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The Codger Cabin

steveclarkus

Goose Poop Connoisseur
Until recently, I hadn’t smoked SWR but I’m glad I started. I’m almost through my first tub so I picked up another in the grocery this morning. Have a tub of H&H on order along with a tub of SWRA which I’ve never smoked but expect I will (in for a penny, in for a pound). Last night, I had a couple bowls of “boutiques” and while they were ok smokes, they just didn’t hit the satisfaction level of my classic American blends.
 

Columbo

Mr. Codgers Neighborhood
From The Cabin Coffee Table — An occasional look back at what the old Codgers saw and smoked (with a little detour and frolic, here and there):


24-3.7.1.jpg
 

Mike H

Instagram Famous
Cool, from 1924... I've not heard of these before
Old English Curve Cut
The Garrick
Carlton Club
Yale Mixture
Three States
Lone Jack
Wills' Latakia
Louisiana Perique
 

Columbo

Mr. Codgers Neighborhood
Cool, from 1924... I've not heard of these before
Old English Curve Cut
The Garrick
Carlton Club
Yale Mixture
Three States
Lone Jack
Wills' Latakia
Louisiana Perique

Yes, from the early 1920s. I'm hoping that we have a lot of fun over the coming months exploring the golden era of pipe smoking ... the era of the classics and the codgers. There are many many more buried under that coffee table.
 
Score, everybody! I found some Carter Hall!

At my local grocery chain (the one that doesn't give me a hard time about face diapers), like most stores today, they keep the liquor and smokes behind the customer service counter. I stepped up and looked, and darned if they didn't have the little CH boxes! It was $4.14 including tax for 1.5 oz. No, I didn't buy more than one, since I don't know if I like the stuff yet. If I do, I'll come back. (So far the scent is great. I won't be able to try it out for a day or so, though.)

It was the *only* brand of pipe tobacco they carry; I asked. Cigarettes, pipe tobacco cigars, etc., but no other pipe supplies.
 

brandaves

With a great avatar comes great misidentification
Score, everybody! I found some Carter Hall!

At my local grocery chain (the one that doesn't give me a hard time about face diapers), like most stores today, they keep the liquor and smokes behind the customer service counter. I stepped up and looked, and darned if they didn't have the little CH boxes! It was $4.14 including tax for 1.5 oz. No, I didn't buy more than one, since I don't know if I like the stuff yet. If I do, I'll come back. (So far the scent is great. I won't be able to try it out for a day or so, though.)

It was the *only* brand of pipe tobacco they carry; I asked. Cigarettes, pipe tobacco cigars, etc., but no other pipe supplies.
Carter Hall was one of the first codgers I "figured out". A wonderful chocolate, leather, hazelnut flavor. Love the stuff.
 

Columbo

Mr. Codgers Neighborhood
Score, everybody! I found some Carter Hall!

At my local grocery chain (the one that doesn't give me a hard time about face diapers), like most stores today, they keep the liquor and smokes behind the customer service counter. I stepped up and looked, and darned if they didn't have the little CH boxes! It was $4.14 including tax for 1.5 oz. No, I didn't buy more than one, since I don't know if I like the stuff yet. If I do, I'll come back. (So far the scent is great. I won't be able to try it out for a day or so, though.)

It was the *only* brand of pipe tobacco they carry; I asked. Cigarettes, pipe tobacco cigars, etc., but no other pipe supplies.

Since you've been enjoying the SWR lately, the CH will be a nice gear change. Enjoy!
 

Columbo

Mr. Codgers Neighborhood
Any idea of the date on the "Thorobred" ad?

About the materials:

Some will have the original publication date printed in the materials themselves. But if you roll your cursor over an image, it should display the file name, which starts with the two-digit year.

For the WDC pipe ad, that is an ad from mid 1927.

There are over 600 images total, spanning the early 1920s into the early 1970s. I will try to post 2 or 3 a week, sometimes more depending on circumstances. Some, but not all of the pipe tobacco classics are covered, as I am limited by the access to the materials, and what was published in them. Some may be repeats, or many variations on a theme, as that is the nature of marketing. Some of our favorite codger blends will be covered -- some by a lot -- depending on their then market share.

We are going to go in chronological order, starting from the 1920s ... when the fathers and grandfathers we associate with codgers were still very young men. There was a dramatic fall off in pipe and pipe tobacco advertising intensity starting in the late 1950's, as the market was well beyond mature by that point and cigarettes were running away with the tobacco market share. And you will see some interesting 'twists' by the end of the golden pipe era, as various blends faded, others emerged, and some persisted all the way through (from a marketing perspective).

