Pipe Dreams

[Alden]

I thought some of you might appreciate the historical retrospective, and might even use it for your own hobby...
http://nautarch.tamu.edu/class/313/pipes/pipes.htm

 

[Silky921]

Seems like you have a solid pipe line going alden...
:haha:

Interesting time line though, another good read.

 

[Alden]

I was gonna say that the drawings don't give the relative size of the bowls but I guess they actually do. You can see it in my photo. It is amazing how small the small ones were and how much relatively bigger they got as tobacco became more widespread/available/inexpensive.

I have many more historical clay pipes. Those are kinda core though. The shortest/smallest ones, that hold a pinky-tip's amount of tobacco, for early interpretations (the one with the bump was called something like The Pox Pipe as it resembled bumps from The Plague and smoke was suppsoed to ward off the infections IIRC) and the reed stemmed ones are usually in my haversacks as they are the strongest.

Maybe I can do another photo next weekend anyway...

 

[tenngun]

Loved those marbled clay. As per your comment on the price and avaliblity of tobacco and bowl size, often Elizabethan pipes could barely hold a cigarets worth. I have some late 19th cent German porcelain that can smoke for hours. I don't smoke it often because it I get tired of smoking.

 

[wpnsman]

Nice information,

I make my pipes out of wood but pattern them on clay pipe bowls and use reed stems.

 

[BillinOregon]

What species of wood are you using, Wpns Man?

 

[coloradoclyde]

If the size of the bowls are correct then perhaps their steady increase in size represents the transition from a medicinal herb to a recreational drug?
Or it just clearly speaks to the addictive nature of the substance being bred into subsequent generations..... :hmm:

 

[Alden]

That's cool Wpns...

I'm gonna go out on a limb (I SLAY myself) and guess...

...cherry.

It's the most common vs. Briar (which isn't really a "wood" per se but that's a different thread). In fact, I have a cherrywood Missouri Meerschaum in my mouth with smoldering Mac Baren Cherry Ambrosia right now. I'd almost rather just open the tin and smell the stuff between the tobaccos, rum, cherry essence, and $75/lb. price... Smells SO good!

 

[tenngun]

Washington planted a grove of cherry trees to make pipes from. Would like to see what they looked like, but can only find photos of clays on the net from late 18th early 19th century. Washington lost money on the deal. Clay remained the go to, then changed to brier almost over night, I wonder why. Cost, clay broke easy, wet smoke? Wood needs to dry while clay can be wiped out. Style, there is no predicting why people by what.

 

[wpnsman]

I actually use pieces of a very gnarly maple that one of my friends salvaged from a downed tree.

This is my first pipe, I fashioned it after mid-19th century clay bowls.

This one is my favorite, I've posted it here before. It took a while to make.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Perdy .... :hatsoff:

 

[tenngun]

Nice, :hatsoff: need to make some. I have a good block of cheery. Did you pattern them of origami wood pipes?

 

[tenngun]

We're kicking around the pipes but the humidor is great too.

 

[Alden]

WPNS -- gnarly indeed dude!

They are fairly traditional old bowls Tenn -- I think the later one is talon-footed.

Very pretty. And they'll probably get prettier. Don't know how maple smokes but I think people smoke with it so...

Humidors? As in cigars!? Off topic but I found some decent no-name brand Churchill-length Nicaraguan's with Cameroon wrappers today, 7 for $21. Mild to medium, OK looking, good draw, pretty consistent flavor throughout its long life, mostly even burning, long gray ashes... Bought one for $3.49 and I'm going back for a handfull tomorrow.

 

[George]

The price of cancer keeps going up.

Spence

 

[coloradoclyde]

:applause:

 

[Alden]

Oh I'm not going to smoke them...

I'm going to give them to some Confederates so they can wrap them in their battle orders and lose them all, only to find their way to a General who won't do anything with them anyway.

 

[tenngun]

Humidor as in jar you keep your smoke in. We oft use humidor for a cigar box, but you need to keep your loose smoke moist also. Over the last 40 years I've seen tobacco jars called humidors :idunno: don't much worry about cancer from pipe smoking. Our surgeon general found pipe smokers out live non smokers by three years. Studies in England found one had to smoke 5 bowls a day to cost a year off their life. And Sweden found it took seven bowls to cost time. Can't say it's good for you but life will kill you, you might as well do things you like.

 

[George]

That is dangerous misinformation, tenngunn. It's a mistake to believe that smoking pipes or cigars confer a low risk of cancer. That simply isn't so.

Spence

 

[Rick Boylan]

These are my pipes. I sometimes smoke the small wood pipe, but have done more smoking with the smaller clay one. I don't smoke often (about once or twice a month at most), but I have to say that the clay pipe seems to smoke better.