Pipeology - The Fine Art of Pipe Smoking and Thought

I had several posts for this morning and wasnt sure what I'd post.  I thought I might write some more this morning about the meaning of my Spirituality.  I just didnt want to post this one yesterday.  I'm not superior to anyone, but just that I am different.  I say I am different by Design.  There will be those of you who understand this about me, while some might wonder.  This blog isnt about religion.  I am NOT an evangelist for anything.  I am very simply a Spiritual person that is defined by my Spirituality.  It is just simply what and who I am.   Spirituality has a perk.  It's not about loneliness, but about being by oneself.  Some people have a fear of loneliness.  Monophobia or Isolotphobia is the fear of being alone, while agoraphobia is just the opposite.  I'm very agoraphobic preferring to be away from people.  But many gig drivers who drive for Uber and Lyft say they do it for the social interacti...

I wrote about this before, but I'm adding a different twist on what I said before.  Allow me to explain.  There are those who suggest our lives are lived in some kind of Matrix controlled by some master race of beings.  Someone did a comparison of the universe to the human brain.  There are those who suggest there are universes within atoms.  And there are those who say infinity isn't about how big, but how small.   I am fascinated by space and time as I am fascinated by the concept of infinity, where space and time do not exist.  Religious people don't seem to be threatened by the thought of infinity, either large or small.  However, secular scientists tend to think of time as having both a beginning and an end.  And the idea that there is something beyind death itself simply was not acceptable, but it seems that infinity might be some kind of acceptance as a possibility.   I am observing that it seems that the James Webb Spac...

 I wasnt sure what I'd post this morning.  I have several posts ready for today.  But this post might be best for today.  I wrote one about Spirituality, but I'll save that one for tomorrow as I'll work on that one today.  I'll finish that one and post it tomorrow.  I had another, but I might delete that one and we'll see how the Spirit guides me.  Today is just a summary of the entire football season for this past year. Some say the Super Bowl is a national Holiday, although it's always played on Sunday's.  But now we have to live with two weeks of everyone talking about it, including myself, especially now that Taylor Swift is dating a star player.  But word has it that she might not be there as she has a Tokyo concert that weekend.  But she might find a way to get there before the game is over. It's just that every year we get down to two teams that are the very best.  The usual suspects are there again this year and I'm not sure...

 I haven't said a lot about coffee here, but I'm devoting a whole post to coffee this morning.  You might wonder why I'm doing this.  Coffee is simply a part of my morning routine.  Until my heart attack I was a heavy consumer of caffeine.  But those heavily caffeinated days are behind me now.  I begin each day with two larger-than-normal cups of coffee and avoid all caffeine and sugar throughout the day.   Prior to my heart attack I drank a lot of coffee and caffeinated beverages, not giving mich thought to my health or sleep schedule.  I've been a night owl for as long as I can remember, but while caffeinated beverages have always been a part of my lifestyle, I didn't get into coffee until my seminary days where they served coffee in the cafeteria.  I used to have one cup with cream and sugar, but found that doctoring my coffee held up the line, so I learned to drink it black and never went back. It was then I became a heavy coffee dri...

 It is nearly impossible to be neutral about anything these days.  You HAVE to choose sides because everyone these days chooses sides.  A good example of this is Jay Leno who now says he used to make fun of both parties, but has decided now to remove political jokes from his comedy routine.  Bill Marher refuses to do college campuses any longer because as he says it seems college students have no sense of humor about anything.  And political comedy is the worst offender in their thinking.  No one finds humor in politics as they used to.   Jimmy Fallon still pokes fun at both sides, but he is more rare than not.  It seems everyone takes their politics too seriously to be able to laugh at jokes made at the expense of their side.  No one laughs at themselves and everyone takes their side too seriously.  And it seems these days No one is neutral, being able to laugh at both sides.   I am a rarity choosing not to take sides in ...

