Blog by Dal Stanton

This is my first time working on a Carey Magic Inch pipe, but it has a reputation for being a uniquely American made pipe with bold claims of having secured ‘Pipedom’s’ holy grail, “The cooler and dryer smoke.” The Carey Magic Inch came to me from a good friend, Dave Shane. I worked with Dave when we were both younger men – he much younger than I(!), in Ukraine, a pipe man and restorer himself (see: https://www.thepipery.com). When I was in the US a few years ago I visited Dave and he gifted me a box of pipes that he hoped would benefit the Daughters of Bulgaria – women and girls we work with here in Bulgaria who have been trafficked and sexually exploited. The Carey Magic Inch was in this trove for the Daughters. Later, after posting pictures of these pipes in my online collection…

Blog by Dal Stanton

I’ve known Steve for 40 or so years – I’m not counting!  In our earlier years we shared the same pursuit of going to seminary in Jackson, Mississippi, where we shared many things in common.  We studied dusty but fascinating theological books, wrote papers for hopeful professors, studied Greek and Hebrew and we would do the occasional obligatory trips to fish for bass and hunt ducks when they were in season.  We were both relatively new in the business of being husbands and against all odds, we also became fathers during this time of stretching our minds and hearts to be better men before our God and to do what we could to make a difference in this world.  After seminary, Steve and his family and I and my family followed different paths yet, over the years we’ve been able to cross those paths here and…