Shane Ireland

When Shane calls, I see he’s polishing the nickel ferrule on his 303 Peterson System. I confess I do the same thing before I smoke any Pete with with a metal mount and he laughs. . . . Shane: I pick it up out of the rack and if there’s any tarnish, I think “I’m not going to enjoy the smoke,” so I stop and polish it. I probably shouldn't admit this, but I judge pipe guys that have filthy pipes all the time [laughs]. The biggest challenge for me is keeping the rims clean. Mark: How often do you clean your pipes? Shane: Almost never. That’s because I clean a pipe every time I smoke it. I use a pipe cleaner to wipe out the bowl then I polish the outside of the bowl and wipe the stem off. I don't keep my pipes in racks because that’s just asking for tarnishing and oxidization on your stems. The upside of this is that I never have to do deep cleanings, so products like Obsidian oil just aren’t necessary for me. Mark: So where do you keep your pipes, if not in racks? Shane: This is sort of embarrassing. I have shoe boxes full of pipes in the closet. I pull a rotation allowing of between six to eight pipes that I keep in either one of my Claudio Albieri bags or in their pipe socks in my briefcase.  I’ll smoke a pipe pretty heavily for a few months, then when it's time to give it a rest I put it back in its shoe box and pull something else out. Top to bottom: 1982 Peterson System Meer 03, Former Silver Spigot Cross grain Apple, J. Alan Cross grain Lovat, Brad Pohlmann Danish Acorn   THE PERFECT SMOKE I believe if Shane offered master classes on pipe smoking we'd see a huge uptick in pipe smoking across the planet. I've been pursuing the art of smoking for close on 50 years now and in a single interview he taught me enough to either correct or modify many mistakes I've been making for years. Here's the gist: Mark: There are two problems that have afflicted me as a Pipeman over the years, problems I know many other smokers have had. The first problem has to do with the act of smoking—with tongue burn and fatigue. I am specifically concerned with virginias and vapers, not only because those are my go-to tobaccos but because they seem to give smokers more trouble than other types. The second has to do with the pipe—with bowls that get hot to the touch as well as heat fissures (spider-webbing) and burnouts. Shane: I'm mostly smoking Virginias these days myself, when I’m not specifically reviewing or evaluating a new product. In my experience, when it comes to tongue bite and Virginia tobacco, there’s a very narrow range of moisture content in the tobacco that makes a big difference before you light up. If you smoke the tobacco…