Pipeology - The Fine Art of Pipe Smoking and Thought

 Okay, I was born in Iowa and lived there for about the first six months of my life until my family moved to Illinois.  I thought the town where I was born was just a wide spot in the road until I recently learned it has a population of about 75,000.  But that isn't where my family lived.  My dad had to travel about a half hour to get to the hospital.  And since I lived in Iowa for such a short time in my little life, I have no memories of ever having been there.  But it's what my birth certificate says and that is all I know.   I've seen photos of Iowa my dad took back then, but that is all I know about Iowa.  Absolutely nothing.  So, why bring it up?  Because Google put Barnum, Iowa on the map.  It is a dinky town of 174 people with one bar.  I won't give advertising to the bar, but Google has put all kinds of things on the map.  People the world over are finding UFO crash sites, military installations, strange form...

 The photo above is of a feral cat I took just this early morning.  It's a Saturday morning as I sit on the deck of our NY home.  I can hear no manmade noises.  Just a lot of birds, and occasionally, the chickens next door.  And their rooster is crowing announcing the arrival of morning, although he does crow most any time of day.  But it's mostly the birds I hear.  Just a very uneventful cloudy Saturday morning.   I am smoking my Boswell pipe this morning, as I await the possible arrival os light showers this morning.  I am almost down to the last of my Lane 1-q.  In a day or two, I'll have to open my can of Captain Black Original.  I have my next tobacco order ready to go.  But I have plenty until it arrives early the next week.  My pipe makes no noises.  I ask myself as to what is on my mind this morning that I can write about. Actually, since arriving here in NY, my mind has been relatively quiet.  I rea...

 I think I have now found my two favorite English tobaccos, with Old Professor being number one and Haunted Bookshop being number two.  Old Professor has never been in the top 100 list on Smoking Pipes, but while I can't feel totally responsible for it happening, it has now moved up to make that list.  It deserves to be there.  But of all the English tobaccos I have smoked that is the one my wife hates the most. But that isn't why I like it.  Old Professor is Old School, pardon the pun, English tobacco.  It's not the name or that it evolks memories of the old professor smoking a pipe in his office, but just that it is what a good English tobacco should be.  It does evoke memories of English tobaccos back in the day.  A lot of pipe smokers smoked Captain Black or Prince Albert, but whenever a pipe smoker would smoke English tobaccos it seems Old Professor nails it perfectly.  It is what a good English tobacco should be. Haunted Bookshop says i...

 I was trained to be a theologian.  With a background in philosophy.  I had no business acumen.  So, of course after I left the church I felt lost and probably was.  My Spirituality saved me, but I didn't know what to do with it and in some ways I still don't.  I kind of had this tunnel vision about life having been raised in the church.  So, I AM a fish out of water, so to speak. But at my age is it too late?  I'm thinking it isn't.  I have been molded into the man I am today.  I no longer see my Spirituality I keep to myself.  I have another month here in NY to prepare for going back to Florida.  And what I've done here is mostly listen.  What do my Spit Guides WANT me to do?  In a way I've already begun even if it is just a person at a time.   My wife seems to think I spend too much time with my pipes, but I do enough to stay busy around here.  I was going to mow yesterday, but my wife and I spent ti...

 I thought about writing about another pipe this morning, but I got to thinking about other pipes that are used recreationally for something like Marijuana.  Can a bong be used for tobacco, for example.  Actually, tobacco can be smoked in most anything designed for smoking.  There are novelty pipes made of various plastics that are used recreationally for Marijuana that can be used for tobacco.   But the most enjoyment of tobacco is from a good Briar pipe.  Clay has been used.  Stone has been used.  Glass has been used.  In fact a pipe can be fashioned from most any wood.  Meerschaum pipes are wonderful.  And the opposite is true for smoking weed.  Marijuana can be smoked in most any kind of pipe, including Briar.  But why a Briar pipe for tobacco?  Tobacco tends to burn hot.  And Briar has been found to be the best wood for tobacco pipes.   Tobacco can be smoked in a vapor pipe, but I caution anyo...

 Introverts have a hard time in today's world where people have an immediate reaction to what goes on around them.  I'm not as extroverted as I used to be, but in a way, Spiritual people are drawn into themselves.  I'm like this.  Ministry forced me into being an extrovert and I didn't like it there, probably just for that reason.  But I've learned it's okay to be introverted, but maybe not too much.  You won't find introverts on today's game shows.  And introverts aren't generally performers.   Introverts are the IT people who work on computers all day.  But I've found smoking my pipe suits my personality quite well.  I can get lost in my own worlds from time to time.  And I know that isn't good.  And in today's world pipe smoking as a hobby isn't really going to force one to meet a lot of people who do the same.  I'm quite comfortable talking one-on-one, but not so much in groups.   But I've found that is ...

 Around the end of June and the first of July I am thinking about getting another year older, but not in a good way like a kid anticipating being a teenager at 13.  I used to think of 73 as being old.  Now I look at obits of celebrities and want to know how old they were when they died.  Anyone dying under 70 is too young to die and now 90 or older seems about right.  But I don't think about death and dying but more about my body at 73.  Particularly my mind.  I'm not as sharp as I used to be, but both my wife and I are still blessed with pretty good minds. We have a story of steps in this house we have to go up and down, but I do more of that than my wife does.  Doing laundry for example, requires several trips.  And then I go to the garage several times a day.  There are stairs off the deck that I'll go up and down several times in a week or so.  Then there are several trips up and down to carry in groceries.   But is 73...