Why I JUST Became a Catholic w/ Dr. Alan Harrelson @thepipecottage3301

and we're live with Dr. Alan Harrelson thanks for being here it's a pleasure to be here sir I told you the way this happened my friend Kyle Whittington texted me and said hey you know this guy . to see him I love what he does, he

just

became

Catholic or is becoming Catholic, so can you contact him? I don't know how he got in touch. Did he send you an email? Did he send you a message on Instagram? I think it's the way I received it or sent a message through our social media platform pike-carded social I think I may have done it there anyway, reached out and within 30 minutes of posting a video explaining my conversion to Catholicism I get that message and then I get a message from you, yeah, in half an hour, so it's a privilege to be here.

I've been watching your content for some time. It's always good, it has helped greet many people. It's in the. He is a god. Orderly Ministry, well, thank you very much, we have your link to Pipe Cottage in the title so that people can go see your things, but we have, we have a lot of things here today that we want to discuss and experience with you has brought a bag of tobacco and whiskeys yes, what are we doing right? We're enjoying the proper life in Kentucky, that's what we're doing here and my wife and I live in southeastern Kentucky now and life in the Holy Trinity of Kentucky is

just

tobacco bourbon whiskey and bluegrass music I like bluegrass music even as an Australian, so what do you say what Burly tobacco is?

Barely tobacco is a type of tobacco grown in Kentucky. It is different from Virginia tobacco and oriental tobacco. He is one of the Americans. styles of tobacco that are very popular in pipe blends, in fact, we'll talk about which let's get this right, first of all I need some whiskey, so what is this thing you have here? Well, you have four rows, four roses before, but This is old Hillside and it's not very well known, but I discovered it at our local establishment of appreciation titled The Bourbon Barn. I found out after we moved to Kentucky and the company is owned by, I believe, three Northern State veterans.

Carolina, although it is bottled and made on the great Bluegrass estate, thank you very much for bringing you the pleasure of whiskey, Mr. Foreigner, you have probably already heard people say this. I think aged bourbon tastes the same. I need even though you won't agree with me, let me delve into my mistakes, okay, I think if you have a rye whiskey, obviously there is a difference, if there is a difference in the alcohol percentage, then I can tell the difference, but if you have like 40 percent Bourbon and 40 percent bourbon. I think they are the same and I think that if they are not the same it is not the difference in price.

You know what I mean? They're not like 30 50 60 100 dollars more difference no well you've got a bottle of Blanton right there and that's easily a 100 bottle of bourbon and thanks for whatever you want yeah putting it closer to my side of the table, you may have to participate here. resting but ready, Blanton's is good, I buy every purchase just to be clear, did anyone get that, yeah well there's a local liquor store next to my house, it's probably four or five miles from the farm and every bottle of blantons that I receive, they know I'm going to come buy it, oh, really, because they only buy one like a month.

It's okay, but I enjoy it, but in my opinion there's a big difference between a $15 bottle of bourbon and a $30 or $35 bottle, but no. such a difference between 30 and 50 or 50 and 100. There are many people who are bourbon connoisseurs who can argue this point day in and day out. I'm not one of them, yes, I know I have a bit of respect for people who have a sophisticated palette and I can tell the difference. I just can't and a while ago I stopped trying, so when I go to a store I always buy the Bourbon from the bottom of the barrel.

Are you primarily a bourbon drinker? Yeah, and uh. Do you ever use it in a cocktail or drink it neat? I like it neat on the rocks, that's all I use for the most part, unless it's something a little cheaper. I'll make some kind of cocktail, yeah, just to make it tasty. I was recently in Guatemala and I was enjoying drinking mezcals and tequilas and I really missed Bourbon and I would go to the stores and all they had was uh, Johnny Walker, red whiskey, yeah, like it's not the same. I need my bourbon, no it's not.

The same thing, my wife is of Hispanic origin on her father's side, so she is an important important, Margarita Aficionado, she loves that kind of thing, she loves tequila. Not me, though, but I do have my little whiskey girl ever since. We married. I have adapted it to my way of thinking. Very good. Well, I want to ask you about your love of pipes and yeah, and how you came to this, but I want to enlighten myself before I do, so maybe we can. Take this as an opportunity to teach us a thing or two. Well, I can certainly give it a sport and a chance.

The pipe I'm going to start with is. I like that you say start with "yes," because I have three here. I don't plan on smoking well, it depends on how lovely the conversation is and the length of our visit, right, but I'm going to start with a pipe, a billiard cigar from a company from England, uh, Northern Briars is the name of the company and this guy makes pipes on a riverboat on the river thames, his pipe shop is on a riverboat and he makes pipes on that boat so he doesn't have to pay property taxes anywhere in particular, so i bought this briery pipe , which is, can I check out a beautiful pipe shop in Birmingham, Alabama, and one of my favorite pipes of all time, which is why people often ask if it makes much difference if I have a cob pipe of corn or a pipe 300?

I mean, what is it? Will the experience change? No, not really, especially if you're just starting out. I can get almost as good, if not as good or better, smoke from a corn on the cob than from Briar, it depends. about the blend, okay, there is a world of tobacco blends out there that pipe smokers of 30 or 40 years ago didn't have, especially 50 or 60 years ago, the heyday of pipe smoking in America ostensibly dates back to the 1930s, through the 1960s and 1970s, and at that time at one time people could go to their local store and find what we now call Carger Blends and they were primarily Burly tobaccos of American origin and they could be found in almost any pharmacy, but now we have a wide variety of flavor formulas. that are used to produce pipe tobacco, it's just that we are, in fact, at the height of blending and there are probably more pipe makers now than ever in the history of the country, so it's a good time to be in the Hobby Pipe Smoking Well, I have a Church Keeper here and the reason is that it looks great, but I have to say that this is the most satisfying pipe I have ever smoked.

I never get it and maybe I'm smoking it. bad, good, so you can teach me, but normally I understand that if I smoke a short stem pipe, I get that bitter stuff, maybe I'm smoking too hot, I don't know, but with this I don't and it also stays lit. I don't have to turn it on again for some reason and I don't know if it's because I have to take a longer drawer each time or because the Church Warden stem is popular for historical reasons, a lot of people buy them. Because they remind people of the Lord of the Rings moment, many pipe smokers are interested in churchwardens, but there is the most Churchwarden of the Church I have ever seen, It's delicious that that stem has to be 18 inches long. and this is a pear wood pipe, it's made by a guy from Ukraine, most church keepers stop at 10 to 12 inches, but what you get from that long stem is there's some disagreement about this in the world of pipes, but I think the smoke does.

It gets cold when it goes from the bowl to the mouthpiece, yes it gets cold. I don't often travel with church wardens simply because they are big and unpleasant to carry around and you can't get this out without apologizing. People, right, right, it's like walking into an establishment wearing a kilt. Yes, I'm you. You have to explain yourself. You can't just go in with a feeling of guilt. There could be a good reason, but I need to know. We are achieving this. thing people need to know what happens when you take a pipe you are asking for people to pay attention to you in a public setting you just have to get used to it you are asking for people to look at you Pay attention to you and one of the things I talk about on the Pet channel Cottage is that when you pick up a pipe you are representative of a larger, more historic community, it is much larger than what you are now.

I don't want to make it sound like it's a religious following or a cult or anything like that, but when you pick up the pipe, people have an image in their mind of the type of personality that's going to smoke a pipe and I remember that. There was an excellent article in First Things magazine years ago. I don't remember the author exactly, but I remember he was making a distinction between cigarette smokers and cigar smokers and Pipe smoke does, and pipe smokers are often more philosophical. A good friend of mine in Pennsylvania. uh, he once told me that he went into his local store to buy pipes and the owner of the store told him and he said yes, we have three different types of pipe smokers or tobacco smokers that come here, you have your cigarette smokers, You have your pipe smokers and you have your cigar smokers, the cigarette smokers come and go, they come to the store to get their nicotine fix, yes the cigar smokers, half of them are very nice people, the other half are business-minded American corporations, they don't have It's time to sit down and talk to you pipe smokers, gentlemen, all gentlemen, oh okay, that's a cultural phenomenon, it doesn't tell us anything about pipe smoking, I'm going to fill it, what do we have?

We have the article. by the way, yes, if you want to make a quick reference, yes, Michael Foley, Michael Foley, yes, tobacco in the soul, it's the different kind, yes, the appetite, yes, exactly, that's the article, thank you, I glad someone is there to find it. those quotes because, sorry, I mean one of the things we like about cigarettes, of course, is that there are no added chemicals, all you smoke is tobacco leaf or different types of tobacco leaves together, but with These different mixes and different flavors, what are they like? By adding those flavors, are they healthy and unhealthy chemicals that are also added to tobacco?

Do you know what you mean by pipe tobacco? Yes, there are some companies, particularly when they produce aroma blends, we will put propylene glycol in the bag, which is a preservative. I don't know any science behind the unhealthy characteristics behind it's preservative, but for the most part premium pipe tobacco does not have any kind of preservative, there are many Starwood pipe smokers who would never touch an aromatic blend, a blend that has been wrapped or coated with an alcohol flavor such as rum or bourbon or has been caged or coated with vanilla or caramel uh flavors anything of that nature most premium pipe tobacco enthusiasts are interested in pure tobacco itself and how well the blender has combined a Burly, an Oriental and a Latakia leaf to create a flavor, a flavor profile that is appealing to a particular person because different people have different palettes when it comes to smoking in pipe, yeah, look, so I transitioned, you know?

A long time ago people only smoked flavored cigars, but now I wouldn't even dream of doing it just because it would make me sick because in principle I'm against it, just because I wouldn't like to do the same thing with coffee often. true, I want, I want coffee for coffee's sake, but I haven't made the transition yet. I like some English blends, some smokier blends, but I also like the sweeter peach flavored blends, yeah, so I'm looking forward to making that transition one day, well we have to do it tonight, okay, you gotta stay away from this Peach nonsense to a real pipe tobacco, come on, what have we got?

We have, uh, it's Home and Home. I just went through this real thing. Quickly, the blends that I brought from home, I just bought and I probably have at least 70 to maybe 100 different blends on My Cello because I tell you what a huge number of options you have for pipe smoking. The world is almost mind-blowing, but this mix here listens to Hearth and Home Smoky Mountain is its name. It is produced with pipes and cigars. I believe they are based in Pennsylvania and it is dark burning Kentucky and it is Burly pipe tobacco. It's been cured in a barn and, with a fire under the tobacco, you put the barn and they have a fire in that barn and it gives it its smoky flavor, yes, but it's also mixed with a little bit of Virginia leaf, so en It's not pure dark Kentucky, and I was wondering if I should bring this to a Catholic podcast focused on a Presbyterian mix.

