Any thoughts on Richard Carleton Hacker’s various books? I have Rare Smoke and enjoy reading it.
Richard Carleton Hacker
- Thread starter J. B. Deller
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His “The Christmas Pipe” and “The Ultimate Pipe Book” are, in my opinion, standards that should be in every pipesmoking reader’s library. While “TCP” is quite specialized, for anyone interested in these special-edition pipes, it’s invaluable. (“Rare Smoke,” which came later, consists of original content supplemented with a lot of content copied verbatim from “TUPB.”)
I worked at a Tinder Box when “TUPB” was released—and Hacker, who self-published, had a relationship with TB stores for distribution—so I’m partial to his books and his influence at that time. Unfortunately, he pretty much abandoned pipe writing once he decided to focus on luxury/lifestyle writing and a focus on cigars, spirits, etc.
Full disclosure: I was a proofreader at the time in my day job, and, disappointed with all the errors in the first edition of “TUPB,” I reached out to Hacker. He paid me (in a pipe and some tobacco!) to proofread the second edition.
I worked at a Tinder Box when “TUPB” was released—and Hacker, who self-published, had a relationship with TB stores for distribution—so I’m partial to his books and his influence at that time. Unfortunately, he pretty much abandoned pipe writing once he decided to focus on luxury/lifestyle writing and a focus on cigars, spirits, etc.
Full disclosure: I was a proofreader at the time in my day job, and, disappointed with all the errors in the first edition of “TUPB,” I reached out to Hacker. He paid me (in a pipe and some tobacco!) to proofread the second edition.
Thanks. I’ll have to look for them. Do you still have that pipe? It must be a collectible now.
I do! To be honest, Mr. Hacker was not all that generous! 
As I recall, the tobacco was a 4oz pouch of a TB aromatic. (Remember, I worked at a TB at the time.) And the pipe, which I very much enjoy—and which does hold great sentimental value—was a Sasieni Claret, essentially a second.
As I recall, the tobacco was a 4oz pouch of a TB aromatic. (Remember, I worked at a TB at the time.) And the pipe, which I very much enjoy—and which does hold great sentimental value—was a Sasieni Claret, essentially a second.
I have heard of a RCH signature edition pipe. I’ve never seen one.I do! To be honest, Mr. Hacker was not all that generous!
Ah. Definitely not what I received. But he was really just starting out as a pipe pundit at that time; a signature pipe would have been at least a few years in the future.
Hacker was a pioneer in writing about pipes and his interviews with Sasieni are unique. But, like a lot of pioneers, he got some things right and some things wrong, and current scholarship has long since passed him by. John Loring devoted a page to listing Hacker's errors regarding Dunhill pipes, and most of what he wrote about Barling was wrong.
In his defense, he was writing before the internet was anything like as robust as it is now, and a lot of material that has turned up in the succeeding years would not have been easily available to him, though huge amounts of information, that he clearly didn't consult, was, and still is, available at the NYPL and other libraries.
My chief problem with him is that he never says, "to the best of my knowledge" or "as far as I know". He states everything in absolutes. Among my favorites is his statement that Barling never published a catalog prior to their 1962 150th Anniversary edition, which isn't true. Close to a decade ago, I published a facsimile of Barling's pre WW1 catalog. So while I enjoyed Hacker's books and have kept my copies, I don't consider him an authoritative source.
In his defense, he was writing before the internet was anything like as robust as it is now, and a lot of material that has turned up in the succeeding years would not have been easily available to him, though huge amounts of information, that he clearly didn't consult, was, and still is, available at the NYPL and other libraries.
My chief problem with him is that he never says, "to the best of my knowledge" or "as far as I know". He states everything in absolutes. Among my favorites is his statement that Barling never published a catalog prior to their 1962 150th Anniversary edition, which isn't true. Close to a decade ago, I published a facsimile of Barling's pre WW1 catalog. So while I enjoyed Hacker's books and have kept my copies, I don't consider him an authoritative source.
I have heard good things about Sasieni, from RCH’s Rare Smoke, of course. Knowing a couple of things now, I’m surprised he didn’t have much on collectible Savinelli pipes, from what I could tell.
