Pipeology - The Fine Art of Pipe Smoking and Thought

 I had an article about ghosts written but deleted it.  I have no explanation as to why some people believe in ghosts and some don't.  There are those who believe in a spirit world, because ghosts have no logical reason to exist.  And some deny an afterlife and the existence of the soul, so ghosts are against their logic.  There is equipment manufactured to locate and communicate with ghosts, but the question is:  Does this equipment work?  Einstein felt that the energy of a deceased person still exists.  But that does not mean he believed in ghosts.   The referencing of ghosts first appears in a manuscript written 1500 BC.  And throughout history references to ghosts are a part of most Eastern cultures.  But then in Mexico The Day of the Dead is recognized as November 1.  As to whether apparitions appear on that date no one really knows.  There are things science can't explain.  But that is not to say that resea...

 I am a kind of nomad.  I can't just live in the same place for decades doing the same job and then retire in a place here in Florida.  That is not me.  But some people will spend a lifetime in search of a place only to find that place isn't perfect.  I might be a kind of modern day nomad, but let me just say I have belonged every place I have ever been doing what I was supposed to do.  If success is to retire with a huge back account then that has not been my life.  Sure, everyone has struggles, but if we had waited until we could afford to do things we have done we wouldn't have done them.   And too, one can't put a square peg in a round hole.  I could say my life is different because that is some kind of design that it is.  As Colonel Potter in M*A*S*H  so famously says, "If you ain't where you're at, you're no place."  And he's one hundred percent correct.  If you try to make a place you don't want to be then the ...

 The Vietnam War was not a popular War.  I never protested the war, but chose the path of education instead.  I was 17 when I graduated from high school and the draft had been put on hold from September, which is my birth month, of 1969 until December.  But I was in college when I turned 18 and registered for the draft.  College deferments were offered then, but because the lottery was to take place in December, I had to wait to see what number was going to be assigned to my birthdate.  The first lottery was held and my birthday was 313 out of 366. and the highest number for that year was 197 of those that were drafted, but my feelings about the war didn't matter.  I wasn't going to serve. The fact is that the draft changed so many things at that time.  It was believed that if 18 year olds were old enough to serve, they were old enough to drink and vote.  They were old enough to get legally married.  And they were old enough to own prope...

 As one can see from my posts here, I sit in an easy chair and observe, then I comment on my observations.  I could delve into either the religious or the political, but I don't want to.  I'll mention Angels here, but if you want an experience with Angels they'll come to you.  Maybe some people can summon demons, but I have yet to figure out how to summon Angels.  If anyone knows  how I would love to hear from them.  I can't summon Angels for anyone.  I have reminders, which I guess defines religion.  It is a reminder.   Religion celebrates history and tradition.  Without it some people feel lost.  Ronald Reagan once said politics reflects our religious values.  So, if one has no religion, according to such thinking, one has no values.  So instead of dealing with either politics or religion, I prefer to observe than participate.  And when I do participate, it is not by politics or by religious values.  ...

 I might refer to my English professor pipe smoking bud from time to time, but that is in part because he taught me to think in complete sentences and formulate paragraphs.  I once asked him if the English language has changed much over the years, but now I can say it has.  Someone asked the question as to why actors in movies in the 40's spoke the way they did.  Well, our style of speaking has changed to some degree in my lifetime, but in some ways the language from the 60's hasn't changed all that much, except now it seems everything in today's world has much less formality to it. Gone are the leisure suits of the 70's but they've been replaced by Levi jeans and Polo shirts.  I guess we can thank Steve Jobs for the more casual dress of tofay, where only bankers and lawyers wear suits.  Gone are the wide collars and button-down images, where it seems T-shirts and shorts are more business attire than even Polo shirts.  But the casual attire in business...

