From: ????????????????
Subject: Cigar chemistry, cigar prices, and turning briar

>How many pipe smokers actually inhale the stuff ?  My dad taught me
>that pipe smoke isn't to be inhaled, but rather drawn into the mouth and 
>puffed out.  Likewise, cigars.

I certainly don't.  My experience is like yours -- most pipe inhalers are
cigarette smokers trying to hurt themselves less.
There even may be a chemical reason for not inhaling pipes and cigars,
though the reference is long gone and I might be totally off base:
It seems that cigarette tobacco is so cured that the smoke tends to be slightly
acidic.  When it gets to the acid environment of the mouth, it finds nothing
to react quickly with, so you body can't get the "benefits" till it gets to
your lungs.  Pipe and cigar smoke is somewhat basic, so....


>I truly enjoy the finer cigars I've tried; Partagas, Plieades,
>and a couple other brands.  But they're just too danged expensive
>for my tobacco budget....

Um.  I agree they're a luxury and only smoke one or two a week.  But even
here, where the tax has just shot way up, a Partagas costs a bit under $4.00.
Look what else you get get around here for $4.00:

	From one to two martinis in a bar, depending on whether it's a fancy
	bar with small drinks or a down-to-earth one with big ones.

	Four Its-Its(tm) chocolate-covered oatmeal-cookie ice cream sandwiches.

	Two-thirds of the admission to a movie.

Put in perspective with other luxuries, it's not bad.  And unless you smoke
the hell out of it, it'll last an hour and a half or so.


On pipe manufacture:

I had a nice chat with Jim Andre' about lathes and pipemaking.  Jim, whom
I've mentioned before, makes pipes and sell them at:

	Andre''s Pipe Gallery
	127 West Main St.
	Los Gatos, CA

About half the pipes he makes are turned.  The others are freehand.  The
difference between "hand cut" turned pipes and the others is that the
mass-production pipes use automatic lathes, like key-making machines, to
chomp out pipe after pipe.  The hand-made ones may use templates, but the 
maker will alter the shape to his mood and the nature of the wood.

He does not use fill.  If he finds a little hole, he leaves it;  if he finds
a big one, he changes the shape of the pipe or does some carving.  (I have
a very good Andre' with LOTS of carving -- it doesn't imply poor quality.)
We agreed that old fill always turned color a a different rate than the rest
of the wood and that bad old fill sometimes fall out entirely.

One of the hazards of hand-turning pipes is of course that nasty stem whomping
around and around. If you hit it with a tool, you're likely to ruin the pipe
by knocking it off entirely.  If you let it clobber your hand, it can ruin
your whole day.

Andre' is worth a visit if you're in Silicon Valley.  Los Gatos has nice res-
taurants, too.


					phil


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