Looking through my inventory of tobacco tins, and came across this tin of Samuel Gawith Squadron Leader. I used to dabble occasionally in Latakia blends more than I do now, and this was one I liked. Medium bodied, not a lat bomb, and cool smoking. It’s a typical English, with Virginias, Latakia, and oriental tobaccos and of course no flavoring, but a very fine English blend. Alas, when I opened it, it was only half full! I had failed at some point to jar the remainder of the tin, and it was dry as could be. I was at first tempted to toss it, but decided to see if I could rehydrate it. I’ve done this frequently in the past, but usually when it was just a little dry, not completely dried out. I put the remnants in a bowl, and placed a well wrung out damp wash cloth over it (not touching the tobacco of course), and left it overnight. The next morning I checked it, and it had improved a bit. I covered the bowl, to let that little bit of moisture work completely through the ribbons, then repeated the process a couple of times over 3 days, to accomplish the rehydration gradually. At the end, I had to leave it open for a couple of hours, and it finally reached what I felt was the proper moisture level. Packed a bowl in this 45 year old counter pipe that is dedicated to Latakia blends, and smoked it while sipping coffee. It was very nice, seemed no different after rehydration than what I remember from previous years. Squadron Leader was a classic English blend. Samuel Gawith was bought out by Gawith Hoggarth (the two companies were both descended from the same family) a few years back, and I’m not sure if Squadron Leader is even still available. At one point it could be bought in bulk, but by most accounts not anywhere as good as the tins. The pipe has Stratford Copper Grain imprinted on the side of the shank, and also has an M on the bottom of the shank. I was either lucky with my counter/ basket pipe purchases many years ago, or even the factory seconds then were better engineered than many counter pipes I see today. The stem currently has some oxidation that needs cleaning, in fact I need to do that on several of my vulcanite stems. After I clean them, I always rub a little olive oil into them, and they’re good then for a while.
Squadron Leader is one of my favorites. I enjoy English and Balkan blends, as well as Virginia, burley, and perique blends, Haunted Bookshop being one of my favorites. I very seldom smoke aromatics anymore.
Smoked my old Lorenzo pipe tonight while getting a start on cleaning out my basement. It was an estate pipe, cleaned up by The Briary. It smokes very cool, and is really comfortable in the hand. My granddad’s old shovel is in the edge of the photo.
Recent acquisition. Quarter-bent apple with a sloping vulcanite ferrule and push flared stem, designed by Sixten Ivarsson. This particular one is unusual in that it's stamped 04 N (rather than "M" for military mount), and HAND MADE, Probably a wrong grab of the stamp, and not a Nanna Ivvarson built pipe, but it's fun to fantasize. Another oddity is the crowned "S" logo being stamped on both stem and ferrule. Either way, another nice Ivvarson designed pipe to add to the collection.
Won another pipe a few minutes ago. Bit of an oddball this one is. This pipe once belonged to Raymond "Ray" Rizzo, an unremarkable bureaucrat who wandered through life with baby soft hands, and served a variety of roles, none of which involved manual labor. The one that landed him this pipe, was his region II vice-presidency for 'The Tobacco Institute,' a lobbying organization which was the face of the 'tobacco isn't bad for you' campaigns. As part of the massive settlement reached with the tobacco companies, the tobacco institute was shut down and disbanded. Mr. Rizzo was employed by them at the time of disouliolution, and was called upon to testify before Congress. His wife said he was a cigar and pipe smoker. I've never seen a Nørding with a 'double aught' stamp (00). Sandblasts were graded on a 01-04 scale, with 01 being the "best." My guess is that the grade represents the occasion, not particularly the pipe's innate quality, though a full clean up might reveal unexpected depths to this pipe that I'm not seeing in eBay photos. Another unusual aspect is that it appears to use the same stummel as the World Record line of pipes, though the plain saddlebit stem marks it as an outlier. I'll have to see how it cleans up, but first impression is that it's not deserving of an 00 grade, especially when I have a Nørding pipe that does fit into that rarefied category. I seem to be a magnet for the rare and unusual pipes. Edit: in case you are wondering, no, Nørding has never used an "8" for his grading scale.