 I have to admit that I burned out on people long ago.  I just read an article about a Walmart cashier who had a very difficult customer to deal with.  Someone commented that they were very happy not to deal with the public any longer, as I suppose they work from home or are retired.  I try my best to make any worker in retail to feel appreciated because I think working retail, particularly as a cashier, is a thankless job.  Cashiers generally can't win. Now some would say stores need all check-outs to be self check-outs.  My wife and I both disagree and avoid using self check-outs if at all possible, unless we are buying just a few things.  But one can be accused of theft if not done properly.  As much as I hate Amazon, if I'm in need of just an item or two, I would prefer buying from Amazon and wait a day or two for it.  Even while shopping I'll mention to my wife that instead of going all over a huge Walmart in search of an item or two, we...

 I try to be as upbeat as I can when I am writing these essays.  It is Tuesday afternoon as I write and I am smoking my Savinelli Author pipe today.  I had an essay ready to go asking whether world cities are in ruin.  I've since deleted that essay believing it bordered on politics and was quite dark.  There are enough informative material on the various social media sites telling you all you need to know.  I have turned off those videos I thought to be dark and instead I try to watch YouTube videos of other stuff. If you want to know about a collapsing economy or about the sinking of Venice, you can watch gloom and doom videos all you want, but so much of it is depressing.  The other evening my wife and I watched a Hollywood Squares video from the late seventies and laughed at every Paul Lynd answer.  He was just so cleverly funny and that show was a perfect forum for his humor. There is no doubt that the Match Game was perfect for Richard Dawson...

 I was going to write about another Twilight Zone episode.  I did, but deleted it.  Enough about the Twilight Zone.  I'm smoking my Savinelli Author pipe this Wednesday morning with Sutliff's Old Professor.  I have been saying that Sutliff's Vanilla Custard s Vanilla Cream  I'm drinking a cup of Blue Bottle coffee with my pipe.  May begins the rainy season in Florida and the skies have been overcast the past few days.  I love to sit on the lanai here and watch the boats go by.  It is just so relaxing here on the lanai.   Writing about one  Twilight Zone  episode is enough.  I could spend a whole year writing about various episodes of that TV show.  I have two favorite TV shows I could watch over and over, the other being M*A*S*H.  I'll avoid writing about either of these shows from here on out.  The former is five seasons and the latter is eleven seasons.  That is too much about these two shows....

 I might be on a theme by saying we live in a parallel universe.  Back in the late 50's and early 60's was a TV show called The Twilight Zone.  One of my favorite episodes was about a parallel universe involving an astronaut.  But before I get into it, it's Monday morning and I am smoking my Peterson Sherlock Holmes pipe that I am now smoking quite often.  At first, I wasn't too sure about this pipe.  I smoked it a couple of times and then I thought it wasn't broken in correctly.   I told my wife it might look good in my collection, but that it might have a design flaw.  So, I put my Holmes pipe on the rack thinking I wouldn't smoke it again.  Then after a month or so, I examined my Holmes pipe again and thought myself to have been wrong.  I decicided to smoke it again and am now smoking it regularly.  I am smoking my Tropical Export this morning as I write.   Now, getting back to The Twilight Zone, I really like the ...

 I consider myself a Spiritualist.  I have no religion and really have no politics.  I write about Angels here, but attribute nothing much about them.  I'm smoking my Angel Nording pipe this Sunday morning with Sutliff's Vanilla Cream tobacco.  I thought this being Sunday morning I would write about the unseen.   Some say that nothing we experience is real.  Some have gone do far to say we exist in a black hole.  In fact the whole universe might be in one great huge black hole.  Others say there is a parallel universe to ours and we have doubles living their lives as we do, except with different names.  I can't see this universe, but who is to say that universe doesn't exist?  Some say we live in a Matrix and there is someone controlling all we do, think, or believe.  Who is to say they ate wrong; that such a Matrix doesn't exist?   I could go on and on about ghosts, aliens, and Big Foot.  What do we know is...