We love to love our Protestant brothers and sisters. The Presbyterian blend is one of the first English blends I really came across. I love it, it's mainly oriental and virginia leaf, there may be a little, I really like it, yes it is necessary, but there is norelaxed, but then, what do we do with our free time? Yes, we are dedicated to it. in front of another machine a Netflix television just like that, the pipe is contrary to all this. I encourage people that when you smoke a pipe, put down your phone, don't smoke a pipe and sit there and watch YouTube all the time, pontificate, think about praying, and so it's a well-known fact in my house. that when daddy takes up the pipe, daddy is not to be disturbed, that is my time to think and pray and deal with any problems that I may be facing, whether religious or in the family or in my work, whatever the case may be.

I'm going to shoot this again, yeah, do it, yeah, so I want to give some advice to men who would like to smoke inside their homes and want to convince their wives why it's a good idea. I'll leave it to you. I know how I did it, so I heard the difference between pipes and cigars is that women like the smell of pipes, so for now, some believers do, so I would smoke a pipe. My wife loved that smell and she smokes a cigar, my wife, I mean some women obviously love cigars, my wife doesn't like the smell of cigars where you just smoke peach fruity to fill up so well , maybe I need to keep doing it anyway, so this is what you say, listen, honey.

I'm going to need to smoke a cigar inside, so a good friend of mine in Bishop came, a priest came and she thought, well this is fair enough, we opened the windows in the side room and started smoking cigars and she didn't. She was very polite and charming and she sat with us and she laughed and chatted, but she didn't like the smell. Once you did that, then the smell of a pipe is not offensive, so now I smoke a pipe at home, in a particular room. Although yes, what about you? I don't smoke a pipe in the main part of the house because we have three small children and I just don't want them near the smoke.

We don't have a big house, but we are converting what once was a garage into my new studio that would house my library and be a smoking room. Lovely. I think a smoking room is important, yes, and it's not just. I'll have to take you to my house because I have this side room. in my house and there are windows around, you can open them with the fan on, so it's a good place to smoke, well you should have it. In Kentucky we didn't experience such cruel winters until we moved to Kentucky, I mean, winners are cruel last Christmas Day, it was below zero outside.

Never in my life, a South Carolina native, have I been in sub-zero temperatures and couldn't smoke my pie and sometimes that's just not the case. I know. There has to be a place inside, but most of the time I smoke on my front porch or smoke on horseback. We have horses, we ride horses, and how do you keep it on? I guess you're not talking to the horse no matter how much you talk to me no this isn't a Mr Ed situation we're not talking to the horse we're on it's very thoughtful requires a little concentration this might be the best tobacco I've ever had I've smoked in my life my life well, I suspect that's how it would be and it could be just because I've only smoked rubbish so far yeah, well, you can anything I have here that you like, you can, you're free to take it with you.

You're so kind because we have so much more we can go through, that's just the first one, yes I'm excited to try something different, this is great, but yes there is an increase in pipe smoking, it's becoming more popular among college students now and why? Do you think that makes them feel and look smart? I think it's right. I think that's absolutely what it comes down to. It makes them feel and look smart. I don't know how to express this yet so that it is theologically accurate. but I'm a big fan, I'll say this tentatively, of allowing our minor sins to keep us from major sins and what I mean is like you're saying someone wants to look smart and they end up doing something beautiful like this.

Someone wants to be the kind of person who reads Dostevsky or Tolkien and they want to do it because they want people to think something about them and they do it but in the end they love it, you know what I mean? Yes, don't be afraid. If the only reason you want to smoke a pipe is because you think it looks cool is what you're saying well, well, well, one of the things that, um, a lot of people in my life, one of the things that has preventing people from using the pipe is this religious taboo that follows many Protestant circles you can't use tobacco it's a sin that's why you're becoming Catholic can you tell me well no, no, not at all not, it's strange, but I learned it later to get married uh you know you can spend the rest of your life trying to please absolutely everyone else and miss out on the blessings God has given us.

I did a video with Malcolm Guide a couple of months ago. Do you know who he is? Malcolm Guide is an Anglican Priest and he is a poet, one of the most beautiful Christian poets. I mean, his poetry is phenomenal and he's written a couple of poems about pipe smoking. Well, I think I've seen this guy on YouTube. This is probably the guy coming in. his studio and says come on because I love that guy Malcolm oh wow good day Malcolm if you're watching yeah and he um oh I love his videos so he's he's a great C.S Lewis uh uh true Amateur, he got into pipe smoking De In fact, because of a sample, he made a video about it and his most famous pipe poem is uh, smoke rings from my pipe, would you mind looking at the smoke rings from my pipe?

Yes, poem, yes, hey, very quickly, although he also misses Harrelson. he's looking and wants to meet your oldest son he's worried about the size of Matt's pipe worried yes he's not pleased yes yes well I don't have well yes that's quite a caliber vet in mind how many pipes did you bring because I can throw this away and use it again . Can? Yes, yes, the same, yes, do what you don't, as long as it's not too hot. I mean, there are no rules, it's your pipe, you can do whatever you want with it, it's okay, I found the poem.

I want him to read it, yes, unless it's eight pages long, yes, that's more stanzas, do it, but do it as best you can, as a dramatic accent. English accent if possible. English. I don't know how good my English is all day. Long's tiredness was over. I'm finally free to do the same. I'll take out my pipe. I will admire the setting sun. I will practice the art of simply staying still. Thank God. I have to fill this Briar Bowl. He left the world with all its desperate hype, its pressures and the constant sound of it. up and let it go in rings of smoke from my pipe the hustle and bustle these I avoid the tasks that bother and the cares that kill the false idea that there is a race to run oh the pushing that weary stone up the hill The miserable iPhone is all Insistent Trail Wingers and Wingers, each with their own complaint.

I wrap them in tobacco leaves until they are carried in rings of smoke from my pipe and then, at last, my real work begins, my opportunity to sing the exercise, the ability to summon the muses one by one. someone to meet me at your temple Touch My feather I have a feather but feathers are even better and when the soul is full and the time has come I light the burning poetry that will light the burning poetry that will breathe and expand the smoke rings of my pipe Prince I'm done grinding at the Mill These pretty throwing tyrants ain't my type so pick me up and put me on a hill a free man blowing smoke rings from his pipe yes, thank you, yes, does he live?

In England, yes, I think I would greet him for me. In fact, I will. He would be a wonderful person at your right. It is an honor. Yes, and one of the things I learned from Malcolm's guidance is that we shouldn't pay. Close attention to what doctors think we should do when it comes to pipe smoking. There is a big difference between, of course, everyone knows this, who smokes a little, between smoking cigarettes and pipes and cigars, but in the interview I did with him. He, uh, told a story about his doctor encouraging him not to smoke a pipe for a while because he was going through some medical problems and then he found the video on his channel of him reciting that poem you just heard and when he then went to visit his doctor and told him off the record.

I think this pipe does you a lot more good psychologically than any harm it can do you physically, etc., that's the whole point of smoking a pipe, it's about the mix, it's about the piece of art i.e. I have a memory behind each pipe that I have I have a story behind it I know where I received it if I was smoking that pipe in a good conversation with friends or family I remember those moments that pipe helps me remember that conversation in that part of life and in a world that is intensely presentist and futuristic, anything that can teach us to slow down and just remember the joys of our past, is a worthwhile activity, okay, yeah, so the reason I buy different types of cigarettes is I like the flavor profile different from the different sizes, but the reason why one buys different pipes is not for that reason, it is as if you said that when you smoke the cigar, the cigar is gone, yes, there is nothing left of it, but that pipe always has a The pipe will last a lifetime and beyond, if it is well made, my children will inherit my pipes and whether they like it or not, whether their house is big enough or not, I pray, I pray that they will probably actually be my child, that has two. corncob pipes that I gave him and he keeps them in his room.

My oldest son is four years old and he keeps his two corncob pipes on his little boy's desk in his room and doesn't allow his sister to play his flutes, very cute, those were the cakes that dad gave him and one day I hope being able to enjoy a bowl with my son, but we're not there yet, not at four, give it a few years, yes, yes, maybe 12. 13. What is your general response to people who say smoking Smoking is bad for you and therefore you shouldn't do it? He mentioned it, but I'll do it. First I would like to find out where is the evidence scientifically that actually proves that smoking is a pipe is bad for you um there is no such thing as pipe smoking in the scriptures what the scriptures teach is temperance and this goes with everything I I would say and in case you don't know, the catechism of the Catholic Church condemns the abuse of alcohol, yes, tobacco. yeah, no, the use, oh yeah, I'm very familiar with those girls.

I posted a photo on Instagram not long ago of one of my pipes, situated next to the catechism, a printed copy of the catechism, and one of my followers. He said that he is already reading the catechism, he is really going with all his might. I said, well, sir, that's what he does when he's Catholic, he reads the catechism, but yeah, that, but I think, particularly among Protestants, there's this notion that we own it. Christianity is defined more by what we don't do than by what we should do, if that makes any sense. Yes, we don't do this, we don't do that, therefore we are good and fair people, but what are you doing with the time?

What do you have? What are you doing? Are you actively involved in any type of ministry that is helping other people? Don't you do this or that so you can show up on Sunday morning and people can see how holy and righteous you think you are? Also, if it is always immoral to enjoy things that are unhealthy, then you will have to eliminate many things like high fructose corn syrup and chocolate cake and yes, and cane sugar. I've known some pretty fat preachers. in my life who can hardly sit behind the pulpit but go back there and preach against the sin of alcohol and tobacco and can't get their big belly off the table after they finish preaching on Sunday morning. and I believe that you have to have a b

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I mean, too much to back up. I mean, I don't smoke all day. I do not like to talk. I don't wake up and say. what's the quote eh, I don't know, I think they say talking every morning, I wake up and think, hooray, another 24 hours smoking a pipe, I don't know how he sleeps, it's 24 hours anyway, right? I don't smoke all day. you can have two packages during the day and that's it, unless it's not that many, yeah, now I don't have time for more than that. Did you talk to Jimmy Aiken about his pipe smoking?

No, he's a big pipe smoker. Jimmy Aiken approached me. via email after I made the video announcing my interest in converting to Catholicism and he's a very kind and humble man so yeah and he encouraged me to reach out to him so we've been talking about different things but not smoking a pipe. Still, I'm looking forward to that conversation, but I think I'm focusing on the pipes you posted about this live stream on your Instagram and YouTube not long before we went live and in one of the comments, someone made a comment and said: oh. This is a sin This is a sin I can't imagine you're making a video about smoking I mean this is all this this is this this is the most important thing we have to talk about this is the most important thing we can discuss, I It seems silly, it seems trivial to me, um, I'm not worried that pipe smoking will lead to an early death, in fact, if anything, I would be happy to smoke a pipe to avoid the stress in my life that will actually kill you.

