So you’ve taken the plunge and decided to become a pipe smoker. You’ve read the how-to’s and watched some youtube videos on how to get started. You’ve picked up a briar or cob, some pipe tobacco to smoke, and a few of the necessary tools to get your pipe journey started. You know how to light a pipe, keep it going, and hopefully how to take care of your new passion. Now that you have a handle on the hobby and decided it’s for you, the question now is— where do you go next? In all the information out there for beginning pipe smokers, there’s a lot of material on starting the journey, but once y ..read more

Greetings, my friends, I hope all is well with you wherever you are. First, I must give my apologies for taking March off from the blog. I’ve been hard at work on the first draft of a new novel that I’ve been tinkering with, and it’s been holding my complete attention. Last year, I made it my goal to post an entry once a month for the entire year. While I’m proud of making that goal, it forced me to put my fiction writing on the backburner. I still have plenty of pipe related articles sitting on my laptop, waiting to be finished, so don’t think its been out of a lack of disinterest. As far as ..read more

            For many adults, Christmas break means having two weeks to figure out what to do with your young ones. Yet for Jonas Pickett, Christmas break meant two long full weeks away from said students. Now, Jonas loved his students—for the most part, but if the high school teacher was honest, the badger felt a bit overwhelmed at times. Only a decade separated Jonas from being in one of those classroom desks, and the badger’s keen memory brought back images of thinking nothing but having his winter break to play video games and go off an ..read more

Happy New Year dear readers! Let’s be honest, last year was a rough one. I don’t think I’ll ever forget a year like 2020. Crazy viruses, turmoil on the streets, ever increasingly divisive politics, and that’s not even getting into my personal life. I ended up leaving my job after taking on a position that wasn’t the right fit, and experienced fatherhood for the first time with the birth of my son. Here’s hoping that the new year of 2021 will bring some stability back into our liv—   What? It’s 2022, not 2021? Surely that can’t be right?   Yes, unfortunately 2021 came and went, and wi ..read more

I stood atop the cement stairs by my front door, waving goodbye to my wife as she backed out of our driveway in our car. She was off for a doctor’s appointment for our son, leaving me home alone for the next few hours. Other than a few simple chores around the house, I had all the time to myself for the first time since our son came home from the hospital— sweet, blissful free time. Not wanting to waste this precious moment like Burgess Meredith in the Twilight Zone classic “Time Enough At Last,” I decided I needed to act and act fast. Do I go to the living room and turn on a game system and r ..read more

On September 22nd, 2020 my world changed forever. It was close to 11 PM, and I paced nervously around in the now empty labor and delivery room at the hospital, dressed from head to toe in scrubs. I spent the previous 24 hours in this room with my wife, as she was induced to deliver our son. While the 21st originally was the due date, my son was nowhere near ready to make his entrance into this world. We both expected that my wife would make it to the pre-determined induction date the following week, but life had other plans. Due to complications, my wife had to be induced to give our son the b ..read more

[This entry is going to be a bit more unusual from my regular posts. Normally, I write for those that are already pipe smokers and talk a bit about the hobby. Instead, this entry is for those that are curious, who wish to know more about pipe smoking, but haven’t taken the plunge. So for my regular readers, none of this should be new, but feel free to read along and add your thoughts as well in the comments section.] Welcome traveller, pull up a chair, grab a drink, and get yourself comfortable. I see you’re new here, and by the look in your eyes, I can tell you have questions. You wouldn’t ha ..read more

It’s not a secret here that I’m a fan of corncob pipes. Yes, I dearly love my briars, but over the years I’ve come to truly appreciate the simplicity of a well-worn corncob pipe. Cobs can take just about anything you throw at them and make the blend sing. In fact, I’m of the belief that the Missouri Meerschaum Country Gentleman might be the perfect pipe in terms of size and bowl. But if I had one minor, and I mean minor, gripe about corncob pipes, it’s the plastic stem that comes with the standard cobs. Don’t get me wrong, I actually like the look of the amber stems and think it fits perfectly ..read more