 There is a subject I don't want to mention, but it is happening all too often to influencers on social media.  It's not just happening to teens, but influencers who have been around and are older.  They're taking their own lives.  I won't use the word for it, but it definitely has me concerned.  While it might not be a daily occurrence, it just seems to happen far too often.  But the question is, why.  I read that since the pandemic mental health professionals have become concerned about the increase in neuroses in society.  And it seems it's not teens that are at risk, but most notably those from their mid 20's to mid 30's. Most professionals seem to attribute it to isolation.  While socialization takes place on the Internet isolation gives too much time to oneself, which is not good.  The addictive nature of social media has led to this phenomena, which has not been a problem until recently with some social researchers saying that the...

 This is not a post about God, per se.  It's about people who say that God told them this or that.  A pastor was recently arrested for bilking $1M from supporters in order to remodel his home.  He says this is what God told him to do.  I guess he didn't say what he was going to do with that million dollars.  My wife knows how I feel about many spiritual leaders who make money from donations to buy stuff mostly for themselves. I hate to mention names, but one TV preacher helped another TV preacher raise enough money in order for him to buy his own private jet airplane.  This famous TV preacher says he hates flying with the public and feels he shouldn't as he feels about others not flying public if they don't have to.   One TV preacher has a $14M home he says God told him to have.  I'm just amazed at what people say God tells them to do including robbing banks to receiving donations for things they want to buy.  Is God really in the b...

  It's been a while since I last posted about a pipe.  Today's selection is listed at an affordable $121 on Smoking Pipes from whom I borrowed the above photo.  The pipe is called Clark's Favorite and pays homage to Clark Gable who was never seen without a pipe.  This pipe could almost be a Churchwarden as it is eight inches in length.  It is manufactured by Savinelli, which also makes pipes dedicated to both Ginger Rodgers and Bing Crosby. Each actor liked the longer stem pipes and the bowls are billiard shaped bowls.  Bowl shapes are important to pipes as they represent the character of each pipe.  The finish is a chestnut stain and there are swirls in the stem to make it just a bit different.  There are those who smoked pipes with each pipe design central to the style actors used to smoke.   Bing Crosby, for example favored a longer stem Canadian style pipe with the same style bowl as above.  Ginger Rodgers favored a bowl that wa...

 How do we live a long life?  A WW II woman veteran who is 101, says the key to longevity is to drink all the booze you can drink.  And she isn't kidding when she says this.  She's actually serious.  I won't go into detail about her comments, but I have wondered how some people who are rock stars today from the 60's are still alive.    A good example of this is Willie Nelson who will be 91 this April.  He said one night after a performance with Waylon Jennings, the two of them drank 52 cases of beer.  But that is just one time he remembered.  And rockers from the 60's have all had hard lives of booze and drugs, but still there are many who never made it as far as Willie Nelson has.   I read this article with some interest, but it seems I am advocating for alcohol consumption, which I'm not.  I was watching an old Match Game episode that featured Betty White, who probably never had a drink in her life who lived to be 9...

 I put a questiion mark in todays title because my wife seems to think I need one to keep myself busy.  I'm thinking about it as I have an Aston Matrin DB5 Lego car one of my son's gave me as a Christmas gift a few years back.   I could be putting that together, but I need some space to work on it.  The DB5 is rather large as the box it came in is quite large.  I thought about keeping it in the box as it came, but shipping it from NY to here damaged the box, so I decided to open the box and prepare a space where I can work on it. The kit is designed for those over 18 and I'm thinking too there might be other car kits similar to the DB5 that might interest me.  But finding an out of the way place to work on these might not be easy, however we prepared a table for it and I can begin soon.  I did tell her that I have my phone and I'm out of the way to smoke my pipe and I do have my pipes and tobacco as my hobby.   A lot of guys my age have ...

