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Public Service Announcements

I received an email from Glen Whelan saying the PPN2025 POY is moving through production
and it shouldn’t be long now…

THE TEXAS PIPE SHOW
is next Saturday in Midlothian, Texas–
the Pete Geeks will meet for pancakes beforehand at the local IHOP,
time & location forthcoming.

LANCE “BOOMER” DAHL’S PETERSON EXHIBITION

Veteran’s Day is Tuesday, and every Veteran’s Day I raise a pipe to thank the men I know and have known who’ve served their country. My uncles Glen, Jim, and Dale all served in the Army Air Force.  Gigi’s dad was navigator for the B29 “Gettin’ Ready stationed on the famous North Field of Tinian base in WWII. My uncle Bill died on a routine flight training mission during the Korean conflict. Gigi’s brother flew an A-10 Warthog during the Cold War. At 6 foot Something, his nickname was (understandably) “Tree.” It seems right that so many airmen smoke a pipe, doesn’t it?

I didn’t get permission to add “Boomer” to Lance’s name this morning, and if he had a nickname in the service, he didn’t tell me. But “Boomer” fits.  Not just because that’s what he’s done for his country and later as a First Responder, but because it describes his intensity, precision, thoughtful integrity, and generosity as an absolutely stand-up guy. He’s the guy I’d want around if I found myself in any type of dangerous situation.

Lance’s part of the exhibition begins at the Peterson’s Patent strut sign and comes forward to the viewer.

Before we look at the small part of Lance’s collection he brought to Vegas (as those who were at this year’s Chicago show know or have seen at Post #458), I asked him if he’d share just a little bit about his journey.

Mark: I know you’ve had what I consider an amazing life and not just one but multiple careers of service, two running concurrently.

The life of a Boomer (check out THIS exhibit)

Lance: I have been fortunate.  My journey in the military began when I was 19, joining the  Air National Guard in 1987. In 1989, I cross-trained as an Inflight Air Refueling technician—a  “Boomer”–and flew with the 116th Air Refueling squadron for 27 years.

Mark: And a “Boomer,” if you’re not familiar with that line of military service, (and I quote from that eminent authority, A.I.) is “a highly skilled aircrew member in the U.S. Air Force who operates the refueling boom to transfer fuel to other aircraft during flight. This dangerous and complex job requires extensive training in maneuvering the boom, communicating with pilots, and managing in-flight operations. Boomers are responsible for safely guiding the aircraft, connecting the boom, and initiating the fuel transfer at high speeds and altitudes.”

Lance: In that capacity, I deployed to just about every theater of operations from Desert Shield and Desert Storm to Kosovo and then back to the desert many times after 9/11. In 2013, I retired as an E-8 SMSGT.

Assistant Fire Chief Dahl not long ago, doing an educational piece about propane

After Desert Storm, I finished my degree and sought additional gainful employment, and in 1995 I signed up with the City of Spokane Fire Department as a firefighter. As you can imagine, working two jobs from 1995-2013 didn’t allow me to concentrate on promotion within the fire department. When I retired from the WAANG (Washington Air National Guard), I started up through the ranks as a firefighter.

Moving up meant going off the line from being a firefighter and swift-water rescue team member and instructor into the Spokane Fire Department’s prevention division as a Deputy Fire Marshal. Over the past twelve years I’ve been promoted up to Assistant Fire Marshal and then the Division Chief / Deputy Chief of the prevention division.

In 2017, at the age of 49, I was diagnosed with stage three colon cancer. This was determined to be a firefighter duty-related cancer after afterwards a military PACT Act duty-related cancer.  So far, so good, I’m glad to report. Just two weeks ago I was promoted to Assistant Fire Chief of the Spokane Fire Department.

From a few years back, but I do believe that’s Lance on the left.
He’ll correct me if I’m wrong.

Along the journey, I also led our fire department’s Honor Guard for a decade, and in 2014, I began playing the bass drum with the Spokane County Firefighters Pipe’s & Drums.

Mark: A piper & a pipeman! What was the pipeman’s journey that would lead you to the LVIPS 2025 to share part of your pipe collection?

Lance’s first Pete, a Donegal Rocky 999

Lance:  Long story, LOL. Briefly, both of my Grandfathers were pipe smokers. When I was young, they both farmed and I worked for Grandpa Dahl from sixth grade on into high school on his small cattle ranch in Eastern Washington.  I was mesmerized by his pipe.

In high school, I started smoking with an old Dr. Grabow and some of my Grandfather’s Carter Hall. I smoked pipes off and on into the mid-1990s, switching to cigars during the boom. In 1998 I bought my first Peterson, a Donegal Rocky 999, to followed by a Donegal 120 and the first St  Patrick’s Day offering an, 80s.