Stress is one of the biggest killers in modern American society, preach MattMcCloskey, the managers of our cigar stores, he has the same speech he gives me regularly, if you don't mind, I can take a sip of these blantons that you all have. Are you familiar with Chesterton's quote about not smoking a pipe in terms of its morality? To have a horror of tobacco is not to have an abstract standard of right, but exactly the opposite: to have no standard of right and to make certain likes and dislikes local instead of anyone who has an abstract standard view of good and evil possibly thinking that It is wrong to smoke a cigar It is vague It is a vague sentimental notion that certain habits were not suitable for the old log cabin or the old hometown It has a vague utilitarian notion that certain habits are not directly useful in the new stores Amalgamated or in the new hell of the financial game.

One of them, when John Crow Ransom, a writer at Vanderbilt University, said that years ago, in the 1930s, one of the biggest defects of modern society is the art of salesman trying to convince someone. that they need to buy something that they can really live without and the cigarette is a product of modern industrial society it is a product that people crave it is a way to make money much more money is made from people who smoke cigarettes and pipes in tobacco and uh, I think they need to, we need to keep that distinction in mind, products from America's industrialized corporations that started in the early 20th century until now, we need to be careful with some of those products because a cigarette will and I have.

I got a lot of flack on the Pack Cottage channel for criticizing smoking. I don't like smoking. I don't like being around. I think it smells terrible and I just find it repulsive, but at the same time I have to respect it. Someone's decision if they want to do that, I mean, that's not my particular life, but I'm drawn to people who smoke pipes because you don't pick up a pipe unless you've thought about it a little bit, especially not one like this. size Yes, it was actually a lack of thought that led to the size of this fight, so what about someone else in your family who smokes pipes or is it just you?

No, my dad was in the Navy and when he was in the Navy, I guess. He started smoking a pipe and I remember finding his pipe when I was a child he didn't smoke it anymore he didn't smoke it he just smoked he rolled his own tobacco and he smoked cigarettes but I remember seeing that and thinking what a beautiful thing what a mysterious thing what is this thing? and there was something about it that attracted me, but I never saw him smoke one. Do you have a lot of people following your content who are pipe smokers?

I don't know, I suspect, so I think one of the reasons why in our Cigar Lounge you will find as many cigar smokers as pipe smokers is because of the Catholic influence, it is because of the English literary tradition, yes, the writers, the Tolkiens and the others, so it is yours that you have been. I suspect a lot of people smoke well. I think so. I guess there's a bit of crossover, of course, your audience is a lot bigger than mine, but there is, and the people who are watching me, many of them know who you are and of course, they're pipe smokers, so which is thousands, so it is not a small number, there are many people who smoke pipes and listen to its content.

Have you ever had a Pipe Centric episode before me? an episode for our local followers, just and it was me and a priest and we just talked about the difference between pipes and cigars, but this is it, no, this is the only Pipe Centric interview I've ever done, yeah, okay, this It was lovely, so what? Do you think you're leaving that to turn it back on or not? I'm not going to film. I already know what all these mixtures taste like. I'm not going to throw this away. This tobacco here is rare. You can't find that tin anyway, so I'll probably smoke this all the time, unless we really get carried away and need to fill a second bowl, but I have an aromatic here that I have.

I never had Taste of Temptation, yeah, it doesn't look respectable does it, it's a cherry mix, oh I see, so why did you bring this one if you're against it? Well I thought you know it's not just me, other people who smoke pipes. you haven't even opened it no we opened it that's from the Sut lift tobacco company of Richmond Virginia that's beautiful I mean it just smells like a bowl of cherries you would hate it yes I probably love it yes well you can take it all but if I had than filling another bowl, it would probably be Carolina's red flag.

This is nothing more than pure red Virginia tobacco from North Carolina. There is no other type of leaf on it. No barley, no oriental, no seasoning, nothing, this is raw tobacco straight from the field son hmm smell how it smells good tell me what you think it smells like I'm always bad at this I know what cigars I like I can't tell you why I like them good you know. Don't believe it. I would have said there is a fruit. There is a fruit. There is a fruit. It smells like a garden. Yes, you tell me.

You see it. As soon as you tell me, I'll know what it is and most people describe a direct Refuge interlocking. that like hey, it smells like fresh cut, hey, you got it right away, yeah, I don't know if it's just, uh, yeah, baked bread, yeah, oh my gosh, absolutely, that's the beauty of a red Virginia leaf and straight. Check out our cigar manager Matt McCloskey. This is very good, so I'll take a cigarette and tell him: I like it. I think it tastes good. He takes it and will leave. I'm going to get Wasabi. I tell him what and then I'll continue, yes, I understand it was soy sauce.

Remember we smoked a Cuban, but this is preeminent, but the McClellan tobacco company was famous for their Street Virginia blends and they were able to source Virginia tobacco from North Carolina. Obviously they had relationships. with individual farmers and what happens with cigar tobacco and pipe tobacco, especially when it comes to pure blends like this, you can feel the difference from one farm to another, from one part of the country to the next, from one part from the world to another. Next, soul chemistry has a lot to do with flavor profile, which is why I smoke a pipe, it's so interesting.

When I smoke a cigar, I can't necessarily distinguish all the nuances of flavors it contains. I mean, I'm going to read some of these cigar reviews that people have online and say well, the first third know they're making this up. Yeah, I don't think they are, but I think the first thirds tasted like maple syrup and the second third tasted like uh. I don't know and a bonfire the second third was like a piece of carrot cake. I don't know how people figure out all this like lighting a cigarette and if it's a rapper from Maduro or a rapper from Connecticut, I can tell the difference.

I know I like the dark, oily type I put my lips on. I can taste it right away, but I also like a well constructed cigar, yeah right, I don't like any kind of mush that looks like a nice, hard to go pipe tobacco is a difference, there is a cross between smoking cigars and smoking in pipe, but with pipe smoking you really get a difference in those flavors, so do you think you could ever know how to make the switch from pipes to cigars completely or not, not completely? but, uh, prominently, for you to smoke cigars more than supplies, no, you couldn't where in the world do I want to do something like that, well, the reason I ask is that it would be like moving from the mountains of southeastern Kentucky to New York.

York City I don't want to do that, yeah, so I'm really enjoying this. I've been to your people in New York. I'm just saying I'm in June, but I don't think I'll ever be able to do it. Not getting into this full time, there are almost similar situations in which a pipe is required. I especially like smoking a pipe in the fall. I especially like smoking a pipe when I'm alone reading a book, as you say, it's more contemplative. activity you have to keep it lit, whereas it's a type that you can leave for five ten minutes and if it's a good cigar it will still be lit, you can still do it with a pipe, keep in mind I've had this pipe sitting here and I haven't been smoking for some time, you haven't.

I wouldn't be too surprised if that's the case, it doesn't make any difference if it's lit with a cigarette, of course, you don't want to have to relight it. cigar again and again because you have to ask a little, yes, with the pipe there is no difference. I can leave that pipe on a tree at home and pick it up the next morning and it will taste the same. Okay, so it doesn't make any difference if you smoke the whole bowl in one go or not, that's the whole point of leisure. You understand that you don't need to be rushed if you can't finish the entire bowl in 30 minutes.

Well, who cares, keep doing something else, but part of what I like about a cigar is that it's a compromise that if I get a good cigar, I have to sit down for at least an hour to enjoy it. Well, I'm committed to this pipe, but that doesn't mean I have to commit to it for the next hour, you know? Can you pass me your lighter again? Yeah, I'll see if I'll have a better chance the second time. Thanks, you didn't. bring any cigarettes to smoke. I don't feel it, so you have to trust the pipe.

I have to know that I am enjoying it a lot. Do not misunderstand. I think part of why I like cigars is honestly very simple. putting my lips on tobacco is a different experience well, I put my lips on this stem right here um now, that's an acrylic stem or what is it, it's acrylic, what's what else? What other types of stems do they have? Well, you have vulcanite. which is rubber and that's what pipes were made of, our stems were made for a long time, the problem with vulcano hdms is that if you leave them in the sun for too long or don't keep them clean inside and out they will rust over time They will have this ugly green tone that comes with them.

They can be restored. I don't prefer vulcanite stems. I prefer acrylic. Have you ever thought about making urine tubes? Oh, many times, many times, I have thought about it. making my own pipes, but I'm not at the point where I can focus on that, yeah, that takes time. It takes concentration. Okay, all right, so what's your first pipe of the day? So for me, I usually wake up. I work often. When I go out, I go down to my cigar lounge and have a cigar with my coffee, which is usually my morning routine and I love it.

I usually wake up and have coffee, listening to my kids screaming and running around the house. for a while and I take care of any reading or work I need to do for my college work and then at noon I usually have a glass of Kentucky bourbon and then have dinner, that's not lunch in southern culture. It's dinner time, dinner time comes later in the night just so we're not confused, yeah, yeah, so that's usually when you'll get your first Piper. Yeah, I'll eat it after I eat and then, um, I don't like it. I smoke a pie before I eat, okay, I just don't like it, yeah, because some blends have a little bit more nicotine content and I never like to smoke a cigarette without eating first, that's my favorite.

I don't eat until two or three every day and I have a cigarette and a black coffee in the morning, so you work out every morning, not every morning, every three days or so, you lift weights and that kind of stuff. , yeah, I tried for a while, my arms got tense. So they had to be pretty thick and my wife told me I don't like that look so I scaled it down a little. The only exercise I get now is walking around my farm for about 45 minutes every day. well, yes, and do you know what lunting is?

No, it's okay, lunting, there is actually a lunting society. Okay, it's the act of walking and smoking a pipe at the same time. I've seen people do it. I admire him, I don't know if. I might enjoy it well, yes I don't enjoy it either, but I thought it would be interesting to tell you what hunting is. No. I have tried. I've tried many times, but I can ride a horse. riding a bike, that's not true, yeah, for those who are watching right now and would like to start pipe smoking or have just started pipe smoking, what are some of the mistakes you might see them making?

When do people start smoking a pipe? it's like you just said the fear of it going out when you say no don't be afraid it's okay the worst can happen don't worry too much about how you pack it but what are some of the things that you see people does? You think well, the first thing is that you pack it too much, there is almost an art and I have had people come to my channel when I am smoking a pipe and trying to talk and make a video at the same time and they make some stupid comment like you need to learn how keep your pipe lit properly, it takes years of practice, that's a lot of oh, wash, no, no, you can't keep a pipe lit while talking at the same time, that defeats the whole purpose, you're not supposed to be talking and talking and talking while smoking a joint, so this is almost an oxymoron, we are even doing it, but don't pack it too much and don't be afraid to light it up again, there is a comfortable position between you I don't want it to be too tight I don't want it to be too loose you pay attention to the extraction I pull air through the stem to the right and if it's too loose I can tell it's too free the air comes in too freely so mine was coming in freely there so I tamped it down a little.