 If only we had selective memory.  In the song Horel California by the Eagles, they sing that some dance to remember and some dance to forget.  Everyone has memories they'd like to remember and memories they'd like to forget.  In psychotherapy, electroshock to the brain is to erase memory, so a person will forget, but that is never selective memory that is erased. But every person has memories that are unique to that person.  This is why every person could write an autobiography and every book would be different.  Every person tells a story that is unique to that person.  This is why at the end of life every person wants to be remembered for the good they gave to the world.   I suppose every person would dance to both remember and forget, which is the story of every life.  Very few who experienced war would like to remember.  But those who have happy memories of a long marriage want to remember.  My wife has been going through ...

 I have been reading a lot lately about Jamie Lee Curtis, who at 65, seems to live with a lot of wisdom.  She says not too look to the future, because it is the end of life.  I read the article and she says to live for the now.  I'm not sure if she has a religious bent, but it is very much what one who is a practicing Buddhist might say.  In this day and age, it seems that our world as a human society is in great peril.  Add the deteriation of the environment to the max and many things can look dire. When William Shatner went into space he said he looked down on the earth and tears came to his eyes as he saw how fragile our planet is.  He said you don't see geopolitical lines separationg nations as one sees on maps.  He said the earth looks so fragile from space that he actually cried.   I can't help but think of our Voyager space probes that have now left the limits of the effects of our sun.  They have antennas still directed at e...

 Someone made note of a man sitting by himself at a Starbuck's without either a laptop or a smartphone.  He just sat there and drank his coffee.  Now, I have to admit I COULD have been that man, but I'm never disconnected from my phone, even though my social use for it is very limited.  I use my phone for keeping up with current trends and events.  I often have felt too isolated without my phone.  But still that man could have been me. No one goes to Starbuck's and sits alone without a laptop or smartphone and just  drinks coffee.  But this man did and others noticed.  How unusual is it not to see someone checking their phone every five seconds?  How can anyone exist without a smartphone these days?  Maybe he did what I often do and it was in his pocket closeby if he needed it.  He just wasn't using it. I read recently that JP Morgan Chase fights off about 45 billion attacks on their system per day.  There are probably a b...

 The last time I paid much attention to basketball is when LeBron James played for the Cavalers.  That was a long time ago.  I watched most of all their games at that time whenever I could.  That was about the last time I filled out an NCAA bracket.  I knew quite a bit about basketball then.  But since then my interest in basketball has curtailed sharply. Unlike college basketball, instead of losing interest in college football, I seem to have been more captivated this past year and into the post season.  But now it seems I'm not caring much about either, except that there are those who have high hopes for OSU football this coming season.  I'm not sure I'll pay much attention to the off-season.  But as for either pro or college basketball, I think not until maybe March Madness begins, then I might pay attention.   There was a lot of drama in college football this past season and I might give some attention to the changes during the ...

 Everyone has feet of clay.  Some feet are more clay than others.  My Spirituality makes me far from being perfect as you well know.  And I have a tendency to heap guilt on myself.  And living with family reminds me I'm far from perfect, but those of us who are more introverted believe we are at our best when we are alone. Perfection is NOT an attainable goal.  I have a tendency to be neurotic, caring too much about what I think others think.  But I have a way to deal with it by saying to my Spirit Guides to just take over.  It might be a bit easier for me to do this than others who are neurotic and aren't spiritual.  I find it easier to be around Spiritual people, because they tend to be more understanding and forgiving when my feet of clay are exposed. I've had to learn and still think of myself as a diamond in the rough.  And adapting to new living conditions hasn't been easy.  I'm not making excuses, but no human has been perfec...

 It seems Scotty Kilmer is always threatening to leave YouTube, but then I'll see something from him and decide he's just putting up click-bait.  I recently wrote an article about him, but deleting it thinking my audience really isn't into fixing cars.  Some of you might change the oil or tinker around with cars, but Scotty gives information in regard to most anything having to do with cars. A perfect example of this is when I took our car to the dealership for an oil change and they wanted to charge me $160 to clean my air conditioner.  I watched one of Scotty's videos and found out that an $8 can of Lysol every six months does the same thing.  Scotty hates car dealerships and apart from changing the oil, I don't want them to do anything else.  Often finding a good shade tree mechanic is the best way to go, but honest mechanics are getting harder to find. Scotty has videos on most any subject if one has the tools and the time to work a car oneself.  B...

