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I was so interested in Alden's original post and loved the pictures of his pipe collection. I have been in muzzle loading and rendezvous for around 55 years and thoroughly enjoy reading about different things, like Alden's pipes. I have a few pipes, one of which is clay with a reed stem that I purchased at the first Eastern Rendezvous held at Shawnee State Park in Ohio. I occasionally set out on my porch and smoke a bowl of Virginia Burly and recall campfires of days gone by and think of old friends.

As I read further, thinking I was going to see what other kind of pipes might be available the thread seems to have been hijacked by the anti smoking Nazis. Endless bickering's from those who evidently overindulged in strong drink and tobacco throughout their life and now they want to take away my little clay pipe that I smoke about three times a year. This seems to be the same rhetoric that antigun people, vegetarians and other anti's use when they want to dictate their thoughts forcibly on others. Just Sayin :surrender:
 
Lt Frank said:
s I read further, thinking I was going to see what other kind of pipes might be available the thread seems to have been hijacked by the anti smoking Nazis. Endless bickering's from those who evidently overindulged in strong drink and tobacco throughout their life and now they want to take away my little clay pipe that I smoke about three times a year. This seems to be the same rhetoric that antigun people, vegetarians and other anti's use when they want to dictate their thoughts forcibly on others. Just Sayin :surrender:
That's one way of looking at what happened, but it's totally BS. I'm the guy who introduced the health aspect of smoking and it's gospel, whether smokers like it or not. It was intended as a friendly reminder to peopleI I care about that tobacco smoke is poison, and that a certain percentage of smokers are going to die or undergo horrific injuries from exposure to it. I have more firsthand knowledge about that than you want to know about. I don't give a rat's ass how much you or anyone else smokes, but information is power, and I'll do it again if the occasion arises. If you can't figure out that it wasn't directed at you and your three little clay pipes a year, then maybe the warning came too late for you, and it has already rotted your brain.

Spence
 
For the record Spence ain't no nazi. The anti smoking campain started in the 30s got government behind it in the 60s and then c Everett coop seid he would make it sociably unacceptable to smoke. The side effect has been the confusion of light to moderate smoking compared to heavy smokers. People who want to point out the dangers of smoking are only passing on data they have been exposed to, and do so out of compassion
When the government says tobacco is more addictive then herion people get scarred, few stop to think about it.
Three pipes a year is far less of a danger then driving to work or flying. Unfortunately it's the plane crashed that make the news, not the plans landing safely.
 
Maybe Spence, who is no Hitler Youth, and the others distracted by the results and individual right to smoke will get past the act itself and stay focused on the historically correct accouterments related to it here in this thread.

I promised some additional photos. These are almost all of the clay pipes I do NOT have in rotation...





 
The anti smoking campain started in the 30s got government behind it in the 60s and then c Everett coop seid he would make it sociably unacceptable to smoke.

Hardly. Opposition to smoking has been around almost as long as smoking itself, and some of the historical measures to curb lighting up might surprise you.

1. The Pope Cracks Down on Smoke

Pope Urban VII's papacy began on September 15, 1590. It ended with his death from malaria less than two weeks later. Although he didn't spend much time as the head of the Catholic Church, Urban VII was around long enough to make his feelings on tobacco known. He banned all tobacco "in the porchway of or inside a church, whether it be by chewing it, smoking it with a pipe or sniffing it in powdered form through the nose." The penalty for breaking his edict? Excommunication.
Urban VII's crackdown is considered to be history's first public smoking ban. Various papal bans on smoking stuck around until 1724, when tobacco-loving Pope Benedict XIII gave Catholics the thumbs-up to light up again.

