Pipeology - The Fine Art of Pipe Smoking and Thought

 I really don’t care which team is your favorite today.  What I care about the most is that you respect all Hunan Life.  But rivalry football is fun.  No question about it.  I watched some college football yesterday and care mostly about the OSU/Michigan game, but I’m intrigued by the Texas/Texas A&M game.  That could be an upset game.  I’ll keep an eye on it.  But mostly, I’m not sure I care that much about who wins the whole thing.   A lot of games have yet to be played and it could be most anyone who wins.  I tenjoy the distraction of college football, but in some ways it is all it is.  I might be more focused on the holidays and the meaning of the season, but I am more secular about Christmas believing Jesus was born in April.  But that gets close to Easter, which for me is more religious.   I like Santa Claus and reindeer and images of Christmas trees.  I still get excited about watching others opening gifts ...

 As I’ve grown older and lived under the guidance of my Spirit Guides my thoughts have changed about a lot of things.  My thoughts have changed about pipe smoking.  I might smoke more now than I have before the last five years or so, but my thoughts have changed about my pipes.  I used to think that if I had ten grand to spend on a pipe I’d want to smoke the damn thing.  But these days I’m not so sure.  I’m content with my pipe collection having one Dunhill estate pipe.   Sure it’s used.  But my family went together to get it for me.  I wasn’t even sure about smoking it at first, but now it is in my pipe rotation and I smoke it one day a week.  I have enough pipes to rotate every several weeks but I have my favorites.  But getting back to that ten grand pipe I could never afford.  I think if my collection had that kind of pipe I would never smoke it.   I debated about my Dunhill at first.  But then I decided it wasn’t...

 Of course we have historical images of Pilgrims sharing Thanksgiving with American Indians.  Historians are saying now it may have not been like that.  But Thanksgiving is more secular than Christmas.  Families of all faiths come together at Thanksgiving.  It’s a national holiday celebrated by all Americans.  The tradition runs deep in our history.   This is a special time of year for me especially.  I went there the other day and need not say anything more about it.  It will be a quiet Thanksgiving with just my wife and I, but that does not diminish the meaning of the day.  We have celebrated this day with extended family and have had quiet Thanksgivings with just our own family.  We don’t socialize as much as we used to.  And I’m fine with that. Although later today we’ve invited friends over for desert. I’ll watch some pro football games this afternoon and evening, but apart from that there is nothing planned for the day. ...

 Nothing is more sacred to God than Human Life including our own lives.  I really don’t have to say much more than this.  God will forgive any other sin but this.  It is the only thing God cares about.  But Jesus said 2,000 years ago that there will be wars and rumors of war.  Warriors study wars about how battles are won or lost.  Does God include wars?  I tend to think so.   This is why I have chosen to avoid warfare believing in Peace at all costs.  But Jesus knew something about humanity that is true today.  The world is frought with bloodshed of all kinds.  This is what causes people much like myself the most stress.  But God kept me from war.  I could have enlisted out of high school as I was only 17 during Vietnam.  The draft was on hold until the lottery that December.  In September I registered for the draft and got a college deferment.   But the lottery had no deferments.  I had to wait u...

 I can’t ignore the fact this is rivalry week in college football.  I watched a video last night from a YouTuber who follows college football throughout the year.  Most years he’s attended the OSU/Mich game but he says not this year.  He’s from Georgia and has found the OSU/Mich game as the game not to attend.  I know some of you aren’t into college football, but this year he says the Texas A&M game with Texas is the game to watch this year.  It’s where he is headed.   I might have more curiosity about the SEC than I do about the BIG10.  The top four teams of the BIG10 will be in the playoffs.  But it’s the SEC that has drawn the most interest.  He thinks Texas A&M can upset Texas.  And if they do, he’s wondering how the SEC gets into the playoffs.  He’s betting on an upset there in Texas.  And for the first time since 2010 Alabama won’t be there.  And should Texas lose how does the SEC fare in the playoffs? ...

 Of course I worry about getting older.  I just shaved off my beard. But decided to grow it back.  It will take some time, but I wanted reactions without it.  My wife likes me better with a short beard and shaved sides with mustache.  So, I’ve begun growing it back.  But I get a lot of stuff related to aging.  I’m not worried about being 73.  My task as I see it is to focus on the Divine Intervention to come.   If I worried about aging I’d say so.  But I’m not.  Besides I’m not worried about death and dying.  I need youth to keep me young.  But if I were worried about aging, I guess I’d be worried about many things but I’m not.  My body is a little slow and I do enough to keep my mind active.  While age is just a number, as we get older we are constantly reminded we’re not as young as we used to be. Every holiday season I’m reminded it might be my last, but still I’m not worried.  My body reminds me I’m not ...