The key criteria is that every image, even if not directly involving pipe tobacco, pipes, or the accessories of piping, will all have a pipe or pipe smoker in them. Some posts will initially be head-scratchers ... until you look a little more closely. And that will be the fun of it. At the height of the golden era, pipes were everywhere, a common fixture of life.

These will convey the interesting lives and times the old codgers lived, the culture surrounding their lives, and what they did, smoked and looked at during their primes.

It will be like looking at the mid-Century magazines and newspapers that these men likely had sitting on their coffee tables as they puffed away nearby.

They were not stodgy men. And their smokes were not lifeless bags of sawdust.
 
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steveclarkus

Goose Poop Connoisseur
About the materials:

Some will have the original publication date printed in the materials themselves. But if you roll your cursor over an image, it should display the file name, which starts with the two-digit year.

For the WDC pipe ad, that is an ad from mid 1927.

There are over 600 images total, spanning the early 1920s into the early 1970s. I will try to post 2 or 3 a week, sometimes more depending on circumstances. Some, but not all of the pipe tobacco classics are covered, as I am limited by the access to the materials, and what was published in them. Some may be repeats, or many variations on a theme, as that is the nature of marketing. Some of our favorite codger blends will be covered -- some by a lot -- depending on their then market share.

We are going to go in chronological order, starting from the 1920s ... when the fathers and grandfathers we associate with codgers were still very young men. There was a dramatic fall off in pipe and pipe tobacco advertising intensity starting in the late 1950's, as the market was well beyond mature by that point and cigarettes were running away with the tobacco market share. And you will see some interesting 'twists' by the end of the golden pipe era, as various blends faded, others emerged, and some persisted all the way through (from a marketing perspective).

The key criteria is that every image, even if not directly involving pipe tobacco, pipes, or the accessories of piping, will all have a pipe or pipe smoker in them. Some posts will initially be head-scratchers ... until you look a little more closely. And that will be the fun of it. At the height of the golden era, pipes were everywhere, a common fixture of life.

These will convey the interesting lives and times the old codgers lived, the culture surrounding their lives, and what they did, smoked and looked at during their primes.

It will be like looking at the mid-Century magazines and newspapers that these men likely had sitting on their coffee tables as they puffed away nearby.

They were not stodgy men. And their smokes were not lifeless bags of sawdust.
I have a site bookmarked with old tobacco ads I peruse from time to time but yet to get all the way through. I began smoking pipes in the late 1960’s not too long after the end of the golden age and while there were still “golden ager’s” around. Since you are interested in such material, you may find this catalog interesting. It may have been his last year before he closed his business. I have six of his pipes. I’m partial to the mid century pipe styles though most of mine are from the 70’s and 80’s.
 
Early morning report: my first smoke of Carter Hall!

Last night I loaded the pipe, a small no-name straight with a forward-canted bowl that provided a great smoke with Half & Half a little while ago. After breakfast I fired 'er up . . . and the CH stayed lit for nearly 20 minutes, providing a cool smoke. I got hints of chocolate and coffee (though that last might have been from the mug I was sipping from between draws). Certainly no indication of cigarettes or ash. I relit at about :20 and got another 5 minutes, until the bowl and the smoke began to feel a bit hot. No tongue bite, and I was left with the impression that this was 25 minutes well spent.

ETA: The pipe is incised with "Italy" and "London Briar," so I suppose I'll start referring to it by the latter name. A good little pocket pipe.
 
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Columbo

Mr. Codgers Neighborhood
From The Cabin Coffee Table — An occasional look back at what the old Codgers saw and smoked (with a little detour and frolic, here and there):

23-9.7.1.jpg
 
A dose of nicely dried Half & Half in a small GBD bent apple -- it looks like the pipe in the American School ad above! -- gave me a pleasant early a.m. smoke. There was a little pepperiness at the back of my tongue afterward, that I don't get with Raleigh, Carter Hall, or Match Field & Stream, but do get with EGR. Anybody else have that? Or am I just puffing those tobaccos too fast? I get 20 minutes on a small bowl, so I don't think I'm burning them up too quickly.
 

Columbo

Mr. Codgers Neighborhood
Gee . . . 98 years ago, an American male dressed in coat and tie while smoking and perusing the "Earn As You Learn" materials. . . .

With many young men back from the war, not all of whom could go to college, and no GI Bill, the 1920's were definitely the era of the correspondence school. Studying while smoking. Not a bad deal.

Going to school from home. The more things change ...

...

The people scanning these in for me tell me there are now over 700 of them. So I'll try to post one a day for a while as my schedule permits. Not too many for the 1920s. But the era of tobacco we now talk about really takes off after 1930.
 

steveclarkus

Goose Poop Connoisseur
Had my first bowl of SWRA this morning. I’m impressed. Very pleasant soft smoke with a nice bit of sweetness. Glad I went with a tub.
 
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