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.

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Best Friends

My first good pipe was a Sasieni four dot bent billiard – a Viscount Lascelles. I bought that pipe almost forty years ago, and it has remained a favorite. And not just for sentimental reasons.

In my early pipe-smoking years, I added a modest number of good pipes to my racks: several Charatans, a Savinelli churchwarden, five Preben Holms, a couple of Dunhills, and several Comoys. Some of these pipes were better than others, initially, but all of them came around eventually. Several of my pipes cost more, were better looking, and were more impressive than the Sasieni, but none shouldered it aside when it came to being a savory pipe.

Charatan DiplomatThe Charatans, in particular, cost more but were tougher to break in. My favorite of the Charatans – a Diplomat – initially delivered harsh overtones, no matter what was smoked in it. It finally yielded, becoming a go-to pipe in which I smoked Balkan Sobranie Original Mixture. It, too, has a permanent place on my rack.

A somewhat small sandblasted Savinelli churchwarden likewise grew into one of my favorite Virginia smokers, but nothing ever overtook my Viscount Lascelles in terms of a pipe that delivered a superior experience.

Some pipes are just better than others. Some are truly superb. Everything works better – the taste, draw, hand-feel, and look. It’s a wonderful thing to have a pipe like this.

I haven’t found it easy to predict which pipes will eventually rise to favorite status. That relationship comes only with time and use. We can know when we buy a pipe that we love how it looks and we like how it feels in the hand. By smoking it, we can discover its comfort in mouth and whether it delivers a cool, dry smoke. Without smoking it awhile, however, I can’t know whether it will bloom into one of those pipes that endows its smoke with extra measures of pleasure.

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