 I'm writng this today from the perspective of an old Spiritual guy who made it this far in life.  I'm smoking my Dunhill with some Captain Bob's Blend this morning and decided to write about this topic for today.  My wife might worry about my pipe smoking, but I might give her more to worry about if I didnt smoke a pipe, which is my segue to my thinking today.  Love has anxieties as I'll explain below.  C. S. Lewis says that if you want to keep your heart intact, give your heart to no one--not even to an animal.  There's a lot more to his quote, but thar will suffice for now.  Lewis' wife died before he did and she was much younger than he. A woman married her husband 19 years her senior and says she has anxieties about his age.  I read her story about how she worries about her husband who is 55 and she's 36.  She says she had no idea of the anxieties she has to live with.  Now, I have news for her, because when you love someone you'll ...

 It's Sunday and I thought a good day to write about the past few months since moving in with our son.   We've experienced some changes. Moving from our condo to our son's house kind of threw me off my Spiritual journey.  I haven't quite been myself as of late, but as my wife says, it always takes me awhile to adjust after a move.  I began settling into the condo about the time of my birthday and with the holidays over, I'm adjusting again.  I always adapt, but sometimes it just takes awhile.  I never felt quite adjusted again here until my wife and I began making the bedroom into our bedroom with our own photos and paintings. We put the finishing touches up just this week and I'm beginning to get settled since we've decided to stay here for awhile.  But it took some time to leave the condo behind.  I'm getting back into my Spiritual groove and I believe that now I am getting there.  The other day, my wife and I talked about my adjustmen...

 This is a post about Scotty Kilmer on YouTube.  Of course, he has said good-bye a number of times to his viewers, but I've learned a lot about cars from him.  In a recent YouTube post he said he's taking down his vids with his over a billion views.  He says he's retiring. He's done a lot to educate both the seasoned mechanic and those of us who just like cars.  Scotty began his career after he received a Ph.D. in engineering and located to Houston where he was a race car mechanic.  He then had his own TV show on a local CBS affiliate.  He's always had his own shop and grew up around cars as his father had his own shop.  He then began his YouTube channel about 12 years ago and has been amassing views ever since. Back in 2015 we had a 2008 Pontiac Grand Prix that I was thinking we'd keep forever, but an accident totaled it and I had to shop for a car.  I stumbled upon Scotty then, who sold me on Toyota cars and am now on my third and probably ...

 I had several posts this morning that were ready, and decided on this one.  It 's just interesting. Golf balls are increasing in size.  They are going from 1.62 inches to 1.67 inches.  But why?  Ecology.  Now I read this and wondered why this is news.  The average pro will lose about five to nine yards on the average drive and the weekend golfer might lose only a few yards, if any.  But why is this significant?  I know most of you don't golf, but you might be interested to know why a new size golf ball matters to ecology.   Well, it's about technology.  Rory McElroy is a pro golfer, who in 2023 had the longest drives on the pro tour, and says he likes the increased size of golf balls.  But again why or how does this have an effect on ecology?  It's more about building new courses and about the maintenance of old ones.  Simply put the new size decreases the amount of land needed for courses.  It means the ol...

 I hope not.  I debated with myself about posting this one, because I'm far from perfect, but decided to post this anyway.  I still err and when I do, my wife is not shy about letting me know when I've messed up, but just let me say that I try my best. A model on a date with her husband observed two couples having a dinner date.  The restaurant was below ground with no windows.  It had been raining and was still raining quite hard when the four stood at the door.  The four were debating with each other as to who among them should get the car.  One of the men in the group asked who in the group had the least expensive shoes.  That was an "ick" factor for the woman observing the group of four.  Chivalry would say the owner of the car get it for the other three.  But the men debated only about the cost of their shoes.   Did it really matter?  I thought about this as my wife and I are older; and of course she needs my help in ...

