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I don't know about you, but when I transition from one activity to another, it's an annoyance. If I'm awake, I don't like going to sleep. If I'm asleep, I don't like waking up. If I'm switching from one tobacco to another, it takes a while to embrace the new flavor profile. I don't like leaving home to go to a pipe show, and I don't like leaving a pipe show to go home. I tend to prefer where I'm at, whatever I'm doing, and think I might have been happiest had I been born a bivalve mollusk: mostly stationary, unambitious, and self-contained. Softshell clams seem enviably happy to me — except when they're served with garlic butter. Clarified butter makes everything better, but transitioning from seafloor to dinner plate would likely irritate me.
Bartending was my vocation for most of my 20s. I was fast, knew my drinks, and learned to be superficially charming, though that skill has languished from disuse, and my cantakery has subdued what I used to interpret as charm. It was a comfortable profession, and transitioning to graduate school was challenging, but I adjusted. It was equally disorienting when I moved from academia to Pipes and tobaccos magazine, but I learned my way around, and it was among the best decisions I've made, right up there with marrying my wife and cellaring Virginia tobaccos. Leaving P&T was probably the hardest thing I've done, because I truly loved contributing to that publication, and it was a tough transition when I arrived at Smokingpipes, but with support from the fine people here, I found that my combination of experience and neuroses worked here.
Now I'm looking at another change, and it's intimidating: Retirement. As of the first of August, I'll be a man of leisure. I've been working for over 50 years, and for three-quarters of that time, my self-identity has intertwined with pipes. Though I won't be leaving pipes behind, I'll miss the regular connection with a like-minded readership, as well as with the industry and with my Smokingpipes colleagues.
Change is hard, but projects loom on the horizon, from home improvements to re-exploring past hobbies. Like every other writing professional in the world, I entertain fantasies of writing novels and short stories, so we'll see how that goes. I've enjoyed the fiction I've written for the Daily Reader, and I look forward to dedicating more time to storytelling.
I'm looking at another change, and it's intimidating: Retirement.
The important thing is that the Daily Reader will continue being the magazine-quality publication that it is. I don't leave it lightly; it's been a fun job. Just as I fell in love with P&T, I've fallen for the Daily Reader and am proud of my contributions, and I may yet submit an article or two for it, because it's hard to stop. In the meantime, our talented crew will continue the fine work they've been doing, providing informative and entertaining articles, videos, reviews, interviews, stories, and preparing each post for entertaining readability.
I'll be in a hammock sipping iced tea, revisiting the complete works of Mark Twain, and smoking 30-year-aged tobacco. However, I'll continue to read this site, as it's always interesting, always engaging, and assembled with respect for the pipe community we all appreciate.
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Comments
Congratulations! I hope you enjoy a long and happy (well-deserved) retirement!
Thanks for the years of great writing Chuck. Sad to see you go but happy for you at the same time, I'm sure it'll be an exciting, but also hopefully relaxing, new chapter.
I'm gettin' misty here, Chuck. What an awesome looking cake, the Mark Twain Peterson is a nice and thoughtful touch...and the message rings true, you will be missed. Thank you for all the entertainment, education, and laughs. I'll really miss your Halloween and Christmas stories 🎃🎄 I'll be looking forward to your book releases, until then it will be time to break out my P&T Magazine collection and go down memory lane. Happy retirement, Chuck, hobbies and projects are essential. Puff on!💨💨💨
I have so enjoyed your work here Chuck and am going to miss it. You have a unique voice in the world. Please, for all of us, continue to use it. All the Best in your future endeavors!
Congratulations on your retirement, Chuck. I'm certain you've earned it. Thank you for everything. My fingers are firmly crossed for a print collection of your work.
Chuck, I’m grateful to have had you as a smoking companion (at least on the page) and hope you realize how much wisdom and good humor you’ve brought to our hobby.
Wishing you a marvelous and relaxing retirement, Chuck! Thanks for delighting us readers all these years with your great posts!!
Congratulations Chuck. I'm planning to retire myself on my next birthday (76). I'll miss your great essays. You've taught me a lot over the years. Enjoy!
What the F@#& Chuck! Your going to leave us just like that! No warning? Where am I supposed to get my comic relief while perusing out of stock tobaccos on the SmokingPipes site? Seriously though, I have been reading your output since the days of Pipes & Tabaccos Magazine and have always thoroughly enjoyed and anticipated it. I hope you enjoy your retirement, and I also hope you do write some novels & short stories, I for one would love to read them.
Good on you, Chuck. A storied career and a well deserved retirement! Glad I had the opportunity to fix a couple of your Old Boys!
Congratulations Chuck, on a well deserved extended vacation. May “retirement” bring you all the joy and adventure you hope for. All the fun, and few of the unwanted transitions…
I can’t believe you’re leaving Chuck. Always entertaining and informative. Good luck and good health.
Your awesomely wonderful 'writings' will be missed Forever
..Hope to see you in Richmond in September
Chuck, I wish you happy and rewarding retirement! I hope you enjoy your retirement as much as I have enjoyed mine over the past 10 years. I wish we could have retained you in academia, but I have enjoyed and respected your writing as it has been backed up by research. I loved the Faulkner essay, in particular. I have shared many of your essays with my wife who still works, part-time, in retirement in Special Collections at the SHSU library. She has, in turn, shared with the Professor who teaches Tolkien and other English writers.
