From: "A.W. Donovan-Shead" <?????????????????????????>
Subject: Smoke Signal #13  [PIPE]

Smoke Signal #13
January 23, 1995
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At the end of December I received some E-mail from Bob Hamlin of the
Pipe Collector's Club of America. I have Mr. Hamlin's permission to
reproduce it here:

FROM:     R.C. Hamlin, 71530,40
TO:       A.W. Donovan-Shead, 76326,3415
DATE:     12/30/94 3:03 AM

Re:  Escudo Pipe Tobacco Internet Digest Info

Thanks for the plug in the Pipe Digest #170 (re: Escudo), just to
update your information a little - I currently have 40 tins of
Escudo in-stock $7.95 per 50 grams. UPS ground shipping runs $6.00
per order (1 or 20 tins). (and) while I stock small "special orders"
from the jobber in Chicago, I do have an account with JBR for those
orders that are large enough to place directly with the importer of
Escudo.

Again, thanks for mentioning PCCA in the Digest!

-Bob 

In Smoke Signal #12 I remember promising to bring you a few tips
from the Folks at Ted's. I've been busy on other things. Now I can
spend some time with the Honourable Company of Pipe and Cigar
Smokers again.

In a recent issue of PD I noted a comment that a spate of flu and
the pipe don't go together, very true. However, I do remember that
my pipe smoking father was ill infrequently, a healthy man upon the
whole. My wife was recently afflicted with a severe cold, though we
sleep in the same bed I remained unaffected. Georges Herment said
that tobacco smoke is good as a vermifuge, at least, I think that is
what he said. I've never had trouble with worms, but I can say that
plaque on my teeth is less of a problem when smoking a pipe, and
that I was unaffected by my wife's contagion.

In the days when you could call for a pipe and call for a bowl and
call for fiddlers three, your pipe was a clay most likely. In #173
a question was: How to clean a clay? In those days of yore, clay
pipes were reused. Wealthy patrons of an ale-house would call for
new pipes, when the customer had finished with the pipe the landlord
of the inn would fire-clean the pipe and offer it to the less
affluent customer. Next time you clean your oven, try putting your
clay pipe in there for a modern fire-cleaning.

In London in the 50s, my father was a teacher at Linden Lodge School
for the Blind and partially sighted. He had a pottery there where he
and the kids made pots and did other arts and crafts. New pottery
was left to dry in the drying-room. When there was sufficient
quantity of pots, he would load the kiln, which was about the size
of a large oven, and fire the pots. A process that took about a
week, during which he would bring it up to temperature slowly in
stages. In those days he used ceramic-cone pyrometers that he loaded
with the pots. I recall looking through the spy-hole at the radiant
interior of the kiln. When the temperature was correct the tip of
the cones would droop over. Correct temperature control is important 
for the glazes. Anyway, after the correct temperatures obtained he
would shut off the gas and allow the kiln to cool over a period of
several days before unloading. All these precautions are necessary
with new pottery to prevent sudden cracks. Every household has a
kiln in the shape of an oven in the kitchen. Try cleaning an old
clay in your oven and see if it answers. Report your results here.

In a recent number a chap reported being harassed for smoking a pipe
by people claiming that his tobacco smelt worse than camel dung.
Proper riposte to snide remarks such as this is: "Have you smelt
camel dung, ever?"

De gustibus non disputandum est: There's no disputing taste.
Singularly apt, I thought, when talking of pipes, tobacco, and
cigars.

In #174 I wondered what shape the smoke would form rising from the
bowl of a pipe puffed by one working in the field of nuclear weapons
command and control.

Well now, let's go into Ted's and read what they have to say about
smoking a pipe: "Smoking a pipe is easy. your smoking enjoyment will
be greatly enhanced if you follow some simple rules.

"Select a good pipe. Whether made of clay, meerschaum, or briar,
your pipe should be well made of aged and porous material. A cheaply
made pipe of inferior materials will seldom provide anything but an
inferior smoke

"Keep in mind that a pipe is an investment. Unlike cigarettes or
cigars, your pipe will reward you with many years of smoking
pleasure if it is well made and cared for.

"Fill your pipe in three pinches of tobacco until you get used to
filling it properly. The first pinch at the bottom of the bowl
should be barely tamped down. The second should be slightly firmer,
and the third firm enough to level the top of the tobacco with the
rim of the bowl. This procedure will result in the tobacco being
fairly evenly packed from top to bottom of the bowl.

"When properly filled, you should feel little or no resistance when
you draw on the pipe.

"With a new pipe, we recommend that you only fill the bowl about a
third full for the first three or four smokings, then half full for
another few smokings, and then you may fully load the bowl.

"It is important to break in a new pipe by smoking it all the way to
the bottom the first several times.

"Lighting your pipe right with the first match will greatly enhance
your smoking pleasure. Circle the entire bowl with the flame, making
sure the top layer is burning evenly. Then lightly tamp it down, as
the tobacco will curl and rise with the first lighting.

