Vintage Ad (date unknown): Dr. Grabow

Pipe Smoker: Frank Belknap Long

 Frank Belknap Long (1901 - 1994)

Born in New York City, as a boy Long was interested in natural history and "weird" fiction by the likes of Edgar Allen Poe, Ambrose Bierce, Jules Verne and H.G. Wells.  As a teenager, he was active in the United Amateur Press Association as an amateur journalist.  He was pursuing the study of journalism in college but suffered a severe bout of appendicitis which rendered him hospitalized for a month and health complications resulting from a burst appendix brought him near death.  After recovering, he gave up on college to pursue a freelance writing career.

Long came to be a successful author of weird fiction, poetry, gothic romance, science fiction and other fiction genres as well as non-fiction.  He came to be one of the "Lovecraft Circle":  a friend and collaborator of Howard Phillips Lovecraft.

Frank Belknap Long goofing around with his friend, H.P. Lovecraft, above.

And a slightly more staid photo of Lovecraft and Long.  Unlike Lovecraft, Long lived a long (no wordplay intended) and productive life, with a bibliography that would be the envy of anyone.  He was awarded the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 1978, the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1987, and the First Fandom Hall of Fame Award in 1977.  However, like Lovecraft, he died impoverished and was at first buried in a cemetery for indigents, until friends and colleagues put together enough money to have him reinterred in a family plot not far from where Lovecraft's grandparents were buried.

Players of the role-playing game Call of Cthulhu may know him best as the creator of the monstrous Hounds of Tindalos.

Links:
Wikipedia
The Hounds of Tindalos at Too Much Horror Fiction
Summary Bibliography at isfdb
imdb

Vintage Ad (1911): Baker's Cocoa

via

Pipe smoker quick fix: unknown Korean boatman, 1904

From this Flickr collection.

Vintage Ad (1950s): Budweiser beer

"The Window Cleaner" by John Walter.  From Roger Wilkerson.

A pipe built for two

Just a photo I came across.  I think I'll just stick with pipes built for one, thanks.

Pipe, not pipe #3

Oh, this photo brings back memories.  I have misplaced the original, and thought I had lost the scan.  I had stored it in a folder with some famous pipe smokers (such as Faulkner from the previous post), for some reason, and didn't know it was there.  I couldn't remember what I had named the file, so I couldn't just do a file search for it.  I'm glad I found it again.

It was what at first glance may appear to be a beautiful meerschaum pipe, partially and elegantly colored, with what is possibly--and is in fact, actually--an amber stem.  This is a post card that was sent to me by Tom Dunn of The Pipe Smoker's Ephemeris many years ago, and which I painstakingly scanned with my first scanner--a hand scanner!--all those years ago.  The inscription on the reverse is as follows:

Zigarrenspitze aus Meerschaum mit Bernsteinmundstück.

 Reichgeschmückte junge Dame (H. 10 cm). 

Ende 19. Jahrh.

Which, to the best of my knowledge, translates as:

Cigar holder made out of meerschaum with amber stem.

A richly adorned young lady (height 10 cm).

End of the 19th century.

It seems odd to me that a cigar holder would be made so that the cigar had to stick straight up in front of your face, but then maybe it was meant to be used with short cigars.  At a height of 10 cm, it would be quite tall for a pipe.

In any case...there it is!

Pipe Smoker: William Faulkner

William Cuthbert Faulkner (1897 - 1962)

It is my ambition to be, as a private individual, abolished and voided from history, leaving it markless, no refuse save the printed books; I wish I had enough sense to see ahead thirty years ago, and like some of the Elizabethans, not signed them. It is my aim, and every effort bent, that the sum and history of my life, which in the same sentence is my obit and epitaph too, shall be them both: He made the books and he died.

William Faulkner is, of course, an extremely famous author whom I am sure you've heard of.  He was the author of the novels The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying, and Absalom, Absalom! among many others and wrote many short stories as well.  He was born, died, and lived in Mississippi most of his life.

