by Rich Esserman

     I friend of mine sent me sent me a link to a “magnum’ on eBay – a Cellini with a 2” bowl.   My friend complained about a number of listings with the term Magnum in the heading that were definitely small or average sized pipes.   And this, of course, was not the first time this has happened and it will not be the last.

The big question is – what exactly is a Magnum? Read more

by Chris Lee

    Raise your hand if you’ve had the following experience: While visiting a tourist 
destination in a foreign country, you spot a souvenir of some kind at a street-side stand
 that piques your interest. Remembering the most important lesson you learned about 
shopping while traveling at locales such as this, you start haggling with the vendor. 
After some negotiation, you manage to talk the price down by 50%. “I am awesome!”, 
you think, admiring your new purchase…but only until you get back on the tour bus 
and a fellow traveler shows you the exact same item for which he paid half what you did. Read more

by Warren Wigutow

     Many years ago, before the turn of the last decade, in the year 2006, an event occurred that would shape the future of pipe history. A soon-to-be pipe legend named Bruce Weaver was eating a ballpark frank from his local deli, Castello’s. In his gustatory enthusiasm he squeezed a little too hard on the soft bun and precipitated the palette of his condiments on to his new starched white button-down shirt. This spray of primary and secondary colors fanned out across the cotton/poly blend like the mad genius brush strokes of a 50’s action painter. Weaver looked down at his newly decorated garment and exclaimed, “Here I am, 55 years old and here’s what I have to show for it!” Read more

by Erwin Van Hove

If you assume that by definition a pipe maker must be an enthusiastic pipe smoker, you’re fooling
yourself. Your favorite artisan might actually be an avid consumer of cigarettes or even a non-
smoker. Sure, at a pipe show he might clench one of his briars between his teeth, but it’ll be out
of a sense of duty rather than pleasure. Mind you, there’s worse. One day I got a call from an
amateur carver who bluntly asked for my public endorsement for the embarrassingly ugly kitsch
he was producing. During conversation he admitted that he never ever smoked one of his clumsy
creations. In short, it seems naive to presume that all pipe makers are expert pipe smokers. Read more

by Erwin Van Hove

If by any chance you feel the need to show off your wealth and your standing, here’s
some advice for you. Purchase an ostentatious villa or a design loft with a panoramic
view. Parade your trophy wife. Wear a Rolex. Order a Petrus or an Yquem in a three star
Michelin restaurant. Drive a Beamer. Do not, I repeat, do not smoke a Bo Nordh. Without
a doubt, doing so, even with consummate studied casualness, would prove a crushing
disappointment. Who, I ask you, would suspect that the trivial object that prevents you
from exhibiting your perfect teeth, actually represents three months worth of salary of your
luscious personal assistant ? To flash your success, maybe, just maybe a Dunhill topped
with a fancy gold umbrella might do the trick. But a master carver’s pipe ? Forget it. It will
impress the gallery just as little as a pedestrian Stannie. Read more