- Joined
- Jan 23, 2024
- Messages
- 261
- Reaction score
- 1,649
I joined the Brothers yesterday. I enjoy pipes and the various tobaccos we smoke - I have for close to 58 years - at least that's when I purchased my first drug store pipe as a 16 year old. Yet, there were earlier influences such as Bertram's of DC. My dad worked in the Pentagon in the 50s and Bertram's had a store there and as a child I remember my fascination with the pipes and tins of tobacco. Then in KCMO dad would take us after church to lunch on the Plaza where across the street Fred Diebel - Pipemaker & Tobacconist had his shop. As a youngster I left many a nose prints on the plate glass windows. I was also influenced by reading Sherlock Holmes. In High School my first part-time job was at Mr. Jones' hardware store in Platte Woods, MO. Mr. Jones was a kind man who smoked a pipe. I will always remember the aroma of Diebel's White Burley. One day while manning the front counter the Post came and there was a package for Mr. Jones from Diebels. In the package was a GBD Prehistoric #9240. Mr. Jones left the bill laying next to the register and my eyes nearly fell out of my head when I saw the pipe cost $20. OMG, I then and there resolved to become a hardware man because they must be wealthy. Little did I know that down the road one day I would work for Fred Diebel and I would own a GBD Prehistoric #9240.
When I went to college I got a better pipe (Amphora Bent Bulldog - $4 with mail in coupon) from the Yellow Bowl I bought at the grocery store next to the hardware. There was a drugstore in Aggieville at KSU in Manhattan, KS that carried some fine pipes. It was there I saw my first Danish handmade and it blew my mind. If I only had $35. Then too I spent 4 years drooling over an Iwan Ries catalog that came yearly and the Danish pipes they carried - if I only had $50. Then I met a pipe smoking professor who changed my life.
Jim was one of the kindest men I have ever met. A clergyman and professor of religion, he was an Irishman with a twinkle in his eye, a full beard and pipe in his mouth. After class we started talking pipes and he introduced me to Rattray's Old Gowrie, Red Rapparee, Black Malaroy and other wonderful blends. I would meet in his office and home and we would puff our pipes. He had a collection of beautiful pipes. He never had any children and in some ways he and his wife adopted me. After Jim past away he left me many of his pipes - Castello, Savinelli Autographs, Comoy, a set of carved briar heads, and a host of benchmades. When I graduated from Kansas State I moved to Overland Park, KS where I got a job with Fred Diebel, Pipemaker & Tobacconist.
I became a store manager at one of the satellite stores in Overland Park. While at Diebel's I learned how to make, repair, and sell pipes and all things tobacco. It was at Diebel's I "rubbed shoulders" with Carl Ehwa, Master Blender for Diebel. Carl, who would write the book: The Book of Pipes and Tobacco, Random House, 1974 and later go on to found McClelland Tobacco, was a good friend who died too young.
While at Diebel's I collected many pipes, mostly GBD, Comoy, Dunhill, Charatan, Barling, W.O Larsen, Stanwell, and other Danish makes as well as meerschaums and the eternal Calabash. In the late 70s I started graduate school in KCMO, leaving Diebel's. However I continued to make pipes making money for school. I still make a few pipes for myself and friends. My last pipe which I made for a wonderful man's 80th birthday:
In 1980, I joined the Air Force where I worked as a chaplain for 30 years, retiring a full colonel in 2012. My time in the Air Force afforded me much travel, especially Europe where I could visit many pipe shops such as Fribourg & Treyer, J.J. Fox, Astley's, Dunhill, and Davidoff's in Geneva. In the States I always sought out B&M shops and number among my great experiences Cellini's in Chicago before they closed. Among my other endevors is a love for fine cigars. Diebel was one of the first in Kansas City to carry good cigars, post embargo, and I learned about those, too. One of my best memories in London was visiting 221b Baker Street with my young son and sitting with him in Sherlock's consulting room, calabash in hand.
Our hobby is one that, as in my case, has brought many great experiences and memories!
When I went to college I got a better pipe (Amphora Bent Bulldog - $4 with mail in coupon) from the Yellow Bowl I bought at the grocery store next to the hardware. There was a drugstore in Aggieville at KSU in Manhattan, KS that carried some fine pipes. It was there I saw my first Danish handmade and it blew my mind. If I only had $35. Then too I spent 4 years drooling over an Iwan Ries catalog that came yearly and the Danish pipes they carried - if I only had $50. Then I met a pipe smoking professor who changed my life.
Jim was one of the kindest men I have ever met. A clergyman and professor of religion, he was an Irishman with a twinkle in his eye, a full beard and pipe in his mouth. After class we started talking pipes and he introduced me to Rattray's Old Gowrie, Red Rapparee, Black Malaroy and other wonderful blends. I would meet in his office and home and we would puff our pipes. He had a collection of beautiful pipes. He never had any children and in some ways he and his wife adopted me. After Jim past away he left me many of his pipes - Castello, Savinelli Autographs, Comoy, a set of carved briar heads, and a host of benchmades. When I graduated from Kansas State I moved to Overland Park, KS where I got a job with Fred Diebel, Pipemaker & Tobacconist.
I became a store manager at one of the satellite stores in Overland Park. While at Diebel's I learned how to make, repair, and sell pipes and all things tobacco. It was at Diebel's I "rubbed shoulders" with Carl Ehwa, Master Blender for Diebel. Carl, who would write the book: The Book of Pipes and Tobacco, Random House, 1974 and later go on to found McClelland Tobacco, was a good friend who died too young.
While at Diebel's I collected many pipes, mostly GBD, Comoy, Dunhill, Charatan, Barling, W.O Larsen, Stanwell, and other Danish makes as well as meerschaums and the eternal Calabash. In the late 70s I started graduate school in KCMO, leaving Diebel's. However I continued to make pipes making money for school. I still make a few pipes for myself and friends. My last pipe which I made for a wonderful man's 80th birthday:
In 1980, I joined the Air Force where I worked as a chaplain for 30 years, retiring a full colonel in 2012. My time in the Air Force afforded me much travel, especially Europe where I could visit many pipe shops such as Fribourg & Treyer, J.J. Fox, Astley's, Dunhill, and Davidoff's in Geneva. In the States I always sought out B&M shops and number among my great experiences Cellini's in Chicago before they closed. Among my other endevors is a love for fine cigars. Diebel was one of the first in Kansas City to carry good cigars, post embargo, and I learned about those, too. One of my best memories in London was visiting 221b Baker Street with my young son and sitting with him in Sherlock's consulting room, calabash in hand.
Our hobby is one that, as in my case, has brought many great experiences and memories!
