Radio Show #5

[stemandbriar]

Thanks for putting together another show.

I enjoyed the piece about pipe shapes. Although I had a good knowledge of them before, it's interesting to listen to someones talk about them.
As for you Edison Piece, I have no love for the man. As an Engineer, I feel history has looked a little to kindly on a thief.
Now, as to Rick Newcombe article "Mail It In One Piece, Please", I did, as you suggested, give it a read.

I actually started to ship the estate pipes I restore in two pieces over the last year. Reading the article gave me pause. The reason I started to ship this way, was in fact for damage. I noticed one of two things.
a. The recipient would receive the pipe in more than 1 piece anyways, or b. the change in climate would cause the stem to stick to the point of not being removable. This may be the case shipping from somewhere like Wisconsin in the winter, to Florida.
I do understand the dynamics of the briar, and humidity / temperature swing. I've grown up in the woodworking realm, and know the joys all to well of artisan cabinet making.

I just wonder if there is a better way. It got me thinking about putting a some of those silica beads in the pipe prior to shipment, and send in one piece. Not sure if this would dry the briar out unfortunately.
I will need to retry the one piece method... I just wonder if the separation is as critical for restored 20+ year old estate pipes. I can most definitely see the logic behind a brand new crafted pipe....
Either way, I look forward to next week.

5 weeks down. 5 pipes smokes. 5 different tobaccos. 5 different micro-brews. I like this trend.

 

[birdseye]

Please accept this as constructive criticism but I think the reason no one was pushing the stop button on their player at the end of the show was because they were waiting for some serious pipe related information.
I've listened to all of the shows so far. I'm not the kind of guy that sits in front of my computer in a chat room all night long. I don't have enough time (or desire) for that but I do like to listen to podcasts because I can listen while I drive and hopefully learn something at the same time. The Internet and the pipe community need a quality podcast. The cigar community has a few very good and long running shows. So I have my hopes up for this show.
I've listened to all of the previous pipe podcasts that have been out there so far and none of them have lasted even though some were pretty good (content wise anyway) so I'll give a plug to Olie from OomPaul and Andrew from Old Toby for giving it a go. I know it takes a lot of time and dedication to put on something like this which is why I was happy to hear PipesMagazine was doing a podcast and the host was someone in the pipe industry.
Here are my thoughts about the show so far.
I enjoyed the interviews with Michael Parks and Mary McNeil, they were interesting but I would like them to be a little longer. I was not expecting to like the interview with Dan Locklair but found it very entertaining, mainly because he talked about the old days. Unfortunately, the interview with Thomas Edison had no real redeeming quality. He didn't smoke pipes and didn't say very much interesting about cigars. An interview with Mark Twain might have been better but I know what you were doing there. I actually enjoyed the 5 minutes with the actor more that with Tom Edison from the way back machine.
Personally, I would like the show to be 1 hour and have more pipe related content. I would like the interviews to be a little more in depth and more of them with people in the industry or big into the hobby. Although I've been smoking a pipe for a long time, I think there is good value in hearing about the basics like today's talk about pipe shapes. Although some of the filler is ok, I think there could be less. If you can't increase the length of the show then maybe cutting back on the filler, rant and music and replace with pipe related content would be an option. Some of the things I'd like to hear on the show are, for example, interviews with more pipe makers and tobacco blenders, reviews of tobacco blends or dissect a blend and tell what the different components of the blend do for the taste and smoking quality, hear from people who make/sell pipe accoutrements. And I do enjoy hearing stories of the old days, it never gets old.
I applaud the effort that goes into the show and thank Brian and PipesMagazine.com for making it happen. I would like to see it hang around for a long, long time.
Thanks,

Nelson

 

[admin]

Thanks for the input Nelson.

 

[gmwolford]

I have to say that the long interview with Mr Edison was the least favorite part of any of the shows thus far. Like Nelson, I'd rather have heard from the actor more and none from his alter ego. In fact, I agree pretty much with everything Nelson said. The opening segment, now called Pipe Parts I think, is always interesting to me and that is the kind of stuff I'd like to hear more of.
Looking forward to episode 6 already!

 

[piperl12]

Gotta be honest the first few minutes of the interview I was thinking WTF however when you think about the time and talent that goes into playing a character from the past on the radio to make it believable you realize this was quite a feat. Good job guys! I agree it was a little short this week but they can't all be 1 hr. I'm still enjoying it keep up the good work!

 

[cortezattic]

I think everybody should realize that this is a work in progress in that Brian Levine, though well grounded in the industry,

is still testing the communications waters, so to speak. IMHO the show is a little too ambitious at this point in time,

and the main focus should be on interviews and industry news. I don't really need to come here for music and rants.
My overall impression, and greatest criticism, is that the interviews appear to be totally ad lib. They seem to wander

with no definite point to make. I think they could be improved if they were guided by a written agenda, which would help

the interview seem more purposeful.
The show is a good idea, and I believe that it will keep getting better as it finds its comfort zone. :clap: