Futility

This post was composed while smoking 7 Seas Royal in my Peterson 05 Killarney.


Wow!  I didn't realize that 5 months had passed since my last post.  Oh well, Real Life Gets In The Way (trademark pending).  Anyway, I wanted to update you all on my growing love obsession with this fine hobby of ours.  My pipe stable has grown by four since I last posted.  Now in the rotation are a fine Meerschaum (pirate figure), a DeRohan bent billiard with a Maltese Cross carved on it's side, a Peterson Prince in the Aran range, and this fine Peterson 05 Killarney that I'm currently smoking.  The 05 was a birthday gift from my family and, IMHO, perhaps the most iconic of the Peterson styles.

My pallet is also expanding as I have begun sampling and enjoying various VaPers (Virginia/Perique blends) and English blends (with varying degrees of Latakia).  By far the most tasty are the English blends.  The only problem is they are not as pleasing to the nose of most of my family.  Therefore any English blend is relegated to the "Man Cave".  But hey, anything that gives me an opportunity to smoke in a peaceful situation can't be all bad.  LOL!

However, with all this good news comes bad as well.  I am finding myself increasingly frustrated by the attempts of our government to make this pleasant pass-time of mine into a pseudo-illegal activity.  The FDA will soon regulate pipe tobacco in the same way as they do cigarettes and chew (ignoring the fact that there are VAST differences between the two).  For more information on this I refer you to these articles at PipesMagazine.com (Here and Here).  When this is combined with some of the other liberties that are under attack by well meaning, nannies, i.e. Bloomburg, Obamacare vs. Catholic Bishops, etc., I'm feeling that the little that I can do by voting or writing letters to my Congress is increasingly futile.

I am not one who generally gives up on a fight until the last man falls but I'm looking for suggestions.  Is this just tilting at windmills or is there something that can be done to reverse the tide?  Or is this just a matter where the "little guy" has to offer his blood to grease the cogs of the Government Machine?

If you have solutions let me know.  Otherwise I'll just try to stock my cellar with as much enjoyment as I can afford and prepare for one more liberty to be eliminated from my life.

Brainwashing my Children

(this post was written while smoking my Valeni Contrast filled with Jenuwine's Royal Buttered Rum.)

Last night I had to perform one of the most painful tasks I've ever had to do as a father.  My daughter was assigned to research an article on the dangers of drug use with a focus on tobacco and I needed to help her.  Torn between my desire to have her do well and sabotaging the project by inserting some real science into the propaganda, I had to censor the thoughts running through my mind.  Drug Use?  Tobacco?  My understanding is that tobacco is STILL a legal product.  It is STILL used responsibly by responsible adults.  To place it in the same category as heroin and cocaine is absolutely absurd.

As I asked my daughter what class this was for, she replied that it was part of a an assignment for Drug Week.  "I thought you did that back at the beginning of school", I said.
"We did, daddy, but the are doing it at the beginning of each term"

This is nuts!  I am so sick and tired of the social engineering that goes on in our school system.  Essentially, this MANDITORY organization, who has control of my children 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, spends 4 weeks out of the year telling my daughters that their father is a drug addict because he enjoys a pipe and a drink (yes, alcohol is included as a "drug").  I'm still trying to decide the best course of action but I have officially HAD IT!

Falling in Love

(this post was written while smoking my Aldo Valeni Contrast filled with Jenuwine Royal Buttered Rum.)



As I gaze at my pipe collection, I notice that out of all the briar brands I own there are only two that are represented by more than one pipe.  They are my Aldo Valenis and my Petersons.  And out of these the Petersons are the only ones that I have purchased for myself.

Peterson of Dublin is now edging up on 3 centuries of pipe making.  Formed out of a partnership between the Kapp Bros. and Charles Peterson in 1863, Peterson of Dublin has been making innovations in Pipe making in an industry known more for its traditions than for its advances.  Charles brought with him a design for the now famous Peterson System.  The System is essentially an additional chamber in the shank that allows moisture to be captured and provides a cooler, dryer smoke.  In 1898, Mr. Peterson also patented a new type of bit for the stem which came to be known as the "P-Lip".  The P-Lip directs the smoke toward the roof of the mouth and helps to cut down on "tongue bite" when smoking.

My two Petersons are a Rusticated Kapet #69 and an Aran #999.  Only the Aran has the P-Lip and I LOVE IT!  I recently took my Aran to work with me and have never had so many compliments on what a beautiful pipe it is.  Part of what sets it off is the nickle mount where the stem meets the shank.  I seem to be moving up the ranks with Peterson and I hope that my next one will be in the Celtic Range.  These have a gorgeous sterling silver mount that is etched with Celtic knots.  Can't wait!

A Pipe Smoker's History

(This post was written while smoking my Peterson ARAN bent bulldog with the "P-lip" stem; filled with McClellan's Holiday Spirit 2011)

I was about 11 when my Grandpa Doublestein passed away.  Unfortunately I was pretty self-centered at that time and I can't look back with too many memories of him.  When I knew him he was a fairly old man.  His didn't do a lot of talking but when he did his voice was raspy.  He didn't have any of his own teeth anymore and I remember him slicing corn off the cob so that he could eat it.  I remember the coffee he always had percolating in the kitchen and the way he loved sharing a German Chocolate cake with me when we celebrated our birthday's (I was supposed to be born on his but actually came into the world later in the month).

Much of what I learned about the patriarch of the Doublestein family came much later.  I learned about a hard working farmer who ushered his family through the Great Depression with care.  I learned about a mysterious first marriage to a woman disappeared within a year of the nuptials.  I found out that my grandfather was one of the last Constable's that my hometown of Wayland ever had.  How, late in the evening, he would patrol the business district with his faithful dog, Savage, making sure that all the businesses were locked up tight.

I'm still trying to learn more.

This past Christmas I had a chance to ask my dad about my grandfather's pipe smoking.  I remember my grandpa smoking but I didn't remember what.  The memories I had were of a white haired man, sitting in his easy chair with clouds of fragrant smoke curling around his head.  My dad told me that grandpa Doublestein smoked two different pipes.  His usual was a corn cob pipe.  Dad also remembered him having a smooth, straight pipe.  But the thing I found most interesting was his tobacco choices.  Wild Cherry was smoked on special occasions but the standby was Prince Albert.  For some reason I find that comforting.  Prince Albert just seems like such a solid, old, dignified tobacco to smoke.

My goal this year is to buy a corn cob pipe, load it with Prince Albert and learn just a little more about this man who I barely got to know.  I think I'll like it alot.