265. Annus Mirabilis: 2021, A Year of Wonder for Pete Geeks
2021 has been dubbed annus horribilus by a friend of mine and certainly was in many ways for so many folks around the globe. And yet, insofar as we were able to turn to our pipes and tobacco for a few moments of solace, there was always a time for quiet and if not content, then at least the absence of strife—which is one definition of peace. In the Sacred Pipe religion of the Latoka and other Native American peoples, the axis mundi or center of the world is found in the ritual pipe. While our own use of the pipe probably doesn’t have the cosmic of the Latoka, there are similarities in what we do and how we do it as practitioners of the art of smoking. One of the chief of these, I think, is that however we understand ourselves spiritually or philosophically, our pipe is one place we can return to a place of centeredness. And while the world looks like being as crazy this year as it was last, let’s not forget that for Pete Geeks 2021 was something of an annus mirabilis—a year of wonders. So this week I want to take a look at what the good men and women at Kapp & Peterson have brought into our lives, whether we find ourselves smoking out in the shed, on the front step or in the comfort of an easy chair. SPD 2021 The 23rd annual St. Patrick’s Day release was, in my opinion, the most whimsical of all the releases—“just for the fun of it” is what is said to me. It was also a return to the “navy mount” traditional tenon / mortise for the first time in three years. And it created a bit of a furor amongst all us PGs (Pete Geeks) by the inclusion of the shamrock-stamped green pipe leather stand. The New Peterson Gear (Yes, the first 100 who bought the hard shell case received everything shown above.) Ted Swearingen, a devoted Pete Geek whose favorite shape is the Deluxe System 12 ½ , is Chief Operating Officer at Laudisi Enterprises (in previous incarnations he was in a rock band and managed a Starbucks). This year, thanks to his aesthetic skillset (he majored in poetry and art at university) we saw some incredible new Pete Gear, including a terrific leather hard-shell pipe case, ingenious leather tobacco jars and a leather tubular pipe cleaner holder (not shown). The gear is the kind of stuff that, well, a Thinking Man would want when he has to travel. Even to the nearest Starbucks. New Deluxe Classics Line The Deluxe Classics line had been MIA for a number of years, meaning the Classic Range really had no equivalent to the System Range. Noticing this, Josh Burgess, Managing Director at K&P, knew he had to address the serious imbalance. (In some ways there are similarities between Burgess and Hercules Poirot, but we won’t step into that just now.) The new Deluxe…