Famous Pipe Smokers

Kramer's Father Dempsey: The Blend That Started A Tradition
February 1, 2017 by Andrew Wike
13 Comments
In addition to being the principle tobacconist in Beverly Hills, California, Kramer's Pipe & Pipe Tobacco has earned recognition all over the globe for its proprietary house blends — many of which were mixed specifically for famous celebrities like Danny Kaye or Cary Grant. ... Read More

Hans Lohrer: Pipe Man, Ad-Man
March 4, 2014 by Eric Squires
While I can’t speak knowledgeably as to whether or not Stuttgart artist and graphic designer Hanns Lohrer himself may have borne or resembled any of these archetypal aspects, I can say that his life’s most famous work certainly didn’t. And that’s because it looked like this: ... Read More

Sir Richard Francis Burton: Part Two
November 8, 2013 by Bear Graves
1 Comment
Presently our fire being exhausted, and the enemy pressing on with spear and javelin, the position became untenable; the tent was nearly battered down by clubs, and had we been entangled in its folds, we should have been killed without the power of resistance. ... Read More

Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton
October 18, 2013 by Bear Graves
Consider, for a moment, the staunchly held notions of what constituted ‘proper conduct’ for those who held a commission in Queen Victoria’s ground forces. Now consider an officer whose regard for his superiors ranged from mild amusement to undisguised contempt. ... Read More

Holiday Pipe Dreams
December 18, 2012 by Kathryn Mann
As a new pipe smoker, I am, of course, seeing pipes everywhere. Stephen Colbert featured one on his show a few weeks ago. And I just went to the movies this weekend, and it seemed like nearly everyone was puffing on a pipe for most of the first act. ... Read More

Pipes in Film: Lee Van Cleef
April 4, 2012 by Eric Squires
4 Comments
When Sergio Leone originally cast Clint Eastwood in his first spaghetti Western, he felt that Eastwood's until-then fresh-faced, clean-cut image needed considerable roughing-up, to lend his character a tougher, more ruthless sense of virility than anything he had previously played. ... Read More

Famous Pipe Smokers: Greta Garbo
April 20, 2011 by Eric Squires
1 Comment
"I have been smoking since I was a small boy," Greta Garbo was known to quip. It was a rather unusual statement coming from a Hollywood starlet, yet it was also a sentiment very true to her nature. She was indeed a prolific smoker; cigarettes, cigars, and, yes, even pipes too. ... Read More

Famous Pipe Smokers: Roald Amundsen (Part 2)
March 15, 2011 by Eric Squires
The Devil's Ballroom, Amundsen's team called it. The last great obstacle in their path to the South Pole, a deceptive terrain - a glacial plateau littered with hidden crevasses of deadly depth disguised beneath thin crusts of ice. '"Oh, as usual," they shouted back; "no bottom." ... Read More

Famous Pipe Smokers: Roald Amundsen (Part 1)
March 1, 2011 by Eric Squires
In Wes Anderson's film The Royal Tenenbaums, the title character, estranged patriarch Royal Tenenbaum is visiting his mother's grave with his two sons when he spots an epitaph reading: "Veteran of two wars; Father of nine children; Drowned in the Caspian Sea". ... Read More

No Smoke, No Show
February 15, 2011 by Kathryn Mann
Blue and yellow lights penetrate drifting whorls of pipe smoke suspended in silence. I can feel the audience's anticipation. A tall man takes the microphone and announces, "Memphis - the moment you have waited for - Clarence Gatemouth Brown." ... Read More