I look forward to a periodic essay or two.
Best wishes, Joe
Chuck, knowing you as a friend and fellow pipe and tobacco nut has been one of the highlights of my 40 years in this crazy hobby. And working with you over the years as my editor as I scribbled tobacco reviews and tobacciana articles has been a privilege and a lot of fun! You are a gentleman and a scholar. Now go enjoy put flame to some of that tinder-dry tobacco you enjoy so much. LOL and happy retirement.
Congratulations. At age 75, I have been retired myself for a number of years. Trust me, it's the best damn job I ever had!
Thank you for your contributions to "Pipes and Tobaccos" and to Smokingpipes. I have enjoyed your humor and your thought processes in general. If/when you do publish anything, please have the folks at Smokingpipes make an announcement!
Enjoy your retirement. May God grant you many years to do so.
Congratulations on your retirement. You have done more to educate and otherwise enlighten pipe smokers than anyone alive. Best wishes for your future endeavors— I look forward to reading your future novels and short stories!
Mazel Tov. As a retired attorney and now freelance writer, I can tell you you'll enjoy retirement as long as you have a new, if part-time gig, and sufficient English in your jars as well as your jaw.
Chuck, I've enjoyed your writings since the P&T days and I wish you well in your well-earned retirement. Please find time to write those novels or put together a compilation of your Daily Reader entries. Whatever you chose to do with your time, I know you will continue to enlighten people with your ever-present wit and charm. You will be missed.
Congratulations on your retirement, Chuck! I love your articles, and I look forward to reading more in the future. Godspeed!
Chuck - To say your words of wit and wisdom will be missed is an understatement. I feel privileged to having been able to enjoy your work since your Pipes & Tobacco magazine days. One of the smartest moves Smoking Pipes has made was bringing you on board. I wish you the best in your future endeavors and am looking forward to a novel or two from you! Jeff
Man alive! I'll miss your writing.
And some of the busiest people I know are retired folks. Congratulations on retirement.
Best wishes for a very happy retirement! You have made a truly lasting impression on so many, and I couldn’t think of a finer company to retire from than Smoking Pipes. Enjoy all that is to come on this next chapter!
Chuck, like you, I have a contentious relationship with transitions. Some of the examples you mentioned I share. I veer back and forth between trying to accept them and resenting them. I am NOT looking forward to no longer seeing your essays, but at the same time I wish you the best of luck and a thorough enjoyment in life for whatever comes next.
Chuck, you are a first-rate writer, friend and dedicated pipe smoker. You will be SO missed! MARK my word: Ne’er the TWAIN shall meet again in Pipe Line!
Congratulations on your retirement. Thank you for your contributions to the Daily Reader. I greatly enjoy the interesting and well written content. Well Done Sir 👍❤️
Thanks for all you’ve done for the hobby. Good luck and God speed.
I've been reading your columns for over sixteen years, Chuck; first at Pipes and Tobaccos Magazine (which I greatly miss) and second here at Smoking Pipes. I'll greatly miss your anecdotes and cantankerous humor. Best wishes for a happy retirement!
Happy retirement Chuck. Thanks for your writing
Bruce
Indeed a sad yet happy day. Enjoy your retirement we all will no doubt miss your writing but wish you the best.
Chuck, no one captured a topic as well as you did!
Even enjoyed the earlier works at P&T.
You will be sorely missed!!
Enjoy retirement sir!
Long time lurker, long time reader here. You will be missed Chuck, loved your articles. Change is sometimes scary and, as you pointed out, inevitable... embrace it, enjoy it, you will manage. In the end it doesn't sound so bad to re read mr. Mark Twain, enjoy some ice tea and a pipe and you can always freelance a bit with Smokingpipes, I believe, on article from time to time. Take care, stay safe and enjoy your very well deserved retirement! With love, from Prague.
Uncle Chuck, I understand it's tough to be an icon, but you'll have to deal with it. I finally completed withdrawal from your opening P&T tales about Grandpa, and now commend your stellar career in sharing the glories of Pipedom with us from two great venues. As a retiree predecessor, I have only one suggestion: ENJOY YOUSEFF!!! I am very glad I stole your phone number from Sykes' secret archives years ago and can still maintain contact. As they say in the military, "Carry on in a disorderly manner".
Ronni B! Please fix my pipes!
Chuck I always read your editorials in P&T first and have enjoyed reading your contributions here. It won't be the same without your sense of humor and readable style. Best of luck in your retirement and do let us know of any future writing.
Chuck, it has always been a delight to read your contributions to the Daily Reader. They have been a beacon which illuminates just how special our pipe community is. You have always written warmly, in good humour, and with utmost clarity. I joined the community only a few years ago so unfortunately missed all your contributions to Pipes and Tobaccos magazine. Something tells me I’ll have to correct that somehow!
Many thanks for your life and work. May your retirement with Bev be as joyous as your writing.
Take care, sir and enjoy all the bowls ahead.
Sir Charles;
Thanks for the memories. Best of luck in your new adventure. God Bless!
Your Obedient Servant
You are my favorite writer on this site Chuck, Godspeed in your new adventures good sir!