One of my favorite pipes these days is the little bent Algerian briar I got from @gorgo2 and I've been keeping an eye out for other examples of the no. 184 model, with the eventual hope that one day, I'll add "The Blue Riband" version to my collection. I spotted this 'Selected Straight Grain' on eBay. It's in rough shape. The other side has a weird stain free patch, where it sat in a puddle of alcohol or something, and it has paint spatter on it as well. Normally, I'd skip a no-name basket case like this. As for why I didn't, we will need to look at Comoy's grading system. Their top pipe in the 60's was the 'specimen straight grain,' a $50 pipe. Just below that was the 'Blue Riband,' at $35. Just below those two, was their 'selected straight grain,' at $25 ($272 in today's money), unworthy of the Comoy stamp, these were pipes that didn't make the 'specimen straight grain' grade due to a small flaw. Below that was the 'special straight grain,' these were pipes that didn't make the grade due to a large flaw. All other grades were below these. A poster on one of the forums once said "...specimen straight grain is what blue ribands wished they were when they wake up in the morning." All four of these pipes feature the metal reinforced tenons and shanks of Comoy's highest grades, but only two bear the Comoy name. If Comoy had lower standards, their selected straight grain seconds would be another company's straight grain firsts. As it is, these are without a doubt, the best basket pipes in the world. Looking forward to expanding my restoration techniques with staining. Edit: also, an update to the Nørding pipe above, I've refurbished it as far as I can go. Overall, aside from a deep dent in the mouthpiece, this abused pipe cleaned up nicely. I've avoided the tenon end of the stem for now to avoid messing with the logo. I'll smoke it a few times before I decide to leave it 'as is' or send it to a professional repair person for the full spa treatment.
Correction, after more research, I now believe it's not a Comoy. I think it's a 1950's-1960's era Chacom pipe, marked for export. Still a high grade pipe, but the French were less picky determining what constituted a 'Selected Straight Grain' pipe.
I haven't smoked in months. When it's hot and/or humid here in Florida (3/4 of the year) it just sucks the appeal right out of it.
No pic, but I enjoyed a bowl of Ephemeris in my Northern Briar Canadian. Ephemeris consists of 3 different pure Virginia’s blended by The Briary, my local pipe and tobacco shop. https://thebriary.com/ August in Alabama is brutal, so I typically smoke in my basement which is relatively cool compared to my deck.
I just couldn't get around to liking this pipe, but I knew it was more my brother-in-law's style, and convinced him to trade his 563M Royal Guard for it. Some people consider those to be Stanwell second-tier pipes, like the Royal Danish lines. They are not. They were made for and marketed to the Danish military, and were sold in their version of the American military PDX stores. I also picked up an unusual Edwards pipe. Edward's were the American version of Charaton. Mostly factory pipes, with some handmades and higher end lines. The upper tier grading system started at 3 (low), 5, 7, and 9 (high) and the numerals are usually paired with a "key" stamp and a "handmade" stamp. The "5" is equivalent to the Iwan Ries's house brand "Benton" line, which Edward's made for IR. Those were about $55 pipes. Above those were the EF (Edward's Freehand) line, which consisted solely of freehand shapes. These sold for between $100 and $150, depending on size and grade. They started at 3, and the highest grade was 1. All their pipes were oil-cured Algerian briar. This is an EF1 pipe. This is a blowfish, my first in that shape variation. Algerian briar, and probably French made, rather than American made. Not really anything more than a gut feeling on that diagnosis, other than it 'feels' French, and the 'cauldron' shape is a very old French pipe shape, though this one takes that shape to an extreme. Most of their freehands look rather like someone showed an eight year old some Danish freehands and then turned them loose in the shop to attempt some tries at replicas. This one is no exception. Finest briar on the planet, somewhat clumsy execution (imo). The shape is quite outside my usual range of more traditional shapes, but it looked like it would be very comfortable to hold.
Update. This has probably been the most satisfying restoration yet. And yes, it is a Chacom made pipe, in France. From the way the cake flaked off, it too is Algerian briar. I've found two tiny fills on it. The grain isn't quite as dense as the other 184 I have. Both of them are old pipes, made no later than 1965. As the straight grain is smoked, it too will achieve the dark brown coloration of the other pipe, though that will likely take decades. The color on both pipes is the natural look of oiled Algerian briar. One well smoked, and the other, not as much.
Chacom pipes…..one of the oldest pipe manufacturers. I have 4, a Canadian, Lumberman, billiard, and a chimney. Most people, when asked about the birthplace of the briar pipe, seldom think of France.
