, for instance, may not be the ideal moisture for smoking it. By way of background, let’s have a very brief and simplified look at the life of our beloved leaves once they’ve left the curing barns. Whole leaves or strips, the lamina of the leaves with the midrib removed, are boxed or baled quite dry for storage and transport. Before the tobacco can be worked, it has to be conditioned to a moisture level that allows it to be handled without shattering. There are various ways to accomplish this, but the end result is leaf that is pliable and easily manipulated without breaking. It can then be pressed into soft cakes that are cut into ribbons, or blended in stacks destined to be turned into plugs or flakes. At this point, it’s too moist to be considered “finished,” and has to go through a redrying stage. Since all of these steps may take place over a matter of months, or even years, tobacco can go through several conditioning/redrying cycles before it becomes the finished product. When it’s time to package a blend, the moisture level of the tobacco may have to be adjusted once again. If it’s too damp, there’s an increased risk of mold blooms, either within the sealed tin, or when spores are introduced after the tin is opened. 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Ok, the old Pundit is gonna say this only once. Well, maybe twice: It’s beach time! Some of my happiest pipe-smoking memories were created on the back deck of an original Pawleys Island, S.C., beach house. Listening to the waves dash and flop were pure music, highlighted by the squealing laughter of children frolicking along the beautiful Atlantic shoreline. Now, before you go bellowing about shark attacks, Pundit has his No. 1 Rule about sharks and warning flags, even if no flags are flying on an empty stretch of coastline. Having fished the surf many a day and evening, and even occasionally on a high pier resting on mighty shell-encrusted pilings and stretching out over the aqua-tinted waters, it became apparent that predators with large, sharp teeth prowled menacingly close to splashing bathers So, Pundit Beach Rule No. 1, ankle-deep wading and strolling, only. Make quick swims if it is not too windy, and never if menacing fins are seen cutting the water like the bow of a battleship. Rule adjustments might be needed for kiddies and exuberant beach paddlers in the family. Another necessary adjustment in the rule is no swimming alone. OK, beach lesson over. You don’t have to take Pundit’s word. Check out sea-going pipe-smoking experts: Herman Melville, who knew a thing or two about ferocious whales, and Sir Ernes Henry Shackleton, a famed adventurer who took on frozen seas. No sharks, but the message loudly proclaims oceans harbor many a menace, some large in body with huge teeth and some just frozen solid mountains of floating ice. And while checking up on Pundit, you might enjoy Chuck Stanion’s Herman Melville’s Literary Pipes February 4, 2022, in Pipe Line and his masterful story on the Shipwreck of Shackleford’s Endurance, also in Pipe Line. Now back to Pundit’s time on the beach, in a chair at sunrise on a screened-in deck, seas dancing, pipe in hand. Vacations today seem to be all hurly-burly, hurry, scurry, and worry. Back when a seaside deck beckoned, I packed not only fishing equipment, and some clothes, but also a shoulder bag full of pipes and enough tobacco to survive a voyage with Sir Shackleton. Each morning, noon, and night watch was accompanied by different pipes and different blends. Pipes ranged from Dunhills, Cavicchis, Ser Jacopos, Ashtons, Petersons, and Savinellis. Blends tended to be simple: aromatics and English containing various additives, of course. On rare occasions, I made a Pundit blend, which combined English with Latakia and aros with Virginia. Pundit blends were meh, but there were Cornell & Diehl, Capstan, Samuel Gawith, Three Nuns, Wessex, and the late lamented McClelland, plus a couple of others to save the rare moments. Pundit beach time was also a time for testing THESIS (taste, heat, enjoyment, strength, issues, satisfaction). There is but one way to do this properly and that is to employ a new cob pipe. Cobs give a good overall THESIS, sort of the cheaper version of precious sea-borne meerschaums. Cobs are, in a way, landlocked meers, and provide an excellent idea of how a particular blend will emerge. Ok, enough of experimentation. We are on a beach vacation, right? Observing the sun rising over an orange-lit horizon with a pipe and a cup of coffee is simply put, enchanting. Sun and ocean seem to merge for a brief moment in a blur of beauty. You can find yourself at the beach, leaning back in a chair, letting the morning-salted breeze sweep over you whilst you puff gently in between sips. Ahh, that’s a morning on the beach. There is nothing quite like it in the Pundit’s mind. And now for a couple of thoughts from real experts on sea adventures: Herman Melville is an American author, poet, and novelist best known for “Moby Dick.” But let us not forget Cornell & Diehl’s Melville at Sea tobacco series of blends: Billy Budd, Redburn, and John Marr, other noted works from Melville’s pen as well. It is better to fail in originality, than to succeed in imitation. He who has never failed somewhere, that man cannot be great. Failure is the true test of greatness—Herman Melville. Then there is Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton. Pipes, as mentioned by Chuck in his excellent piece on the great explorer, who relied on his pipe when the going got rough. Through endurance we conquer― Ernest H. Shackleton And finally, a Pipe Smoker of the Past cannot go without mentioning: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, born May 22, May 1859, and died July 7, 1930. If you are struggling to identify Sir Doyle in your mind, then you might be too young to be reading this. Of course, he is the prodigious author of the great detective Sherlock Holmes novels. Holmes and his drama are must-reads on any pipe-smoker’s novel list. ‘Nuff said! It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