 Maybe a better question might be, "Why?"  Okay, I have to admit that I am not much for social media, but the headlines caught my attention.  How can a one year old child be three years old?  I have to admit that I read the headline and wondered how it could be if the child was born in June of 2022.  Some people throw something out on social media just hoping something will become a media sensation.  I know something about mothers and children but am not quite sure how it is that something so rational becomes seemingly out of the ordinary. This mother did just that letting the clicks hit and being quiet until she felt it was time to explain how this could be.  Was this some anomaly?  She finally had enough hits and questions until she explained her logic.  By now, maybe at least a few have figured it out, but it was nothing of the miraculous.  The mother was just being rather clever.  Her son was born in June '22 and saw the entire ...

 Millinials tend to be an unsettled group, but why?  Many no longer want city life due to rising costs of paying rent.  So, during the pandemic they moved to the quiet suburbs where they could afford a house.  But what has happened since they bought those houses during the pandemic? They have depreciated and many want to move back to the city where they don't have to drive 30 minutes to an hour or find that bar where everyone knows your name. The commutes are longer, and while housing was affordable at that time, some are underwater with their homes having depreciated since.  But some have decided to ditch suburban life and move back to the cities.  Too often the suburbs are too quiet and some just miss city life.  It's a famiar story for many millilials.   This is a story about today's millinials with growing families that have become disillusioned by suburban life.  I guess we're talking here about New York City in particular, but this...

 First of all, congrats are in order for Michigan fans this morning.  It will be a very interesting off-season for college football.  There is a question a lot of people are asking about Shakespeare.  Did Shakespeare smoke weed?  Research has been done around Shakespeare's home that indicates Shakespeare was perhaps known to partake in using drugs.  He once complained of writer's block and believed he had to spend his time creating.  As is true of many poets of his day and since, drugs have been used to sttir the creativity of the mind and it seems Shakespeare was no exception. But before we jump to conclusions a little light must be shed on the subject.  Francis Thackery and his team of researchers from Witwatersand University in South Africa were loaned some clay pioe fragments found on the Bard's property in Stratford-von-Avon.  Eight pipe fragments tested positive for cannibiss and two tested positive for Peruvian Cocaine.   The...

 The year has cycles.  It seems every November we begin looking forward to Christmas, but when the holidays are over we're faced with January.  It is the month that might be dreaded the most unless in my wife's case your birthday is in January.  It is the month that is literally in the dead of Wnter.  Things seem to brighten a bit as we begin to look forward to Valentine's Day in February and after that we begin to think about Spring.   But the bleaknest of all months is January with perhaps August in the summer.  I had a lot to write about in December, but now that the holidays are over, I'm finding myself doing a lot of reading to find things to write about here.  Maybe I need some weed, just to expand my mind a bit, but for me tobacco is enough with the occassiinal glass of wine.   I am thinking about my wife's birthday toward the end of the month and I have begun shopping for that special gift for her as I do every year.  B...

 I haven't really reviewed my Dunhill pipe after having smoked it a couple of days since receiving my English tobacco order.  But I got to thinking that now that I have my Dunhill, I really don't need more pipes unless at some point I decide to order a Dr. Grabow pipe from Amazon.  I can just focus on tobacco now, of which I have plenty.  But do I need to review my Dunhill pipe now that I have smoked it a couple of days? My thinking is that I don't need to review ir, since it has the white dot.  But apart from a Dr. Grabow, there is no need for another pipe unless a family member were to find one that is just extra special.  After I smoke my English tobacco, I might have had my fill of English.  It's just that I am one of those pipe smokers that enjoys most any tobacco.  I've found that Aitumn Evening just might have too much Vitginia and has a fairly high Nicotine content. Some say that Burley smells too much like cigarettes, but I enjoy Burley t...