 I could get too much football this week as it is rivalry week across the nation.  And there are pro games that interest me on Thanksgiving Day.  I could watch all kinds of analyses and predictions, but I’ll try to avoid all that as much as possible.  I have stated here so many times that life is about balance.  Just enough but not too much.   This is how I try to live my life.  Even in regard to my Spiritual life.   I don’t have a lot to say this morning I haven’t already said, but I can’t write about balance too much.  Especially when it comes to food on Thanksgiving.  We tend to over eat during the holidays thinking we’ll join a gym or work out those extra pounds when the holidays are over.  Balance is as much about food as it is most anything else.   When we share love and Peace, that’s never too much.  We fight evil with love and Peace.  But when it comes to material things too much is too much.  Even when i...

 Yesterday I wrote about how I associate Thanksgiving with the Wizard of Oz.  It is less than a week before Thanksgiving and we’re beginning to make our plans.  I consider the week before Thanksgiving as the week we make our plans for that special day.  A Kava bar my son often goes to is planning a potluck Thanksgiving.  My wife says she might like to go.  Frankly, even if it’s just her and myself I’d like to just stay home as I like to avoid social settings.  But if she says we’re going then we’ll go.   I can’t write enough about how special this time of year is.  We are making plans for my son and his friends to visit.  His coming is more about Christmas than decorations and gift shopping.  I’m really looking forward to his coming.  Christmas has always been crazy for us since my wife grew up celebrating with family.  My wife’s first Christmas with my family saw my father leaving to minister to a family that was experien...

 I had a friend in college who associated Turkey with the Wizard of Oz.  Not sure why he did this because the Wizard of Oz was always shown on TV in the spring.  I assume they did this as it was tomato season in the Midwest that was just beginning.  The night my oldest son was born, I watched that movie as my wife was resting with him asleep in her arms.  Fathers, especially new ones, are just emotionally tired.  That was in March and every year of his birthday my wife reminds me.   I had gone to Taco Bell for my dinner and ate tacos while watching the movie.  I can’t go to Taco Bell without remembering.  It seems to be my favorite comfort food.  And I’m reminded every year of my friend who made the association between turkeys and the Wizard of Oz.  And I never understood this association between the two.  But every Thanksgiving I remember his association.   So, obviously I have to write about it.  While growing up, w...

 It would be far too easy in this day and age to write about anything political, but I’ll avoid doing that.  I seem to be at my best writing about the Spiritual, but this time of year, a week from Thanksgiving, I can be reflective about the Season, but I can only say so much finding humor every year in a red Speedo.  But it’s more than all that. I’m not paying much attention to the goings on in this world. My wife says I’m obsessed about things from above.  I think I am. And maybe I need to apologize for this.  But my experience with the Divine is what defines me.  I can’t help this.  It is who I am.  Like football, I need my distractions, which I find about Christmas with Santa, reindeer, and a red Speedo.  I find lounging on a beach with my pipe a distraction.  Otherwise, my thoughts take me heavenward.  There is nothing inherently wrong with this, but I DO need my distractions, or I get lost in thought that removes me from the wo...

 Christmas isn’t just about a red Speedo, but it’s about other things like Angels and the Holy Family.   I realize this.  As much as I like Santa and his reindeer, every Christmas my attention turns more heavenward.  I’m more focused there.  I was moved watching a re-creation of the Angel telling Mary who she was.  Mary was chosen for this very purpose.  Chosen people are special.  No question. But as we get closer to the season I never forget why.  Now, I realize Christmas is many things to many people.  And I believe Jesus was born in the Spring.  But there are so many reasons to celebrate a December Christmas.  Retailers plan their retail year around it.  And it’s the end of the tax year.  Many donations are written off this time of year.  I would prefer a secular Christmas in December and a holy Christmas in April.   But the images of both the religious and the secular fill our minds.  In my thinkin...

 Yesterday I wrote about the nostalgia of Christmas and maybe this is the year I get my red Speedo I can wear at the beach while lounging on the beach smoking my pipe.  We’ve been here a couple of years now and while we’ve visited the beach I have yet to smoke my pipe on a secluded beach.  Maybe I’ll do that after the first of the year minus the red Speedo according to my wife if history is a lesson.  I’ll never get one according to her.   But at least I wouldn’t be some old guy with a beer belly in a red Speedo, which seem to be the only guys who wear them.  I am a dainty  trim 185 pounds.  Frankly I don’t think I’d look too bad in one.  But all I’ll get are images of fat guys in red Speedos.  Otherwise it will be traditional trunks.   But at least I’m getting in the Christmas spirit of things as Thanksgiving approaches.  I’m not sure I have the courage to wear a red Speedo anyway.  I put a couple of tropical shirts in my...