Faulkner was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949.  Before he became an author, he held several other jobs and positions: railroad financier, politician, soldier, farmer, businessman, and lawyer.

I read somewhere once that he liked to spread various blends of tobacco out on newspapers spread out on his kitchen table and remix them.

Links:
Wikipedia
Nobelprize.org
Biography.com
Wikiquote

Pipe smoker quick fix: Burl Ives

Burl Ives smoking an Oom Paul and playing the Northumbrian Pipes, accompanied by James Dean on the tenor recorder.

Pipe Smoker: Edward Atkinson

Edward Atkinson (1881 - 1929)

Edward Leicester Atkinson was a surgeon and parasitologist who served as the physician of Robert Scott's ill-fated Terra Nova expedition to the South Pole.  He was not part of the final push to reach the pole, remaining at a base camp, and therefore survived the expedition.

Afterwards, at the outbreak of World War I, he reported for active service and served on the Western Front.  In 1918 he was badly injured from an explosion aboard the HMS Glatton but helped to rescue several others in spite of his injuries.

He died suddenly aboard ship in 1929 on his way back to England and was buried at sea.

Links:
Wikipedia
Haslar Heritage Group

Vintage Ad (1968): Flying Dutchman pipe tobacco

A somewhat sexist tobacco ad from a 1968 Playboy magazine.  From Found in Mom's Basement.

Pipe Smoker: E. Howard Hunt

Everette Howard Hunt (1918 - 2007)

"No one is entitled to the truth."

Oh, E. Howard Hunt.  Spy (make that "intelligence officer"), author, burglar, professional bastard.  A long-time CIA spook who retired from the CIA to become head of security for Richard Nixon's administration, he was indicted for his involvement in the infamous Watergate scandal.  He did a bunch of other shady things that most honorable men would be loathe to do.

He also wrote a few non-fiction books and a great many novels in the spy and hard-boiled genres.  He allegedly confessed, on his deathbed, to a great deal of knowledge about and involvement in the assassination of John F. Kennedy, but who knows if any of it is true?

Anyway, here's a photo of him supposedly smoking a pipe.

Links:
Wikipedia
NNDB
Washington Post

Vintage Ad (1940s): Coffee by J.C. Leyendecker

Pipe Smoker: Charlie Ruggles

Charles Sherman "Charlie" Ruggles (1886 - 1970)

From Turner Classic Movies (click the link to read the full biography):

A much-loved comic talent in film and on television for over five decades, Charles Ruggles sputtered, stumbled and clucked his way through a series of popular turns as meek, easily overwhelmed men in such classic films as ""Trouble in Paradise" (1932), "Ruggles of Red Gap" (1935) and "Bringing Up Baby" (1938). Blessed with an expressive face and a voice that rose in register when his characters felt under duress, Ruggles became a scene-stealer of the first order in the late 1930s and early 1940s before stepping away from the cinema to work extensively on stage and in the early days of television. In the latter capacity, he starred on the popular sitcom "The Ruggles" (ABC, 1949-1952) and brought effortless humor as a sage, if still flappable father figure in numerous guest appearances. A welcome presence for film and television audiences for a half-century, Ruggles' comic gifts made him a favorite among classic movie fans and always one of the best elements of any stage or screen production. Born Charles Sherman Ruggles in Los Angeles on Feb. 6, 1886, he was the eldest of two sons by pharmaceutical salesman Charles Herman Ruggles and his wife, Maria.

Links:
Wikipedia
IMDb
YouTube

P.S.  I am going to try to post more of these this year than I did last year.  I'm getting rather an unwieldy backlog of stuff that I can post.

Pipe Smoker: Jerry Keller

From Jerry Keller's official web site:

I was born on the 20th of June, 1938 in Fort Smith, Arkansas, USA.

After moving to Tulsa in 1944, I formed the Lads Of Note Quartet in the 50′s before joining the Tulsa Boy Singers. I won a talent contest organized by band leader, Horace Heidt, which earned me the vocalist job with Jack Dalton’s Orchestra.