That's what you would do, yeah, well, not when I'm packing the pipe for the first time,No, no, but what happens in the middle? Yeah, but when you're tampering the pipe, you don't want to tamp too hard, you just let the weight of that tamper hit the top of that tobacco because all you're doing is trying to push that heating fire a little bit lower, so that is combined with tobacco that has not yet been burned we are getting more scientific than I originally anticipated what about the seasoning aside? People talk about seasoning a pipe, yes, I've heard people say, well, you want to smoke it lower. the first time but then I talked to a guy in Italy who smokes cigars and he told me that doesn't matter, but he said what matters is that you smoke it all the way through so it's evenly seasoned.

I've never intended that all That nonsense, you don't season the pack by smoking it, does it make any difference how far you have it? The smoke, good tobacco, I've never paid attention to that, just smoke it, it's fine if you want to fill it all up. your way to the top of the bowl and fill it with that. Here is a question. I have smoked this almost to the bottom. Is it okay to take fresh tobacco and put it in the one that is already burning? Alright? Well, why not? No, do not do it. To turn it back on, why don't you need to clean the Doddle off the bottom of the bowl before turning it back on?

Okay, and if you want to use the same pipe for a different blend immediately after smoking a blend, you should do that. clean it out because there's a lot of moisture that builds up at the bottom of that container, yeah, and there's a lot of talk about ghost pipes these days, you know what that means, no, well, some blends, technically, some people say they leave a flavor profile in the wood. So, if you put an aromatic blend in a bowl and then want to put an English or Virginia blend into it, you may be able to taste some of the aromatic from your previous smoke.

Thank you. On Thursday I added that there is only one type of pipe. tobacco I have ever had that problem with and it is a couple of blends that have deer tongue in them, I say it again for people with back pain please dear tongue, not literally dear tongue, it is a plant that is grown in the south and has a licorice flavor and pipe tobacco in the 19th century was often flavored with deer tongue, this plant is and if you have deer tongue in your pipe to back it up with little green pieces, it looks quite strange , it seems like it doesn't belong there. yeah, at the end of the day it doesn't, but if you have venison tongue in your mix, that will definitely cause a pipe.

Oh, I see that Cornell and a company in South Carolina produce a blend called The Gentleman Color and it has deer tongue in it. in it it tastes good, but you sure better have a different part dedicated, yes, dedicated, a part of the cake, okay with that mix. Anything else, I can help you. How about you play your pipe? I see people smoking on top of them, they hit it against a piece of wood to get it. Oh, that's sacrilege, never, ever take your pipe and hit it against any kind of hard object to get the ashes out.

No, don't be lazy, take the pipe tool, you know we have pipe tools for a reason, take the spoon and pull the. bottle from the bottom of the container and what I do is I clean it with a pipe cleaner, run it through the stem and I will clean the stem and the stem and I will take a paper towel and I will wipe the inside of the container each time, but I never separate the stem from the stem if the pipe is very hot, yes, but I almost never do it when I started smoking a pipe, I took the stem off the stem every time and cleaned it.

Now he almost never does that, no, I just leave the stem, push the pipe cleaner in there, yeah, and one of the hallmarks of a well-made pipe is that you can take that pipe cleaner the way you laugh. I do not do it. Sure, what's going on, I don't want you to explain it to me, yeah, I can take that pipe cleaner and you can shove that thing all the way in, okay, you see it right there, yeah, oh, I see it and then you just scream back. If you don't have a well-made pipe, you can't push it in and out like that, it won't work well, I'm just saying that's great, yeah, okay, so everyone knows we're doing a great job.

The Tolkien conference is happening over the next few days here in Steubenville Ohio at Franciscan and we are having a massive Hobbit party at our Cigar Lounge here on 4th Street so if you want to come you can meet us both. We'll be smoking pipes, you'll be playing banjo, so if you live near Steubenville Matt, what time does Friday night start? 7 45. My son will be dressed like a Hobbit, with no shoes and no shoes, he never wears shoes anyway. I never can, he has feet, he doesn't. I wonder how we can remedy that. It is going to be very fun.

Yes, we have some of the world's best Tolkien and Lewis scholars in Steubenville this weekend. Contact the guys at Steubenville or Francisco. I mean, I don't know anyone at Franciscan, so we'll introduce ourselves tomorrow. Yeah, well, I mean, I registered for the conference, but I don't know anyone with Francisco. I'll introduce you to some wonderful people. I'm sure it doesn't sound like you have a problem meeting people, but no. I would love to talk to them. Are there any faculty members who smoke pipes? For sure yes. It sure will be. I can't think of anyone, but I mean, if they're Tolkien readers, they've got to be pipe smokers.

Don't you think so? I figure if not, then they're doing the legacy a disservice. Well man, this is what I want to do. I'm going to take a break and when we come back we're going to talk about how you came to Catholicism, how you began to discern it, and where you are now. Sounds good. and I'm also going to refill this bowl. This clip was sponsored by Hallow and I have to say it's very easy to promote these guys because their app is probably the best one I've ever used, not just from a Catholic point of view, but across all apps.

If you want to grow in your prayer life, if you want to learn to meditate, if you want to listen to excellent Catholic audiobooks, you can't go past Hallow, visit hello.com. Matt, sign up there and you'll have access. to the entire app free for three full months, so what have you got to lose? Here is the answer, nothing, it's okay. I want to thank the Emmaus Academy. They have launched this new digital platform to help you grow in your love for Holy Scripture and, therefore, Your Love for Christ. If you're like me, you know how tempting it is to just waste a lot of your day on YouTube like maybe you're doing now or listening to political podcasts and other things, the truth is we do.

We often have time to grow in our knowledge and love of the Scriptures, we just need a helping hand and that is what this new digital learning platform will help you achieve. He has short courses on the Scriptures that you can take and you can learn from Dr. Scott. Hahn Dr. John bergsma father Boniface Hicks many more I have been on this platform. I have a subscription and I mean it when I say it's actually great and will help you love the scriptures. I think many of us want to do it. We love the Scriptures but find that we struggle.

I don't know, we feel guilty for not loving them as much as we should. Platforms like this will help you achieve this so click the link in the description of saint paulcenter.com and sign up when if you sign up you get two weeks free for the entire platform. I mean, think about how many times you and I have subscribed to say Hulu or something else, um, when we could be doing something like this and developing a love for the Scriptures, so again Saint Paul Center. .com sign up today you get two weeks free you don't think it's worth it after that time cancel it you won't be charged even Cent but I think you would be really impressed with what you see any sinner is capable of doing being the great saint and then being at saved is also capable of being a great sinner a great sinner a great sinner thank you the secret therefore of the development of character is the realization of this power that is in each and every one of us golden foreigner the good The Lord wants us to take hold of the worst of ourselves, I don't believe that people who have virtues, goodness and other great talents, we just got these things naturally, they had to solve the same exercises as any sinner, any sinner, any sinner, and then he is safe too is capable of being a great sinner a great sinner I'm in Doctora with a good moment, you're back, so ah, we're back, it's good glory to Jesus Christ, amen forever, you know there are difficulties. things that happen in the world there is a lot of confusion there is a lot of madness but there is still good things yes, there is still bourbon on the back porch yes, there are still friendships right, yes, it's still good and worth fighting for, that's right, well , I'm glad we agree.

I wasn't sure if I'm going to be able to argue about that, well, I can't think of anything we can argue about. Oh, you told me not to spin around in my chair. Sorry, now tell me if I should try Taste of Temptation and lose respect. for me and for your respect, or I should try well, that's why I gave it to you. I don't want to take it home. It smells so good. I'm going to light a bowl in my 1986 Dunhill and I have Carolina Red Flake. I'm going to try it on it, if you don't mind, go ahead.

Thank you so much. Be my guest. Kind sir. Do you have ice down there? No or it's all melted. You have your ass behind you. Yes, look up. Thank you. Well, I'm very excited to hear about your journey into the Catholic Church. I have a lot of people who watch the show who are beautiful Protestants who we can learn a lot from as Catholics and they tell me that they are converting to Catholicism and I would love to know how you've obviously been aware of Catholicism for probably most of your life, but when

became

a live option for you?

Well, about three months ago, what happened was very frank, yeah, um, me. I won't be able to smoke right now. I need to speak well. I'll pack mine up and start smoking. Okay, well, at least one of us needs to smoke a pipe, so my PhD is in the south. history, but it is primarily intellectual and cultural history of the South, someone tells me yes and when you can't study the history of the American South, particularly Southern literature, without encountering important Catholic writers like Flannery O'Connor Walker Percy , yes, and many others besides Alan Tate Caroline. Gordon, many wonderful Catholic writers, one of my best friends in graduate school, was a native of Poland and a cradle Catholic, but a very, very devout, very devout Catholic, and most of the scholars who knew him in the graduate school and in the history profession, people who have been drawn in over the last 15 years have had some history with Catholicism, okay, and the question occurred to me over the past summer, if someone asked me about I am Protestant and not Catholic, how would you respond? question and that's why I couldn't find a good answer.

I mean there's just no particular reason for this and this question to enter my mind. I was going about my business one particular day and I think it was so-so. I think it was actually, the holy spirit of God and just the question is in my mind, why aren't you Catholic? How can you explain that? So I started reading it. I am worried. The question worried me significantly. Actually, what were you reading? Well, I was reading some Peter Crief stuff, uh. I think 40 Reasons Why I'm Catholic, I think is the title of that little book of his and I didn't even know who he was until this summer.

I've been reading GK Chesterton for over a decade, did you know he was one? Catholic, oh, absolutely, absolutely, and that's why I never read his Catholic works. I read almost everything else Chesterton wrote, but I never read his works on Catholicism until this summer. I was reading. Of course, I read C.S Lewis years ago in graduate school. Christianity, uh, the duct tape lyrics of the abolition of man, all this kind of stuff, now I'm not Catholic, obviously, but it's closer to Catholicism, if I had lived longer, maybe I would have, but, um Tolkien , of course, would have been exposed to Tolkien for a long time.

Actually, for many, many years, the interesting thing about this is that Protestant men, friends of mine for years, have always been in love with symbolic literature, so I started reading these people and then I picked up a copy of the catechism of the Catholic Church and I started. read the catechism because I like to go to the main source of information, yes YouTube videos are good, but it is better. May I ask what your first experience was after reading the catechism? What was your? What did you think about it? What was your impression? from the beginning to the end was why didn't I know?

