Dr. Alan Harrelson Visits Chesterton’s in Steubenville, Ohio

[cosmicfolklore]

First mentioned by berg on the first page:

Dr. Alan Harrelson Visits Chesterton’s in Steubenville, Ohio :: Pipe Events

Alan Harrelson of The Pipe Cottage visited Chesterton’s in Ohio yesterday and held a blending session with about 30 pipers in attendance. The new proprietary blend is named for St. Bede and has a healthy dose of Latakia. An impromptu banjo and bluegrass session followed.

pipesmagazine.com

Also, didn't realize you were a mod here before. How does one start and stop being a mod?

I just asked Kevin on both counts. I gave up being a mod because it was just stressful, and I was taking off in the summers to farm. Most mods tend to just walk away from the forum after a while, like Lawrence, Zack, and Javan. But, I didn't want to completely leave.

 

[lraisch]

Regardless of everything else, the few times I've watched him he's made grand pronouncements on pipes and tobacco that are just wrong. For example, you can't or shouldn't talk while smoking (without risking the pipe going out), and ghosting isn't a thing (except for deer tongue).

For those that like him, crack on, and it sounds like it was a great event. But his content is not for me.

For me, two of the most memorably enjoyable smokes I've had were while engaged in a pleasant conversation.

Once at a restaurant meet-up with fellow pipe smokers and once chatting with my son and a couple of his friends. Both times I marveled at how little I needed to fuss with the pipe. No tamping, no relights and just a wonderfully flavorful smoke.

As far as ghosting not being a thing, I presume he's never tried Mixture 79.

 

[sablebrush52]

As far as ghosting not being a thing, I presume he's never tried Mixture 79.

Or St Bruno, or Latakia, or Rose Geranium, etc, etc

 

[BayouGhost]

I have enjoyed some of his pipe content but prefer to take it in my own measured doses, which I think even he would appreciate and respect. I do not need someone to have my exact politics or views on life for me to like or not like them as a person. He is free to discuss whatever he wants. I am free to listen or not listen. As for his accent, it is a classic coastal plain, Carolina/Coastal Georgia accent. It has nothing to do with Appalachia. He just so happens to now live in Kentucky. My dad speaks like this and also has a doctorate, but coastal elites automatically think he is either dumb or racist because they have watched too many Hollywood movies. For myself, when I first moved up north, people thought I was faking my accent or dumb because of their pre-conceived notions of what a southern accent was supposed to sound like. They would nervously laugh when I told them I was a scientist as if I had made a joke. In Hollywood, the southern accent is most often portrayed as an Alabama/Tennessee accent. The particular dialect is rare and yes even people in other parts of the south don't realize that people speak this way in the coastal Carolinas and southeast Georgia. In the movie "Inglorious Basterds", the character Brad Pitt plays is supposedly from the Smoky Mountains yet does not have anything close to resembling an Appalachian dialect. All that being said, I will admit that his particular flavor of coastal plain accent is quite pronounced, and he does not try to hide it at all, which many of us have had to for work/career in order to not be discriminated against and called dumb or racist rednecks. Perhaps he accentuates it for entertainment purposes. There is no way for us to know. I think it is likely genuine, but something people are not used to hearing regularly or ever. I did peruse the social media site over there and decided against joining just because I found many of the posts/topics by some members to have nothing to do with pipes at all. Again, this is something beyond his control and others may enjoy this difference in the platform. Members will do what they want. I am neutral on this topic but want to play fair here and not denigrate someone for speaking their mind on a public platform or being different from the norm.

 

[Friendly Piper]

I have enjoyed some of his pipe content but prefer to take it in my own measured doses, which I think even he would appreciate and respect. I do not need someone to have my exact politics or views on life for me to like or not like them as a person. He is free to discuss whatever he wants. I am free to listen or not listen. As for his accent, it is a classic coastal plain, Carolina/Coastal Georgia accent. It has nothing to do with Appalachia. He just so happens to now live in Kentucky. My dad speaks like this and also has a doctorate, but coastal elites automatically think he is either dumb or racist because they have watched too many Hollywood movies. For myself, when I first moved up north, people thought I was faking my accent or dumb because of their pre-conceived notions of what a southern accent was supposed to sound like. They would nervously laugh when I told them I was a scientist as if I had made a joke. In Hollywood, the southern accent is most often portrayed as an Alabama/Tennessee accent. The particular dialect is rare and yes even people in other parts of the south don't realize that people speak this way in the coastal Carolinas and southeast Georgia. In the movie "Inglorious Basterds", the character Brad Pitt plays is supposedly from the Smoky Mountains yet does not have anything close to resembling an Appalachian dialect. All that being said, I will admit that his particular flavor of coastal plain accent is quite pronounced, and he does not try to hide it at all, which many of us have had to for work/career in order to not be discriminated against and called dumb or racist rednecks. Perhaps he accentuates it for entertainment purposes. There is no way for us to know. I think it is likely genuine, but something people are not used to hearing regularly or ever. I did peruse the social media site over there and decided against joining just because I found many of the posts/topics by some members to have nothing to do with pipes at all. Again, this is something beyond his control and others may enjoy this difference in the platform. Members will do what they want. I am neutral on this topic but want to play fair here and not denigrate someone for speaking their mind on a public platform or being different from the norm.

This is pretty much my view, having known exceptionally bright people with similar accents. Now that you mention it, I suspect you’re right that he purposefully “leans in” to the accent for effect.

The bias against southerners and southern accents is real. I see similar things with my English colleagues, many of whom are Londoners and (playfully) mock one of our teammates from northern England for her accent. I say “playfully” because (a) she’s brighter than most of them and they know it; and (b) she plays it up and emphasizes her accent at times for effect.

Back to the topic of blending, I’m going to start my first experiments beyond “put two favored blends in a pasta press and make a melded crumble cake.” Hope to find something good!

 

[jpmcwjr]

I think we've had enough on this - or these- subject(s)