The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Podcast

Our featured interview tonight is with Jeremy Reeves. Jeremy is the Head Blender at Cornell & Diehl and is featured in our recurring series, “Ask the Tobacco Blender”. However, tonight he will be the interviewee as we learn about how he became a pipe smoker and collector, when he got his first pipe and how he progressed from there. At the top of the show, Brian will have a review of the rare German tobacco blend, Tumblin’ Dice.

Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Ben Rapaport. Ben has been known internationally as an avid pipe smoker, antique pipe collector, and book author. His first book on pipes was published in 1972, and his latest book - his 11th - is out now in very limited quantities. The distribution has already sold out, but you can still get a copy of "The Wide World of Wood Tobacco Pipes. Two Centuries of Craftsmanship and Creativity" by contacting him directly at ben70gray@gmail.com. At the top of the show we'll be turning the tables on our recurring Ask the Pipemaker segment. This time, Jeff Gracik will ask the questions, which Brian will answer as a pipe collector, and you can give your answers too.

Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Per Billhall. Per is the owner of Scandinavian Pipes, which is an online retailer of high grade pipes. He started smoking pipes in the 1960s. His first high grade pipe was made by Hans "Former" Nielsen, who is one of the living legends from Denmark. That led to Per becoming a huge pipe and tobacco collector, and show attendee where he became well known. Along with pipe book author Jan Andersson, they started The Pipe Club of Sweden in 1991. Then in 1999, Per started "Scan Pipes". He is now one of the pipe retailing legends from Sweden. At the top of the show Brian will talk about holiday blends, and other special pipe tobacco blends.

Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Fae "The Sassy Pipe Lady" Simmons. Fae is the owner of Tobacco Treasures, which sells new, vintage, & estate pipes, and smoking accessories on Etsy. She has been in business since 2017, and has been surrounded by pipes and tobacco most of her life. Her father and his brother smoked pipes, and so does Fae. Her husband is also a retired tobacconist that worked all over the industry from coast to coast for several different companies in the industry. She has a great story of how her business got started with a great inventory of unsmoked vintage pipes. At the top of the show we will have an Ask the Tobacco Blender segment with Jeremy Reeves. Jeremy is the Head Blender at Cornell & Diehl, which is one of the most popular boutique pipe tobacco companies in the USA.

Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Nate King. Most people know of Nate as an excellent pipe artisan. He also has an honorary Master of Pipes degree from the Chicagoland Pipe Collectors Club, and is a member of the prestigious Confrérie des Maitres Pipiers de Saint-Claude. To be inducted into the Confrérie, this past May Nate travelled to Saint-Claude, France with master tobacco blender G.L. Pease, who was also inducted. It was quite a time in France, and at the ceremony. We'll hear all about those adventures on the show. At the top of the show we'll continue the virtual tour of Brian's pipe collection with six of his Satou Dublin-shape pipes.

Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Barry Kane. Barry started smoking a pipe in 1961 when he was 14-years old. Back then it seemed like everybody smoked, and you could buy pipes and tobacco just about anywhere. Barry is a true old-school pipe smoker, sticking to just one blend. See if you can guess which one before listening. At the top of the show Brian will give his take on Scandinavian Tobacco Group's purchase of Mac Baren and Sutliff Tobacco and their announcement that they will be shut down.

Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with James Ravenwood. James is the boutique tobacco blender of Ravenwood Blends. His blending started out as a fun hobby, and he now has professionally packaged commercially available products with some great tin art. Part of his interest in pipe smoking goes back to fond memories of a retired Navy Veteran that lived on his street while he was growing up that would sit in his driveway smoking a pipe all day. Later, in 2011 he began smoking pipes and soon after started experimenting with mixing different tobaccos. His other hobby, that he has been doing for 30 years, is photography. He takes wonderful photos of outdoor spaces, and still life pictures of pipes and tobacco. You can see them on his Instagram @thebriarfellowship. At the top of the show we'll have an Ask the Pipemaker segment with renowned pipe artisan Jeff Gracik.

Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Warren Ertle. Warren is an extremely accomplished musician with a PhD in music. He started early as percussionist in sixth grade. Later his grandmother got him a cheap Casio keyboard which he taught himself to play. He started playing in blues bands in high school, and has been a pianist with jazz big bands for years. Even though he was already a professional musician, he took his first real piano lesson when he enrolled in college with his studies in classical music. He is of course, also a pipe smoker. At the top of the show we will have an Ask the Tobacco Blender segment with Jeremy Reeves. Jeremy is the Head Blender at Cornell & Diehl, which is one of the most popular boutique pipe tobacco companies in the USA.

Our featured guest tonight is Jon David Cole. JD is the Owner/Tobacconist at The Country Squire in Jackson, MS, and the accompanying online store. We’ll have JD and Brian talking about what's new at the store and in the business in general. At the top of the show, Brian will discuss tobacco growing, what happens to the leaf, and provide updated information on where tobacco is being grown today. Tobacco production originated in the United States and we were once the #1 producer. It's quite different now.

Our featured guest on tonight’s show is the host of the Pipe and Tamper Podcast, Mike Murphy. Brian and Mike will have an extended chat revolving around the days before, during and after the Las Vegas International Pipe Show. We will hear about their travels to the show and the anxiety of Hurricane Milton bearing down on Florida at the same time while running a show and not knowing if your house is going to be there when you get home. In the end, the show went great and our homes survived, although many others in Florida were not so lucky. We'll have clips from the show, and shoutouts to other podcasts and vlogs that were broadcasting from the pipe show.

Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with pipe maker Dan Keller from Good Made Better. Dan is from South Dakota. Growing up working in the family hardware store where he was always finding solutions to fixing things, he ended up always wanting to make things. He now makes elegant handmade pens, pen holders, portable desks, blotters, blotting paper, book carry cases, and of course artisan pipes. At the top of the show we are continuing the virtual tour of Brian's pipes with his "f#@k you pipes".

Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Andrew Hopkins. Andrew is the General Manager of Stag Tobacconist in Scottsdale, AZ. He is the third generation in the business. His grandfather started with his store Phoenix Pipe Shop in 1974 in downtown Phoenix. It later changed names to Smoker’s Delight. He also owned Ye Olde Pipe & Tobacco Shoppe starting in 1980. Andrew’s father started in the business as a teenager helping out n the store in 1976. Andrew got into the business in 2007, and he has some great stories to tell as a third generation tobacconist. At the top of the show we will have an Ask the Tobacco Blender segment with Jeremy Reeves. Jeremy is the Head Blender at Cornell & Diehl, which is one of the most popular boutique pipe tobacco companies in the USA.

Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Danish Pipe Maker Mike Sebastian Bay. Mike got his start in pipe making when looking for someone to repair his father's pipes in the Copenhagen area. He inadvertently found renowned pipe artisan Tom Eltang, and apprenticed under him for several years. He learned Tom's signature rustication technique, and then made it his own. His pipe designs are also known for the poker shapes with "the bend" - after the forward tilt, there is another angle bent forward. At the top of the show, Brian will discuss everything about aging tobacco you will ever need to know.

Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with pipe maker J. Mouton. Jason was born, raised, and currently resides in Gueydan, Louisiana. He started smoking cigars and then pipes. He is a carpenter and wood turner that likes to make duck calls. This led to making tampers, and that naturally led to making pipes. He makes both classic and freehand shapes. At the top of the show will continue the virtual tour of Brian's pipe collection. He will discuss three meerschaum pipes that are special to him for different reasons.

Our featured interview tonight is with Aaron from Tobacco Pipe Diary on Instagram. Aaron is a 29-year old pipe smoker from Spokane, WA. His interview is part of our ongoing series of pipe smokers that are under the age of 30. He comes from a family of Japanese tea growers, and his aunt smokes a pipe, but that is not what got him started. He actually started with cigars, and then decided to smoke cigars while practicing the Japanese martial art of Kendo, which is a type of fencing that originated as a samurai warriors' customary swordsmanship exercises. Eventually he started smoking pipes and he also sells restored estate pipes. At the top of the show we will have an Ask the Tobacco Blender segment with Jeremy Reeves. Jeremy is the Head Blender at Cornell & Diehl, which is one of the most popular boutique pipe tobacco companies in the USA.

Our featured interview tonight is with Chris Mattioda of C. Martin Pipes. Chris is a 25-year old part time pipemaker from Enumclaw, Washington. He actually made a pipe before he smoked one as it was one of his chosen 9th grade wood shop projects. Later he acquired a wood lathe and was making pens and other items, but he became real serious about making pipes when he came across a video of pipemaker Jeff Gracik. At the top of the show Brian will follow up on a two year old tobacco review on Savinelli Janus. He let the tin age for two years and now he will explore the differences.

Our featured interview tonight is with Eric DeVito. Eric is a 26-year old pipe smoker from Chicago, recently moved to Arizona. His interview is part of our ongoing series of pipe smokers that are under the age of 30. He's been smoking a pipe for 8 years. Pipes have always appealed to him since he was 5-years old when he went with his dad to visit his Uncle Al. The two men smoked cigars on this visit, but he saw his uncle's pipe rack and never forgot about it. He brought his intrigue to fruition when he was 18 years old and started smoking pipes. At the top of the show, we’ll have an “Ask the Pipemaker” segment with pipe artisan Jeff Gracik, and this time the question comes from Brian.

Our featured interview tonight is with Jebediah "Jebi" Green. Jebi is a 28-year old pipe smoker from Oklahoma. His interview is part of our ongoing series of pipe smokers that are under the age of 30. He works as an electrical engineer optimizing radar for airports. His path to pipe smoking went from cigarettes to vape, and then finally to pipes. Pipes changed Jeb's reason for smoking from ingesting nicotine to relaxing and enjoying the contemplative moment. At the top of the show Brian will discuss his "EDC" or "Everyday Carry" items for pipe smoking.

Our featured interview tonight is with pipe maker Chris Herriot. Chris lives in France, and grew up in the U.K. He started making pipes during the pandemic and posting about his progress. Chris Kelly of Eldritch Pipes noticed and offered to teach him. Later, Chris traveled to St. Claude, France where pipe maker Bruno Nuttens offered him additional training. At the top of the show we will continue with our ongoing tour of Brian’s pipe collection with four pipes from Ernie Markle.

Our featured interview tonight is with Noah Slasinski. Noah is a 28-year old pipe smoker from Michigan. His interview is part of our ongoing series of pipe smokers that are under the age of 30. He started with a Missouri Meerschaum hard wood pipe in his late teens and then tried just about every type of tobacco smoking and vaping, but eventually came back exclusively to pipe smoking about a year and a half ago. YouTube videos and Paul's Pipe Shop in Flint MI helped him along the way. Similar to some of our other younger pipe enthusiasts, Noah was influenced by writers and intellectuals that he appreciates, such as Carl Jung, C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, Mark Twain and more, as they were all pipe smokers. At the top of the show we will have a trip report on the NASPC show from this past weekend in Colombus from Dave Peterson.