Anyone else going to the international pipe show in Vegas this October? Edit: I'm dragging along two of my brothers-in-law, (both of whom are wet shavers) and we have a smoking room. Should be a fun time. I've never actually smoked a pipe indoors, except once at a tobacco shop nearly a decade ago. Ought to be an interesting experience.
It cleaned up nice. Hell of a ghost in there. Former owner smoked English blends. It weighs in at 72 grams (very light for it's size). 2 hour pipe, holds 50 grams or thereabouts. Size comparison pics. The billiard on the bottom is what I consider a standard size pipe. The Dublin freehand is also a typical size for the type. One of the things that characterize a 'Dublin' type pipe is a tapered conical chamber, in addition to the tapered cone shaped bowl. The Ben Wade has a straight chamber, roughly 2 inches deep and an inch wide.
Some beautiful pipes, Ryan. I quit pipe smoking about 20 years ago, but never heard the term "ghost" as it applies to pipe smoking. It is...???
The remnants of flavor imparted to the pipe by the previous owner's tobacco, that cut though the flavor of one's own blends for the first few pipe fulls.
Sometimes you have to look past the ugly to see the beauty within. Or cross your fingers and hope. I did the latter on that pipe. I couldn't tell if the rim had been charred or not. ...And some serious elbow grease didn't hurt. Looking forward to long summer evenings with this fellow.
I’m not particularly fond of cobs, although I have several. I would most certainly prefer the unvarnished variety. The pine shanks give an off taste to me, and are very irritating to begin with until broken in. The plastic bits are a drawback. I have a free hand cob, an edition made for a group many years ago called Corn Cob Snobs, because they pretty much only smoked cobs. The freehand came with a vulcanite stem that was a significant upgrade. I haven’t smoked that pipe in years, I may do so soon and post a pic. There’s an alternative to Missouri Meerschaum now, a place out of Canada called Ultimate Corn Cob Pipes. The maker uses bamboo shanks (a likely significant upgrade from pine), and vulcanite or acrylic stems, a definite upgrade. One of those may give a briar pipe a run for the money. edit: I just looked at their pricing, and they run as much or more than lower end briar. He also makes use of some briar stems, and puts a briar plug in the bottom to prevent burning through. Except for the novelty of those pipes, in my opinion you may as well stick to briar.
Sometimes the ghosting can be quite significant, and require a salt/alcohol treatment. But sometimes a few bowls of your choice will begin to cut through ghosting. Straight Virginias are superb choices for that.
A pipe that is lighter than it looks usually indicates a high grade of briar. Looks like it cleaned up nicely.
Doing well now, thanks. Getting the stone out made a big difference. Surprisingly the stent they put in for a few days was very uncomfortable. Getting that out also made a huge difference.
Not necessarily a high grade of briar... It does indicate age. Older briar is lighter than younger briar. The Heath tree than contributed this burl was probably between 100 and 300 years old. I have one other pipe with tight grain like this, and it also is a light pipe. I'm an admitted grain whore. I'm a sucker for grain over shape, although shape is important to me too. Edit: Lightness also indicates a pipe that is well dried and seasoned... So yeah, I guess it all does come back to high quality/grade. Charatan ascribed the lightness of their pipes to the seasoning process. From the same brochure as the above statement, are listed weights for the 'Giant' pipes. Billiard 68 grams Dublin 64 grams Bent 104 grams So mine is right on par with the rest of their line-up.
I really admire great grain, but in the past was not willing to spend the money necessary to get it, especially at retail. Generally speaking I value a properly engineered pipe over grain. I was really lucky early on with purchasing pipes with well centered draft holes that are at the bottom of the bowl. Starting somewhere in the 2000’s, I learned to examine the draft hole for placement, realized the importance of a light pipe, and it had to feel good in my hand (entirely subjective), and I have bought pipes for their style/appearance if they met the engineering and feel criteria. Since I mostly prefer rusticated or sand blasted pipes for their feel and contribution to a cooler smoke, grain typically takes a back seat for me. Notice I use a lot of “generally speaking,” “mostly,” and “typically!” Having said all that, I won a slow smoking contest with a $35 countertop pipe with a draft hole, that, although at the bottom of the bowl, was not very well centered, and walls not particularly thick but I did like it (natural finish straight medium billiard). I didn’t set out to enter the contest, but just brought a couple of pipes to sample some tobaccos at a pipe show, and my better pipe was still warm…so on a lark entered with the cheapo, and won a 4th Generation Pipe from Eric Stokkebye! My son took a different path early on. He settled on a brand, Cavicchi, starting with exceptionally grained pipes. His last two Cavicchis are rusticated. Like some other makers, Claudio Cavicchi will usually have different grades. They are all exquisite pipes. edit: I should have added bowl wall thickness to my criteria, although I have a few with walls that aren’t that thick, and I just have to be very conscious of sipping the pipe to avoid overheating, which one should always do anyway.
Here’s my old Missouri Meerschaum Corncob Snob Society Freehand pipe. It has a large bowl, easily twice or more the size of a Diplomat, and came with a vulcanite stem. It also has a hardwood plug in the bottom. The vulcanite stem makes a huge difference in mouth feel. Despite its size, it isn’t difficult to clench. I’m guessing mine is 10 or 12 years old, maybe older. They still make the Freehand, although the Corncob Snob Society with the name imprint was a special run for that group. The Corncob Snob Society was a group of corncob enthusiasts that posted on I believe the Brothers of Briar forum. I haven’t visited that in many years, so not sure if the Society is still around.
Found a $5 not-much-smoked Grabow straight Viking today at a flea market. Cleaned and polished up great. No other pipes in sight. The Vikings do smoke cool.
