No one has collected more Texas tales, or told them better, than C. F. Eckhardt. His columns and collected yarns have enriched Texas readers for decades. Yet his love of Texana and the Texas frontier has never been more evident than in his latest work on Texas firearms before the American Civil War. From the terrifying arquebuses shouldered by the earliest Spanish explorers to the muzzle-loaders that reigned until 1860, when the first cartridges were introduced, Eckhardt covers it all. Coupled with the detailed line drawings of Wesley G. Williams, Eckhardts treatment leaves little guesswork, answering questions that consumed him when as a boy he stood in front of a display case at the Texas Memorial Museum in Austin, staring at a ball-butted wheel lock pistol. I wondered how it worked, but no one could tell me. As engaging as it is accurate, "Texas Smoke" will be an entertaining reference for historians, hobbyists, western writers, and reenactment specialists.