It's Saturday morning as I am writing this.  I am smoking my Tim West pipe with Sutliff's Vanilla Cream tobacco.  My wife and I don't have much planned for the day, but it being Saturday, we have seen a lot of boats go by as we sit on the lanai.  I have been told by reliable sources that there are two happiest days of boat ownership; the day you buy a boat and the day you sell it.  This is why renting boats is best.  We just enjoy watching the boats as they go by critiquing each one. The fact is I enjoy going out on boats.  I have my rod and reel I bought in NY for fishing up there, but some fish here might be too big for this particular rod and reel.  I have thought about fishing off the dock here just to see what might be out there.  But like the photo above I took recently, most of the boats we see are pleasure boats.  Some people might be going out to the bay to do some fishing, but it seems most boats are simply going for a pleasure crui...

 A bi-partisan group of lawmakers in Congress want to keep AM radio in cars.  This is in response to the reports of most carmakers doing away with AM radio in cars.  Okay, let me begin by saying that I grew up on AM radio beginning with KMOX, which was a top 40 radio station in St. Louis.  I can recall listening to the Cassius Clay fight against Sonny Liston on AM radio.  And it was WLW in Cincinatti that broadcast every Reds game.  Then there were the two big radio stations in Chicago, WLS and WCFL.   I can recall many of the radio stations all over the country including WCBS out of NYC I could get at might. But there was a reason for AM to exist because the government's Emergency Broadcast System is broadcast on AM.  The reason why those in Congress want to keep AM is because of the EBS.  But too, it's about economics.  Morning drive time for many radio stations is broadcast on AM.  The argument against keeping AM in cars in ...

 Once again there was a typo in yesterday's post.  "Hainted" isnt a word.  My wife thought maybe i was trying to be cute.  But after it was read by most of you I changed it to "haunted."  Oh well...   On to the topic for today.  Chinese EV's are not far from our shores.  And they could put Tesla, GM, and Ford on their heels.  Why?  They're cheap!  I thought about an EV when we bought our Avalon.  I went to the Tesla store and looked at them. The Model 3 had just come out and would have been perfect for us.  We only put 20,000 miles on our RAV4 Hybrid in three years of ownership.  And as a sedan the Model 3 was right for my wife.  But I just couldn't justify the cost.   I see a lot of videos about the costs of ownership for a Tesla, but again, I couldn't justify the initial cost of owning one.  The Model 3 started at $35,000, but most approached $60,000 to buy.  But at the time I wasn't re...

There was a song in 1965 by the Lovin' Spoonful that asked this question:  Do you believe in magic?  We usually think of some religious item as a talisman, or perhaps a sports team will think of one player as a talisman.  I did some research into what defines a talisman and the more common talisman was a cross as jewelry.  Some people get a cross tattoo to ward off evil as a talisman.  It could be a grandmother's wedding ring worn as jewelry like a necklace.  Some baseball players would never wash their socks for a whole season. So, a talisman is usually a religious object to ward off evil and bad luck, but a talisman could be most any revered object.  When I smoke my pipes, I have a small stone angel that comes in its own pouch that I place carefully on the table next to me.  But while I have my "Angel" pipe that could be another talisman, I have another pipe that just might be a talisman also.    That pipe is my Gettysburg pipe.  ...

 My wife said about yesterday's post I didn't mention which pipe I was smoking.  My first few posts for this blog were written on the same day I posted, but now I write a day or two in advance, just in case something doesn't pop in my head the same day.  So, as I am writing this post, I am smoking a Nording pipe with the only bowl of Old Professor I will smoke today.  There.  I got the pipe in today.   In some ways, I don't want this blog to be some kind of therapy session.  The world is full of interesting ideas.  I was in bed last night going through the list of YouTube videos that were on the site at the time.  I read some of the titles to my wife who asked if there weren't cheery titles for bedtime.  And she was right.  I don't want politics or religion before falling asleep, so I kept scrolling and didn't find much unless I wanted Angels to mend my soul, which I didn't really need.   But I did come across one by ...

