Adam O'Neill
A survivor of the untamed bushland of rural Australia, Adam escaped for the safety of Sydney the day after he graduated high school—a date that happened to coincide with his eighteenth birthday. As so many young people do, however, he fell in with a rough crowd: a sword-wielding, armour-wearing, pipe-smoking gang of medieval battle re-enactors. Soon after he met his wife, Chana, he lost the armour but kept the pipe.
Fast forward a decade and Adam combined his love of pipes with a newfound passion, photography, which is how we found him and dragged him, kicking and screaming through customs, to South Carolina. During his three and half years with Laudisi in the US, Adam worked as a copywriter before making the transition to photography, then combined the two roles to become our first social media specialist.
Given his deep knowledge of the secrets of Smokingpipes’s marketing department, not to mention his experience navigating an international move, Adam was a natural choice to lead our marketing efforts here in Europe. In addition to taking care of our marketing — including copy, site photography, and social media — Adam leads our customer service department, liaises with our US programmers, and helps out with general administration.
An Interview With Giacomo Penzo
12 May 2020 by
Adam O'Neill
Federica and I recently sat down with Giacomo Penzo, the man behind the G. Penzo Pipes, to chat about his beginnings in the craft, what's new in his life, and how more recent events have changed his approach to pipemaking.
Civility in the Age of Corona
08 April 2020 by
Adam O'Neill
There are certain polite behaviours hardwired into my brain. Maybe they're there because of a childhood spent in a rural town where everyone knew not only my name but the grades I received on my last ten report cards.
La civilité au temps du Corona
08 April 2020 by
Adam O'Neill
Il est certains actes de politesse qui sont ancrés dans mon cerveau. Peut-être cela est-ce dû à une enfance passée dans une ville rurale où tout le monde connaissait non seulement mon nom mais aussi les notes de mes dix derniers bulletins scolaires.
Idiomes, singularités et plus encore
27 November 2019 by
Adam O'Neill
Pour quelqu'un qui - dans de rares accès de conscience de soi - se considérait jadis comme inflexible à un point qui frisait l'obstination, j'ai observé chez moi des changements notables au cours des cinq dernières années. C'est une des choses qui viennent avec l'expatriation, vécue dans mon cas à deux reprises.
Au revoir l'été
27 November 2019 by
Adam O'Neill
Eh bien, c'est officiel : l'été est terminé et voilà l'automne. Non pas que cela ait grande incidence dans l'immédiat, dans la mesure où les dates des changements de saison sont par définition arbitraires.
Pipe et rencontres embarrassantes
27 November 2019 by
Adam O'Neill
Que vous soyez un fumeur de pipe néophyte ou chevronné, le fait de fumer en public vous a probablement conduit à faire l'expérience d'au moins une rencontre embarrassante ou deux.
Devoir ou plaisir, il faut choisir
27 November 2019 by
Adam O'Neill
À l'instar de bien des gens, je lis des choses très différentes, à des fins très différentes ; cela va des sites d'actualité aux romans littéraires, en passant par d'occasionnels recueils d'essais traitant de développement personnel ou encore des manuels techniques et des blogs marketing à visée professionnelle. Et puis il y a bien sûr la fiction spéculative, qui constitue l'essentiel de mes lectures.
Pipe e incontri imbarazzanti
22 November 2019 by
Adam O'Neill
Che siate neofiti o fumatori esperti, il fumare la pipa in pubblico vi avrà procurato con tutta probabilità un incontro imbarazzante o due. La singolarità e relativa rarità del nostro hobby, infatti, tendono a suscitare l'interesse sia delle forze dell'ordine che del pubblico generico.
A Farewell To Summer
22 November 2019 by
Adam O'Neill
Well, it's official. Summer has ended, and autumn is upon us. Not that that means much in the immediate term, of course, what with dates for seasons being at least somewhat arbitrary in nature.
Arrivederci estate
22 November 2019 by
Adam O'Neill
È ufficiale: l'estate è finita e l'autunno è alle porte. Non che cambi molto nell'immediato, ovviamente, considerato che le date d'inizio delle stagioni sono per natura arbitrarie.