Articles by Chuck Stanion | Smokingpipes Daily Reader

Peterson's 2021 Pipe of the Year: The Iconic 4AB

December 3, 2021 by Chuck Stanion

25 Comments

Some pipe shapes are so inviting and attractive that they become iconic. Peterson's 4AB is such a shape, and it's return after decades of absence as the Peterson 2021 Pipe of the year was an event to be noted.

"Iconic" is a big word to throw around. A great example of an iconic shape is the Churchwarden. It was there at the beginning of European pipe smoking, long, graceful, and attending the first generations of modern smokers. ... Read More

Pipe-Smoking Holiday Gift Guide 2021

November 26, 2021 by Chuck Stanion

1 Comment

The holiday season is a strange time of year for pipe smokers because we know the chance of our loved ones finding the right gift for us is vanishingly small. You have to know a lot about this esoteric subject to choose wisely. It's like that with every hobby or specific interest, though. How can anyone without experienced knowledge purchase the right sharpening stone for a knife ... Read More

Meet Tad Gage: Publisher, Writer, Reviewer, Collector

November 19, 2021 by Chuck Stanion

22 Comments

Some people become so interested in tobacco and pipes that they find themselves on an endless quest for knowledge. The more they know about something, the more they enjoy it, and they delve into corporate archives, make contacts with people directly related to their particular interests, network with others, and expand their own understanding along the way. They collect information as avidly as they collect pipes. ... Read More

IM Corona: The Best Hard-Use Pipe Lighter

November 18, 2021 by Chuck Stanion

19 Comments

We pipe smokers come in every size, shape, color, and level of hairiness, and our preferences in pipes and tobaccos are as varied as we are. One thing we all have in common, however, is the need for fire. We have to light our tobaccos or we can't really be called pipe smokers. Lighters, too, appear in all kinds of permutations, though none are hairy. ... Read More

Pipe Smoking Stereotypes

November 11, 2021 by Chuck Stanion

29 Comments

Tobacco smoking is accompanied by stereotypes: the cigar-smoking captain of industry, for example, or the pipe-smoking absent-minded professor. Cigarette smoking is an entirely different subject with all kinds of interpretations: Busy, anti-establishment, bohemian, harried — it defies easy categorization. ... Read More

A True Pipe Smoker: Georges Simenon

October 22, 2021 by Chuck Stanion

16 Comments

The inventor and chronicler of Jules Maigret, one of the most impressive detectives in literature and as inveterate a pipe smoker as his creator, Georges Simenon owned more than 300 pipes and smoked them constantly. He was an impressively productive author. His works have been translated into 50 languages and his novels number almost 500. But his most famous character is the ... Read More

Top 15 Mark Twain Pipe Quotes

October 21, 2021 by Chuck Stanion

7 Comments

Because he smoked during every waking moment, Mark Twain was perhaps the most experienced smoker who ever lived, as well as one of literary history's most gifted writers. In fact, he is widely considered the father of American literature. Ernest Hemingway, not without immense writing gifts of his own, said, "All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called ... Read More

Single-Farm Components: Carolina Red Flake with Perique

October 15, 2021 by Chuck Stanion

16 Comments

Most of us take what we can find at the grocery store. Chefs, however, choose the highest quality ingredients that they can, some personally inspecting and selecting produce at the farm itself, guaranteeing the quality they require to achieve the creative combinations that make a night at a fine restaurant a meaningful event for the rest of us. A very few are so dedicated to quality ... Read More

Robert Williams Wood: Waves and Pipes

October 14, 2021 by Chuck Stanion

7 Comments

Pipe smokers are almost always interesting people with rich lives, amazing professions, sophisticated talents, and fascinating hobbies. That's among the reasons that pipe shows are so fun. Meeting new people at shows and learning about their lives is always the best part of a show. It works that way with historical figures as well, one of whom was a prominent pipe smoking ... Read More

A Giant Passes: Frank Burla

October 8, 2021 by Chuck Stanion