Articles by Chuck Stanion | Smokingpipes Daily Reader

The Billiard: Pipedom's Archetypal Shape

September 27, 2024 by Chuck Stanion

7 Comments

A simultaneously simple yet extraordinarily complex design, the Billiard is the quintessential pipe shape, and probably the most popular shape worldwide. It's been around for 150 years because it's attractive and because it works. The Billiard is an efficient smoking machine with the most straightforward internal and external engineering, but as simple as it appears to be ... Read More

The Versatility of Red Virginia: Carolina Red Flake 2024

September 20, 2024 by Chuck Stanion

3 Comments

Carolina Red Flake originated eight years ago when Jeremy Reeves, Head Blender at Cornell & Diehl, was researching new leaf to be the main component for C&D's Red Virginia blends. He needed something that was similar enough to the previous Red Virginia that it would not alter the blends, but ... Read More

How to Rehydrate Pipe Tobacco

September 12, 2024 by Chuck Stanion

9 Comments

Tobacco is sensitive to its environment, readily adopting ambient scents and moisture levels. Once a tin is opened, even if the lid is tight, the tobacco is subject to changes. Its aging potential will be arrested, for example, but the most imminent issue is a reduction in mixture content. Whatever closet, shelf, or cellar we use for storing our tins will have a lower moisture level than is best ... Read More

How To Wrestle An Alligator

September 12, 2024 by Chuck Stanion

5 Comments

Wrestling an alligator is an essential skill, and you've come to the right place for instruction. When you're considering a potentially lethal activity like alligator wrestling, an online pipe store is undoubtedly the best source of information. ... Read More

Walter Cronkite: Most Trusted Pipe Smoker

September 6, 2024 by Chuck Stanion

15 Comments

Best known as the anchor of the CBS Evening News from 1962 to his retirement in 1981, Walter Cronkite covered important stories like the Vietnam War, the Kennedy assassination, the Apollo 11 moon landing, the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Watergate scandal. Because of his journalistic integrity ... Read More

The Magic of Pewter: Larry Blackett Pipe Tampers

August 30, 2024 by Chuck Stanion

2 Comments

We all need pipe tampers, except those tough enough to prefer a forefinger calloused by years of fire exposure. But most of us like an accessory for the purpose, and there are plenty to choose from. They can be as utilitarian as a wooden dowel or as luxurious as fine jewelry. They can cost nothing or thousands of dollars. Some, though, are as substantial, attractive, and luxurious as precious metals ... Read More

The Secrets to a Non-Offensive Smoking Room

August 29, 2024 by Chuck Stanion

9 Comments

Because pipe and cigar smoking are accompanied by aromas that are underappreciated by the uninitiated and uncivilized, some of us restrict our smoking to the outdoors. The outdoors is great, but it isn't perfect. We sometimes deal with blizzards, floods, hurricanes, lightning, mosquitos, bears, pterodactyls — I had a friend named Levi Jenkins who stepped outside for a pipe one night and never returned. His wife swears ... Read More

Letter From the Editor

August 22, 2024 by Chuck Stanion

3 Comments

Premium smoking is different today than when I started 45 years ago. You're reading this online, for example, presumably because the subject interests you. "Online" back then meant the telephone party line was in use, and we couldn't make a call because Mrs. Miller was online telling her niece in graphic detail about Mr. Miller's hernia complications. But now, it means the world is instantly accessible. That's quite a shift in reality. If ... Read More

Peterson's Pipe of the Year: A Retrospection

August 16, 2024 by Chuck Stanion

8 Comments

Peterson's first Pipe of the Year, a barely bent Bulldog with a P-Lip mouthpiece, appeared in 1997; the 2024 Pipe of the Year is a Deluxe System Rhodesian with a tapered stem. These two pipes bookend a series that now spans 27 years. It's a full generation of pipes, and they make an impressive collection. There must be Peterson collectors out there ... Read More

The Legend of the Sun Bears

August 9, 2024 by Chuck Stanion