 I've been told that my tobacco reviews are interesting.  I reviewed two tobacco blends on Smoking Pipes, but have since taken them down.  I'm not big on writing reviews for a mass audience, but I enjoy writung reviews here.  I like to tell you what my wife thinks of certain tobaccos, but I bought one recently I knew she would like the least.  I think I will start there. Since this is a couole of days in advance, I know I can start with Ashton's Artisan's Blend, because out of the nine I ordered I smoked this one first.  I decided to smoke this one first in my new Dunhill.  I've been asked about where I get my tobacco and how do I know what to order.  With rare exception, I order primarily from Smoking Pipes as I have now for quite a few years.  They have the best selection of both pipes and tobacco, and if my wife is looking for something for me, she'll order from them unless she finds something some place else.   I can't say exact...

 I had a post written about hatred, but it was too religious in nature and just too broad in scope.  I'll try again, and if I decide to post this you'll know it's just better.  First of all, I don't take sides in politics or warfare.  I have been pretty much against war my entire life and would have registered as a conscientious objector, if need be, during the Vietnam Wat.   As for politics, let me say I don't really care.  I used to care a lot, but no more.  One might ask me why and my response is that I see the person; not their politics.  I simply refuse to choose sides and then hate the other side.  I've chosen rather to refuse to hate.  I can actually love most anyone regardless of beliefs, because what matters to me is what I think matters to God.   I'm a firm believer in Human Life and I don't believe that God sees politics as much as He sees individuals.  I could go into great depth here, but I could go down ...

 I haven't written much here about my heart health, but actually I seem to be doing just fine with the occasional shortness of breath I get from doing certain things.  But I never experience chest pains, but always keep the nitro closeby just in case.  Actually though, most wouldn't even know I'm still a heart patient with a need to take medication for my heart.  Right now, our family doctor monitors my health with regular check-ups with a BP reading every three months or so. But apart from the occasional shortness of breath, I seem to do just fine.  But in our busy lives, it's easy to ignore our health, although it seems monitoring what we eat is the first step in the right direction.  Heart health is often ignored until it is too late, but even a couope of months before my heart attack, I had a BP reading of 120/80 which was just about perfect for what was then a 60 year old man.   But believe me when I say I am obsessive about my heart health t...

 I'm wondering what I will say today, but as someone once said of me, I'm always thinking about something, which I am.  It's still very early in the new year and I'm thinking that 2024 just won't be like any other year.  But do I know something only known to me?  No.   In fact, one COULD say I'm guessing.  If I were a betting man I might bet on this being a quite unusual year, but then it seems as though every year is quite unusual and it seems looking back every year has its own surprises. This year will be no different.  It seems in 2023, I followed college football more closely than I ever have with each season I say I'm not going to pay attention to college football.  But so far this basketball season, I have yet to even watch a game let alone just tune into one.  I've pretty much given up most other sports including the NFL.  I had some interest in pro baseball during the World Series, but can't remember who won.   I ...

 I'm waiting for my next order of tobacco today.  Depending on what time it arrives, I'll smoke my new Dunhill pipe, which I know will be my second favorite pipe next to my Angel pipe.  My order was to have been here Saturday.  I have nine different tobacco blends arriving with one being Spiced Rum that will make for a nice cooler weather Aromatic. I'm not sure I have had Spiced Rum from Sutliff, but I was looking for a nice Aromatic to compliment my order of eight different English blends  As to how I choose tobaccos is basically hit or miss. Just as any tobacco blend I have had.  There is nothing I have smoked I have not liked.  I am not a fussy pipe smoker as some have a favorite and stick to it.  Some pipe smokers might begin with a blend and smoke nothing else.  But how did I choose the eight English tobaccos I ordered?  Mostly, I asked Google.  I wanted what I thought might be the very best English blend.  Google gave me ...