Overview: This book is a comprehensive book that lives up to its title. It consists of 4 parts, which I will go into some depth later in this review. This was the first pipe book I ever read, and it holds a lot of nostalgia for me. TBOPAT would be a great starter book for someone wanting to begin a library, as its history is for the most part very comprehensive, the explanations of different pipes and their histories is a great overview with a lot of neat facts, its discourse of differing tobacco types a wholesome read, and ending with a thorough overview of practical pipe usage.
Part One: The Remarkable Evolution of Smoking
This is the part that I love most in the book, and it is the first thing you'll read when you pick up this book. It holds many neat facts about pipe smoking in antiquity. The only thing I dislike is how there isn't much continuity; such as referring to a particular point in the 1500's, jumping into the 1600's, and then back to the 1500's again. Carl tells the history in his own way with an easy to read flow, but I wish he would have organized his thoughts more scrupulously. Here are some neat cutaways from this chapter:
"Sailors were the first to acquire the tobacco habit they observed and it was sailors who spread the taste for tobacco, as they carried it from port to port in pigs' bladders."
Perhaps the first pipe tobacco pouch?
"Tobacco was hailed as an aid against plague, useful in time of headache or stomach cramps, and, at one time or another, a remedy for abscesses, arthritis, bleeding, burns, cancer, deafness, dropsy, halitosis, hernia, lethargy, mania, pnewmonia, syphilis, whooping cough, and warts, to mention only a few. Back then, tobacco was medicine."
I can only imagine the Antis reading this, and screwing up their faces, quailing in horror.
"A pipe and proficiency in its use became standard equipment for the beaux of London. Newcomers to town heard they should visit the middle aisle of St. Paul's Cathedral-- not to sightsee or pray but to examine the placards of the smoking instructors who advertised their specialties there."
Smoking became intermingled with all social classes, religions, and started a new way of life.
"In England fifty years after the death of James, after-dinner smokes were enjoyed by women as well as men, and children carried a filled pipe to school, where the master conducted lessons in its use."
That's just a few tidbits from Part One. Nearly every sentence is a cool fact, some with year dates. Very interesting discourse on the history of our infatuation.
Part Two: The Amiable Pipe
This section talks about the different styles of pipes and their respective histories, with the same historic feel as Part One. Anti-smoking was touched on in the first section, but continues in greater detail in Part Two.
"Wilhelmus Kieft, as has already been observed, was a great legislator on a small scale, and had a microscopic eye in public affairs. He had been greatly annoyed by the factious meeting of the good people of New Amsterdam, but, observing that on these occasions the pipe was ever in their mouth, he began to think that the pipe was at the bottom of the affair, and that there was some mysterious affinity between politics and tobacco smoke. Determined to strike at the root of the evil, he began forthwith to rail at tobacco, as a noxious, nauseous weed, filthy in all its uses; and as to smoking he denounced it as a heavy tax upon the public pocket-- a vast consumer of time, a great encourager of idleness, and a deadly bane to the prosperity and morals of the people. Finally he issued an edict, prohibiting the smoking of tobacco throughout the New Netherlands. Ill-fated Kieft! Had he lived in the present age and attempted to check the unbounded liscense of the press, he could not have struck more sorely upon the sensibilities of the million. The pipe, in fact, was the great organ of reflection and deliberation of the New Netherlander. It was his constant companion and solace: was he gay, he smoked; was he sad, he smoked; his pipe was never out of his mouth; it was part of his physiognomy; without it his best friends would not know him. Take away his pipe? You might as well take away his nose! The immediate effect of William the Testy was a popular commotion. A vast multitude, armed with pipes and tobacco-boxes, and an immense supply of ammunition, sat themselves down before the governor's house, and fell to smoking with tremendous violence. The testy William issued forth like a wrathful spider, demanding the reason of this lawless fumigation. The sturdy rioters replied by lolling back in their seats, and puffing away with redoubled fury, raising such a murky cloud that the governor was fain to take refuge in the interior of his castle. A long negotiation ensued through the medium of Antony the Trumpeter. The governor was at first wrathful and unyielding, but was gradually smoked into terms. He concluded by permitting the smoking of tobacco, but he abolished the fair long pipes used in the days of Woter Van Twiller, denoting ease, tranquility, and sobriety of deportment; these he condemned as incompatible with the dispatch of business, in place whereof he substitued little captious short pipes, two inches in length, which, he observed, could be stuck in one corner of the mouth, or twisted in the hat band, and would never be in the way. Thus ended this alarming insurreciton, which was long known by the name of The Pipe-Plot, and which, it has been somewhat quaintly observed, did end, like most plots and seditions, in mere smoke."