2. King James' Ideal Version of England is Smoke-Free

King James I of England was no fan of tobacco, but instead of whining about it, he picked up his pen. In 1604, James wrote the treatise A Counterblaste to Tobacco, and he didn't pull any punches, writing, "What honour or policie can move us to imitate the barbarous and beastly maners of the wilde, godlesse, and slavish Indians, especially in so vile and stinking a custom?"
Ouch. Racism aside, James also warned of potential dangers from second-hand smoke and lung damage in addition to making a much simpler argument against tobacco smoke: It stinks. Later, he refers to smoking as "a custome lothsome to the eye, hatefull to the Nose, harmefull to the braine, dangerous to the Lungs, and in the black and stinking fume thereof, neerest resembling the horrible Stigian smoke of the pit that is bottomlesse."
For someone with such strong feelings about smoke, James I amazingly didn't ban tobacco altogether, though. He did, however, jack up excise taxes and tariffs on the weed by upwards of 4,000%. Interestingly, early 20th century tobacconist and writer Alfred Dunhill speculated in The Pipe Book that James' hatred of tobacco may have stemmed from how much the monarch loathed Sir Walter Raleigh, who was often seen smoking a pipe and actually turned Queen Elizabeth I on to smoking in 1600.

3. The Sultan Puts Out Smokers

When Sultan Murad IV took over the Ottoman Empire in 1623, he inherited a land filled with corruption and decadence. He took care of it quickly, though, and by 1633 Murad had banned all tobacco, alcohol, and coffee from his empire. Murad IV made Pope Urban VII look like a pushover--his punishment for breaking the ban was death.
Murad IV didn't leave enforcement to his minions, either. He supposedly walked the streets of Istanbul in plain clothes and used his mace to execute anyone he caught using tobacco. As many as 18 people a day met their demise for smoking until Murad's successor, Ibrahim the Mad, lifted the ban.
At around the same time, Russia instituted a similar ban. First-time offenders would get a slit nose, take a beating, or be exiled in Siberia. Repeat offenders earned themselves an execution. These stiff penalties hung around until Peter the Great came to power in 1682.

4. French Smokers Head to the Doctor for More Smokes

French tobacco enthusiasts found themselves on the receiving end of a bit of a curveball in 1635. They could still smoke, but they would have to buy their tobacco from an apothecary. They would also need a doctor's prescription. Luckily for smokers, this restriction didn't last too long. In 1637, King Louis XIII, a snuff fan, repealed all of the anti-tobacco laws.

5. Colonists Turn on Their Cash Crop

Early American colonists made some nice loot selling tobacco, but that doesn't mean they were totally in favor of using it. In 1632, Massachusetts became wary of the fire danger from smoldering butts, so it banned outdoor smoking. Connecticut followed suit in 1647 when it dictated that citizens could only smoke once a day. Even then, one couldn't be a social smoker, since the law dictated that smokers could only burn one when "not in company with any other." In the 1680s, Philadelphia joined in with a ban on smoking in the city's streets.

6. States Butt Out of the Tobacco Business

Movies may depict the turn of the 20th century as a time of smoke-filled rooms, but in truth you couldn't even pick up a pack of cigarettes in many states. By 1900, Washington, Iowa, Tennessee, and North Dakota had all banned the sale of cigarettes, and by 1920 11 other states had enacted similar bans.
Some states were quick to ban cigarettes over concerns that customers might be getting more than they bargained for when they bought a pack. When a Tennessean challenged his state's cigarette ban before the Supreme Court in 1900, the justices upheld the prohibition partially due to concern over adulterated smokes, writing, "[T]here are many whose tobacco has been mixed with opium or some other drug, and whose wrapper has been saturated in a solution of arsenic."
Did these bans put an end to American smoking? Not quite. Although buying cigarettes wasn't legal in 15 states, the cigar business was booming. In 1901, four out of every five American men burned at least one stogie a day, and tobacconists sold 6 billion cigars a year. Like the prohibition of alcohol, these cigarette bans gradually fell out of favor, and after Kansas repealed its restrictions in 1927 cigarettes were once again legal in all states.
 
