A Labor of Love

Thursday, advance copies of the Fall issue of Pipes and Tobaccos Magazine arrived at my doorstep from the magazine’s printing facilities in the midwest. Coincidentally, just minutes before I received a text message from Adam Davidson with a picture of the copy he had just been handed by Sykes Wilford at Smokingpipes.com.

This issue features one of my favorite pipemakers and people: Adam Davidson. I wrote the cover story about him and created the story’s and cover image, as well. The project has been a labor of love that began about a year ago with a call from the magazine’s editor, Chuck Stanion, inquiring if I would take on the assignment. I could hardly get “yes” out of my mouth fast enough. Since I met Adam and started collecting his work five years ago, my respect and affection for him have grown steadily.

I confess I struggled a bit writing this story. Adam is more than the subject of an article to me. He is a friend whose story I have watched unfold within which I have been a bit player. There were more than a few days where I found myself sitting and staring at a blank computer screen, immobilized by writer’s block.

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Is there HBO in Heaven?

I spend a lot of nights alone. As I sit here at my fluorescent-lit, formica-topped Hampton Inn desk listening to the air conditioner buzz, I find myself ensconced in yet again one more hotel room in a blurry long line of hotel rooms. I wonder about the fellow travelers hived around me. Is their experience like mine? Are they at home among the silk plants and plain-vanilla bird prints that feebly attempt to offer some succor to the credit-card homeless? Does the business of business numb them more effectively than it numbs me?

Don’t get me wrong. It only reads like I’m grumbling. I chose this life and while I might hate little pieces of it, I love the whole. I’ve been a road warrior so long that I can honestly say that I’ve wondered whether heaven comes with room service. Is there HBO?

Alone comes in many flavors. At home, after a frazzling day, few things are sweeter or more rejuvenating than some alone time. In a crowd - especially a crowd of boisterous friends - alone is a little bit awkward and embarrassing. Ironically, warmth and attention don’t help much; they just make me feel ungracious, like someone with a terminal illness who squirms at compassion. And then there’s motel alone.

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How and why chamber geometry impacts tobacco flavor

Engineering Principles

In our pipe communities, a great deal of time and no little energy has been expended on what is commonly called “engineering.” There is no shortage of argument concerning those variables that combine to produce an excellent smoker. Draft hole dimensions, air-flow, whether or not one should polish a pipe’s interior passages, the design of the last inch of the stem (button end), the precision of mortise and tenon dimensions – there are varying degrees of disagreement and consensus as to how these features of a pipe should be designed and accomplished, and the extent to which they contribute to a pipe’s superior smoking qualities.

Discussions concerning chamber geometry have been relatively absent, especially compared to discussions regarding how how open or constricted a draft hole should be. All other things being equal, my hunch is that there is no more important design variable than chamber geometry, especially when it comes to how amenable specific pipes are to different tobacco types and blends.

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Finding That Magic Fit Between Pipe and Tobacco

Updated on Thursday, October 28, 2010 at 3:02PM by Neill Archer Roan

Updated on Friday, October 29, 2010 at 11:46AM by Neill Archer Roan

Why do we dedicate pipes?

Some pipe smokers dedicate pipes to particular blends or styles of blends. Because dedication is often accomplished when a pipe is new, the process precludes the possibility of experimenting with several blends before making a final decision. This practice prompts a couple of  questions:

• Why dedicate pipes to specific tobaccos?
• Without having experienced different blends in a pipe, how do we pre-judge which pipes are best suited for particular tobaccos.

I dedicate pipes to tobaccos for several reasons. First, I have concluded that particular shape types or chamber geometries is often better-suited to a particular type and/or style of tobacco, e.g. English, Oriental Blends, and Virginia-Periques.

Secondly, because I smoke a range and variety of tobaccos that are incompatible with others, I want to avoid obscuring the taste of a particular favorite blend with some other tobacco, especially if that favored blend possesses singular flavors that are amenable to lingering within the pipe. These residual flavors – commonly called “ghosts” – add undesirable notes to different styles of blends, obscuring or sometimes destroying the blender’s intentions and the tobacco’s flavors.

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