I didn't know about this before why didn't anyone tell me about this when I was raised as a child and I was raised in a Pentecostal home and I was actually an ordained minister in the Church denomination. of God, which is based in Cleveland, Tennessee, and both sides of my family were Pentecostal, so when I was a child, no one talked about Catholicism, the one time I heard my grandmother talk about Catholicism and she was telling me telling about a revival of an ancient meeting ofparticular parish, etc., I could talk, my goodness, I could talk for a long time about this because the details are quite complicated, one of the deacons, one of the deacons at St Helens is Deacon Bruce Sullivan and he wrote a book ago a few years entitled Christ in his fullness.

I think EWTN got the lyrics right. EWTN, yeah, you posted it for him and he's one of the deacons there. He was a pastor in a Protestant. church for a long time and he came to Catholicism in 1993. So he knows very well what it is like to go from the Protestant ministry to Catholicism and that is why he called me one day. I contacted Father Joseph, actually the Misericordia fathers in Auburn. Kentucky, have you heard of those people? I heard of the Fathers of Misericordia, but not of this particular priest. Well, I approached Father Joseph. Out of nowhere, one day I said he needed help.

I'm getting to the point. Now that I've read enough about Catholicism and can't read about it anymore, I need to talk. I need to find someone to talk to so I reached out and they have a wonderful YouTube channel. That's how I discovered them. went to the Fathers of Mercy's YouTube channel and, contrary to what I thought they were going to preach in their homilies, they were preaching about the dangers of wokism, the dangers of modern society, how we should live a sacramental and liturgical lifestyle and I thought well, my family. I was never told that the Catholic church was going to offer so much beauty in this regard, so I started watching YouTube videos and then I called it a day.

I do that kind of thing if I want to talk to someone. I just called them and contacted Father Joseph, who is one of the ministers there, and he said, how can I help you? I said, well, sir, you don't know me, but I've seen a couple of your sermons on YouTube and I'm thinking about joining the Catholic Church and I told him a story and he told me about rcia and what it takes, which Respect by the way, the most Protestant churches if you are moving from Baptist to Methodist or Methodist. to any other type of sect in the Protestant Church you simply show up and within a month you know that you are a member of the church, but the Catholic Church requires that you know exactly what you are about to profess, they require that you understand it.

He's very intellectual and I appreciate him a lot, so I told him I'd been reading the catechism, then the Council of Trent and all these other people, and he said, well, it usually takes about a year, but for you it doesn't seem to work. to be like this. He took quite a while and said, I want you to get in touch with Bruce Sullivan in Glasgow and within two or three hours, I think Deacon Bruce Sullivan called me and we had a lovely conversation at the end of that talk I was on. tears he was crying, he was very excited because I found someone.

I met him on the phone not two weeks ago not two years ago and I'm opening my heart to this man and he sends me a PDF File of his book, he said, read this, I told him, I told him on that call, I said, he told me He asked, he said, why do you want to join the Catholic church? I said, I want more of Jesus, I said, I just don't have it. Enough about Jesus and he immediately said you need the sacraments, you have to have the sacraments, so he sent me his book that tells the story of him and how he found the second one, how he found Christ in the Catholic church and my wife and I we read all together and that's him, he's now our sponsor at our CIA and um, you say, oh, my wife and she also absolutely decided that I wanted to tread carefully because I wasn't absolutely sure, no, no, my wife, oh , she just received.

Before he left home to come here, he received a huge box in the UPS mail from Ascension Press. It's book after book after book from Ascension Press. So how did he buy them? Someone? Yes, he bought them. Oh, he did. okay, she, you know what Alexandria Alex, my wife and honey, if you're watching just listen here, I'm about to praise you quite a bit, you know what she told me, told me, told me two or three nights ago, said our Don. The family is closer to each other and closer to God now than ever in seven years of marriage, we have three children, my oldest son is four years old, I have a three-year-old daughter and a second child is five months old. and I said, I know what you mean, I know what you mean, we went to that first game, she went to mass before, she had never gone to mass before we went to the first mass and then, you know, I got over the initial shock how different this was from any Protestant service I had been to I began to soak in its beauty well, the Gregorian chant this beauty this absolute beauty it's not the Latin mass but it made sense it made perfect sense every little piece of architecture and This is a chapel that was built in the 19th century, it is not new, I mean, it is not, there is nothing modern about it, so I show up at the chapel for the first time, we are preparing to go to the 11 o'clock mass: 30 and right next door.

To the chapel is this monstrosity of a, I guess, a Baptist church with a steeple that reaches probably 200 feet in the air. This modern brick building is just huge, this is modern, modern across the street, a completely modern Methodist church and here we have this humble little one. Catholic Chapel in the middle of all this and you said: did you go with his wife? Yes and my children are fine, all of us. I mean, there is absolutely no dispute between my wife and I, we both pursued Catholicism at the same time. and with the same fervor glorify Jesus Christ and I didn't realize how strange that is we are looking forward to the next steps I mean there is so much Beauty in our life now we can't wait to go to mass again I wish I lived close enough to a chapel which we could go to more than once a week, eventually we would probably move to the local parish which is still 45 minutes away, but Catholicism is not strong in Southeast Kentucky, in fact there is a lot of anti-Catholicism and once Telling the neighbors that we have become Catholics is not going to take it very well and I hope they do, but there are many misunderstandings, yes, when I crossed that point of misunderstanding and I really wanted to search for myself what Jesus Taught about church and what the church teaches about itself from the first century until now the beauty, the power of it, the anointing behind it was more than I could say no to, I couldn't say no to it and here we are.

We're going through rcia we we're looking forward to Christmas. I have heard that the Christmas season in the Catholic Church is a beauty to behold. Wow, thanks for sharing it. I really appreciate it. Oh, that was just a small part of the story. Understandably, many people find this a very difficult transition because not only are you giving up old ways of thinking, old beliefs, but you're also giving up community, giving up family, um, yeah, but you're gaining something very older and a A very different but also important community, yes, with the communion of saints, the communion of saints.

I never knew anything about this one of the books my wife bought and I've been reading it for the past few weeks. It is this Encyclopedia. of the Saints and it's just phenomenal, it's phenomenal all these beautiful, wonderful people and we don't know anything about them in the Protestant church, so no, I'm not going to go out and proselytize people and say "hey, if you're Protestant, You need to become a Catholic tomorrow, but what I want my Protestant friends and family to understand is that this decision to join the Catholic church is not the result of deception, it is the result of the divine power of the Holy Spirit guiding our mind. heart and our soul the part of the Mind that is very important spiritual warfare at best occurs between your two ears right here, yes that is where spiritual warfare occurs, so I reject any family or not who say I will join the

catholic

church because I am being deceived by some demonic power, they do not see the beauty, they do not see the love and the power of God that is present in it and I know that there is corruption in the

catholic

church I am very aware of. that and no I am very aware of Pope Francis and many things he is doing that I, as a traditionalist conservative, cannot tolerate, but I still respect the position.

God bless you, it's not like he's coming to Catholicism blindly. I know the history of Catholicism. To some extent, one of the courses I took in my master's program was actually a history of the Crusades, thank God for them, yes, and so for the last 15 or 20 years, there have always been these little nuggets of Catholicism that come into my life Today I asked you if you knew who Russell Kurt was and you said you knew some of his work, but Russell Kirk was from Acosta Michigan and became Catholic later in life. I've been to his house, it's a proper Catholic home.

I mean, you sit at the dining room table in his house and you feel like you're sitting in a chapel. I mean, he's beautiful and his wife is just a gorgeous girlfriend. Miss Anita Kirk is still living. She died in the early 90s, but one. One of the things I learned from Kirk was that if we have to have moral imagination, we are losing moral imagination in our modern society, not just in the United States but throughout the Western world, the Western world used to be known as Christianity by the In this way and we no longer have this ability to imagine and think about the difference between good and evil when we read a piece of literature when we participate in social media and I went to a couple of conferences at his house. at McAlester Michigan and I was the only Southern Protestant there, they were all a wonderful group of graduate students because I had a Richard Weaver Fellowship from the Institute of Intercollegiate Studies during graduate school.

I don't know if they know about isi or not, no, they are strong conservative aside from the Heritage Foundation, they are probably one of the largest conservative think tanks in the country right now. Well there were 10 15 years ago, I don't know now, but they flew us to Mecosta Michigan. to visit Russell Kirk's house we had a conference there and we were reading various and diverse authors, many of them Catholic from the 14th to the 17th and 18th centuries and I was the only southerner there and I was the only Protestant there and what I came to realize It's just that I have absolutely nothing in common with any of these people, but I love them to death, they are from different parts of the world, they are Catholic, I am nothing more than their humility, their willingness to show kindness and generosity and Grace wanted to know. about me they wanted to know about the south what do you study what are you studying tell me about yourself just that that degree of community is what my wife and I have been looking for since we got married How has your prayer life changed, either personally or with your wife or with your family?

Since you wanted to become Catholic, have you started to adopt any Catholic devotionals like the Holy Rosary? Oh, absolutely, I'm still trying to learn how to do it properly, uh, but yeah. and I have a book in my bag right there that explains how to do this properly and I told you I'm a Catholic baby, but yeah, actually a Cottage pipe viewer sent me this beautiful Rosary in the mail. a few days ago made in Kentucky by a monk and it's absolutely beautiful and he sent me a copy of the Ascension Press version of the Catholic Bible uh and I mean, it's just the people, just the love and appreciation, I mean, it's like If you told people that you are joining the Catholic church and then it explodes, the people who are Catholic would welcome you into that community.

I never had anything like that when we were exploring the Presbyterian church or the Methodist church, it's like, well, let's see if you'll stay. for another two or three months and then we will see if we want to welcome him or not, that is nothing against our Protestant friends, but I believe that and I am sure that not everyone who decides to join the Catholic church has a similar situation . uh situation, I don't know, I can only speak from personal experience, but for my wife and I, I go to bed every night thanking God every day when I go for the walk that I told you about, that is my prayer time, that It is my personal prayer time. praying all the time and what I want our home to be is for it to be liturgical, I want it to be sacramental and so we are learning how to do it, we are learning how to do it, we are not there yet, but give us some time and we will get there spot.

I just interviewed a guy called Keith Nestor, which was for our local followers, we'll post it on YouTube later, he wrote a book, maybe you can remind me of the title from Thursday, but he was the one who converted, he was a Protestant pastor and his book is being a catholic the first year after your conversion or something like that a guide for converts to roman catholicism uh guide for converts to roman catholicism your first year in the first year in the church yeah, well I'll have to look it up, it sounds weird, yes, C.S Lewis said the famous phrase, I have quoted it many times, that Protestants see the Catholic Church as an invaded jungle and Catholics see the Protestant as an arid desert where everything is and the Protestant says why is there so much and I have encountered Protestants who become Catholics who feel overwhelmed by so many different devotionals and ways of praying and I think one of the pieces of advice Dar would give is to choosesomething that appeals to you and staying true to a few things so you don't get too overwhelmed with all the devotionals out there.

