With Whom Would You Smoke?

[warren]

Michael Collins, with or without the pipe! Hands down!

I love Clemens attitude re the cobs. Always hire a person to do what you do not wish, this allows one to concentrate on what they do best. A great attitude for business as well as life. I let others raise and butcher. I'm a much better eater than farmer/rancher. I can do in four hours what a plumber can accomplish in fifteen. So, hire a plumber, grab my camera gear and go do what I do well.

I'm guessing the guy Twain hired was thankful for the chance to earn some moneys.

 

[jpberg]

"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’m not picking up what you’re laying down. At all.

 

[huntertrw]

Michael Collins, with or without the pipe! Hands down!

Which Michael Collins?

 

[LotusEater]

I’m not picking up what you’re laying down. At all.

I imagine it might be related to what appears to be Sam’s attitude towards those whose station in life is beneath his e.g., “a cheap man--a man who doesn't amount to much, anyhow--who would be as well--or better--dead”

 

[huntertrw]

Could it be that Mr. Twain was simply being facetious in this instance?

 

[huntertrw]

Yet another choice would be Shelby Foote, although I wouldn't do much talking. Rather, I would mostly listen; his voice was like warm gravy...

 

[condorlover1]

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.

 

[FurCoat]

My dad. I used to love talking and smoking with him.

Best answer yet. Tuggin at the heart strings there brother.

 

[FurCoat]

My grandfather.

 

[huntertrw]

Stanley Baldwin a British Prime Minister.

I assume, then, that you would both smoke Presbyterian Mixture?

 

[warren]

Which Michael Collins?

Mick "The Big Fella." It's my firm belief that under his leadership Ireland would be a united island today. De Valera, an American, had a different agenda. 'nuff said!

 

[huntertrw]

Mick "The Big Fella." It's my firm belief that under his leadership Ireland would be a united island today.

Here's a link to the britannica.com citation on Mr. Collins.

(At first I thought that you might have been referring to the astronaut).

 

[warren]

Thanks, I have studied his life extensively. I have had the chance to speak with some who knew him, fought under him and, against him. I made a pilgrimage to his grave and the site where he was killed. Was he assassinated? Killed in combat? I doubt we'll ever really know. Seven hundred years of English domination he brought an end. Not single highhandedly certainly but, in my opinion, he was singularly most controlling force at the time.
I admire a lot of historical figures but, He's at the top of my list.

Apologies for the length and sidetracking the post a bit.

 

[jackattack]

Tolkien. WW1 Trench Veteran, creator of modern fantasy, pipe smoking fanatic.

 

[bullet08]

Benny Hill.

 

[huntertrw]

Benny Hill.

 

[huntertrw]

The late author James Thurber...

 

[jguss]

Ben Franklin. Yeah, he wasn’t a smoker, but for the chance to hang out with him I’d cheerfully give him one of my pipes.

 

[huntertrw]

This guy:

 

[beefeater33]

Bing Crosby, without a doubt….