So Many Pipes, So Little Time
Newsletter Introduction for Thursday, January 19, 2012One might expect that in aftermath of the madness that is the holiday shopping season, our company wide ‘to-do’ list might have shortened down a little - that maybe, for once, the Smokingpipes.com inter-office hullabaloo would have calmed down and settled into a comfortable, exhaustion-induced bit of lethargy. Fortunately however, it has not. While currently the phones aren’t ringing with the same kind of frequency that they were during the week before Christmas, we are still spending an incredible amount of time looking at pipes, reading (about pipes), talking about them, describing them, and thinking about them. We’re also constantly looking for ways to bring pipes, tobacco, and other such accoutrements to you in the best way possible, whether this means working on innovations in the manner such products are featured on our site, or streamlining the methods we employ to deliver said products to your front door. One happy consequence of this is that our to-do list IS constantly evolving, and, typically, for every item completed from this never-ending task list, two new challenges are added. This is how we keep ourselves busy - barring the occasional interruption to eavesdrop on the absurd arguments that echo down the hall, due to Adam and Eric being in the same room all day. (Last week it was whether the seemingly anachronistic image appearing on a particular Spanish cathedral was "possibly an ancient astronaut" (Adam's position), or "probably a beekeeper" (Eric's). Both, of course, were wrong. )
Having said that all that, we’ve quite a hefty update to share. We’re featuring fresh works from Sixten Ivarsson student, and master carver in his own right, Hiroyuki Tokutomi, as well as new pipes from the likes of Canadian virtuoso Michael Parks, and the very talented Danish carver Peter Heding. Be sure to check out what we’re offering from these incredible pipe makers. In addition, we’ve a prime selection of pipes from Ardor, Ascorti, Brebbia, and Savinelli from Italy, as well as Neerup, Nording, and Stanwell from Denmark. From Ireland we’re offering new Peterson pipes. Last but not least, we’re adding 60 estate pipes to the site.
Ted Swearingen: Vice President, General Manager
Wellsaid brother, it's the awfully beautiful damn'd truth indeed.
I'm known to be a compulsive rambler, so here I ramble complete w/ illegal ellipsis...I was thinking about when I place my next order that I would put a commy onnit suchwise for advice/wisdom/tech tricks etc&etc, but I know y'all gotta be highwater to hellyeah busy busy busy buzzin' them honey-thumpin' bees-knees topshelf smokable woodcarvings (that glorious blend, seldom truly achieved in the world of design at large, of complete marriage between form & function, the pipe being that most notable object which endorses desire via myriad sensations: visual, tactile, mental tranquility, ambrosial dimensions, sacred ritualism, etc&etc & yes even nicotine...
...it must require a serious allotment of time & resources to maintain this site at the high level y'all have set, altho I'm a noob piper & just now on the cusp, I've found SmokingPipes to be the most refined, thoughtful & well-stocked shoppe on the ethersphere...my voice is only one more inna chorus that's been singin' quite a while about y'all, as I've read around how y'all are authentic trueblue goodguys...so, I humbly offer my praise...
...now, me being only a month or so innit & w/ the good fortune of starting out onna Stanwell bishop, find myself nearly crazed inna mania of pipery...I never thought I would have a need for more than one pipe, I found it strange almost, why would one need more than one pipe?
Indeed, the answer came quickly...now I find myself an energetic enthusiast, reading looking reading looking & enjoying it all fullthrottle...the uncanny nuance of varying 'bacco blends, the sadness of not having a nice B&M around to lurk smokishly, the intensity forms, that grainy maze rumbling all thunder toward total reward & pure perfection thru the big P...
...my enthusiasm has already brought heartbreak, sadly, this feeling only further drives me for further knowledge & knowhow...just the other evening, I came here & saw that exquisite zigger all zagg'd out awe upon eye and only $110?!?!?!?!?!?!?
Yep, viking wild burnbright shazam! & I was fully gonna get that pipe...but, alas, I ask'd myself : was I succumbing to only to the quirkiness? Will it be a good smoker?...well, I should have told myself YES! & then even if I thought it wasn't, make myself believe it was, just 'cause that was one incredibly uniquefied pipe!!!
...the rational voice told me to calm down & acquire the Stanny vario 63M I had been having my eye on & ultimately that's what I got & it's on the way, but...
...the very next day I suffer'd serious nonbuyer's remorse somethin' fierce & I had just finish'd my 3rd bowl breakin' inna Wiley, kind of a dublin/horn style, & shiver me timbers does that thing smog sucha heavenly fog, easy breathin' beauty, cleaner drawin' thanna Eastwood highnoon, I'm loving it much...
...which made me desperately wanna get the ZigZagger & when the click came it was gone-gone bye-bye Out of Stock, oh well, I knew it'd get bought witha quickness, man, I think it was online for maybe 32 hours or something...a deal like that is a rare bird & I didn't have the faculty to take full wing to fly the zigs to zag..heh heh, another fateful experience I'm thankful for, this learning process izza itchy B, but the existential dilemma serves to reinforce instinct in such matters, & soon enough I will discover that sometimes going w/ the gut may be a mistake, because love is natural of course & even if one becomes smitten witha certain pipe only then to find it's not to their personal comfort...the rollercoaster is great fun, due to finances I'll be a low2mid piperanger, but googoo for gaga to scope those astro-roots intha big money leagues...
...damn, I done beena rammy amblin' bluestreaks allover like crazy, the topic hit home inna hurry, how you speak of the evolutionary aspect, like how once very recently all this pipe-stuff was difficult to decode & now I'm wrapp'd up in all the intricate esoterica yet unearth'd, for me as of yet, about how to properly break in a pipe, everything is going well, but I have a tendency to be a fast & deep puff'r which may cause problems...thankfully, I'm now comfortable enough to actually relax, simply enjoy & not be overly conscious of technical mechanics...and that was my first puffapiphany, slow down lay back act naturally & let the individual pipe teach you how to smoke it best...instead of trying to force things a certain way or being worried about relighting etc&etc...me & my pipes have now settled to a beautiful equipoise, a beautiful balance...
...pipesmoking has saved me from cigs, those infernal injection devices mainlined straight like crackcocaine & deliver'd me to a an elevated plane floating clouds thru elysium!!!
= )
Thanks for the comment, Mr. Lowercase...
...good eye pointing out the beat influence,
but sadly the Ginsberg "first thought, best thought" technique ain't always so great, as demonstrated by my unedit'd & over-alliterated commy above...ironic b/c ifya look at the orig typescripts for Howl, he did some heavy editing...
...but the beatsploitation stuff was really fun, I mean how canya not dig somethin' like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VT_FC8xSBGE
...& it seems that was the last time poetry was actually part of mainstream American consciousness, reported on by Time Life etc...rockstars kind of took over the populist aspect & the avant side of things got stuck in the academic mire for the most part...
...regardless, I hold Finnegans Wake to be the most incredible book written in the English language.
