David Cuneo A.K.A. Dmcmtk Has Passed Away.

[captainsousie]

May he rest in the companionship of all of his people and cats that have gone before.

Great to see your posts again. You haven't missed much other than STG ravaging sutliff and another brand I'm spacing at the moment.

On topic, I honestly miss his posts.

 

[buroak]

I remember dmcmtk in a lot of conversations here before my years away from the forums. Although I was back for several months before @JimInks posted this sad news, I did not see the announcement. Not surprisingly, I found this as a result of looking through some older maker history-oriented threads in which dmcmtk was an important contributor.

As one of the younger enthusiasts in this hobby, the loss of wiser elders always hits me like a gut punch. Pipedia and Pipephil are invaluable but cold repositories. Men like Dave are warm, kind, and add joy to the knowledge they impart. He was not only invaluable, he is irreplaceable. I am sad to hear of his passing.

 

[OzPiper]

I remember dmcmtk in a lot of conversations here before my years away from the forums. Although I was back for several months before @JimInks posted this sad news, I did not see the announcement. Not surprisingly, I found this as a result of looking through some older maker history-oriented threads in which dmcmtk was an important contributor.

As one of the younger enthusiasts in this hobby, the loss of wiser elders always hits me like a gut punch. Pipedia and Pipephil are invaluable but cold repositories. Men like Dave are warm, kind, and add joy to the knowledge they impart. He was not only invaluable, he is irreplaceable. I am sad to hear of his passing.

@JimInks posted his recent haul of Barlings (out of a total of 50 pipes)
A very generous gift from Dave’s widow - a marvellous memento of their years of friendship

As a relative newcomer back to pipes, the knowledge gleaned from members like Dave, Jim (@JimInks), Jesse (@sablebrush52), Jon (@jguss), Duane (@Chasing Embers), the late Ken Barnes and others is gold.

 

[JimInks]

@JimInks posted his recent haul of Barlings (out of a total of 50 pipes)
A very generous gift from Dave’s widow - a marvellous memento of their years of friendship

As a relative newcomer back to pipes, the knowledge gleaned from members like Dave, Jim (@JimInks), Jesse (@sablebrush52), Jon (@jguss), Duane (@Chasing Embers), the late Ken Barnes and others is gold.

I need to correct you on one point. It was David's sister who gave me the pipes. David never married.

Thanks for the compliment.

 

[anthonyrosenthal74]

This is another one I didn't know about after not frequenting the forum for so long. Seeing it now only because the thread was revived. All I can say now is condolences to those who knew him and to his family. And I'm sorry I missed so many of his posts while I was away.

 

[buroak]

@JimInks posted his recent haul of Barlings (out of a total of 50 pipes)
A very generous gift from Dave’s widow - a marvellous memento of their years of friendship

As a relative newcomer back to pipes, the knowledge gleaned from members like Dave, Jim (@JimInks), Jesse (@sablebrush52), Jon (@jguss), Duane (@Chasing Embers), the late Ken Barnes and others is gold.

Yes, we are fortunate to have so many experts still with us.

- Adam

 

[pitchfork]

Hello, friends. Very sorry to hear about Dave's passing. I knew he had left this forum a while ago, and I just now looked him up, only to find Jim's post here.

Gosh, this is stunning and sad news. We had so many great conversations over the years, both here and at Pipe Smokers Unlimited. Dave knew more about Larsen pipes than just about anybody. We had talked about meeting up sometime, but never ended up doing so. To be sure, there's a lesson there.

RIP, my friend.

 

[bluegrassbrian]

Not sure how I missed this post the first time around..
Dave was posting frequently when I joined this forum and was a well appreciated source of info.
He helped me with some danish pipes in my formative pipe days. Been a few years since he had been around on here- didn’t really notice until just now.
He is missed for sure.

 

[ashdigger]

Sorry to hear this Jim.

May he RIP

 

[Choatecav]

I just learned from his brother Paul that David passed away Tuesday, October 29. David had a number of serious health issues the past few years, and handled them as well as any one could. He talked to me about them in a straight forward way of acceptance. He never complained, and would never mention them unless I asked about it, which I occasionally did.

David was a very smart, intuitive, exceptionally honest, forthright man who was interested in many subjects. Like myself, he was detail oriented in everything that interested him. For eleven years, our weekly conversations covered a wide variety of subjects, and we learned a lot from each other. We were family.

David was a fountain of expert knowledge about pipes and tobaccos. When a friend of mine was gifting me all those wonderful estate pipes that many of you have seen me smoke or saw on my Jim’s Pipe Collection thread on PSD, David spent a lot of time helping me identify makers and dates. He did the same for many others on forums and private messages. He took great joy in helping others. And when he didn’t know something, he’d be honest about that, too. I learned a lot about old pipes from him.

David loved animals, and owned a couple of cats. When he had problems integrating the second cat (a young kitten) with his older cat, he came to me for advice. He did as I suggested, and within a short period of time, both cats became friendly. David’s life was enriched by the reciprocal love of cats and himself, and he must have thanked me a dozen times or more.

Cats were a favorite subject of ours. When Sam the Scamp had her babies, David didn’t hesitate to help us afford to feed and take care of them. He even paid for Sam and Harry the Hairy to get fixed. I sent him every photo that I took of the ferals, and Sam’s little scampers. He was very generous with tobacco, too. We gave lots of it to each other over the years. Years ago, when I had no luck getting a couple of Esoterica blends, and David did, he sent me a few bags of them along with other hard to find stuff. M’lady made him a few baskets in return. I sent him tobacco that he didn’t have.

I could go on and on about David, but I’ll end with this. I’ve had a lot of friends over the years who were generous, thoughtful, brilliant in thought and communication, humble, and caring. David was as special in all of those categories and more; as much as anyone I could mention. His passing leaves a vacuum in the hearts of his family and his friends. I know he would have told me that I didn’t need to write this. That would have been the one time that he was wrong. For all he was to all who knew him well or occasionally crossed paths with, David will be missed and remembered. Rest in Peace, brother.

I too, did not initially hear of his passing, but your reference to pipes from David's estate made me do some digging and found this beautiful tribute that you wrote late last year. While I did not know him, your words really left a better understanding that he must have been a fine man and obviously a good friend to you and others. May he rest in peace.....

 

[JimInks]

A year ago on this day, October 29, my dear friend David Cuneo passed away. Some of you knew him as Dmcmtk. In tribute to the great human being that he was, I will be smoking pipes from his collection gifted to me by his sister. I’ll start with ten that I haven’t smoked yet. There’ll be more of those sometime in the future since a few more are cleaned, and not dedicated to blends. I've more to clean as well.

Now smoking a bowl from a freshly opened tin of year 2014 Astley’s No. 44 in a straight smooth brown pre-republic Peterson’s Sterling billiard 260 with a sterling silver band and a tapered black vulcanite p-lip stem. This pipe is from the estate of David Cuneo. Gold Star Jamaica Blue Mountain, neat, is my drink.

The rest of my smokes today will be in the WAYS thread. RIP David.