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Hola, me llamo....
....Matt. I'm a priest in the Episcopal Church, a husband and father (of an about-to-be 18 yr old girl), and former archaeologist currently residing in Austin, Texas. I serve St. John's Episcopal Church (Sunday services, 9 and 10:30 in English, 1pm in Spanish, all are welcome) where I get to use both my seminary training and the cross-cultural skills I learned while doing archaeology in Bolivia and Peru. As an archaeologist, I not only worked in South America, but also spent 10 years working in every western state other than California, and even got to do a fun project in Alaska. Pipe smoking used to be common for archaeologists, but has nearly ceased I think because of the potential to bias radiocarbon dates by walking around an archaeological site with modern carbon dangling out of your mouth.
My grandfather (also an Episcopal priest, he was Father Seddon version 1.0) was an inveterate pipe smoker. I swear he'd put a pipe in his mouth before putting on his pants. In his later years his wife ordered him to quit smoking and it seemed like he did. But after he died we found his pipes and tobaccos neatly set up in a shed in his backyard, and we rejoiced at his little triumph.
I smoked cigars off and on and an occasional pipe until about 6 months ago when I took up pipe smoking with a vengeance. I find it a moderately more healthy way to relax from the stresses of ministry than the usual advice I receive from fellow priests which is to drink, and heavily.
I'm delighted with my new hobby. So many things to geek out over - 100s of 1000s of pipes, 100s of tobacco blends....I've joined the Austin Pipe Club and really enjoy it because I can hang out with people who talk about something other than church. Something very very other than church on occasion! All I have to do is be gracious about those who apologize for swearing around me. I just remind them that I'm an Episcopalian, not a Baptist (though I mean no slight to Baptists, I just don't follow the rules some of them have for themselves).
I find I like lots of different tobacco types, aromatics, Va-Per blends, English blends, I particularly like Latakia-heavy blends, though I gravitate to particular ones at particular times of the day. Dunhill EMP in the morning (it really does go well with coffee), a Va-Per blend for writing sermons (my current favorite is LJ Peretti's No.8 slice), Latakia blends on the weekend in the middle of the day, and an aromatic in the evening (my current go-to is Casey Jones Hero's Blend).
I've picked up a slight addiction to surfing for and shopping for pipes. I dig vintage Kaywoodies in particular, but I'm also really fond of Petersen's and some of the Briar Works collection.
Thanks for making this site and community a very gracious and welcoming one.
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