Of Pipes and Pendragons

Autumn is happening all around us—and not just in the changing leaves. In this episode of The Poetic Pipe Podcast, James slows down to listen to the animals that inhabit the fall woods and reflects on how our relationship with wildlife has changed from survival and conquest to conservation, observation, and appreciation. Featuring Dallas Lore Sharp’s The Muskrats Are Building and A Chapter of Things to Hear This Fall, along with G. White’s poems The Nuthatch and The Wood Thrush. In the pipe is The Old Black Cat, an aromatic created to accompany G. White’s first book, The Old Black Cat and Other Ghosts. Join us beneath the magnolia tree for muskrats, birds, autumn woods, poetry, and a slow October smoke. Good Stories • Slow Smokes

The mornings are cooler, the leaves are beginning to turn, and squirrels are busy in the hardwoods. October has arrived. In this episode of The Poetic Pipe Podcast, James heads into “October Country” with three readings inspired by autumn woods, squirrel hunting, and memories of growing up outdoors: Bradford Torrey’s A Full Migration, John Muir’s Young Hunters, and Winthrop Packard’s The Squirrel Harvest. Paired with the Gatlin-Burlier blend from The Gatlin-Burlier Tobacconist, it’s an hour and a half for remembering cool mornings, leaves underfoot, old hunting memories, and the simple pleasure of wandering through the woods in October. Good Stories • Slow Smokes

Inspired by Hobbit Day, we’re gathering beneath the magnolia tree to celebrate some of life’s simple pleasures: green fields, country roads, good stories, and, of course, a good pipe. For this episode, we’re filling our bowls with Ravenwood’s Hobbits Leaf and settling in with four readings that capture a little of that hobbit-like spirit: Robert Louis Stevenson’s “The Hayloft” and “Farewell to the Farm,” Edward Lear’s wonderfully strange “The Jumblies,” and John Greenleaf Whittier’s “The Barefoot Boy.” Together, we’ll wander through hayfields and farms, set off on strange little adventures, and remember the pleasure of going barefoot beneath an open sky. It’s an episode about wandering, imagination, home, and finding a little adventure in ordinary places—with every intention of making it back in time for supper. So find a comfortable chair, pack a bowl, and join us beneath the magnolia tree. Good Stories. Slow Smokes.

Summer never seems to leave all at once. The afternoons are still warm, the cicadas are still singing, and there’s still plenty of green beneath the magnolia, but the evenings are arriving a little earlier, and autumn is beginning to make itself known. In “Summer’s Last Slow Smoke,” we settle in beneath the magnolia with a bowl of Low Country Natural Virginia & Oriental to linger in the final days of the season. This episode features three readings reflecting on summer, nature, memory, and the quiet passage of time: “A White Heron” by Sarah Orne Jewett, “Homesick” by Julia C. R. Dorr, and “Summer” by Richard Burton. Pack a pipe, find a comfortable chair, and stay beneath the canopy awhile. Autumn will be here soon enough. Today, though, belongs to summer. The Poetic Pipe Podcast Good Stories • Slow Smokes

The Things We Don’t Say There are some things men are good at carrying quietly. Grief. Fear. Loss. The weight of expectations. The things we tell ourselves we’ll deal with later—or maybe never talk about at all. In this episode of The Poetic Pipe Podcast, we slow down and spend some time with the works of Gary White as we reflect on men’s health, grief, and the often difficult task of facing our own emotions. This isn’t a conversation about having all the answers. It’s about making room for the things we feel, the people we’ve lost, and the parts of ourselves we sometimes find easier to ignore. So pack a pipe, find a quiet place, and sit with me for a while. Sometimes the things we don’t say are the things we most need to hear. The Poetic Pipe Podcast Good Stories • Slow Smokes