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Mike N

Can't Leave
Aug 3, 2023
491
2,725
Northern Panhandle of West Virginia
This post brought to mind a quote from W.G. Hutchinson's 1898 book titled Lyra Nicotiana: 'Think of that eloquently silent evening at Craigenputtock in 1833 when Carlyle and Emerson, on either side of the fireplace, puffed soberly with never a spoken word 'till midnight and then parted shaking hands with mutual congratulations on the profitable and pleasant evening they had spent."
“…soberly with never a spoken word 'till midnight…”

Exactly.
 
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Fuelman

Starting to Get Obsessed
Apr 20, 2024
150
262
Indiana
I would smoke with a great customer of mine, James Erdie. This great man lived to 101 years of age. Every time I came to deliver fuel, we would sit and talk about his life during the Great Depression and his life during WW2. He was one of the first men in Japan after Japan surrendered. I had the great honor of being a paul bearer at his funeral.
 

Choatecav

Can't Leave
Dec 19, 2023
491
1,321
Middle Tennessee
While Twain, Churchill, FDR ad C.S. Lewis all resonate I think my own contemplation provides both the greatest enjoyment and personal benefit
You know, I will have to admit that as I get older, the more comfortable I am in my own skin. Don't get me wrong, I still very much value my friends, but I can be completely at peace just by myself.
 

huntertrw

Lifer
Jul 23, 2014
5,829
7,434
The Lower Forty of Hill Country
Another that I would choose would be the late author Robert Traver, the pen-name of attorney and Michigan Supreme Court justice John Donaldson Voelker. While he was an attorney and justice by trade, he was a fly-fisherman at heart, and he wrote well about both subjects. His best known novel was Anatomy of a Murder, based upon an actual case in which he successfully defended a man against a charge of murder. His best known books about fishing were Trout Madness, Trout Magic, and Anatomy of a Fisherman.

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Mr. Voelker sometimes smoked a pipe, but preferred Italian cigars.

Here is a link to an interview (starting at minute 43) of Mr. Voelker by Charles Kuralt from his On The Road program.
 
Last edited:
Aug 1, 2012
4,881
5,686
USA
I'd smoke with my grandfather before I, in my "educated" youth, convinced him to quit. I was the only male grandchild so that went a long way to convincing him. He'd kicked cigs but the pipe was his relaxer. Some days I'd like to smack 8 year old me.
 

mbmoehl

Can't Leave
Jun 15, 2022
369
3,914
Metro Detroit
There are two people I'd love to have a pipe with.

The first is my late father. He smoked a pipe when I was little, in kindergarten. Then when I was in college we smoked cigars together and I remember he a couple of Stanwells in his desk, but never remember him smoking them. I just found out last year that he got one of his old coworkers/neighbor into pipes. That's a part of why I smoke them now.

The second is Gordon Parks, the legendary Life Magazine photographer and film maker.
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Peterson314

Can't Leave
Sep 13, 2019
493
4,031
Atlanta, GA
By the way, the 2017 film “Darkest Hour” starring Gary Oldman as Churchill is probably my favorite movie of all time. It’s definitely worth a watch on pay per view. Oldman won the Academy Award for Best Actor.

John Lithgow played Churchill on The Crown and was fantastic! Churchill wouldn't be my first pick, but I wouldn't turn it down.
 

buroak

Lifer
Jul 29, 2014
2,070
841
NW Missouri
"Oh, no," he answered, "I never smoke a new corn-cob pipe. A new pipe irritates the throat. No corn-cob pipe is fit for anything until it has been used at least a fortnight."

"How do you manage then?" I asked. "Do you follow the example of the man with the tight boots;--wear them a couple of weeks before they can be put on?"

"No," said Mark Twain, "I always hire a cheap man--a man who doesn't amount to much, anyhow--who would be as well--or better--dead, and let him break in the pipe for me. I get him to smoke the pipe for a couple of weeks, then put in a new stem, and continue operations as long as the pipe holds together."
I am a firm believer in the admonition to “never meet your heroes,” but I would not believe that this was Twain’s actual practice without corroboration.

Still, as I wend my way through the volumes of his autobiography, I find a few things with which I strongly disagree.
 

buroak

Lifer
Jul 29, 2014
2,070
841
NW Missouri
U.S Grant would be interesting since we both enjoy Marsh Wheeling cigars. Jefferson Davis would be sort of interesting. - just to get his take on how on earth he thought he was going to prevail in the war. Stanley Baldwin a British Prime Minister.
Stanley Baldwin, for certain! I would, though, need a temporary memory block so I could spend my time with him unaware of what was going to happen a bit more than two years after he resigned as PM.
U.S Grant would be interesting since we both enjoy Marsh Wheeling cigars. Jefferson Davis would be sort of interesting. - just to get his take on how on earth he thought he was going to prevail in the war. Stanley Baldwin a British Prime Minister.