Pipe Line

Anyone Can Become Filthy Rich Just By Smoking Some Pipes

April 1, 2025 by Chuck Stanion

13 Comments

On paper, I'm a wealthy man, and I owe my riches to one thing: pipe collecting.

When I started smoking pipes, I didn't realize how lucrative it could be. In fact, I was at first concerned about the expense: Nice pipes ... Read More

The Why and How of Estate Pipe Purchases

March 22, 2025 by Chuck Stanion

33 Comments

When I first learned about estate pipes, back when I didn't know a Billiard from a bathysphere, I was horrified. Used pipes? Pipes that had spent years in the mouths of who knows who smoking who knows what while fraternizing with who knows who from who knows where? Why would these pipes have any value? Sanitizing a used pipe, I deduced, must require an hour in boiling water. ... Read More

Zen and the Art of Pipe Maintenance

March 7, 2025 by Rose Kiser

9 Comments

Ritualism is part of being human, and that doesn't mean drawing arcane symbols on the floor of the basement. The definition of ritual greatly varies depending on the context of the researcher, but for our purposes we'll define a ritual as a specific act or series of acts performed in a precise manner and often repeated. That definition provides a wide range of what ... Read More

Pipe-Smoking Desktop Backgrounds: March 2025

February 28, 2025 by Kayla Ivan

1 Comment

A new month's beginning calls for a new collection of desktop backgrounds featuring the most stunning photos of the month from our talented photographers. Deck your desktop screensavers and mobile device backgrounds with eight gorgeous images available for download in two high-resolution formats, showcasing ... Read More

Pipe Smoking Field Marshal Gebhard von Blucher

February 28, 2025 by Chuck Stanion

4 Comments

Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, a highly decorated Prussian Field Marshal best known for leading armies in the French Revolutionary (1792-1802) and Napoleonic (1803-1815) wars, also famously smoked pipes in battle. When outmaneuvering Napoleon, however, minutes count, and he engaged a "pipe-master" whose sole job was to maintain Blücher's pipes ... Read More

The History of Pipe Cleaners

February 21, 2025 by Chuck Stanion

10 Comments

If you've ever run out of pipe cleaners, you already appreciate their essential nature. For most of us, every smoke requires at least a couple, and we tend to maintain a good supply, especially when we've experienced the extraordinary anguish of their absence. Whether clearing a blocked ... Read More

The Pipe Community Grieves Vernon Vig

February 19, 2025 by Chuck Stanion

1 Comment

There are a lot of great pipes out there," commented Vernon Vig a few months ago. We had been chatting about his random pipe-smoking episode with Walter Cronkite in the '70s in New York City, but the conversation had drifted to the greater world of pipes, as it often did with Vernon. "A lot of great people are waiting to connect with them and each other. Pipe clubs and shows bring ... Read More

All Pipes Considered: The Return of the Peterson 309/4S

February 14, 2025 by Andrew Wike

I was recently on location at the Kapp and Peterson factory in Dublin, Ireland, and I'm excited to bring you a very special episode of All Pipes Considered discussing the revival of the 309/4S System pipe, now available on-site. ... Read More

The Estate Matchmaker Season 2

February 12, 2025 by Rose Kiser

2 Comments

It's the season of love, the only time of year it's socially acceptable to accost your significant other, or yourself, with cheap chocolate and scratchy stuffed bears. We here at Smokingpipes are far less cynical about love; we prefer lasting connections with gifts that speak to the true spirit of the giftee while also being thrifty. And that's why, dear reader, we're doing another round of the Estate Matchmaker ... Read More

Adventurer and Pipe Smoker John Fairfax

February 7, 2025 by Chuck Stanion

7 Comments

John Fairfax was the first to traverse an ocean alone by rowboat. It was the Atlantic, and two years later, in 1971, he and his partner, Sylvia Cook, were the first to row across the Pacific. The pipe-smoking adventurer had learned his navigation skills as a pirate and as captain of a vessel smuggling whisky, guns, and cigarettes across the globe. He was familiar with the sea and its creatures. When he was attacked ... Read More