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Who was/is your favorite pipe smoker (living or not, famous or not, related or not) and why?

My favorite is Author Shelby Foote. I could listen to him talk about the Civil War as he smoked his pipe for hours. It would be like listening to my grandfather tell stories of his childhood. My grandfather never smoked a pipe, but I miss him to this very day. 
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  • Shelby Foote is a good choice. I've listened to his 3 hour interview from CSPAN, and I could listen to him for hours. For me, it's a toss up between Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. Both men have had a profound influence on me with their fiction, and their life stories are just as interesting.

    For fun, I'll throw in a fictional character in Commander McBragg. I spent a lot of time watching old cartoons as a kid, and Commander McBragg was a pretty funny character. He would smoke his pipe at a gentleman's club and interrupt people with his exploits in history and around the world. 
  • @opipeman Like you I miss my grandfather greatly, and he did smoke a pipe almost constantly, much to my grandmother's chagrin.
    He was a lovely human being and just the best grandfather and he is / was my favorite pipe smoker.
    My second would be Barry Fitzgerald followed by Albert Einstein, Lee Van Cleef, Nigel Bruce, Erwin Shrodinger and Moe Howard; (the short list)







  • I would have to say that if I could pick one person. It would be my grandfather. I started my pipe journey, because after he passed I found his pipes in his basement and I wanted to refinish and restore them. I regret not having had the time to ask/share a pipe with him. If I could add a second person to this list...I would add Graham Chapman. Right now I think we could all use a good laugh.
  • I’ll speak up for Bradley at Youtube’s StuffandThings channel.
  • @motie2 I'm not as fond of Bradly because he seems to have an aversion to aromatic blends. So a majority of the blends he reviews are not something I'd smoke. But he too has a great delivery and engaging personality. Love it when his voice drops down a couple octaves while reading the descriptions of the blends as though he were a TV announcer. Reminds me of the Ted Baxter character on The Mary Tyler Moore Show ... or better yet that guy who voiced the narration for movie coming attractions, beginning each movie trailer with the line "In A World Where ... "
  • @ghostsofpompeii

    I feel the same way about the aromatic/English&VaPer divide, but I’ve learned a lot, I find him entertaining, and he’s slowly pulling me into Latakia, especially English aromatic crossovers. Check out Cross Eyed Cricket......
  • I would also say my maternal grandfather, who smoked a pipe. My adopted grandfather an elderly gentleman who live next door when I was a small child. I called him grandpa next door! They both smoked only Prince Albert. And for a famous pipe smoker I would say Bennet Cerf.
  • @Watchmaker61;
    I wonder(hope) how many next door neighbors become close to a young child in this day and age. Great memories.
  • My uncle on my dad’s side, he smoked Dr. Grabow’s and Carter Hall, he gave me one of his pipes, he passed away at 64 years old.
  • @pipeman83
    Sounds like a really cool uncle. My uncle on my mom's side was like a big brother to me. He gave me my first pipe. I wish I still had the pipe and he was still around (passed in 1986).
  • @opipeman, yes, I wish my uncle was still here to.
  • My favorite pipe smoker is an anonymous, composite "Everyman" from the late 50s/early 60s who:
    > served in WW II
    > came home and went to college on the G.I. Bill
    > lives in a small town or suburbs and works a 9 to 5 office job as an accountant, engineer, or similar
    > comes home for dinner promptly at 6:00 every night, mows the lawn, watches football, and goes fishing on the weekends
    > takes trips in the fall to nearby countryside to hunt deer with his trusty 30-30 or 30-06 wearing a red plaid wool jacket and Stormy Kromer hat
    > loves his wife, kids, dog, country, God, and pipe (not necessarily in that order)  and......
    > can be found at almost any of these moments smoking one of his favorite pipes such as Kaywoodie, WDC, Dr. Grabow, etc. with a favorite tobacco such as Prince Albert, Virginia Gold, Captain Black, Carter Hall, or Granger, usually while sitting in the rocker on the front porch reading the paper. Picture a guy sort of like Fred Macmurray from "My Three Sons". 


  • @johnspecht;
    I have know a few men like you describe. I wouldn't call them "Everyman", I prefer "Extraordinary men". Part of the "Greatest Generation". I found a few when I joined the Fire Department in 1966.
  • I think "Extraordinary man" is actually the phrase I was searching for...thanks for helping me locate it! The "Everyman" term is partially accurate, as there were so many of them in that truly greatest generation. I consider myself fortunate indeed to have met some of them. Wish I could sit down with 'em today and enjoy a bowl or two! 🙂
  • I wish I could sit down with anyone today and enjoy a bowl or two! 
  • @johnspecht;
    "Everyman" certainly is accurate. I think that would be what they would call themselves. Which only highlights how extraordinary they were.
  • @motie2;
    I couldn't have a bowl or two even before the lock down, due to the fact that I'm the only pipe smoker that I know.
  • @motie2, when this is done and things are back to normal and if you ever get back this way, I would love to have a bowl or two with you.
  • @Woodsman;
    Sad to say but, not many kids today will have such a memory.
  • My grand father, he was like the Paladin of pipe smoking "have pipe will travel"
  • @mapletop;
    Simpler times and in my view better times.
  • @ghostsofpompeii;
    What an incredible memory and a well crafted telling of it. I never saw more than one pipe smoker in a room that I can recall in my 78 years of memories. I too tend to tune into that frequency at times when in my smoking shed or in a lawn chair on my small patio. Old Joe sounds like someone I wish I had known.
  • What incredible stories. I never get tired of reading about pipe smokers and the effect they have in our lives. As I've said before elsewhere, I regrettably didn't know many pipe smokers personally. There were a few I knew from seeing them around town, and it always made me happy to see them out and about. 

    There's someone I'd like to mention here that I hadn't in my first entry. In 2020, I joined the Christian Pipe Smokers facebook group, as I'm always up for making new pipe smoking friends. After posting one of my usual nighttime pictures, a older gentleman sent a friend request to me. That surprised me a bit, but I accepted it and soon received a message from him. We started talking, and in the early discussion it turned out he was quite impressed with my muttonchops. I soon discovered he is a Civil War reenactor, and thought I looked the part. Because of his influence, I did some digging into my family history, and discovered my GX3 Grandfather fought in the war with the Union army. There was a book on his regiment, and after I bought it I found out he was mentioned in it, as well as included a few passages of his own writing. If it hadn't been for my friend, I might never would've known about this history.

    Through our conversations, I learned about his story. How like me, wasn't related to a pipe smoker, but wanted to be one. He picked it up once he was of age, but it didn't stick until he went to a proper tobacconist that sold him a proper pipe and taught him what he needed to know. It even led him into Civil War reenacting, as he went to a reenactment, and some of the reenactors watched him smoking a pipe and said he looked the part. 

    My friend was there for me through some rough times in 2020 as an ear to listen while dealing with an awful job and expecting to be a father. That friendship has continued to this day. One day, I hope to get into reenacting myself, but even if it doesn't end up happening, I'm thankful for the positive influence he's had in my life, all because we share in this wonderful hobby. 
  • @thebadgerpiper;
    What a great story. I don't have any pipe smokers in my family either. One day several years ago I started a list of people I have known in my life that were pipe smokers. Some on the list go back to my early childhood. Some were close friends, and some I only knew on sight. The total is 18. I don't have a single story to tell about any of those on my list. For an Irishman that is a painful situation.
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