 I wasn't sure what I would post today, but my wife said yesterday's post had a typo error.  I went back and corrected "hobgoblin," but you'd think that my spellchecker would have caught that.  I went back and corrected "nobgoblin" to "hobgoblin," but only after everyone read it.  Another common error is "pioe" for "pipe," but you'd think my spellchecker would catch it.  It doesn't.  One of the most irritating things my spellchecker does, is that I will write about Angels and it always spells out "Angel's" with an apostrophe.   Sometimes if I correct Angel's" to "Angels" it will then leave out the apostrophe.  I sometimes can't win, because I always need to check my work simply because my spellchecker doesn't catch all my errors.  Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't.  I almost wish at times I can disable the spellchecker, but I'm not sure it's in my phone se...

 Maybe we exist in a Matrix of some kind.  I just saw a title of YouTube video that says the James Webb Space Telescope proves that time doesn't exist.  We say Rome wasn't built in a day, then we say the early bird gets the worm.  We say youth is wasted on youth, but growing old is literally the pits.  So, life is filled with paradoxes. My pipe could be a paradox.  I hadn't smoked my pipe in two weeks and my BP rose to 130/70.  I insist smoking my pioe literally lowers my BP.  But can I say smoking a pipe is good for one's health?  I live with many paradoxes in life, but all that really matters to me is Human Life.  That's it.  You just can't get any more simple than thus.  I could say it matters not what you do or don't do as long as you live and let live.  We had an exterminator come out to get rid of ghost ants, but then I wonder whether they have a right to live.  They do according to my wife, but not when they ge...

 If you have to explain something with a reason or excuse, I've learned it's best you don't.  But some things simply don't need an explanation.  I smoke a pipe, but I couldn't explain in a million years why I do.  I just do.  I've done my best to explain why I do.  One word comes to mind:  Relaxation.  I learned this best while in NY and I brought my reason with me to Florida.  We have been asked whether we are staying in Florida.  I can honestly say from what I know right now, we are permanent residents of Florida. Where we will be come November, we aren't sure.  We'll be in Florida, but will need to find another place.  We are getting ideas.  But my wife insists we won't own a place.  But while we can plan, I live for the right now, as I have for three decades.  But the fact is, I can't explain why.  I have had to learn how to live.  Living in NY was a must.  Nearly two years in NY taught me a lo...

 It's early morning, but after sunrise.  I wrote this yesterday, but from where I am sitting this morning, all is right with my world.  But I can't say all is right with THE world.  In fact, I could make a list a mile long of all that is wrong with the world.    But this blog is not about either religion or politics.  I can't say it is not about either tobacco pipes or pipe tobacco.  It could be about me or what my wife says or has told me, but it is about what is on my mind at any given time. But, and I won't say anything about it, I live with a tremendous amount of hope.  This world WILL change.  And it will be for the better.  We are NOT doomed.  I saw that Lake Mead could rise as much as fifty feet.  And the Euphrates is revealing its ancient history of past civilizations.  Yes, rivers all over the world are drying up.  People just might not survive without these rivers.  Even the mighty Mississippi is n...

 I've since corrected my typos from previous posts.  And i've gone back over them correcting a few sentences or so.  I had an old professor who confessed at the time that he was just getting into poetry.  Why I bring this up is that yesterday morning as I was making coffee Gitchee Gumee came into my mind for whatever reason.  I thought about that and remembered it was a poem by Longfellow who wrote about Hiawatha and Minehaha.  Forgive my spelling if I don't get the spellings right.  But as I smoked a bowl of Old Professor yesterday in one of my Nording pipes I did some research into that poem.   That poem launched Longfellow's career as both a poet and a writer, being among those who lived on Lake Superior and wrote about the history there.  He was among those called the Lake Poets.  I won't go into detail here, but Longfellow inspired many Poets including Carl Sandberg who wrote about Chicago and Lake Michigan.  Sitting out h...

