The author who reintroduced America to pipesmoking has done it again with his newest book. The 165-page softcover contains over 90 never before-seen color and black & white photographs with chapters on pipemaking, buying, smoking (including a step-by-step guide to lighting up), tobaccos, and a "Tobacco Taster's Menu of Blends," describing over 100 commercially available pipe blends. There is even a Pipesmoker's Sourcebook with publications and organizations.
There is little doubt Hacker is the authority on pipes. And after reading this book you will be painfully aware of how cool this man is. From his awesome house with more than 2,000 pipes, the the name dropping every other page, to how cool his college car was, this book is actually an amazing resource to pipe smokers of every level. If you can get past Hacker's ego you can find real treasure within the pages.
It was okay. A coffee table book for newer pipe enthusiasts, though there is nothing here that a few youtube vids wouldn't teach you in minutes.
My opinion- Spend your eight-ten bucks on a tin of Black House and smoke it while reading a novel- Unless you are a collector of tobacciana, then maybe this has a place in your tobacco nook.
This is an extremely informative and well researched book. It could be helpful to new and experienced pipe smokers, though it is less a reference and more a narrative on pipesmoking history, trends, and trivia. Black and white pictures and a somewhat disorganized syntax and flow detract from the book, as does Hacker’s pretentiousness and name-dropping. Worth buying for the pipesmoker’s library, but a firm 3 stars.