Now that's a great story. If only smokers today had the courage to do the same. Carl continues to talk about how clay pipes are made, the introduction of porcelain pipes, the hookah, an excellent overview and neat insights on meerschaum pipes, gourd calabash pipes, the ever present cob, some softwood varieties of pipes, and finally landing on the popularity of briar as a smoking medium. My only fault is that this section was most relevant at the time of print, 1973.
Part Three: Tobacco: The Special Herb
Here Carl delves back into the history of tobacco, starting with the indians, moving to the colonists, and how tobacco spread through Europe. It goes into a lot of detail about the tobacco industry and it's histories, as well as giving details about the various types of tobaccos and the curing methods therein. Further in this part it talks about the selection and storing of tobaccos.
"One ounce of seed contains about 300,000 to 350,000 individual seeds."
"Tobaccos from the Xanthi, Samsun, and Katerini areas are used generously in mixtures that require extremely soft or delicate Orientals, both in flavor and body. Smyrna is used when an exceptionally intense Oriental flavor is desired. It is seldom employed in great quantities, however, because of its poor burning characteristics."
"The taste of straight Virginias is not as rich as the flavor of Oriental tobaccos, but it is rich enough to satisfy the smoker and it never tires him. Fine straight Virginias are smooth, but they would never be classified as soft or delicate because, while they possess a rather light taste and are never stronger than medium in body, their character is zesty and tasty."
"Unfortunately, most of the fragrant mixtures offered on the American market are mediocre. The exceptions are some of the higher-priced varieties which are made from excellent leaf and are expertly processed. The problem with most fragrant mixtures is that they involve a basic blend of tobaccos that cannot stand on their own. .. If a blend is poorly conceived prior to processing, inferior characteristics cannot be completely muted by even the finest processing techniques or by flavoring compounds-- which run the gamut from plums to coconuts."
"When considering a pouch, the smokers should remember that the pouch is meant to supply him for a day and is not meant for prolonged storage."
"Yet today we see many cigarette and cigar smokers becoming pipe smokers. It is gratifying to hear their exclamations about the excellent flavors and aromas they had been missing. Today really is the golden age of pipe smoking. The quality of pipes and tobaccos have never been finer."
Part Four: Pleasures of the Pipe
This is the hardest part of the book to summarize as every sentence is a good piece of advice tailored to the new pipe smoker, and much of it resonates with me. Carl talks about the fallout of the new pipe smoker, and gives tips as to how they should find success in it; such as the how a newbie should stick to the basics, and not explore too many different tobaccos at one time as it will deter a developing pallete. He claims the new smoker should buy an English, Danish, French, Irish, or American "seconds" pipe (such as an estate or a quality factory reject) a pipe tool, some cleaners, and two or three blends to experiment with. Having those tools, the new guy should focus on technique before exploration. Once a good technique and habits are formed, then 'go to town'. I have a hard time disagreeing.
He gives advice for the reformed cigarette and cigar smoker, caring for your pipes and the tools that give the best success, and finishes with some common Q+A questions.
Rating: I give this book a 5 out of 5. It covers every aspect of pipe smoking, and re-reading it allowed me to remember many of the jeopardy style facts that I've forgotten over the years. It's an extremely easy read, offers plenty of great vintage pictures and paintings, and plenty of good advice without offering it. My only major concern with the book is that is it a bit dated, and tailored to the 1970's pipe smoker. A revised, current addition would be welcome (and probably double the length of the book)! A "must read" for any pipe smoker looking to establish a library, and gives a good starting point for the beginning and established pipe smoker. I believe you can pick up a used hardcover edition on Amazon for less than $15.