Beautiful. I became Catholic when I was 17 years old. I was baptized Catholic, I mean, but that's how it was. Agnostic atheism was not yet fashionable when I was 17. It still wasn't a way of saying I'm intellectually superior to you like I might be today, so I decided I was agnostic. At 17, my mother sent me on a trip to Rome in Italy and it was there that I met other people my age who loved Jesus Christ, who were saving sex for marriage, who were not vulgar in their speech and who I asked: who are you, where do you come from?

Yes, why? You're sarcastic and bitter and why are you so happy? It really surprised me and I started to open Maya's heart to the possibility that maybe God exists, so what the hell do I know? I don't even know how they make plastic. maybe maybe it's possible, right, and it was, yes, during that trip I encountered the presence of Jesus Christ. I came back so happy it would make you sick. It's a beautiful story and I want to know more about your story. I really want it. I don't know all those details, uh, but we would know that God was always part of our house.

I never got to a point where I thought God didn't exist, that was never part of my upbringing, but I'm my wife and I got to the point where we realized that nothing else has given us what we want, oh we need more of Jesus, I mean, I want him here. I want it here in the same room I want God's holy spirit I think part of our skepticism about Christianity in general is that you live long enough and everything that has promised you something has let you down and then these Christians come and I tell you about this person called Jesus and what he can do for you and you think that nothing could be as good and you don't want to be disappointed again.

One of the worst exports of American society now is evangelical Christianity. What do I mean by that? by the way, I don't know if it's possible or not, but this tobacco is improving and it's impossible. I don't know if it's the whiskey that goes with it, but when I started smoking this particular blend, I found a little bit of that too. Spicy is like that, right, is it spicier than the other or not, well, what mix do you have? This one right here, the red film, yeah, it definitely has a little spice to it, but I will say the more I smoke it, the more I enjoy it. okay, don't drink it too hard now to sip that or this they don't the pipe the pipe the pipe yeah the bourbon either I guess why you say that about uh because we have a particular brand of evangelical Christianity in this country it's very optimistic it's materialistic it's consumerism is more present and futuristic what do you mean by futuristic or is it almost escapist we look at what God is going to do in the future without recognizing what God is asking us to do now escapism is a major problem in the Protestant Church escapism well, There is no reason for me to help this person, they are going to die tomorrow anyway, there is no point in me getting involved in this cause because Jesus will return any minute and he will take care of everything.

Escapism. I have to take your word for it, yes, I wouldn't know well, this is your experience, yes, it is, but because I have a different experience, I mean, and I shouldn't contradict yours at all, just say that "I have felt very gratified and blessed by American Protestants, that has been my personal experience when I meet an American Protestant who loves Jesus Christ. These are joyful people who believe that God is on the move today, not an artifact of history. He is alive. Now his love for the Scriptures inspires me. I'm not saying that I don't see that in the Catholic faith, as you understand, but I am saying that I think there is a lot that we Catholics can learn from Protestants and when I talk to Protestants. . converts what I often find them saying is something similar they say I'm very grateful for my Protestant upbringing they taught me to love Jesus they taught me to love the Scriptures it's what it feels like and you tell me if this is right because I'm not a I convert from Protestantism but they will tell me I don't feel like I'm getting rid of anything I think I'm just reaching a broader horizon well, you know the war is going on, you know it's true, you know that's how it is, I mean, a lot of people have That said and I can certainly dispute it.

I can attest to that. Everything I loved about the Protestant church I can find in Catholicism, I mean, and so much more, that's the point where I got to a point where, well, I've experienced all of this. I need something else, but what really irritates me about the Protestant Church in the United States and I'm going to go out on a limb here and you can agree or disagree is the denominational pride that we have particularly in the South. I don't know here, but in the south we can have a half mile stretch of road and we can have 10 different churches, 10 different denominations on that same stretch of road and they will never talk to each other, they will never have anything to do with each other. others, we have Christianity in a shopping mall as I like to call it, people get angry at what the pastor is doing at this particular church and then they are going to go to a shopping mall and start their own church next.

Sunday, yeah, and renting a building for a while, this is what irritates me about the Protestant Reformation, yeah, this is what resulted in, can't you see, you know, he says James gets angry with Peter and says that's Everything, I'm starting my own. church is like that that's not an option there is a church in the church that Christ established yes, we stayed in the boat and we fought and then we left the boat well and here I am thinking to myself, okay, this country and the western sea for The majority is going to hell in a basket, it's spinning the drain faster than we can keep up with and it's not politics that's going to solve the problem, it's the church, amen, so if we're arguing back and forth, I I mean, in the South, this is a big problem, a big problem, they call it the Bible Belt, but personally in my life I have known people in my family and friends that I have known and were raised in one denomination and will have absolutely nothing to do with someone raised in a different denomination within Protestant circles, that is not what we are called to do, we will never have anything to do.

I have often told people that if a fraction of Americans who call themselves Christians were really serious about obeying God we would see some major changes cultural changes political changes economic changes I mean, God has told us this is what What do you do and don't do? Here are the consequences as you inhale. I feel like I've taken you away from your pipe. I'll give you a chance to smoke this. I want to share it with you because what you just said really caught my attention. I'm reading gaudio at its best right now, galio, it's the church at its best in the modern world. document of the Second Vatican Council and it is absolutely beautiful, it begins in the introduction talking about the problems of modern man, the search for the fullness of life apart from Christ through materialism, through, perhaps, Eastern techniques or something else , and this is how it concludes. the introduction if you allow me, the church believes that Christ and just imagine a Protestant who does not believe that the church is in love with Christ and puts Christ Central he is the church's solution to the problem of modern man the church believes that Christ who He died and rose from the dead for all of us, he gives man through his Spirit light and strength sufficient to live up to his high calling, nor is there any other name under Heaven given to men by which we must be saved, she believes. that the key The center and purpose of all human history is found in its Lord and Master.

The church affirms that beneath all change there are many unchangeable things that have their ultimate foundation in Christ, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever in the Light of Christ. image of the invisible God, firstborn of all creation, the Second Vatican Council aims to address everyone to illuminate the mystery of man and cooperate in the search for solutions to the problems of our time. I highly recommend it having read the uh the catechism of the Catholic Church, it goes into some of these, this is just exceptional. Christ is the answer and it is you, Josh's mission is to proclaim it.

I'm absolutely right, I couldn't agree more. You have a portrait of Hillary Bellock in Your Cigar Lounge I was talking to you a little bit about Southern agrarianism in the Cigar Lounge and one of the first essays in that book called I'll take my stand that came out in 1930. It was written by John Crow Ransom and One of the points he makes in that book is that the American South was never as comfortable moving away from European history and culture as other parts of the country were, and that in 1936 several of the people who contributed to that first book titled I'll Take My Stand he wrote a second sequel titled Who Owns America? and the final essay was written by Hill Arabella and it was a tribe, it was us in the wrong word, it's an inappropriate word, it was a coherent rant, no, no.

It was a well-articulated defense of tradition against modern man and one of the points the Prime Minister makes is that modern man is trying to create a morality separate from religion and of course that is typical Bellock. I mean, she wrote a lot of things about it, um, but there's one. One of the reasons I am so drawn to studying the American South is that our part of the country has never been more comfortable moving into the 20th and 21st centuries in the sense that we embrace progressivism and the idea of ​​pragmatism. by William James John Dewey.

The only truly American philosophy this country can claim is the pragmatism that emerged in the late 19th century from John Dewey and William James, and essential pragmatism, of course, teaches that whatever your truth is, it is true, whatever the truth. true for me, that's true. You can't have a society like that James Madison said in the federalist newspapers that you can't have a republic unless you have a holy, religious, immortal people, and that's why I mentioned Russell Kirk a while ago and I think people you should read him especially if you are Catholic and interested in a proper understanding of American politics, American culture and he wrote two books that are extremely important: The Conservative Man written in 1953 and the roots of the American order, I think written in the 1970s, and what he said about the South in the conservative mind talks about Edmund Burke talks about the history of conservatism in general but has a chapter on southern conservative thought said one of the great contributions of southern conservatism to American history It's just that they have always been southerners.

They have always been defiant towards outside authority. They have been very much in agreement with the teachings of previous generations. They have a great respect for history and a great respect for the rural and agricultural lifestyle. This is one of the main issues I consider. We talked about on the pipe Cottage uh, I think we're becoming too urban now in our society and one of the things that attracts me to Catholicism is his appreciation for the created order, he's going to love Steubenville, the created order, um, but uh, and I would encourage people to read Russell Kirk what he said about the roots of the American order.

If you want to understand Philadelphia, first you have to go to Israel, Jerusalem, then go to Rome, then study the history of London and then study the history of Philadelphia, the Declaration of Independence and of course the Constitution, there are so many things that I'm trying to unravel here Rich Lowry, you know who Richard is, he was and may still be the editor in chief of National Review, okay, years ago. was in Cincinnati, Ohio, and he gave a talk on Southern Conservatism and Rich Lowry was producing, he was giving the keynote address during the banquet that night after our talks and he says in his speech that we, as America, have always thought in tyranny and evil deeds and mentions the American Revolution fighting the British and mentions the War of 1812. and then mentions the bombardment of Fort Sumter in South Carolina in 1861 and goes on and on through World War I.

Second World War Etc and then there was a session after he finished his speech and none. I was one of the first to get to the microphone and I said, Mr. Lowry, I'd like you to know that my people were on the shooting side of the bombing of Ft. Sumter during the Civil War and let me remind you Russell Kirks, a guy who everyone and all these conservative circles apparently admire Russell Kirk's contribution to our understanding of how the South is important to our understanding of American politics and history, that That's what I know about the history of the South.

I don't know much about the history of Catholicism, but what I do know is that the two are moving together in my life in a way that makes absolutely perfect sense why because my understanding of Southern writers and Southern history tells me. they teach that we have taken a wrong path somewhere in modern society we have taken a wrong path we are too interested in what is happeningnow and how we can improve tomorrow we have completely forgotten about those who come before us, they go to the Catholic Church, they do not have that in traditional Catholicism, they build their relationship with God above all in the Holy Scriptures, but they appreciate, respect and you admire the people who come before you, that is a worldview.

