Articles by Rose Kiser | Smokingpipes Daily Reader

Codger Country: Amphora Kentucky Blend

April 24, 2025 by Rose Kiser

10 Comments

Welcome to Codger Country, the series where we'll be smoking every Codger blend — commonly found over-the-counter tobacco blends — we can find and ranking them in an effort to find the "definitive" Codger blend. From Carter Hall to Super Value, we're giving them all a fair shake. Today ... Read More

Smoking Serenity: A Closer Look at Cornell & Diehl's Serenity Series

April 11, 2025 by Rose Kiser

12 Comments

If there is one thing that pipe smokers will never lack, it's variety. From Aromatic to Va/Per blends, there is a little something for everyone, but that doesn't make it any less overwhelming when searching for your next smoke. Cornell & Diehl has proven themselves to be a reliable source of hand-crafted, flavorful, and consistent smokes ... Read More

Five Things To Do While Smoking a Pipe

April 11, 2025 by Rose Kiser

27 Comments

If you're like me, more often than not in the evening, or the weekend mornings, you've got some downtime to enjoy a pipe in relative peace. While I enjoy a good observation of the world, sometimes you have an itch to do something while you smoke. The obvious answers are something along the lines of read, write ... Read More

Aleister Crowley: The Beast That Inspired The Beast

March 28, 2025 by Rose Kiser

253 Comments

Aleister Crowley has to be one of the most interesting humans of the 20th century. His resume includes being a ceremonial magician, poet, novelist, mountaineer, painter, a rumored spy for British Intelligence, and an occultist. He is also a terrible human being with a flagrant disregard for ... Read More

Spring Whiskey and Tobacco Pairings

March 27, 2025 by Rose Kiser

7 Comments

I've spent a lot of time behind the bar, and working as a bartender in Kentucky, you're expected to know a thing or two about whiskey. As a tobacco writer, I'm expected to know a thing or two about tobacco. Bash those two qualifications together, and I think I'm fit to tell you some of my favorite whiskey and tobacco pairings, particularly for the spring ... Read More

Codger Country: Captain Black Original

March 21, 2025 by Rose Kiser

9 Comments

Welcome to Codger Country, the series where we'll be smoking every Codger blend, commonly found over-the-counter tobacco blends, we can find and ranking them in an effort to find the "definitive" Codger blend. From Carter Hall to Super Value, we're giving them all a fair shake. Today ... Read More

Top 11 Best-Selling G.L. Pease Blends

March 12, 2025 by Rose Kiser

28 Comments

Few names within the field of pipe tobacco are as renowned as that of Greg Pease. His journey began in the late 1970s at the famed Drucquer & Sons tobacco shop in Berkeley, California. A college student at the time, Pease quickly became enamored with Drucquer's tobacco selection as well as the shop's atmosphere and tight-knit community. Soon he was working there, helping to restore, clean, and repair pipes ... 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

How to Care for Vulcanite Stems

March 7, 2025 by Rose Kiser

53 Comments

Pipes are deceptively simple. They're blocks of wood, for the most part, carved into a bowl with a stem. That's the simplest description of a pipe, it may even be the description you used when you started smoking. But as we begin to learn about the technical parts ... 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

Rose Kiser