Should have said the modern anti smoking. Like coffee, tea, computers the internet, radio tv, printing presses,rifles, self loading rifles on the field, electricity, steam power, autos, visable ankles on the ladies, new things brought along a cart load of condemnation. I'm sure 10,000 or 12,000 years ago some one complained about the horrible things that would happen to people drinking that new fangled smelly water barly mix they were calling 'beer'. Well into the 20th century the health benefits of smoking were being pushed by lots of naturalist. Tobbacco was first sold as a pancea that cured everything from the kings evil to the rising of the lights. (I don't know what kings evil was but rising of the lights was a probably TB.)
 
tenngun said:
(I don't know what kings evil was but rising of the lights was a probably TB.)

The "king's evil" was scrofula, a tuberculous swelling of the lymph glands, that was thought could be cured by the touch of royalty.

Must have been something to it, as the custom of touching lasted in England, from Edward the Confessor to Queen Anne. (Or, maybe no one wanted to tell the royalty that their touch was worthless. :grin: )
 
Worthless?

I think it depends on the "royal." Would you have said that to Princess Dianna? How about Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge or, better yet, Pippa Middleton!?
 
Royal is one of those funny things, if your of English ancestory there is about an 80 % chance you can trace your line back to Edward the confessor. My first response to your post was s joke that would likly get deleted. Anyway I'm going to have a smoke and reflect on my Nobel ancestory. I think I'm like 4 billionth in line for the throne.... And I'm not going to touch your kings evil :haha:
 
tenngun enjoy your pipe. I have gotten much enjoyment from your many discussions of smoking. Lt Frank, enjoy your 3 little clays a year.

I have respiratory allergies and don't smoke. But some years back, a friend I worked with on the railroad offered me a cigarette as we talked, then said: "Sorry, you don't smoke." I said "I don't, but I will have one with you." And I did. I enjoyed the sociability of it. A few months later he was dead. I don't recall if it was cancer killed him. I'm glad I shared that smoke with him.

Alden, your pipes are beautiful. If we should meet, I would be happy to smoke a small bowl with you, perhaps enjoyed with a nice single malt, or a good rye.

Smoke irritates my breathing, but I have dreamed the fire, and, in the bitter cold nights of winter, I have sought comfort alongside a coal fired pot bellied stove in the caboose.

Colorado Clyde and Spence 10, I would be happy to set with you and enjoy a hot chocolate, or a cup of spring water, even a glass of lemonade (which goes well with a bit of rye :wink: ), and I would not miss the pipe at all.

It's all about sociability. :thumbsup: I would enjoy the company of each and every one of you.

Richard
 
Very well said and a nice way to put this back on track,

Some of us enjoy the occasional bowl to relax and to socialize around the campfire. Others simply appreciate the aesthetics or craftsmanship of period pipes.

Some of you clearly do not and that's OK too.

However, why some of you feel compelled to turn the topic into a discussion of modern political correctness or, health related issues is beyond me. Looking at the ages of those who post here (who display them), it is obvious that none of us are kids. We're all mature enough to know the potential "risk" and use our judgement accordingly so, please stop.

If I don't have anything of value to add to the topic at hand, I simply read it for the entertainment value or, try to learn something to broaden my knowledge.

This forum is a great resource with a lot of knowledgeable members. Compared to some others I frequent there is minimal moderation. This can be a plus if the members self moderate, which is usually the case around here. Lately though it seems that some topics I have participated in or followed have quickly gone :eek:ff and degenerated into pissing matches.

Neither does anyone here or, this forum any great service. Anywhere else topics would be locked, time outs given or, outright banishment would be the norm for lesser offenses. Instead of trampling all over a topic, please take mamma's advice.

"If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all."
 
Immersing oneself in period activities should include a man smoking a pipe. And the RIGHT pipe I might add. Even share a little whiskey as Grumpa perfectly suggests. Few of us do so today as even our grandparents might have, so, I'd encourage folk to add it to their repertoire.. and don't inhale either.
 
Another thing that goes well with Rye, or sour mash, is a nice black tea. At least in my opinion it does.
 
I love my old pipes and enjoy them everyday. Nothing better after dinner than a good black cavendish and strong coffee.

I think I'm far more likely to be killed by a water moccassin, or getting thrown off a horse, or a "dancer" with a gun.
 
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