Right there, yes, that's what constitutes a worldview this country needs to hear more about. Yes, excellent. Would it be okay if we started answering some questions? Yeah, I'm not just talking about Pratt. No, he was excellent. I'm very happy to hear it. You shared everything you did, so we'll be answering questions only from our local followers Matt fradley.locals.com. We also want people to know that this is the last month we'll be giving away free pints with Aquinas be a Stein when you sign up at Matt frad.locals.com, so sign up before the end of September and we'll give you this for free, just than paying shipping Matt frad.locals.com, you get a ton of other free things in return, one of those things is asking our wonderful guests questions now.

I haven't seen these questions, so we got a great question from the chat. Okay, let's ask Chad a big question and then get back to the locals. Please ask the good doctor to say, "There's Jackson." like a Stonewall and texture no, I'm just laughing because you guys did it, my goodness, son, you have to catch up on your American history quote from the first battle of Manassas on July 21, 1861. General Thomas Jonathan Stonewall Jackson , he wasn't Stonewall at that time. He was born in what is now West Virginia and the Confederate army, this is the first major land battle of the war 61.

People in Washington thought it would be over in a few minutes. I love that we're getting so much more than we wanted, but I'm glad we're doing this. You won't understand anything. I'm saying fantastic. Yes. You're not going to read any Civil War stories about yourself. You told me about that. I know I'll cheer you up. I'm going to send you some book lists, but here we have people from Washington who live in the city and they come to First Manassas, which is not too far from Washington and northern Virginia, and they come in their wagons and wagons and they have their picnics and they think this is where the Confederacy is going to be defeated, yes, today and it was almost until General Jackson appeared on the field and General Jackson appeared with his troops and a South Carolina officer named General.

Bernardi B sees Jackson standing on the hill on his horse and said there is Jackson standing like a stone wall around the Virginians and that's why these South Carolinians rally behind the Virginians and win the day that is the first battle of Manassas, the Confederacy. he lived to see a second battle of Manassas in August 1862. He knows that what he does is that, uh, what you need, but what would he say, what are you, what do they want?, you said it, okay, he said, but what It's the line, there's Jackson like a rock. wall I say it again, even though Jackson is standing like a stone wall, that's not all the dating rally around the Virginians, all right, sorry, I had to do it.

I have a partner, his name is John Henry Spann, if you have a partner, yes, friend, oh, my best friend. You are Australia, if you met him and talked, you would be best friends or arch rivals. I'm not sure what they would do. They would like to teach American history at Franciscan University. I have never been. I wish you would want to drive. to talk to historians it's good they have to teach some kind of history if that's okay it's a liberal arts university it's liberals they have a bit of yes it's mainly a liberal arts university mattfred.locals.com ask your question here we go , come on, come on, we'll do our best here.

I give my consent for you to say my username. Okay, Christian Hockenberry, I'm so glad to have you on the show. I want to make my own pipe with the Briarwood kit. a long stem of church wood, what should I do and what can I do to make it look professional vs amateur? Oh, in practice, don't expect your first pipe to be anything like your last. Practice is what makes perfect but perfect practice makes perfect I would do it, and I'm not a pipe maker, but I know several people have done it, I actually hate to say go to YouTube, but they are great videos of YouTube about this Briar is the wood I would start with. definitely, actually, my wife bought me for last Christmas, uh, a pipe making kit, what a nice woman, yeah, but it's still in the box and that's not her.

I'm so afraid to do it that I don't want to ruin a nice piece of Briar. but because of my own personal mistakes, Emily Bacon says I'm a relatively new pipe smoker and have never been able to figure out how to make it taste good, often no matter what tobacco I use, it tastes like burnt leather. Any advice, take it. slow, you're smoking too fast, I can almost guarantee that's what's happening, drink it like you would a glass of wine or a glass of bourbon, which reminds me, if you don't mind, uh M uh, Mr. Dorfin says Have you tried Pappy Van Winkle? and how can I get a bottle that I have and I think old bourbon tastes the same, so I don't know if I've ever tasted anything better than what Winkle Robbie gave me?

Okay, I've never tried bourbon, which I really like, look, Barbosa says why one and you've already addressed this, but try again if you want, why would one have several pipes of different styles that go well with certain tobaccos or would one have several different pipes for the sake of the pipe? just the pipes weren't there is the word we don't use in the pipe community it's necessary, we don't need 200 pipes we just bought them but we want us to enjoy it, we enjoy the different works of art, no two pipes are the same. just a way to appreciate art, although I like what you said about pipes being time markers in your life.

I remember after my fourth son, Peter, was born, he was a beautiful boy. I was on my way home and I stopped at a smoking room and I bought a pipe. I thought this is the pipe I'm going to have and I'm going to remember Peter and his birth. Was there any doctrine that Dr. Harrelson found particularly difficult to accept during his conversion? Journey asks, let's see who asked that. Jordan, no, no, after reading that scripture behind the teachings of the church, it was not as difficult for me as it was for other Protestants who have converted.

I'm a pretty black and white individual. I see things too. right or wrong and if I can find evidence to support a particular position and I will have to say this, any reservations I had about particular doctrines with the church, whether we are talking about Mary, the Saints, the Eucharist, they were all torn apart, just completely destroyed by my reading of beautiful writers in the catechism okay, destroyed, I mean, she can't stand criticism, she was pierced by the beauty of the people who came before us, so here's a good question. Nick Loff Holes says you two have to try it. to change accents for the interview.

I don't think I'm at the point where I can make that happen and I don't want to insult you with my train. I've never been to Australia so I don't think so. I have enough cultural background for that. I mentioned my friend John Henry a moment ago. One thing he says that I love is that he I love it when people sound like they're from somewhere and you sound like you're from somewhere. I love your accent, Andrew Lytle. one of the other southern writers who contributed to our stance used to ask people not where you're from but where your people bury hmm, that's good, think about us going to bed Eric asks how many horses do you have What kind of horses do you have ?

Did you grow up doing any horse shows or rodeos? No, I didn't grow up doing any horses. We have three quarter horses on our farm, but my wife is so interested in starting a horse business that she wants to. to raise her own horses and she has these high ideals, we bought another 50 acres down the road and she wants to turn it into her horse farm where she will build this magnificent barn, she will raise horses and sell them. I just love riding. them there is nothing like ABS have you ever ridden a horse? I have, there's nothing like riding a good horse over beautiful country and that's a quote from Robert Duvall Lonesome Dove 1989, the Best Western ever created, now tell us about your companion, you mean? friend or my wife, your friend, sorry, yes, Dwayne Dry Creek Wrangler, school oh Dwayne, what boy loves the carcass of him, yes, Dwayne is good, actually, one of the horses I have.

I bought Dwayne a beautiful mayor of Palomino, oh that's my wife's pride and joy. She loves. that horse and um Dwayne and Dwayne and I have a good relationship, he taught me. I can literally say that he taught me everything I knew about horses because I didn't know anything before I met him and he is a humble soul, a very humble man and his carcass is one of the biggest in the male sphere these days. Absolutely excellent. He just did a great performance of Andrew Tate talking about how he's not the loudest guy in the room and he's not the one you follow correctly.

It was an excellent and humble review. A lot of what has come out of Tate and I shared on my channel if you chat with him tell him some Aussie in Ohio says thanks well I'll do it hello I'll do it so our relationship is a little bit tested at the moment because he called me. In fact, a couple of weeks ago and I said Alan, you're not Catholic, why are you joining the Catholic Church? That is a friendship that I hope to restore and I love that man, I love him very much, he is in Wyoming and he has a beautiful family, his wife is wonderful, she seems beautiful.

I've seen a lot of her videos, so I've seen her in them too. I mean, he has it. He is the quintessential American. Now let me see what the channel of him called Dry is. Creek Wrangler School please go and check that out if you're watching and you've never heard this guy is fantastic yeah because he's helped me a lot he's helped me. I discovered his YouTube channel a year before I met him and then when I met him, we just clicked, he's a big pack smoker and a cigar smoker, yeah, and uh, he doesn't smoke pipes on his channel as much as cigars, but it really talks a lot, true, it is, it is, it is, but it is not this. wonderful the connection between the people who are creating content these days and to that point we have a comment here from Alexander Nagovin saying dude you're interviewing some great cool people keep up the great work so just to show there's a lot from my viewers who know exactly who you are and are very happy to see us chatting again.

Great and evil people. That's what he said. I declare that I do not know if I have ever been described like this. Now you have what his opinion is on wives. to those who don't like smoking, especially when there is a newborn in a one-bedroom apartment, it's fair, my first advice is that don't follow my advice, you should pay attention to your wife and you should find a way to solve that problem in y from You and I would never say anything to anyone and then they, as a husband, go to their wife and say, well, Alan Harrelson told me to tell you this, no, no, no, no, that's one of the other beautiful things I love about the Catholic Church. marriage is a sacrament, it is a sacrament and so when you see holy matrimony as a sacrament then you want to do everything in your power to serve your spouse and so my advice would be to serve that spouse.

If she doesn't love you. smoking if she was raising a child in an apartment she wouldn't smoke there at all yeah she wouldn't do it right so yeah good job that's great what do we have here? Another question, have you tried any Catholic pipe tobacco or cigar companies? let me answer this if you don't mind. I want to direct people to visit frasati pipes.com. On Thursday, could you put a link below? We'll have the guy, what's his name? Joshua Sanders makes these pipes. He will be in The Hobbit. party tomorrow night and you're going to meet him.

Maybe he has a surprise for you. I've never smoked them. I don't know the man well. Come on, just with a quick look, what do you think? I think you see the website. Good for saudipipes.com What is it? What is it to return to the top? What does it mean to turn your dreams into reality? Oh, that's good, yeah, that's good. He does a great job. We sell them in Chestertons and a very humble guy, very good. Where? he lives in texas he is in texas he will be here tomorrow he will be you will be able to get to know him well omg it will be an honor to meet you too he knows who you are so good if you want to buy a really nice pipe go check out frasadi pipes are you familiar with any company Catholic tobacco for pipe or cigars? means they are not available, yes, CPT Max 6071 says: have you ever smoked Kinney connect tobacco?

My choice in the early 1970s, it used to be Granger's or Grangers Rangers, oh yeah, Granger's is my favorite card to shuffle, uh yeah, and that's why there are several. of those mixes that were around at the time, so Walter Raleigh, uh, Prince Albert, half and half, but Grangers is my favorite actually from that generation, uh, if you live near Knoxville, I live about an hour north of Knoxville , Tennessee, here, well, Tony says if you live nearby.Knoxville, there's a beautiful movie on Holy Ghost FYI, you said there's a traditional Latin mass, sorry, Holy Ghost, yeah, Holy Ghost, that's the name, that's the name of the church, okay, okay , draw, the Catholic says what is his option to mix these.