 I watch a LOT of dead mall videos, with some videos showing a mall being demolished.  Amazon has killed the mall, along with any number of on-line outlets.  The fact is that in most places where malls have been torn down, there is a mall in Ft. Meyers that has been thriving since 1965.  Sure Sears is gone and JC Penny might be on its last legs, but Dillard's is there along with two Macy stores.  The fact is that the Edison Mall is still a thriving mall.  But why? I just read an article about this mall and while I am far from an expert about it only having visited the mall a few times, the fact is, it is NOT a dead mall.  But as to how long it will remain this way remains to be seen.  But if you want to take a trip down memory lane in a mall full of people, this mall will do it for you.  The major difference is that many visitors to this mall do not speak English.  Many are from Mexico, or south of Mexico.  There is a fine dining Me...

 I smoked my pipe on the lanai or the first time yesterday.  I was to have received a tobacco order yesrday, but it was delayed due to a choice being on backorder. But it should be here by the end of the week.  I'm in no hurry for it.  I would like to have ordered Peterson's Early Morning Pipe to go with a cup of coffee in the morning.  I added a tin of it to my most recent order, then I took it off.  I thought to myself that I didn't want to spend $14 for just ten bowls of tobacco.  But I might add it to my next order.   I've been smoking my Sherlock Holmes pipe for the past several days, but only because I've smoked a bowl each day.  One bowl a day hardly gives a pipe a work out.  It's like a marathoner running fifty yards for a work out.  If I smoke several bowls today, I'll set the pipe down to rest.  And I'll run a pipe cleaner through it and wipe the bowl out with my cloth really good.   It could be in anot...

 I have an Aston Martin Formula One racing ball cap one of my son's gave to me as a birthday gift.  I wore that hat Sunday as the Miami Grand Prix was held that afternoon.  I sat down with my pipe beside the pool at my son's house and checked the results of the race.  Aston Martin came in third, out of twenty cars.  Red Bull was first, followed by a Ferrari.  As many of you know by now, I watch a lot of videos related to cars and I know that unless one has money to burn, it is not really a good idea to buy an exotic sports car due to the cost to maintain one. Aston Martin is among the worst of the offenders.  But years ago, as a birthday gift, my wife bought me a ticket to drive an Aston Marin Vantage around a mile and a half track for five laps at the Las Vegas Exotics Racing track, which is located on the interior of the Las Vegas Speedway.  I first fell in love with Aston Martin cars in 1965 when Goldfinger was released, staring Sean Conne...

 I thought about the political climate, not only here in the US, but all over the world.  I keep believing in a change.  It will be Divine and not human.  Some might believe humanity will change the world.  I say believing as you wish will make you happy.  My happiness comes from indifference.  I cate to know.  In fact, I probably pay attention to current affairs as much as anyone.  But my indifference means I'm not sure I care.   I come from a conservative family of non-voters.  This always bothered me that my parents didn't vote, although my mom was the least conservative, yet she never voted.  In a way, I can see her wisdom.  There is something to be said about the happiness of indifference.  However, indifferent people are more knowledgeable.  At least I believe this to be true.  Through the years, for example, I have had many conversations with pipe smokers, but not one conversation was about relig...

 I took my Sherlock Holmes pipe with me to the local Rotary Butterfly Park, where I smoked in a picnic shelter during a walk with my wife.  It was a very pleasant afternoon and we saw a number of butterflies.  It was very pleasant to smoke in the shelter, but not the same as smoking on the patio at my son's house near the pool.  It was very pleasant to walk on the pathway and pause in the shelter for some relaxation and a respite from the heat of the day.   I thought to myself that while they don't allow smoking on the pathways, smoking was allowed in other areas of the park.  I wondered to myself whether someone might comment on how nice my pipe smells, but while there were passersby, no one commented on my pipe.  I found the Tropical Export I was smoking to be an incredible pleasant aroma.  My wife didn't complain one bit as the wind seemed to drift my smoke towards her, but out in the open a pipe can't be nearly as offensive as it might be...

