His favorite smoke is the nargileh or water pipe; though on occasions he does relish a cigar or a cigarette rolled from Bull Durham tobacco.
He speaks German, mangles French and Spanish, and gargles a smattering of Arabic.
While in Oklahoma this spring, he salvaged sheet metal from an abandoned smokestack—welded the pieces together to make an automatic feed acetylene generator for a friend who owned a repair shop.
He lived several years in "Le Vieux Carre"—that's creole for "Old French Quarter"—of New Orleans, which accounts for his frequent use of Crescent City atmosphere. He has been in the Philippines, Japan, Hawaii, Mexico, has covered France from end to end, and is at home in most parts of the States.
Favorite dishes: Chili con Carne, East Indian Curry, and on state occasions, a capon stuffed with pistachios and basted with sherry until, when completely roasted, the fowl is coated with a high glaze of deep walnut color: the result being called "Varnished Vulture" by the crew of fictioneers who make Weird Tales Editorial Rooms their headquarters. And a close second to the foregoing is turtle stew, prepared according to an old Creole recipe.
And, there, in a fragmentary, woefully incomplete way, you have E. Hoffmann Price: swell spinner of tall yarns, linguist, mechanic, cook par excellence—and in general a hell of a good fellow.
Selah!