Recent content by Ravenor Bullen

Thank you Thanks kindly for the compliments. Yes, I do write as a freelance writer on travel, food, wine and local commodities: tobacco, coffee, cacao.

I was asked the other day at what age I thought a boy should first take up the pipe. I have said this before but I will say it again – I believe he should not be introduced to the pipe until he has turned 18. I know that many of you probably began your smoking adventures at an earlier age...

I recently had the melancholy duty of visiting a dear friend in hospital in our town of Surabaya. He had contracted dengue fever but was on the path to recovery when I visited him. The ward in which he had been placed was quite full of cases of the myriad diseases of the Tropics – malaria...

Best Cocktail Book? I have always believed that the best book on cocktails is David A. Embury's The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks (1948) reissued in 2008. The 2008 reprint edition can be purchased here...

Pipe-Smoking and Health: Some Considerations by G.T.S. (pseud: Ravenor Bullen) This is written by a pipe-smoker and not by a doctor. It is intended to provide information which might be helpful to pipe-smokers who, like myself, wish to continue to smoke, but who want to do as much as they can...

Thank you! Thank you for your compliments, chaps!

One of my favourite old time radio programmes is It's Higgin's, Sir! first broadcast in 1951 to temporarily replace The Bob Hope Show. It only lasted for 13 episodes but it was wonderful, starring Harry McNaughton, Vinton Hayworth, Peggy Allenby, Charles Nevil, Pat Hosley, and Denise Alexander...

I once sat next to Alec Waugh (this would have been in the late 70s) at the bar of Madame Porte's Salon de The in Tangier. I did not know at the time who he was (brother of writer, Evelyn Waugh, author of Island in the Sun, made into a sumptuous film in 1957 with James Mason, Joan Fontaine and...

Holidays are an excuse to spend more time smoking. It is always a relief to be able to potter about, pipe in mouth, and not have to go to the office or waste time getting to work. All in all, holidays provide a marvellous opportunity to catch up with one's smoking and to get to know one's...

Motoring and pipes can go well together. Both give pleasure. Of course I do not speak of driving through necessity; those hasty trips to the office each morning or the quick trip to the greengrocer's in search of something for dinner. I am referring to leisurely motoring through the...

Thank you kindly, Shortbow. I take that as a compliment. I am opposed to Political Correctness for it is surely others imposing their opinions on us; requiring us to think and behave in the same way. For me it is a form of Fascism. Read George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty Four for more details.

Thank you! Thank you Miss Daisy. I like it here. There is a very nice ambiance. Thank you for the opportunity to post our thoughts.

This is a delicate subject and I do not propose here to go into the actual physical techniques of love-making so much as to consider any practical problems which might arise for the pipe smoker. Sexual intercourse is mostly a matter of skin upon and skin and the not too disagreeable...

Smoking in the Home A lamentable social development in recent years has been the reluctance of many to allow pipe smoking in the home. Gone are the days when cigarettes were laid out for guests to take. I still keep up this thoughtful custom and always offer the men cigars at the end of the...

I have pondered the question of pipes and dress for some time now. Although the occasions for formal dress are fast diminishing these days, there are times when one needs to wear a dinner jacket and the question of which pipe to carry becomes a concern. Recently, when attending a formal...