Now I know you'd like variety, but let me ask you this: If you could only smoke one blend for the rest of your life, that's a typical question everyone asked. Did you make it no good? Well, it's a good question. a good question would be my Peterson 965 blend, an old Dunhill blend, but Peterson now has the rights. My 965 blend is technically a Scotch blend because it has Cavendish in it, so it's not aromatic and I love it and you do. you can still easily buy it from any online tobacco company Sarah says: Do you like Wendell Berry novels?

If so, what is your favorite book about characters? Oh my gosh, my favorite Wendell Berry novel is The Memory of Old Jack and this is the story of an old farmer who is watching society deteriorate around him and as it deteriorates, I mean, no one cares about it anymore. earth, no one wants to be on earth anymore and he has distant relatives who come to visit him on his farm in one of the scenes in the novel and they jump out of his car and when their feet touch the soul, Barry makes this beautiful point, it's just like If they had made it, it is strange, these people are not from here, they do not appreciate the soul on which their feet now rest, a soul that had been their ancestral home, these children and grandchildren of their family have moved somewhere in the city and no longer have anything to do with the farm.

These are people you want to talk about. Wendell Berry Wendell Berry is one of the most notable authors yet. living in the United States now because he reminds people of what they have lost this country was born, America was born in the country but moved to the city and that is not an original quote to me. I think the first time I came across that quote came from historian David Danbaum, who wrote a History in the 1980s about the history of rural America. I'm not a city guy and I've gotten a lot of flak on my channel for criticizing American urban life, but I don't really care.

Thomas Jefferson said that cities are for a democracy. what sores are to the body, it doesn't work, farmers are God's chosen people, that's a Jeffersonian perspective, of course, not a Catholic perspective, but there's a point there, yeah, there's a point there, yeah, um , as Andrew Lytle said, uh years. ago a southern writer from tennessee lived until the 1990s born in the early 20th century said a farm is a place not to get rich but to grow good corn i guess there's something else you can think about when you go to sleep tonight Smoky Catholic says Alan why do some pipes have more than 200? 100 to 120.

Max seems to be in my ballpark. I think the most expensive pipe I have in my collection, I paid five hundred dollars for it and it's morta wood which is petrified oak that came from uh, the Great Lakes and I bought it from Mark Tinskey. Mark Tinskey is American and probably not J.M Boswell from Pennsylvania. Mark Tinskey is my favorite American pipe maker and he's in Montana and spends most of his days fly fishing, but when he's not fly fishing, he's making really good pipes, so I don't think he'll ever pay $1,200. dollars for a pipe, but there have been times when I have been willing to pay three to five hundred dollars for a pipe.

Whittington asks a serious question: what audiobook are you hoping to get hired to read? None. None. Books should not be listened to. They should be read, of course, only my opinion. SP Dodman. If you and Alan could smoke and chat with any saint, who would you choose and why? oh, the venerable account, oh, I said it right, yes, but why? Because he is the patron saint of historians and scholars. So he was an important historian in the early church and his works are not something I have gotten into yet, but I would love to. sit down and talk to that man hmm one day eh yeah one day Ben and Autumn say today is my birthday and this conversation is a real pleasure smoke some sliced ​​gold with you all God bless you know what it is that?

Oh, look golden. sliced ​​oh, I'm getting better, I don't like it very well, it's okay, but it's not my favorite, but it's a good mix, it's better when it's aged. Virginia tobacco age is extremely good and I have to go back. I had this round against me. cigarettes a while ago, yeah, I was at a pipe show in Gainesville, Georgia, it's Mitty's pipe. Smitty's Cigar Store, I think that's what it's called in Gainesville, Georgia, and if you're near Gainesville, go to Smitty's, they're good people, but that's it. That night they allowed me to smoke a Virginia cigar tobacco cigarette from the 1940s, 1940s, yes, yes, I see the disbelief on their faces recently no, the back comes in this metal tin and you lift the top of the tent and they are placed there and yes, up, down, just horizontal, so you take it out, how much does it cost you?

Well, if you bought one now, a 10 would cost three or four hundred dollars at least, but an acquaintance of mine had it, it's worth it. I know Alan Harrison from Pipe Cottage, sometimes people turn up and give you gifts and this guy turned up and gave me one of these cigarettes and I told him I don't smoke cigarettes. I'm just telling you which ones my ancestors would come from. Get out of the ground and bring me if I smoke something like that. He said no, don't inhale it, just smoke it like a pipe, just roll the smoke in your mouth and at that time, in the 1940s, they didn't have chemicals in cigarettes like they do now and he I took a drag on that old thing, let me make your tongue take your brains out, my God, it was the sweetest Virginia tobacco I've ever tasted in my entire life and it was a cigarette from the 1940s, did you hear what?

I said yes, no, it's remarkable, it's old, it's very old, have you ever tried tobacco that old? No, I don't think so, not on purpose, you should, you should, if I go for Christmas, maybe we can smoke one, right? Kyle Whittington. says and you might like this question what is your favorite story in American history that most people don't know Oh that's not hard to answer at all Woodrow Wilson and our 28th president spent a lot of time in Virginia but he also lived in Augusta Georgia for a while and um, I named my firstborn son after Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

He says he isn't. So, yes, I did it. I named my first-born son Davis. He was born in Meridian Mississippi when I was going to graduate there. and uh, I named my first-born son Davis and I admire Jefferson Davis tremendously, one of my favorite moments in American history, I mean, from the settlement of colonization until now, is Woodrow Wilson when he lived in Augusta, Georgia in the 1880s when I was a child, 20 25 years later. during the Civil War, they lived in a house in downtown Augusta and President Jefferson Davis was in town that particular weekend and was president of what would become President Wilson.

He's sitting on the front porch of this Augusta, Georgia, house and just watches a carriage. to govern by that is to take President Davis to a conference, he said it was the most profound and venerable occasion of his entire life, now that's President Woodrow Wilson, he was watching Jefferson Davis pass by his house in a carriage, if he could go back at any time. In American history, I would like to see President Jefferson Davis pass by the steps of my house in a horse-drawn carriage. Tim says that Dr. Harrelson is his favorite general from the Civil War.

Well, it would definitely have to be General Lee. Don't know. of anyone who is most revered in American history and in fact today I was talking to my friend Patrick about General James Longstreet of South Carolina, he was born in South Carolina and we found out that he was actually Catholic and commanded one of the General Lee's body at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, we actually just returned from a trip to Gettysburg two or three weeks ago, so American history is fascinating. People overlook it for no reason. There are so many wonderful people in our country's history that we can. learn from Catholics or otherwise Veritas says I make hard maple pipes just because that's all I have, it's ok if it doesn't burn, yes if you make them thick enough then it should be ok, there is a type in Georgia.

He owns I forgot his name from the beginning. He owns the Briery pipe shop in Birmingham, Alabama. I said Georgia Birmingham Alabama and they make pipes from Osage orange wood. The Osage orange is a tree that grows in the South, it grows in Kentucky and I. I don't know, it can grow here, but the thing about wood when you make a pipe is that you don't need to burn it, which is why briar root is so important. The heather root is the root ball of the heather. tree that is mainly grown in the Mediterranean, but we have some woods in our country that we can make pipes with, but I think briar is still superior.

You can buy heather in Italy. I don't know why anyone would need to make a pipe out of it. maple There seems to be a big pipe smoking culture in Italy, oh very very very so Europe European culture is more pipe centric than us Denmark is probably the most Denmark and Sweden I think there are more pike smokers in Sweden than per capita than any other country in the world J.L Watson, what do you say what are the doctor's favorite southern authors, fiction and history, oh my goodness, fiction, you ask me a question that could take me a long time to answer, uh, history, obviously, Shelby foot uh, Shelby foot is my everything. -Favorite historian of the time, he was never a college educated man, did not receive a graduate degree and is despised by many people in the history profession today because of that, when it comes to South Carolina fiction authors, he would have what to say Archibald Rutledge, if anyone has never read Archibald Rutledge, he was from the low country and you should certainly check out his work.

I also enjoy the work of Walker Percy, who was a staunch Catholic and, coincidentally, was also Shelby Foote's lifelong best friend. They both grew up in Greenville Mississippi and it sounds like you are a fan of Flannery or have read some of his stories. Oh definitely, have you been to his house and I have Millageville Georgia? Yes, no, not at home, sorry, but where is it? I was born in Savannah, oh yeah, well, you should go to Milledgeville, Georgia, to his house there. Used to have me. I taught high school history for three years and I had a sticker on the side of my desk in the classroom and it was a quote. by Flannery O'Connor and the quote was When you're in Rome do what you did in Milledgeville now wait a minute I have to tell you the story behind that in case people don't know well uh Miss Flannery knew a lot of young people people in her community and this is this story that is in Flanry O'Connor's letters that I published and that you can now read, yes, I have not and she received a message, a letter from a young man in her community who was looking to go up north to go to college and he said I'm from Georgia I'm about to go up north to go to college What kind of advice would you give to a kid from the south heading north to go to school?

And she said Son. When you're in Rome, do what you did in Milledgeville, all right, watch while we finish. I want people to know more about what you're doing at Pipe Cottage. It seems that the original purpose of this Pipe Cottage was to sell pipes. Yeah, so you moved and you're not selling them anymore, no, so what is it? Well, it's a Ministry more than anything else, yes, in the pipe. Cottage um it's my way of telling people my story to bring a little bit of joy and happiness into someone's day uh anything you can do to make that happen is worth it.

I like to talk about southern history and literature, of course, we talk a lot about pipe smoking and there is no schedule. I mean, I make no income from this. It's more like something I like to do just talk to people because you know it's really hard to find people who smoke pipes in your immediate community, especially when you live on a farm and you have to drive an hour to find the nearest restaurant. of any caliber, so, um, I just the Cottage pipe exists as a way to help people understand that the pipe is an instrument that can take you back to the instruction of a bygone era, it's not modern, I don't like things modern, I despise the modern. things and the pipe are just a way in the pike Cottage is a way to fight against this atomistic secular humanist society we currently live in we live a life among the ruins good job well Dr.

Alan Harrelson everyone who is watching we have a link to his YouTube channel in the title so go ahead and subscribe and follow Alan's work and also tomorrow night for those of you just joining us we will be having a hobbit party here at our chestertons Cigar Lounge and I'll be there with your banjo. I think I have it in the back of the car right now. I'm ready to shell the corn, son, so if you live within a few hours if you drive, it might be worth a visit. It's going to be really cool, we're also going to have a lot ofTolkien scholars and we'll even have some people from England coming and all sorts of things, so anyway thank you very much, this is wonderful.

God bless you for your trip thank you for being here it is a privilege and an honor so thank you Patrick thank you Thursday have a great night