Part One: The Remarkable Evolution of Smoking
This is the part that I love most in the book, and it is the first thing you'll read when you pick up this book. It holds many neat facts about pipe smoking in antiquity. The only thing I dislike is how there isn't much continuity; such as referring to a particular point in the 1500's, jumping into the 1600's, and then back to the 1500's again. Carl tells the history in his own way with an easy to read flow, but I wish he would have organized his thoughts more scrupulously. Here are some neat cutaways from this chapter:
"Sailors were the first to acquire the tobacco habit they observed and it was sailors who spread the taste for tobacco, as they carried it from port to port in pigs' bladders."
Perhaps the first pipe tobacco pouch?
"Tobacco was hailed as an aid against plague, useful in time of headache or stomach cramps, and, at one time or another, a remedy for abscesses, arthritis, bleeding, burns, cancer, deafness, dropsy, halitosis, hernia, lethargy, mania, pnewmonia, syphilis, whooping cough, and warts, to mention only a few. Back then, tobacco was medicine."
I can only imagine the Antis reading this, and screwing up their faces, quailing in horror.
"A pipe and proficiency in its use became standard equipment for the beaux of London. Newcomers to town heard they should visit the middle aisle of St. Paul's Cathedral-- not to sightsee or pray but to examine the placards of the smoking instructors who advertised their specialties there."
Smoking became intermingled with all social classes, religions, and started a new way of life.
"In England fifty years after the death of James, after-dinner smokes were enjoyed by women as well as men, and children carried a filled pipe to school, where the master conducted lessons in its use."
That's just a few tidbits from Part One. Nearly every sentence is a cool fact, some with year dates. Very interesting discourse on the history of our infatuation.
Part Two: The Amiable Pipe
This section talks about the different styles of pipes and their respective histories, with the same historic feel as Part One. Anti-smoking was touched on in the first section, but continues in greater detail in Part Two.
"Wilhelmus Kieft, as has already been observed, was a great legislator on a small scale, and had a microscopic eye in public affairs. He had been greatly annoyed by the factious meeting of the good people of New Amsterdam, but, observing that on these occasions the pipe was ever in their mouth, he began to think that the pipe was at the bottom of the affair, and that there was some mysterious affinity between politics and tobacco smoke. Determined to strike at the root of the evil, he began forthwith to rail at tobacco, as a noxious, nauseous weed, filthy in all its uses; and as to smoking he denounced it as a heavy tax upon the public pocket-- a vast consumer of time, a great encourager of idleness, and a deadly bane to the prosperity and morals of the people. Finally he issued an edict, prohibiting the smoking of tobacco throughout the New Netherlands. Ill-fated Kieft! Had he lived in the present age and attempted to check the unbounded liscense of the press, he could not have struck more sorely upon the sensibilities of the million. The pipe, in fact, was the great organ of reflection and deliberation of the New Netherlander. It was his constant companion and solace: was he gay, he smoked; was he sad, he smoked; his pipe was never out of his mouth; it was part of his physiognomy; without it his best friends would not know him. Take away his pipe? You might as well take away his nose! The immediate effect of William the Testy was a popular commotion. A vast multitude, armed with pipes and tobacco-boxes, and an immense supply of ammunition, sat themselves down before the governor's house, and fell to smoking with tremendous violence. The testy William issued forth like a wrathful spider, demanding the reason of this lawless fumigation. The sturdy rioters replied by lolling back in their seats, and puffing away with redoubled fury, raising such a murky cloud that the governor was fain to take refuge in the interior of his castle. A long negotiation ensued through the medium of Antony the Trumpeter. The governor was at first wrathful and unyielding, but was gradually smoked into terms. He concluded by permitting the smoking of tobacco, but he abolished the fair long pipes used in the days of Woter Van Twiller, denoting ease, tranquility, and sobriety of deportment; these he condemned as incompatible with the dispatch of business, in place whereof he substitued little captious short pipes, two inches in length, which, he observed, could be stuck in one corner of the mouth, or twisted in the hat band, and would never be in the way. Thus ended this alarming insurreciton, which was long known by the name of The Pipe-Plot, and which, it has been somewhat quaintly observed, did end, like most plots and seditions, in mere smoke."