"Relight and gently puff. Do not pull as with a cigarette. You
should puff gently and slowly to fully savor the flavor. There is no
need to inhale.

"Good pipe tobacco contains no additives (such as saltpeter or any
of a whole list of adulterants added to most mass-market cigarettes)
to facilitate burning. Your pipe may go out two or three times
during a smoke, but matches or [sic] cheap, so just tamp and
relight."

An aside: Better than matches, I feel, is a butane lighter. I don't
like the taste of burning match-wood. Imco is an Austrian brand of
pipe-lighter that I like, a chrome and plastic device about three
inches long. Very effective and cheap at $10. You can refill it from 
the pressurised butane fuel cans made by Zeus of England, available
here in the U.S.

"Rarely can anyone consistently smoke a pipe to the very bottom of
the bowl so that nothing remains but white ash. The last bit of
tobacco (called the dottle) usually becomes too moist to burn well.
This moisture is the result of condensation from the burning
tobacco."

An aside: In England, in the RAF at least, you could hear people
refer to a particular task as: It's a dottle. Meaning that it was
easy, no sweat.

"When repeated efforts to relight near the bottom of the bowl fail
to overcome the moisture, use a pipe tool to gently remove the
dottle, or grasp the pipe BY THE BOWL and lightly tap against the
palm of your hand to remove the last ash and dottle. Do not hold the
pipe by the stem and rap it against a hard surface or you may break
the stem or crack the shank of your pipe.

"A good smoke can be heavenly, and, where pipes are concerned,
cleanliness is next to heavenliness. Use pipe cleaners religiously
and your pipe will reward you with a sweet cool smoke.

"Neglecting proper cleaning immediately after a smoke can result in
the bowl turning sour from the moist residues which adhere to the
bottom and in the shank.

"For appearance, a little brandy (or your favorite liqueur) on a
soft cloth may be used to clean the rim of the bowl, and passing a
brandy-wet pipe cleaner through the stem can often sweeten a soured
stem.

"Some pipes, once soured, can never be restored to proper smoking
condition. Keep them clean!

"When the caked carbon in the bowl becomes the thickness of a
Nickel, it is time to ream. Come see us for the proper tool and some
instruction.

"Give your pipes a rest. The pipe is made of porous material which
allows it to smoke well because it absorbs flavor from the tobacco
and dissipates heat through the pores. If you over smoke your pipe,
the pores become clogged and the bowl becomes saturated with
residues.

"Not only will such a condition ruin the flavor of the smoke, but
the pipe will smell foul to those around you (even when not lit).

"You will need more than a single pipe to smoke regularly. With
several pipes, individual pipes can be resting a day or two while
you  rotate the duty among your others.

"A well cared for pipe can last a lifetime, so treat it well and you
will have a friend for life.

"If your pipe bites or burns your mouth, you may be smoking too
vigorously, or your choice of tobacco may simply be too strong or
hot-burning. Let us recommend a milder and cooler blend -- and take
it easy!

"New pipes need to be broken in, and the time required varies
greatly between pipes and smokers. Meerschaum or meerschaum-lined
pipes smoke well almost immediately, but a briar pipe may take
months before it yields the superb smoke they are famous for. Be
patient, and let us advise you.

"Have fun with your pipes. Pipes and pipe smokers, much like wines
and their connoisseurs, are steeped in romance. So try different
tobacco blends and differently styled pipes.

"Reading and pipe smoking seem made for each other. There is nothing
like a Sherlock Holmes mystery or a couple of chapters from 'The
Hobbit' or the Tolkien 'Ring Trilogy' to get you in the mood for a
relaxing and satisfying smoke from your pipe.

"Perhaps that is why pipe smokers seem to be a better class of
people."

Here, here! Certainly more tolerant. Recently, I have been reading
Patrick O'Brian's seafaring novels set during the Napoleonic Wars.
He was describing an action in the Mediterranean in which two ships
were at close-quarters exchanging broadsides, the ships were
obscured by clouds of smoke from the cannon fire. So furious an
action that I couldn't read the print for the smoke. I got a bit
carried away and had to put down my pipe. O'Brian is a prodigous
fine writer that I recommend to you, but if you are at ease with the
likes of Sidney Sheldon then you'll find O'Brian overpowering.

Are you bothered by a wet-smoking pipe? Let me remind you of a trick
that works, mentioned by Hacker in his pipe book. When your pipe
starts to "hubble bubble toil and trouble," take a pipe cleaner and
run it down to the bowl through the stem, withdraw it, retamp, and
carry on smoking. It does work.

Mr. Walborn, I appreciate your appreciation, you are most welcome.
Presently I am working up some material for another puff or two and
shall, perhaps, wax philosophical although I'm no apologist, unlike
Mr. Akin.

Catholicism seems to produce philosophers. Frederick Copleston
started writing a presentation of the development of philosophy for
Catholic seminary students, it turned into a nine volume juggernaut.
Philosophy and pipes go together well, take this and mix it with a
good professor for a lot of fun.

Andrew
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[ Re John Weinstein's position, you've got _me_ wondering too! -S. ]


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