Mr. Hacker wrote the following books on pipe-smoking:
The Ultimate Pipe Book (U.S. and British editions)
Die Kunst Pfeife zu Rauchen (translates as: The Art of Smoking a Pipe)
Das Handbuch Des Pfeifenrauchers (translates as The Pipe Smoker's Handbook)
Rare Smoke - The Ultimate Guide to Pipe Collecting
The Christmas Pipe - A Collector's Celebration of Pipe Smoking at Yuletide
Pipesmoking - A 21st Century Guide
I have all but the German books, enjoy his writing, and find them to be useful references.
The Ultimate Pipe Book (U.S. and British editions)
Die Kunst Pfeife zu Rauchen (translates as: The Art of Smoking a Pipe)
Das Handbuch Des Pfeifenrauchers (translates as The Pipe Smoker's Handbook)
Rare Smoke - The Ultimate Guide to Pipe Collecting
The Christmas Pipe - A Collector's Celebration of Pipe Smoking at Yuletide
Pipesmoking - A 21st Century Guide
I have all but the German books, enjoy his writing, and find them to be useful references.
Sadly, he did write in "absolutes. But, I still found his writings to be entertaining reads for the most part.
I need to amend a statement in a previous post. It wasn’t “Rare Smoke” that included material from “TUPB“; it was “Pipesmoking: A 21st-Century Guide” that included previously published material.
Understand that in these books Mr. Hacker was, first, foremost, and always, a marketer of himself, thus (I suspect) the absolutes. To his everlasting credit, he was an ardent champion of pipe-smoking at a time when the hobby badly needed one.
I also believe that he was, at least in a small way, responsible for the acceptance of estate pipes in this country.
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Yes, in the 1980s and early 1990s his books and the pipe shops then were the only source of information about pipes and pipe smoking. I bought most of his books and met him once at a cigar dinner once in the early 90s and he was a very engaging and generous person to talk to. Now we have all the info and then some at our fingertips on the internet, so it's easy to forget his contributions, flawed or not to the art of pipe smoking.
Widening the lens a little bit, it is and always has been extremely difficult to write about companies/corporations, or government agencies for that matter, so most of what is written is misleading if not downright bunk. Companies are competitive and therefore secretive. The inside workings of management is forever subject to litigation and therefore rarely accurately reported.
Most corporate or company histories are just extended public relations tracts. A good many of the exalted leaders have conspicuous flaws and worse.
This is a shame because much of public life is more than influenced by large organizations and even medium sized companies, and almost none of them have the slightest aspect of democratic order.
When we get to the work place, we are mostly in autocracies. Many attempt to be benign to a point, but they are autocracies nonetheless.
So if Hacker mostly talked folklore when he described the pipe and tobacco business, that was not great history or journalism, but it reflects the situation.
Most corporate or company histories are just extended public relations tracts. A good many of the exalted leaders have conspicuous flaws and worse.
This is a shame because much of public life is more than influenced by large organizations and even medium sized companies, and almost none of them have the slightest aspect of democratic order.
When we get to the work place, we are mostly in autocracies. Many attempt to be benign to a point, but they are autocracies nonetheless.
So if Hacker mostly talked folklore when he described the pipe and tobacco business, that was not great history or journalism, but it reflects the situation.
His books were enjoyable, but they really don't stand up to real scrutiny in many cases.
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!
The Ultimate Pipe Book was my gateway to the hobby. I had been smoking and accumulating pipes for a few years before I knew there was a pipe collector hobby.
Credit belongs to the man in the arena, and it’s good to understand the criticism and shortcomings. Sometimes “bad gouge” is an important part of setting the record straight.
I enjoy his books and have a couple of them.
As mentioned earlier anything he states needs to be cross checked BUT still quite good and entertaining.
Reading this forum of course will make you aware that this hobby is some facts and a lot of folklore
As mentioned earlier anything he states needs to be cross checked BUT still quite good and entertaining.
Reading this forum of course will make you aware that this hobby is some facts and a lot of folklore