History of Smoke
The Art, History & Culture of Smoke.
History of Smoke is an independent museum and publication exploring the art, history, and culture of smoking. Its collection brings together antique pipes, rare smoking artifacts, and unusual objects from around the world, each with its own history and cultural significance.
But smoking culture extends far beyond the objects themselves. From centuries-old smoking traditions to historic cigar shops, independent pipemakers, and the lounges where enthusiasts still gather today, History of Smoke explores the people, places, and stories that make this subject so fascinating.
Collecting, research, and firsthand reporting.
Every object deserves a careful look. Materials, construction, age, and provenance can offer clues about where a pipe was made and how it was used. Comparing those details with historical examples often leads to surprising discoveries.
History of Smoke combines that research with original writing, photography, and film. Visits to lounges, pipe clubs, and workshops bring another perspective, with conversations and experiences that rarely make it into an artifact catalogue.
Where to begin
The Collection
Explore antique pipes, hookahs, water pipes, historic photographs, smoking art, and other objects from different periods and cultures. Learn about their origins, craftsmanship, and use.
Explore the CollectionSmoking History
Read about smoking plants, important historical events, unusual artifacts, and the customs that developed around smoking in different parts of the world.
Read Smoking HistoryThe Smoking Room
Visit cigar lounges, pipe clubs, tobacconists, and other smoking establishments through original features, conversations, photography, and films about the people behind them.
Explore Lounges & ClubsExplore the collection in more detail
Browse by geography, follow smoking history through time, or explore original articles and research resources.
Mike Anthony Vallone
Mike Anthony Vallone has been involved in the art and antiques business since the age of sixteen. As the founder of Goodson Gallery, his principal art and antiques business, and a longtime collector of antique smoking pipes, he developed History of Smoke from a personal fascination into a museum and publication dedicated to the subject.
His interest has never been limited to collecting. Cigar lounges have long been some of his favorite places, with their antique furnishings, Art Deco interiors, jazz, the familiar aroma of tobacco, and the fascinating mix of people who frequent them. He finds a similar enjoyment in fine teas, herbalism, and bourbon, particularly the craftsmanship, traditions, and experiences surrounding them.
History of Smoke brings these interests together through collecting, historical research, filmmaking, and visits to cigar lounges, pipe clubs, and smoking establishments. His goal is to explore smoking culture in all its variety, from remarkable antiques to the personalities and places that continue to shape it.
Goodson Gallery continues to handle acquisitions of selected historical objects featured by History of Smoke, while the museum and publication share their research and stories with visitors.
Contact History of Smoke
Have an unusual antique pipe, historical material to share, a collection inquiry, or a lounge or pipe club we should visit? We welcome inquiries from collectors, researchers, business owners, museums, and enthusiasts.