 Celebrities have a following and with social media comes scrutiny.  Mel Gibson has come to the fore by not being a very nice person to put it mildly.  But there are others, while at the same time there are celebrities who are worthy of the moniker.  It all depends.  But social media now has exposed the sins of most everyone.  No one has secrets any longer.  Bit that is a price to be paid by social media and celebrity status.   I decided long ago not to involve myself with social media,  but the fact is it's a two-edged sword.  One ALMOST can't survive without it.  And there are those of us who are indifferent to social media all together.  I am indifferent to any negative reporting on most anyone, unless they have murdered someone.  But hatred and jealousy runs deep in Hollywood with some earned and some not.   I don't consider myself a celebrity, but let me just say that for 30 years I have been a changed ...

 Since the advent of the internet and the personal phone, my generation has seen perhaps the greatest change since the invention of the light bulb.  I watched an old military training film that was deemed classified at the time on how to put up a telephone pole and string telephone lines.  Nothing invented is going to ever be environmentally friendly, but there were millions and millions of telephone poles dotting the landscape everywhere in the country.   Then there were films about the same time this one above was made, around 1950, about the recruitment and training of what was then Ma Bell operators.  Everytime one dialed a number a switchboard operator manually directed the call.  Then when dial phones were introduced, there was no need for the operator except for long distance phone calls, which were logged manually by the operator.   It's more tedious to write about these things than to see for yourself just how much things have change...

 I have to say that as a pipe smoker, there IS something special about smoking a pipe.  W are fairly settled in our new place.  I smoled my pipe yesterday at a poolside table with my wife as company.  Other than a wasp flying around us, it was a very pleasant time, with both of us talking about a more permanent place to live.  We don't need to be on the water, but living here makes us appreciate the morning views.  But the fact is I miss my pipe and need to be in a community that allows for smoking. We will begin our search for a place now that we are settled in here.  Right now we aren't in a hurry, but already condos and apartments are being reserved for the winter months.  Things open up in the spring as the snowbirds head north.  But many people make this a year round home community.  As I said, however, we aren't in a hurry.  But we'll begin looking and start with on-line shopping, which is how our son found this place.  M...

 For some reason, YouTube seems to believe the moniker I use for identification makes me a religious person.  I noticed it first began when I clicked on one video, but now it seems, at least to me, that I must be a pipe smoking Catholic priest who also likes all videos about cars and old TV shows.  That is pretty much the gist of my YouTube watching except for current events.   I was into watching videos about drought in various places.  I have learned that the Danube, Euphrates, the River Jordan, the Mississippi River, and the Nile River are all threatened by drought conditions and mismanagement by governments and people.  In fact agriculture is responsible for water use all overr the world.  Meanwhile oceans are filling up due to glacial melts and it seems nature is out of balance, much of it due to human causes.   But while we can debate the cause, we can't debate what is obvious before us, with some scientists saying we are past the ...

 The veey word "influencer" is a pretty modern word.  I said in yesterday's post that I am not an influencer for pipe smoking.  In fact, I would say I am not much of an influencer for most anything.  I am not sure what defines an influencer, but I would imagine that half a million followers qualify.  But one can be an influencer for most anything.  The fact is I have never seen numbers high enough on any pipe smoking video on YouTube to qualify as an influential video.   I certainly don't qualify as an influencer with the small numbers I generate on this blog.  But my purpose for writing is to keep cobwebs from forming in my brain.  As to whether I can influence anyone to aspire to writing or smoking a pipe, or anything else I do, I rather think not.  But that isn't my reason to exist.  And I could say my reason to exist is of my own making.  I have a purpose that might be considered creative thinking by most.  But my...