The ever-quotable Mark Twain, from 1865: “I don’t want any of your statistics. I took your whole batch and lit my pipe with it. I hate your kind of people. You are always ciphering out how much a man’s health is injured, and how much his intellect is impaired, and how many pitiful dollars and cents he wastes in the course of ninety-two years’ indulgence in the fatal practice of smoking; and in the equally fatal practice of drinking coffee; and in playing billiards occasionally; and in taking a glass of wine at dinner, etc., etc., etc. . . . You never see but one side of the question. You are blind to the fact that most old men in America smoke and drink coffee, although, according to your theory, they ought to have died young; and that hearty old Englishmen drink wine and survive it, and portly old Dutchmen both drink and smoke freely, and yet grow older and fatter all the time. And you never try to find out how much solid comfort, relaxation and enjoyment a man derives from smoking in the course of a lifetime, (and which is worth ten times the money he would save by letting it alone,) nor the appalling aggregate of happiness lost in a lifetime by your kind of people from NOT smoking.”
Posts Tagged ‘Pipes and Pipe Smoking’
Mark Twain Quote
April 4, 2005ASP Tamper Contest Results
January 30, 2004The 2003 ASP Tamper Contest results are in! Yours truly took second place in a field of ten with 14.5% of the votes.
Basic Silversmithing
December 12, 2003An interesting page on basic silversmithing.
Fiebing Color Chart
December 1, 2003Meerschaum Pipe Kits
November 30, 2003iK Meerschaum Co. have pre-drilled meerschaum pipe kits so you can carve your own meerschaum pipe.
Tobacco Blending
November 26, 2003Pipe Tobacco Blending Made Easy has a lot of information on (surprise!) pipe tobacco blending.
Alternate Wood Pipes
November 24, 2003Stuttgarter Pfeifenfreunde has a page on Johan Slabbert, a South African pipe maker who uses alternate woods in his pipes. His homepage is Jobert Pipes.
My latest pipe, "Burned Out"
November 22, 2003My latest pipe can be seen in the gallery.
Pfeifenbox
November 20, 2003Pfeifenbox is a regularly updated site in German and English with interesting articles on pipes.
ASP Tamper Carving Contest
November 20, 2003alt.smokers.pipe is having a pipe tamper carving contest.
Little Lead Heroes 