 Christmas is all about tradition actually beginning with the nostalgia of Thanksgiving.  But I enjoy revisiting Christmases past, even if scenes are before my time.  It might be early to be writing about Christmas, but YouTube is giving me a lot of winter scenes, maybe not with Christmas music but the scenes are there.   I’m an old guy who enjoys revisiting the past, but I can only take so much of it this early in the season.  I still like images of Santa sitting on a secluded beach when it’s all over.  But I can still feel nostalgic seeing images of the traditional Santa Claus.  I still like the idea of Santa Claus and his reigndeer.  Like I said it might be too early for Christmas, but even in July I can feel nostalgic about Christmas. But why do we feel this way about Christmas any time of year?  I’m not sure except for many in spite of our problems throughout the year images of Christmas reminds us of usually happy times.  There are...

 I’m more interested in having those who are curious about Angels as friends not as my FB introduction suggests than I am keeping up with old friends or who want to follow me because of who I am.  If I wanted a lot of follows I would be friends with my oldest son.  But he gets my link to these blogs and can read them when he has time.  I’m not the same person I was in college and seminary and my wife stays in contact with old friends.   I could follow religious leaders, but prefer not to.  In fact I could have a variety of friends and might if the Spirit leads that way.  Many religious leaders think as I do—that these are Last Days.  But I like to think we are on the brink of a New Beginning, and instead of goon and doom, I think quite the opposite and have a positive outlook and have for quite some time now.  Things are as they are to be for a New Beginning.  If I felt otherwise I would say so, but I don’t.   I am quite upbeat and ...

 Balance is about always enough.  That includes everything in life.  The only exceptions might be both love and peace.  We can’t have too much of these.  But in all things balance is always enough.  Too much of anything isn’t good.  I guess we could talk about the necessities of life, but that all depends.  It is accepting what we have and work for what we want more of.  Some don’t have enough things they want in life, but some are content with what they have or don’t have. We want enough food to live on.  We want adequate shelter.  Some want nicer clothes.  But too much attention to certain things can be too much.  It all depends.  But contentment comes from having enough.  Jealousy occurs when we want more than what we have and reality says we can’t always get what we want.  But real contentment comes from having enough.   We might not get steaks every day, but enough is always having enough of anythi...

 Erich Segal in his book Love Story says, “Love means never having to say ‘you’re sorry.’”  This might be true if we loved perfectly, but no love is perfect.  It often means saying you’re sorry.  I was once asked long ago what love means.  Sometimes we don’t get it until we’ve been married for nearly fifty years.  Then you begin wondering how much time is left until death parts you.  Then of course it’s too late.   Our perceptions are different when we are young, but as a couple ages together they both begin to understand.  It takes time for love to take hold.  Meanwhile there might be a lot of “sorties” along the way.  Why?  No love is perfect.  If there is a perfect love then there is no need to say, “I’m sorry.”   Love grows.  I know it does.  Sometimes it does with a lot of heartache and pain.  But if it grows, there are a lot of sorties along the way.  Love is not chosen, but often does the ch...

 I like the drama of college football.  Who’s in and who’s not?  A 12-team playoff format makes things interesting to watch.  Can a one loss team beat a no loss team?  It’s just fascinating to watch.  I need the distraction to keep me down to earth so to speak.  In fact, even grocery shopping keeps me earth bound.  As does going to the gym.  Anything to take my mind off being too heavenly oriented, which I can be.   I’ve found distractions to be good , as long as distractions aren’t obsessions.  Balance is always enough but not too much.  Even though pipe smoking is a part of my Spirituality, if I make it a hobby that it is, even my pipes are balance.  There for an awhile I was watching videos of murferers getting caught.  I wanted to see their reactions once they realized what they had done.  There for awhile YouTube thought that was all I wanted to see.  I had to go back and get YouTube to rid itself of th...