I then spent nine months as a disc jockey in Tulsa before moving to New York in 1956. I recorded a series of demos for record companies before fellow performer Pat Boone introduced me to Marty Mills who then became my manager.

I recorded the self-penned ‘Here Comes Summer’ for the Kapp record label, and it became a US summer hit in 1959. Ironically, it did not enter the UK charts until late August as the warmer months lapsed into Autumn, but it still went to number 1.

I recorded follow-up records such as ‘If I Had A Girl’ and ‘Now Now Now’.

In 1960, I toured the UK replacing Eddie Cochran in a package tour engagement after Cochran died in a car crash.

In 1964, I fell in love and got married.

Throughout the 70′s and 80′s, I recorded jingles (commercials) full-time.

In 1977, I appeared in the film You Light Up My Life and the following year in If I Ever See You Again.

Vintage Ad (1959): Whirlpool washers

Democracy in the Tobacconist's

Democracy in the Tobacconist's by Jonah Goldberg.  Interesting article, and although it primarily is about cigars, many of the sentiments expressed can apply to pipes as well.

Note:  I am not a cigar smoker, but I have nothing against cigars.  It just seems to me that the good cigars are too expensive for me to spend my money on when I can get more "smoking time" by spending my money on pipe tobacco.  If someone were to offer me a cigar to sample, I would not turn it down.

Christmas Homecoming by Normal Rockwell

Pipe Smoker (legendary): Olentzero

From Salinas Restaurant NYC:

One great example is Spain’s version of Santa Clause, Olentzero. Legend has it that Olentzero was a giant and lived in the Pyrenees with other members of the Jentillak, a clan of giants. The tale states that they saw a glaring light coming from the clouds that only a partially blind member of the Jentillak could manage to see. He knew the light signified the birth of Jesus. Stunned and afraid, the story has it that all the giants left the Pyrenees, but Olentzero stayed to embrace Christianity. Ever since this day Olentzero makes a trip to town each December 24th to bestow great gifts and kindness upon all the children.

From Wikipedia:

There are many variations to the Olentzero traditions and stories connected to him, sometimes varying from village to village. The first written account of Olentzero is from Lope de Isasti in the 17th century: A la noche de Navidad (llamamos) onenzaro, la sazón de los buenos ("To Christmas eve (we call) onenzaro, the season of the good ones". One common version has Olentzero being one of the jentillak, a mythological race of Basque giants living in the Pyrenees. Legend has it that they observed a glowing cloud in the sky one day. None of them could look at this bright cloud except for a very old, nearly blind man. When asked to examine it, he confirmed their fears and told them that it was a sign that Jesus will be born soon. According to some stories, the old man asked the giants to throw him off a cliff to avoid having to live through Christianisation. Having obliged him, the giants tripped on the way down and died themselves except Olentzero.

Other versions have the jentillak simply leaving, with only Olentzero remaining behind to embrace Christianity.

That was a lot of magic corn

Click to enlarge.

From Bizarro Comics.

Screen capture from A Christmas Carol (1971) animated

This version of A Christmas Carol is one I remember very fondly from my childhood, and have lamented for many years that it wasn't being shown on television anymore.  Fortunately, a helpful YouTuber has uploaded the entire show.  Here we see two pipe-smoking lighthouse keepers celebrating and singing "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" during the Ghost of Christmas Present sequence.

The full show is embedded below.

Vintage Ad (1954): Kentucky Club pipe tobacco

Vintage Ad (1949): Country Doctor pipe tobacco

Knit sweaters

This and several more pipe-smoking models with their sweaters at My Ear-Trumpet Has Been Struck By Lightning.

Pipe Smoker quick fix: Samuel Clemens

"She and I were really one person and there were no secrets. Sometimes I was that person, sometimes she was that person. Sometimes it took both of us together to constitute that person."

Samuel Langhorne Clemens with his wife, Olivia Langdon Clemens.

Santa smokes a pipe #52

 

And so does that little guy down in front!