The Donegal 120

The first SPD, a first-issue 80s

In about 2005, I started looking for old Petersons.  It was hit and miss since there was not much printed about the old company offerings, but I did know about the Patent era. About the time that Mark & Gary’s Peterson book came out, I was buying just about any old Peterson that I could find. My kids were grown and I finally had some disposable income to use to feed the fire.

Mark: Ouch.

Lance: This year I hit my first pipe show ever in Chicago, where Dan Chasin, James Walsh and I all met in person for the first time, although I’d known them through PSOI, FaceTime, and emails for quite a while.  The Chicago show was great, introducing me to the greater pipe community.

THE PIPES

Lance discussing his collection with the blogger.

HM 1922 NOS Shape 02 Meerschaum-Lined.

MADE IN IRELAND Grade 2

Patent Sterling Brevet Shape 8.

Late Republic “Egg” Premier System, no shape number.

XL339 Cumberland Spigot, Early Dublin Era.

EIRE O.3, Grade 3.

Patent 8 1/2 B, HM 1910.

KAPP BROS. LargePatent Dutch Billiard.

TIME OUT
Able Baker Brewing Company & Brain Food (as Inspector Morse so wisely called it)

…back to the pipes:

Irish Free Staate 02 with Nickel Mount Marks.

Late Republic HAND MADE Bent Aluminum Circle.

Late Republic Danish One-Off w/ Horn Ferrule.

Irish Free State HM 1923 Shape 02.

313 Grade “0” Nickel Mount Marks.

Late Republic STRAIGHT GRAIN SPECIAL Danish Four Panel w/ Horn.

ÉIRE HM 1932 “Duckbill” Shape 02. (It’s called that because of the resemblance of the tapering stem to a duck’s bill.)

Patent HM 1904 Shape 02 Amber Cased.

Patent HM 1899 “Illuminati Double Crosses.”

Looking at all those Petes made me perpetually hungry
at the Vegas show. Fortunately, Lance, James & Dan knew
where to find the necessary sustenence:

What Portillo’s has become for many Chicago-show Pete Geeks
Tacos El Gordo has now become for the Vegas show.
I won’t tell you how many times I ate there.

A thousand thanks to
LANCE DAHL

PETERSON GOES TO THE MOVIES

Liam Neeson smoking what appears to be an acrylic-mount System 301.

Ralle Perera CPG sent me this magnificent still of Liam Neeson smoking a 301 in the new film In the Land of Saints and Sinners, which will (of course) be required viewing by all true Pete Geeks!

Mickey Rooney, Peterson Pipeman!  I’ve loved the Andy Hardy film franchise, which ran from 1937 to 1958, especially the pairings of Mickey Rooney (1920-2014)  with Judy Garland, since I was a kid and they ran on local TV. Mickey’s other films, both then and later, would prove his versatility as an actor beyond the cliches of “juvenile lead.”  Recently many of Rooney’s effects were sold at auction.  His authenticated K&P Specialty Tankard is on eBay just now:

Several Pete Geeks wrote Glen Whelan, Managing Director at Peterson, to tell him the news.  “I love pipes with provenance like this!” Glen wrote me.  “I always say a pipe can tell many stories as the pipe smoker’s companion, but I always think that when a celebrity has a pipe, that pipe has probably dallied in social circles we could only dream of.”

I noticed in last Monday’s SPC estate drop two of the old-style Specialty Tankards, unsmoked.  As one was Terracotta and one a PSB, I wrote Josh Burgess see what I could find out. “We found about 60 of the old stems during the factory move to Deansgrange,” said Josh, “so we produced an exclusive for Smokingpipes Europe. We made 40 or so Terracottas and about 20 PSBs as silver mounted army pipes.” Glen adds, “we really wanted to use those slimmer Tankard stems given how they are a throwback to how that series was initially launched. The stummels were current production ones but the stems were really REALLY old!”

And don’t forget about Juggernaut–we screened it last night, and yessir, Richard Harris smokes that beautiful 9s almost all through the picture! I’d give it **** –I was jittery for hours afterwards. . . .

tick, tick, tick…

*   “So what’s the butterfly thing all about?” you may be asking.  This little promotional giveway, produced some time after the Patent era, was made for a talking point between the tobacconist and a customer. There are two small weights, one under the tip of each forward wing. The moth balances perfectly on the fingertip, demonstrating the lightness of full-bent System pipes. Lance is the only Pete Geek I know who has one in captivity.

Clayton Wilson CPG:

PPN will return
in two weeks