Off Topic

I’ve come to realize through ten years of blogging that smoking a pipe—even a Peterson pipe—can mean something different to almost every pipe smoker.  As next Sunday marks the 10th anniversary of the blog—to the very day—I thought this morning I’d share with you why I smoke a pipe. Interestingly enough, it turns out to be for the same reasons many of you smoke one, reasons hardly anyone ever talks about.  I’ve set them forth in the YouTube presentation below, taken from a talk I gave at the Chicago Pipe Show  a few weeks ago. Charles Peterson from a series of photos taken in the early 1880s while working for Frederick Kapp (Courtesy of the Brady family) What makes my reasons relevant to the blog this morning has to do (as you guessed) with that Thinking Man non pareil of the pipe world Charles Peterson.  “From what can be known of him,” I wrote in the Coda to the Big Book, “Charles Peterson seemed to be a man who loved his neighbors and his work, a man with a good sense of humor and a bright intellect.  His actions revealed a man with a deeply inclusive sensibility: an outsider and self-described ‘Free Thinker’ who seemed to find joy in providing for the welfare of the people who worked for him, regardless of their gender, religion, race or even politics. His company was renowned for its good working conditions, fair pay, and equity.  To the surprise of some, he chose to train Dubliners rather than hire skilled foreign craftsmen when he opened his factory. He employed slightly more women than men. His quiet belief in the human rights issues of Home Rule bore fruit in his daughter Isolde’s life-long work for Amnesty International. “Those who succeeded him in the direction of the company, men like Harry Kapps, Tony Dempsey, Tom Palmer, and Sykes Wilford, continued to father the flame he lit. Something about Charles Peterson’s way of understanding the world and the importance of the people in it can still be felt in the Peterson workshop today. It seems to find its way into every pipe the company has made. “The pipes, of course, speak for themselves, at least to those who can appreciate the deep particularity of their Irish virtues: they are the embodiment and product of the deep Gaelic understanding of initiative, industriousness, hospitality, trustworthiness, creativity, excellence, wit and self-rule. “The System pipe, properly understood and smoked, still delivers the best pipe-smoking experience in the world. The design language founded in Charles Peterson’s original Patent shapes continues to be felt in every part of the Peterson catalog. That these pipes are within the reach of almost any pipe smoker is another homage to the inclusivity of Charles Peterson’s vision. “It is not too much to say that Peterson pipes will always be counter-cultural. They were counter-cultural when they first appeared as novelty pipes and continued to be so when only British pipes were in vogue. Many Americans, notorious for…