Now that's a great story. If only smokers today had the courage to do the same. Carl continues to talk about how clay pipes are made, the introduction of porcelain pipes, the hookah, an excellent overview and neat insights on meerschaum pipes, gourd calabash pipes, the ever present cob, some softwood varieties of pipes, and finally landing on the popularity of briar as a smoking medium. My only fault is that this section was most relevant at the time of print, 1973.
Part Three: Tobacco: The Special Herb
Here Carl delves back into the history of tobacco, starting with the indians, moving to the colonists, and how tobacco spread through Europe. It goes into a lot of detail about the tobacco industry and it's histories, as well as giving details about the various types of tobaccos and the curing methods therein. Further in this part it talks about the selection and storing of tobaccos.
"One ounce of seed contains about 300,000 to 350,000 individual seeds."
"Tobaccos from the Xanthi, Samsun, and Katerini areas are used generously in mixtures that require extremely soft or delicate Orientals, both in flavor and body. Smyrna is used when an exceptionally intense Oriental flavor is desired. It is seldom employed in great quantities, however, because of its poor burning characteristics."
"The taste of straight Virginias is not as rich as the flavor of Oriental tobaccos, but it is rich enough to satisfy the smoker and it never tires him. Fine straight Virginias are smooth, but they would never be classified as soft or delicate because, while they possess a rather light taste and are never stronger than medium in body, their character is zesty and tasty."
"Unfortunately, most of the fragrant mixtures offered on the American market are mediocre. The exceptions are some of the higher-priced varieties which are made from excellent leaf and are expertly processed. The problem with most fragrant mixtures is that they involve a basic blend of tobaccos that cannot stand on their own. .. If a blend is poorly conceived prior to processing, inferior characteristics cannot be completely muted by even the finest processing techniques or by flavoring compounds-- which run the gamut from plums to coconuts."
"When considering a pouch, the smokers should remember that the pouch is meant to supply him for a day and is not meant for prolonged storage."
"Yet today we see many cigarette and cigar smokers becoming pipe smokers. It is gratifying to hear their exclamations about the excellent flavors and aromas they had been missing. Today really is the golden age of pipe smoking. The quality of pipes and tobaccos have never been finer."
Part Four: Pleasures of the Pipe
This is the hardest part of the book to summarize as every sentence is a good piece of advice tailored to the new pipe smoker, and much of it resonates with me. Carl talks about the fallout of the new pipe smoker, and gives tips as to how they should find success in it; such as the how a newbie should stick to the basics, and not explore too many different tobaccos at one time as it will deter a developing pallete. He claims the new smoker should buy an English, Danish, French, Irish, or American "seconds" pipe (such as an estate or a quality factory reject) a pipe tool, some cleaners, and two or three blends to experiment with. Having those tools, the new guy should focus on technique before exploration. Once a good technique and habits are formed, then 'go to town'. I have a hard time disagreeing.
He gives advice for the reformed cigarette and cigar smoker, caring for your pipes and the tools that give the best success, and finishes with some common Q+A questions.
Rating: I give this book a 5 out of 5. It covers every aspect of pipe smoking, and re-reading it allowed me to remember many of the jeopardy style facts that I've forgotten over the years. It's an extremely easy read, offers plenty of great vintage pictures and paintings, and plenty of good advice without offering it. My only major concern with the book is that is it a bit dated, and tailored to the 1970's pipe smoker. A revised, current addition would be welcome (and probably double the length of the book)! A "must read" for any pipe smoker looking to establish a library, and gives a good starting point for the beginning and established pipe smoker. I believe you can pick up a used hardcover edition on Amazon for less than $15.
