Richard Carleton Hacker

[warren99]

I love his books. I have Rare Smoke and The Ultimate Pipe BooK. The latter is a first edition that RCH signed at Gus’s Smoke Shop (man, I loved that place). Beforewe all had the internet, his books were my pipe bibles. I must have memorized every page of TUPB!

I too have Rare Smokes and The Ultimate Pipe Book, the latter of which is autographed. Good reading but like all sources of opinion, to be taken with a grain of salt. I was a frequent customer of Gus’s before it closed but unfortunately never had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Hacker there (or anywhere else for that matter).

 

[lraisch]

I understand that Hacker's books cannot be considered authoritative, but they were enjoyable reads.

I was learning more about pipes when TUPB and the Christmas pipe book came out and each time my wife gave them to me as presents. I recall with pleasure, sitting in an easy chair and reading through those books while smoking a pipe that was also my present on those Christmas afternoons.

Fond memories!

 

[Merton]

you can pickup a copy of the Christmas pipe book for $350.00 on Amazon (might be signed)
or a copy of the ultimate pipe book for $4.26 on the same site. Any takers?

 

[Milverton1868]

I enjoyed his books and during the 80's he was a main source of information for me. I started buying estate pipes because of his works.

 

[chilllucky]

I remember watching The Ultimate Pipe Video on VHS in '93 with the friend I started smoking with who was an employee of a Tinder Box in a big retail mall.

Can't remember anything except that he saved his old undershirts to be cut up into pipe polishing cloths. I turned to my friend and said: "People wear undershirts?"

 

[AJL67]

good old Dick Hacker. He should have sued his parents.

 

[burleybreath]

I like Mr. Hacker as a gun writer. For information and disinformation about pipes, I prefer Carl Ehwa's book. I remember walking into a mall bookstore decades ago and there were stacks of them, heavily discounted. Now you might have to search a bit for copies--but recommended, by moi. Hacker was OK. Wasn't impressed enough with his books to keep them though.

 

[mso489]

As a follow-up comment, I will say that anyone who self-publishes a book is taking on a second career as a publisher, marketer, and distributor. So kudos to him for following through and realizing a second edition, complete with improved proofreading and distribution to appropriate sales points like pipe shops.

If the authors don't work their asses off distributing the book, they'll end up with a garage or self-storage unit full of unsold books.

Some online self-punishing outfits make the process easier, printing copies only on demand, thus letting the manuscript survive on a pay-as-you-go basis. It is still expensive, but more attainable than the old running full editions in thousands of copies before there is a readership established.

Self-publishing is not to be confused with vanity publishing, in which case the author is paying a company to print, market, and distribute their book instead of paying the author for the privilege of doing so. This is a racket worked on writerly egos and is usually a pathetic scam. Self-publishing is simply paying to have the book printed and selling it yourself. Many esteemed authors started that way.

So whatever you think of Hacker's work, I'll give him credibility for doing the publishing part himself. That alone is a big deal.

 

[Andre_T]

you can pickup a copy of the Christmas pipe book for $350.00 on Amazon (might be signed)
or a copy of the ultimate pipe book for $4.26 on the same site. Any takers?

Ponders selling his extra copy of The Christmas Pipe. (decides to wait until November...)