Vintage Ad (1925): Kelly-Springfield Tires

From the April 1925 issue of National Geographic Magazine, featuring a pipe-smoking golfer loading up his automobile.  Thanks to the Ear-Trumpet.

Well, look what I found...

I used to use Ohio Blue Tip matches for all my pipe-lighting needs many years ago, but then one day they simply vanished from the stores.  Since then, I have been using Diamond matches, and wondered whatever happened to the Blue Tips.  I read at some point that the Diamond company had bought the Ohio Blue Tip company and that was why the Ohio Blue Tip brand name had disappeared.

But here it is again.  Unfortunately, they had only this one box of strike-on-box matches (I prefer strike anywhere) that bears the old company logo.  The rest of the boxes had a picture of a bulldog(?!) on them.  The supermarket where I bought them still had their usual stock of "green" Diamond matches as well.

It was nice to be able to buy a box of Blue Tips again, even though these are the large "kitchen match" style and I usually use the smaller wooden matches for pipe lighting.

Pipe Smoker quick fix: unknown Civil War soldier

From Haunting Civil War portraits at The Week.

Bruce & Sherlock

click to enlarge

Bruce Wayne
Sherlock Holmes

Pipe lore: Davy Crockett's bear

David Crockett had a pet bear that would sit over on the other side of the fireplace from him and smoke a pipe just like Crockett until bedtime.  He finally got so civilized that he took whooping cough and died from it.  Crockett never did forgive the preacher for refusing to give that a bear a Christian funeral.

--J. Frank Dobie

excerpt from "Bears Are Intelligent People"

from Old-Time Tales of Texas

Vintage Ad (1931): Dunhill

In the early 1900s, Alfred Dunhill wanted to expand his business ventures into France, but the French tobacco industry had a legal monopoly on all things pipes and tobacco, so Dunhill couldn't sell his pipes there. Not to be deterred, he created his own line of men's accessories: clothing, pens, cologne, etc. He was so successful that he began selling these same accessories in his pipe stores in England.

So when you go into your local tobacco store (if they still exist) and you find not only pipes, cigars & tobacco but also chess sets, walking canes, and all sorts of other oddments, remember Alfred Dunhill.

Pipe Smoker (fictional): William Walter Wordsworth

William Walter Wordsworth is a fictional character from the novel/manga/anime series Trinity Blood.  This series, which began as a series of graphic novels, has--in my opinion--a somewhat preposterous plot but some great artwork and a very cool anti-hero who does not smoke a pipe and is therefore not a part of this post.

So, trying make a long story somewhat shorter, about 100 years in our future, humans tried to colonize Mars and found two different alien bacilli there.  Some humans injected themselves with one of these bacilli and were changed into the Methusela (as they call themselves), or as we would know them, vampires.  Four test-tube babies were the only ones to survive being injected with the other bacillus, which were actually nanomachines, which turned them into Crusniks.  Crusniks are another kind of vampire which can receive their necessary sustenance only by feeding on the blood of "regular" vampires.

There was a big war between humans and Methusela, followed by a very long cold war.  The story begins about 1,000 years in our future when the cold war is cooling down into a very uneasy peace, occasionally aggravated into flare-ups of violence by radicals on both sides. There are three major powers:  the Methusela, the Vatican (the Roman Catholic Church), and the Kingdom of Albion.

Wordsworth is a priest of the Roman Catholic Church, although the Church of 1,000 years in the future would be almost unrecognizeable to us in the present day.  He was a great intellectual prodigy from the University of Londinium who was framed by another human for an incident which resulted in the death of Wordsworth's fiancée and expelled.  He is currently a professor at the University of Rome, where he is also one of the founding members of the AX, a sort of secret group within the Church who work to quell violent uprisings.  Although a professor (and frequently called simply The Professor), he doesn't like to teach and prefers to do research and is an inventor, although many of his inventions have failed spectacularly, usually by exploding.  He is also very proficient in combat using a sword-cane.

