Articles by Chuck Stanion | Smokingpipes Daily Reader

How to Discipline Your Pipes

December 23, 2020 by Chuck Stanion

12 Comments

Many of us romanticize our pipes, admiring their execution and design, their flowing lines, crisp ridgelines, and meticulous engineering. We wax poetic about the tightness of a pipe's grain, its easy airflow, or the superior flavor of that block of briar. But pipes are instruments designed for a purpose: the combustion of tobacco. ... Read More

Frank Jack Fletcher: The Pipe Smoking Admiral

December 9, 2020 by Chuck Stanion

6 Comments

"Valor" is an admired quality, especially in terms of military personnel when circumstances and common sense can dictate that they remove themselves from preposterously dangerous situations. It's more than courage: It's a testament to our armed services members that their training, determination, and tenacity overcome ... Read More

Jean-Paul Sartre: Philosopher, Author, Pipe Smoker

November 27, 2020 by Chuck Stanion

28 Comments

Through his writing, teaching, and lectures, Jean-Paul Sartre made existentialism part of popular culture. "Existence precedes essence," he wrote in his book, Existentialism and Humanism (1946). Sartre's argument reversed traditional philosophical thinking whose default position most often inferred that essence is more fundamental and unalterable than its existence. ... Read More

Know Your Tobacco Cuts

November 13, 2020 by Chuck Stanion

17 Comments

Pipe tobacco offers a multitude of flavor opportunities, and the way that tobacco is cut contributes to the variety of experiences. Just as we consider the flavor properties of component tobaccos, and adjust moisture levels to our liking, we have a choice in the way our blends are cut. What's most interesting is that the way a tobacco is cut can affect not only the way it burns, but the way it tastes and ages. ... Read More

The Black Patch Tobacco Wars

October 30, 2020 by Chuck Stanion

20 Comments

The Black Patch Tobacco Wars is the name given to a violent episode in American history that took place among 30 counties in southwestern Kentucky and northwestern Tennessee at the turn of the 20th century. The unrest was over tobacco and its prices, and about the way growers fought back against the corporate monopoly ... Read More

Meet Fred Hanna, Doctor of Pipes

October 23, 2020 by Chuck Stanion

14 Comments

You may not know who Fred Hanna is, but there's an equally good chance that you do, especially if you enjoy reading and learning more about pipes and pipe tobacco. He's the author of The Perfect Smoke, one of the finest books about pipe smoking ever published, as well as 20-25 articles in Pipes and tobaccos magazine which is no longer published, and The Pipe Collector. ... Read More

The Pipes of Tom Sawyer

October 15, 2020 by Chuck Stanion

13 Comments

Tom Sawyer is an icon of American literature, among the most loved characters to emerge from an American pen. We all know the basic story, and many of us read Tom Sawyer when we were young. It helped shape the way we thought about childhood, and I bet many are just like me: Tom Sawyer influenced the way I lived. ... Read More

The Real Popeye The Sailor

October 2, 2020 by Chuck Stanion

18 Comments

I've always lacked common sense. I admire it in others, but can't seem to cultivate its use, so I find myself in odd situations, like in first grade when I talked a pal into screwing two metal trash cans together with me inside and rolling me off the end of his dock into the lake, where I hoped to submerge and learn how to improve the craft's design. It was an outstanding success, because I submerged wonderfully and learned a whole lot about what needed improving. We'd found only two screws and I pushed my way out, but when things were at their worst, what I found myself thinking was, "What would Popeye the Sailor do?" ... Read More

Nicotine And Pipe Tobacco Blending

September 18, 2020 by Chuck Stanion

26 Comments

I once smoked a bowl of 1792 on an empty stomach first thing Saturday morning at a Raleigh pipe show. A friend recommended it and offered me a bowl and I thought, sure, why not? But I soon learned why not, and I've not smoked a bowl of it since. I was unable to smoke another pipe that whole weekend ... Read More

William Faulkner: Pipe Smoker

September 11, 2020 by Chuck Stanion

16 Comments

William Faulkner achieved more in the context of Southern literature than any other writer. He was awarded the Nobel Prize, two Pulitzers, two National Book Awards, and he was further immortalized by the USPS with a two-cent stamp with his image, including his ever-present pipe. ... Read More

Chuck Stanion