 Everyone is God’s people except murderers.  A man ran into a group of Chinese people meditating in a park and 36 died. Chinese news reports of this incident was blocked by the Chinese government, but the news got out.  No one deserves to die at the hands of another Human Being.   Detention is one thing, but death is quite another.  The worst sorrow is knowing you have intentionally taken a Human Life.  And if the sorrow doesn’t come in life, it will certainly come at death.  How do I know this?  My Spirit Guides told me.  God can overlook any other sin, but every Human Life belongs only to God.  Laws punish accordingly, but when it comes to Human Life God punishes accordingly. All Human Life matters.  I can’t stress this enough.  But so do our laws.  They matter too, especially when it comes to Human Life and after that is God’s judgment.  But for God murderers matter most.  I have told my wife this and this is ...

 I decided I’ve been sitting smoking my pipe too much, and since coming back from NY I’ve decided to join a gym with my wife.  I’ve been going a few times a week and decided it was good for my heart,  I walk an average of a mile most days I go.  My iPhone 16 tells me how much daily exercise I am getting and often reminds me when I need more exercise.   My wife and I have been going on afternoon walks when I don’t go to the gym, but sometimes I feel my iPhone nags too much about exercise.  There are days I don’t feel like doing much of anything, but I feel better about some exercise than none at all.  We’re hoping we’ll have our own car by Christmas and that will help us a lot.  I still don’t miss having sold our car.  We need something smaller.   But when I had my heart attack I just wasn’t taking very good care of myself.  I shed those extra pounds and have managed to keep my weight down.  I shed those extra pounds and watch m...

 I’ve been feeling particularly thankful the past week or so.  I survived two brushes with death and now that I’m getting up in years I’m thankful every single day.  I’m thankful to be alive these days.  I know it might seem rather psychotic to believe in Divine Intervention, but it is coming and I believe rather soon.  I know some of you won’t believe this, but my life has been spared to see it happen and instead of thinking about the end, I’m thinking about the New Beginning. It’s happening right before our very eyes.  I’m thankful to live so long to see it happen.  I wish I could state more adequately and eloquently how I feel, but being thankful is the best I can do.  I’m thankful to live to see the transition take place.  It is not the end as many would have us believe.  It is the end of the old and the beginning of the new.  But it’s not man made.  It is what I see God and the heavens doing.  The world is being set u...

 I’m too old to sit around and worry about what people think.  It’s just one of those things.  I got of social media for a long time and decided to try it on FB again.  But I learned from last time.  As my wife says, just keep it simple and decided to let my blogs speak to those who want to read them.  Some people make social media a platform, but I’ve decided what I have is of limited interest.  If others want to friend me on my new account fine, but if I cared about hits I might be concerned.  But I write mostly for my wife and family, otherwise I’m not sure I care. I’m just too old to care.  I let my Spirit Guides worry about numbers.  My task is to just keep my brain thinking so I just don’t atrophy.  Keeping my brain active is enough for me.  I interact mentally in what I read without the need to feel like I comment on everything.  I have a very simple philosophy about religious things and believe all that matters is ...

 I love the holiday season.  Every year I get wrapped up (no pun intended) in the Christmas season.  It’s still too early to be writing about Christmas, but every year it seems the holiday season begins earlier and earlier.  Merchants used to wait until Thanksgiving to begin advertising with their Black Friday deals, but now they  begin after Halloween.  And already this year those commercials are being aired.  We seem to not avoid them. But Christmas is often about so many things from Santa to the Holy Family.  But what gets to me every year are all the images about Angels.  Okay, angels aren’t winged creatures that are from 2,000 years ago, but more often than not just take a human form.  But already I watched a music video about an angel appearing to Mary announcing her birth of the Christ child.  And for some reason that video affected me quite emotionally.   My point is that I’m hoping I can make it through the season not ...

 I have had two near death experiences that helped shaped my Spirituality as it is today.  I didn’t actually die either time, but both times I was saved within minutes.  I have a Master’s Degree in theology that I pretty much ditched after my experience with the Divine and replaced it with a very simple theology a five year old can understand.  God wants us to live and let live.  That is it.  That and simply to do no harm to oneself or to others.   Simply by being able to live with yourself in all you do Is what matters.  No church of any kind could accept such a simple philosophy of life and living.  No one ever has a reason to not live with oneself.  But we read about it every day.  And we read about all the reasons others take Human Life.  This is what saddens me the most.   Such a simple rule for living negates a lot, both in the Bible,  and all other kinds of philosophies.  This is why at the end of the day ...

