In Praise of Authors

Author (Churchill) by Rad DavisLike many of you, I have a lot of pipes. Too many, if such a thing is possible. While I love them all, some of them exert special magnetism. When I’m contemplating relaxing with a book, paper, or magazine – and I think about smoking a pipe as I read – I will inevitably reach for a particular pipe in that moment. It is in those moments of choosing that I experience that special magnetism. I will reach for a particular pipe.

Author by Premal Chheda, Aber Herbaugh, Thomas James, and Bill ShaloskyA couple of years ago, I penned a  post called “Comfort Pipes” where I wrote about how some pipes create the same psychological effect on me that comfort food does. Whereas I understand the origins of why I feel some foods are comfort foods and some aren’t – they are often related to particularly warm and vivid memories from childhood and young adulthood – I haven’t been able to put my finger on why some pipes feel more like comfort pipes than others.

For me, it is not just particular pipes that exert that comfort magnetism, it is particular shapes. Where I’m concerned, the author is one of several comfort shapes. It is particularly satisfying to me when I’m contemplating reading. The author is suited to reading.

Authors by Comoy (1931) and Michael Lindner (2012)Unlike many from my generation, I never sought out drugs, mushrooms, or marijuana for transcendental experiences. Since I first discovered the myriad worlds that lurk between the covers of books, I have found all the transcendence I ever wanted from reading. I literally lose all traces of myself when I read; I am a friendly canvas upon which any skilled writer can paint the stories of worlds. I am a willing suspender of disbelief, a savorer of great turns of phrase, and as willingly gullible as the best fishing companion.

There aren’t many things that can pull me out of a great story’s grasp, and without fail, I resent most of them. So, if I must too consciously attend myself to the ministrations of pipe-smoking, frustration and impatience overwhelm my placidity like a cresting wave swamps a small rowboat.

Bamboo Author by Michael LindnerIf there was ever a time I want a pipe to stay lit, stay sweet, and smoke long, it is when I’m reading. If there is ever a time when I crave the radiating warmth of a pipe’s bowl while cradled in my hand, it is when I’m reading. These are the defining behaviors and traits of a comfort pipe, and my authors have stepped up and delivered. They are to pipes what a plain-faced, big-hearted, and reliably affectionate woman is to marriage: there for the sweet, long haul through storms and winters and relentlessly cold drizzles.

Savinelli Author (320)Authors are not particularly dazzling to regard. There is nothing sexy or racy about them. They are pipes with big hips and double chins. Rubenesque in their proportions, they are retiring in their dispositions. That is what I love about them.

But, when they are suitably loaded and lit, they step back from the front door of one’s consciousness and let the mind saunter into the wilderness of words. An author is a not just a writer’s pipe. It is a reader’s pipe.

Comments

[Joe Ahearn]

"There aren’t many things that can pull me out of a great story’s grasp, and without fail, I resent most of them."

Well said, sir.

[B. John Worthington]

Wonderfully written post. Thank you.

[Dutch]

I wholeheartedly agree with your observations Neill. The Author truly is an outstanding example of "form follows function."

[Toby Ornaught]

Your blog on comfort pipes is one of my favorite P4P pieces. When you and Rad Davis created the Churchill to celebrate Passion for Pipes 5th anniversary, I was most comfortable with your selection. Now I understand why that was.

Your photos of your half dozen authors are supportive of your thesis, although seeing them so displayed....well, it occurs to me that even among comfort pipes, it appears that there's a hierarchy. The sandblasted ones seem to me to be the comfortablest.

[cakeanddottle]

I think the Author is an easy shape to be drawn to as its lines please both the eye and the hand. It's not a shape that brings me back though. For me, its capacity relegates it to flake pipe, and it's slightly smaller in capacity than my preferred group 3 Lovat/billiard for flakes. The Sav is another story, that thing has a huge capacity.

I always felt like my smoke ended too soon in an Author, which led me to devote it to smoking nicotine rich, stouter tobaccos like 1792, ODF and Bracken in. The problem there is that that is what I use my Princes for. The Prince shape and I get along swimmingly, with its light weight and graceful curve, therefore the Authors ended up going home alone at the end of the night when it occupied slots on my rack.

I understand the appeal of this beautiful shape, but for me it never compelled me the way other shapes do. I'm leaving them to those that will love and care for them in a way I never could.

I am looking forward to pics of your future Asteriou Author, that is one beautiful pipe.