Archive Of The Old Pipes And Tobacco Magazine?

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The Pipe Professor

Might Stick Around
May 14, 2016
67
20
Kentucky
thepipeprofessor.com
Does anyone know why the P&T magazine didn't try to sell out to someone else before going completely under and stopping production? I want to say they were part of a larger magazine franchise group but I may be mistaken with that information.
 
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JimInks

Sultan of Smoke
Aug 31, 2012
64,822
654,838
Does anyone know why the P&T magazine didn't try to sell out to someone else before going completely under and stopping production? I want to say they were part of a larger magazine franchise group but I may be mistaken with that information.
Speccomm did sell it, along with other magazines. Kretek isn't publishing it because it was such a money loser. Barely had any advertisers left, and it was selling around 1,400 an issue, which is nothing for a slick papered magazine of that quality. The pipe community - a niche audience at best - did not support the magazine.
 

DAR

Can't Leave
Aug 2, 2020
355
1,115
Tiburon, California
The internet has killed many magazines. I have most of the issues. I re-read them and old Cigar Aficionado magazines once in a while just for the nostalgia. They were quite expensive to buy so I never tossed them after reading them.
 
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Dr.G

Lurker
Aug 16, 2021
32
51
Sydney Australia
Thank you @Dr.G! The issues of “Pipe Lovers” are awesome as well. Hilarious advertising in those old magazines.
I actually prefer pipe lovers magazine, the 'pipe craft' section has been a huge help as a novice pipe smoker- along with this site.

The ads are pretty hysterical, and some of the suggestions, I saw one recommending asbestos partitions in the bowl for blending smoke haha
 
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I was the editor of P&T magazine for 21 years. Dayton Matlick, the owner of SpecComm, which was the publishing company that owned P&T, was 80+ years old when he decided to sell the company. I left about a month before that sale was to take place. We were told that the new company, TMA, would maintain all the magazines and retain staff. I didn't believe it so I left (there were other personal/family reasons as well); I was too cowardly to watch what I believed would happen to the magazine that I loved and nurtured and took my identity from. It took another year for the sale to take place, with Cliff Nelson running P&T after my departure, and he did a great job, though he was forced to reduce the size of the publication. Once the sale went through, the new company folded most of SpecComm's magazines and let the staff go, and that was the end of P&T.

One of our sales guys, Ben Stimpson, left the company before my departure, and he started a new magazine, Tobacco Business, owned by Kretek. TMA sold P&T magazine to Kretek and now all of that content belongs to Tobacco Business. I've received no reply from Ben regarding the possible republication of P&T content in some form. They also bought tobaccoreviews.com, which has seen a redesign since.

So P&T is gone and I'm sad. Maybe Ben will bring it back someday. However, I continue to work in the hobby at Smokingpipes, and they employ me to continue producing content similar to that of P&T for our blog, the Daily Reader. I've written more than 140 articles so far for the DR, more than I wrote in my 20 years at P&T, and I'm not alone; we have an enormously talented staff. Truett Smith, Andrew Wike, and Jeffrey Sitts are wonderful writers who know pipes inside and out and we have some truly talented colleagues starting to contribute as well, people who I have no doubt will become household names in the hobby. Our content includes famous pipe smoker profiles, in-depth tobacco articles, tips, news, and entertainment, and it is my hope that some may find it a reasonable substitution for P&T -- and we have the advantage of publishing new content weekly. It's a shame that we no longer have a physical, glossy magazine for our hobby, one that we can find in our mailboxes and hold in our hands, but we're trying to fill the void. I wish we'd have had this staff for P&T; it would have been spectacular.

I miss my job at P&T. It was a job of a lifetime. Times change, though, and I continue to enjoy the work I'm privileged to do, and for a company that is ethically superior to and more supportive than any I have worked for in the past. Not trying to make this a commercial for Smokingpipes, but I'm grateful to be part of it, and to earn a living by writing about pipes is as close to impossible as you can get.

Anyway, the possibility exists that old P&T content may one day be available, but it's in the hands of Tobacco Business magazine. It would sure be cool to see it online.
 

romaso

Lifer
Dec 29, 2010
2,036
7,882
Pacific NW
I heard one issue had an article about William Conrad's pipe smoking. I'd like to read that article.
FYI, I had downloaded a master index of P&T Magazine, and I didn't find William Conrad in a search of the index. Also, in the index section on, 'Famous Pipe Smokers' it goes from 'Chandler, Raymond' to 'DaGama, Steven'
I'm not sure when the index was done (I downloaded it 12/16), so it may be in the later issues.
 

JimInks

Sultan of Smoke
Aug 31, 2012
64,822
654,838
FYI, I had downloaded a master index of P&T Magazine, and I didn't find William Conrad in a search of the index. Also, in the index section on, 'Famous Pipe Smokers' it goes from 'Chandler, Raymond' to 'DaGama, Steven'
I'm not sure when the index was done (I downloaded it 12/16), so it may be in the later issues.
Thanks for looking.
 
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burleybreath

Lifer
Aug 29, 2019
1,093
3,872
Finger Lakes area, New York, USA
FYI, I had downloaded a master index of P&T Magazine, and I didn't find William Conrad in a search of the index. Also, in the index section on, 'Famous Pipe Smokers' it goes from 'Chandler, Raymond' to 'DaGama, Steven'
I'm not sure when the index was done (I downloaded it 12/16), so it may be in the later issues.
There was a featured article on Conrad somewhere. The main accompanying photo was of him seated at a desk, surrounded by his friggin' Charatans. As you indicate, I'll be damned if I can find it in P&T. It must have been in the The Pipe Smoker's Ephemeris. I say that because it's the only other pipe publication I've read. I'll look sometime when a sudden burst of spontaneity overcomes my habitual sloth. Or could it possibly have been Cigar Aficionado, in a rare concession to the briarly. Hmm...
 
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romaso

Lifer
Dec 29, 2010
2,036
7,882
Pacific NW
There was a featured article on Conrad somewhere. The main accompanying photo was of him seated at a desk, surrounded by his friggin' Charatans. As you indicate, I'll be damned if I can find it in P&T. It must have been in the The Pipe Smoker's Ephemeris. I say that because it's the only other pipe publication I've read. I'll look sometime when a sudden burst of spontaneity overcomes my habitual sloth. Or could it possibly have been Cigar Aficionado, in a rare concession to the briarly. Hmm...
I went through the P&T index I have and the latest issue mentioned is Winter of 2010, so it must be after that.
The Pipe Smoker's Ephemeris issues I've seen only have B&W illustrations, and they weren't of the most detailed quality due to how they were printed.
If you find a reference to a specific issue of either, let me know & I can check if I have it.
 
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