 For you younger readers Jack Benny was a comedian who started.on Vaudeville and had a popular radio program in the 40’s and 50’s before moving on to having his own TV show and making many guest appearances on YV.  His thing was most notably being stingy.  He often used a violin as his prop.   I was listening to one of his old radio shows from November of ‘47, which was aired live in front of a studio audience.  What amazed me most was that his sponsor was Lucky Strike cigarettes.  The only time I tried smoking as a kid was with a friend who had a pack of Lucky Strikes.  As an old guy having survived a heart attack, I am very thankful I hated smoking and my experimentation was with one or two of them.  I didn’t understand how adults enjoyed smoking so much. But I digress.  It was refreshing to listen to the old radio program and brought back many memories of both watching black and white TV and listening to old radio programs as a kid.  ...

 The campaigning is over.  All those political ads are gone.  No more politics for another two years.  There are no lingering questions about who won.  Some are happy and some are sad.  I’m just glad it’s over now.  I can relax now without thinking about politics.  I for one feel relieved.  I think we can all feel relieved it’s over.  No waiting for results.   It’s been quite awhile since I have smoked Autumn Evening and in my last order I decided to get four ounces of it for my wife, because it smells so good.  It is probably the most fragrant of most any Aromatic have a strong Maple pancake aroma.  Autumn Evening has a slight nicotine kick so I must smoke it slowly. But now that the elections are over, I can relax a lot more than I have in the past few days leading up to the elections.  I got stressed a bit by all the ads down here in Florida especially about amendments on marijuana and abortion.  Neither of wh...

 I’m not sure I can spend a whole review on just a single pipe tobacco, but I’ll try.  Golden Days Of Yore is a pipe tobacco by Cornell and Diehl.  I’ve now smoked a number of bowls in a couple of different pipes and as the name would suggest it is a small batch tobacco for Christmas of ‘24.  But my first comment about it is that it has no tongue bite and once lit remains lit to the end.   This blend has a slight spiciness to it with a hint of cinnamon flavor.  There is a spiciness, but not a Latakia spiciness.  There is a sweetness to it most notably from the Virginias.  This is a tobacco that is an Aromatic and would be best smoked by a fireside at Christmas, no doubt about it.  It has a very pleasant room note most would enjoy indoors.   It comes only in a two-ounce tin and is anvailable only for this year.  All the aromas of Christmas are there including Allspice and Nutmeg.  Flavors of Chocolate and Rum are also present an...

 My wife and I had a heart to heart talk the other night and yesterday morning I woke up feeling nauseous.  I decided it was stress I didn’t need.  I’ve said here about all I’ve needed to say and yesterday morning I watched car chases from LA on YouTube.  I watched some football analyses on the games from Saturday and decided I had said enough about Spiritual things.  But why car chases?  Because I enjoy watching them. One car chase involved a Corvette that reached speeds of 160 mph.  The news helicopter could almost keep with it!  I hate to see crashes where innocent people get hurt and I hate to see officers draw their guns.  But most of the time no one gets hurt and the officers catch the drivers without having to draw their guns.  But I enjoy seeing the drivers get caught.   The fact is I find these videos to be a distraction for me much like college football is a distraction for me.  I can only spend so much time on Spirit...

 …if I die.  I will be here when the Messiah comes.  The only proof I have is my life.  There is no other proof.  The only thing I worry about is pain and suffering.  How much do I have to endure in order to live?  No one will harm me, but the worst pain I have ever endured was my heart attack.  I refuse to make stress have me another one.  Some people survive several.  I’m hoping that will not be the case.   So, yes, I’m always concerned about a few extra pounds.  I’m concerned about my BP.  Another heart attack could kill me, but while it won’t, I’m not sure about the pain of another one.  My appendicitis wasn’t really painful, but I could keep nothing down.  I was again just a few minutes from death.  Even if I will not die, there is nothing to prevent the pain from almost dying.  I’ve been there twice now and wish not to go through all that again. So, it is imperative I care for my health.  Eve...

 I can feel at times that I’m not deserving of my Spirit Guides, but I did not summon them, but that they came to me.  I can think of so many ways I failed them, but at the same time I realize they saved me from myself.  But I can still think of myself as God’s worst instead of His best.  I won’t try to explain this, but this is my own secret about having been chosen.  Many are called but very few are chosen.  I was saved by Angels and not by the teachings of any person,   This is why joining a church after the experience was such a fiasco for both me and that church and why I vowed never to join a church again.  I can’t belong to any group or religion for this reason.  I feel I can’t.  I am a religion of one.  This is the way it will always be and has been.  I simply don’t belong in a church or group.   But some might wonder if it gets lonely in my Ivory Tower, so to speak.  Not really.  If I doubted about God’s...