Into the Wardrobe

Hi, Danman.

Is this the photo you're referring to? I'm afraid I don't know the kind of pipe(s) he used.

Ok, here's another question that may direct me to more answers....

Which of numerous sites out there is the more "official" of the C.S. Lewis pages? I found one in Cali. and they linked me here (a good thing). Does The Kilns have a website or perhaps there's some way to actually contact Douglas Gresham? Pretty silly for this kind of question, I know. Thanks for all your help though, I feel very welcome here!

There is no "official" Lewis web site. There are two official HarperCollins Publishers site for Lewis books (one for non-fiction and one for Narnia), and that's about as official it it comes.

All I can say about Into the Wardrobe is that it was the first, and for some time, the only C. S. Lewis web site. It was dubbed the "unofficial official" site for a number of years.

I suggest that you look at the other sections of the site, including the "other resources" section. There are additional sites, and a section that lists contact info for experts (including Douglas Gresham).

I'd strongly suggest the C.S. Lewis Foundation: .

- Dan -

I asked a simiilar question yoinks ago, and the answer was as follows:


re: Lewis' tobacco and pipe Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 2:53 pm

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Welcome, Elkabong!

I have a note I wrote down quite a while back, which I unfortunately didn't include where I got the information from. But, the note says, "According to a letter from Douglas Gresham, the Lewis brothers both preferred Three Nuns and Gold Block brands of pipe tobacco, and they usually smoked Gold Flake and Senior Service cigarettes with Players Navy Cut as a second choice." (The letter wasn't to me, I read it somewhere in a book or an article and failed to record the citation.)

Lewis was a bit of a slob when it came to smoking. His favorite thing to do was have a nice, smoky coal fire, then eithier puff away at a pipe or chain smoke cigarettes untill the atmosphere in the room was transformed to, in his words, "a proper fug". He liked to save up the little bits remaining from his pipe when he knocked it out, untill he had enough for a pipefull. Untill he married Joy Davidman, he used to always wear trousers whose cuffs were pouched out by tobacco ash, and the rugs in both his home and Oxford digs were grey with ground in ash, which he was convinced was good for them. He was a lifelong heavy smoker, from the age of 12 to his death.

I also believe that he smoked mainly Comoy or Charatan pipes.