Articles by Chuck Stanion | Smokingpipes Daily Reader

Smoking From The Grave: An Actual Horror Story

October 29, 2019 by Chuck Stanion

12 Comments

I've smoked a pipe in just about every environment a being can smoke a pipe. I've smoked on five continents, in rainforests and deserts, on crowded streets and serene beaches, in caves, on mountains, and at sea. My mother claimed that I smoked in the womb, because ... Read More

The Cursed Pipes of Transylvania

October 23, 2019 by Chuck Stanion

4 Comments

When you're at your next pipe show, when in the late hours only a few conversational groups are left smoking, you can be sure that someone there is retelling the tale of the Cursed Pipemaker of Transylvania and the three cursed pipes he released upon the world. ... Read More

A Fungal Future

October 8, 2019 by Chuck Stanion

1 Comment

Fungus absorbs oxygen and releases carbon dioxide, so we have much in common, the most important difference being that we smoke pipes with our respiration and fungus does not. We were fungus once, and the compelling argument has been made that many of us still share many traits with our fungal forebears. ... Read More

Field Report: 2019 Sutliff & CORPS Pipe Extravaganza

October 5, 2019 by Chuck Stanion

16 Comments

Play by play report of the 2019 Richmond Pipe Show and Sutliff Factory Extravaganza. ... Read More

The Secrets of Ancient Shank Drilling

October 3, 2019 by Chuck Stanion

3 Comments

A couple of branches up in my family tree is a great uncle of some sort who was an Indian agent for the U.S government in the late 1800s. I mainly know about this person, whose name I do not recall, because many of the Native American artifacts that he collected during his career remained in my great-grandfather's house. ... Read More

Savinelli: A History Of Making History

September 26, 2019 by Chuck Stanion

12 Comments

1876 was a year of breakthroughs: Alexander Graham Bell made the first telephone call, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky completed Swan Lake, Mark Twain published Tom Sawyer, and in Milan, Italy, Achille Savinelli opened one of the first shops exclusively focused on tobacco and smoking accessories. ... Read More

Doting On Dottle: Advice On Smoking To The Bottom Of The Bowl

September 13, 2019 by Chuck Stanion

35 Comments

I still remember a pipe repair guy years ago telling me that he could tell I consistently smoked my pipes all the way to the heel. I felt a sense of pride in that accomplishment. That guy was Ronni Bikacsan, one of the best to practice the craft. He stopped doing repairs, sadly, overwhelmed and overcrowded. I had high regard for his ... Read More

One Planet, Two Fates

September 11, 2019 by Chuck Stanion

2 Comments

When the aliens landed, the event went unnoticed, because they were itsy, tiny aliens. Their craft entered the atmosphere and floated on air currents through an open window into a pipe smoker's office, landing next to a pipe waiting to be cleaned on the desk. ... Read More

Johann Sebastian Bach, Pipesmoker

August 30, 2019 by Chuck Stanion

21 Comments

With the most recognizable name in baroque-era classical music, or perhaps music in general, Johann Sebastian Bach was indeed defined by his art. In 1705, when he was 20 years old, he walked 280 miles to attend a concert by the famous composer and organist Dieterich Buxtehude. ... Read More

New Old Shapes From Alfred Dunhill

August 27, 2019 by Chuck Stanion