I've included three illustrations of him here from all three adaptations.  The illustrations from the graphic novels are very elaborate, detailed and artistic.  Our first picture shows him sitting at his desk smoking a pipe that appears to be carved from a single knobby burl, stem and all (click to enlarge).

The next picture, from the manga, shows him with what looks like a very similar pipe.

The anime adaptation is quite different.  In contrast to the other two versions, the anime has been greatly simplified with much cleaner lines, probably to make it easier to animate.  The anime version of Wordsworth smokes a pipe that appears to be carved from a single block of some white material such as meerschaum, except for the bit which looks like it's a separate piece.

Wordsworth is almost never seen without his pipe.

Popeye demotivational poster

Undated Halloween postcard

Pipe Smoker (fictional): Kisuke Urahara

I will try to avoid an inordinate amount of detail in this post.  If I say anything that you don't understand, check the Bleach wiki (linked below) to read about it.

Kisuke Urahara is a fictonal character from the manga/anime series Bleach.  In the past, he was a captain of one of the Soul Reaper squads and lived in the Soul Society, however, due to breaking some Soul Reaper laws, he was exiled to the world of the living where he now lives disguised as a normal human.

He appears to be an eccentric owner of a small odds-and-ends convenience-type store with a prediliction for selling candy.  However, the shop is actually a front for his sometimes supplying Soul Reapers in the world of the living with what we would consider to be "supernatural" devices to aid them in their jobs or in their lives while spending time in the world of the living.

He appears as a tall human male with disheveled blonde hair that hangs in front of his face.  He wears a coat that somewhat resembles a Soul Reaper captain's haori (or kimono).  He also wears a white and green striped hat with a brim that always casts his eyes into shadow.  He rarely removes it.  He also often carries a hand fan, which he sometimes teasingly uses to cover his mouth.  He seems to do this to make himself appear to be smiling and saying something jokingly when in fact he's quite serious.

In spite of being exiled to appearing as a normal human, he still retains all of his quite considerable powers.  He commonly uses a walking cane, although he doesn't need it.  In fact, his cane is his zanpakuto (his sword) in a concealed form.  He behaves in a manner that many times seems frivolous and sarcastic, however his behavior is only to conceal that he knows much more than it seems, in fact much more than many of the other Soul Reapers, and that he is an extremely dangerous opponent in combat, and is one of the fastest of all the Soul Reapers.  Besides his sword-fighting ability, he is also a master of kido--the use of spiritual power in combat, which would look like some kind of "magical" combat ability to humans.

He has a brilliant intelligence as befits him, since he was the founder and first president of the Soul Reaper Research and Development Institute before his exile, and is responsible for many inventions which are still used by various other Soul Reapers.  It was some of his inventions that got him into trouble, and the misuse of one invention in particular (misuse by another Soul Reaper captain) that is at the center of the entire over-arching saga of Bleach.  He was also instrumental in the training of the story's main protagonist, Ichigo Kurusaki, and Ichigo's transformation into a truly powerful substitute Soul Reaper.

At times of rare relaxation, he can sometimes be seen smoking a pipe of the Japanese kiseru design.

See also:   Kūkaku Shiba.

Pipe smoker quick fix: Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein with Leó Szilárd in 1939.  From 24 Extraordinary Photos of the Making of the Atomic Bomb at buzzfeed.

The sun tester (1940)

From Modern Mechanix.

Pipe Smoker: Robert Thegerström

Robert Thegerström was a Swedish artist who lived from 1857-1919.  Above is his "Self Portrait With Pipe" from 1874.  Below is a photo of him from 1907.

link:  Robert Thegerström at Nordic Thoughts

"A quiet smoke at last"

Vintage postcard, 1908.

"Discarded Vices"

Still-life tintype, late 1800s.

"Ghostly Gourds" by Norman Rockwell

Pipe smoker quick fix: Samuel Clemens with Helen Keller

Once again, a quick photo of Samuel Clemens with pipe.

And Helen Keller.