Warning: Pure antidotal nostalgia to follow.
After listening to the pipe show the other day I began to think back to my first memories of someone smoking a pipe. We had a family friend who attended our church. His name was Doctor Louie, and he was the first person that I ever encountered who smoked a pipe. He was a physics professor by trade, and had the ability to smoke (read BBQ) any item and make it taste amazing. I can remember eating everything from hamburger to turkey to cheeses that he had smoked on his pit. While sitting by his pit he would pull out his pouch and his pipe and he would proceed to smoke while he smoked. I can't say that I remember the aroma of his blend as that memory is mixed with the smells of smoldering live oak and sausage. The Doc had narcolepsy and would sometimes fall asleep mid sentence. Amazingly he never lost his pipe when he would nod off. At times he even appeared to be smoking it as he nodded off. He would wake up look around take a few puffs and resume right where he left off in his conversation. I don't know anything about his work, but he was kind to a ten year old boy who was curious about what he did. He would try to explain the principals of physics to me and I would try my best to listen. He often liked to talk theology with me, and once asked me if I thought aliens had souls. In my very ten year old concrete way of thinking I replied that they most likely would have souls if they wore shoes, That was the only time I ever saw him come close to loosing his pipe, I'm not sure if the Doc is still alive, he seemed truly ancient when I was ten, and I am now in my mid thirties, but at night when I sit on my porch smoking my pipe I often think of Doctor Louie and smoke.
After listening to the pipe show the other day I began to think back to my first memories of someone smoking a pipe. We had a family friend who attended our church. His name was Doctor Louie, and he was the first person that I ever encountered who smoked a pipe. He was a physics professor by trade, and had the ability to smoke (read BBQ) any item and make it taste amazing. I can remember eating everything from hamburger to turkey to cheeses that he had smoked on his pit. While sitting by his pit he would pull out his pouch and his pipe and he would proceed to smoke while he smoked. I can't say that I remember the aroma of his blend as that memory is mixed with the smells of smoldering live oak and sausage. The Doc had narcolepsy and would sometimes fall asleep mid sentence. Amazingly he never lost his pipe when he would nod off. At times he even appeared to be smoking it as he nodded off. He would wake up look around take a few puffs and resume right where he left off in his conversation. I don't know anything about his work, but he was kind to a ten year old boy who was curious about what he did. He would try to explain the principals of physics to me and I would try my best to listen. He often liked to talk theology with me, and once asked me if I thought aliens had souls. In my very ten year old concrete way of thinking I replied that they most likely would have souls if they wore shoes, That was the only time I ever saw him come close to loosing his pipe, I'm not sure if the Doc is still alive, he seemed truly ancient when I was ten, and I am now in my mid thirties, but at night when I sit on my porch smoking my pipe I often think of Doctor Louie and smoke.