From: JTH <????????????????????>
Subject: Ronia pipes

About a week ago, my girlfriend managed to get me to stop in at a 2nd 
hand store we were driving by (ooh boy twist my arm I thought, because 
there are usually some old pipes in those stores).  While we were making 
our way through the store, I happened on a pipe stand/ (glass) humidor 
with one pipe in the stand.  I'll call it a humidor because I don't know 
any better so please bear with me if I am wrong.

Good Lord, I just thought, this sounds an awful lot like one of the 
letters in a Penthouse forum... "I would have never believed it if it 
hadn't happened to me...."  Not that I have ever read that magazine or 
anything, but I digress.

I immediately set about searching for a price and was pleasantly 
surprised to see that the store only wanted $18 (canadian dollars) for 
it (the pipe, stand, and humidor).  I was not sure about the brand of the 
pipe but it looked to be in good shape of pretty good quality.

I was saddened to see that some boob had used the pipe as his (or her) 
pot pipe for the last little while before it was put in the store so it 
had a bit of a smell to it.  However, I was undaunted as the worst 
of the smell was coming from the balsa wood filter in it.  (the filter is 
gone and has not been replaced)

Needless to say, I gave the nice lady behind the counter the cash and 
walked out with my new toy.

I took it home, cleaned it out vigorously, and gave it a test drive with 
some Rattray's Black Mallory (thank you very much to Kevin Cook for 
that).  Well it worked like a charm and smoked quite well.

What I was wondering was does anyone recognize the name Ronia (for a pipe 
that is)?  Brief description;

The pipe is briar with a dark, rough finish.  It has a "bulldoggish"
shaped shank and stem (you know how bull dogs have kind of a thick
triangular shank and stem?).  The shank comes out of the bowl at about a
50 to 60 degree angle - if the bowl is sitting upright and is considered
to be at zero degrees - and continues at that angle straight all the way
through the stem.  The stem is a light chocolate brown and the bit?  (part
you put in your mouth) is wide and flat.  The bowl looks kind of
billiardish.  Where the shank and stem fit together, there is a brass or
copper spacer and on the black plastic tenon which fits into the shank it
says "Savinelli patent".  On the bottom of the bowl there is a very faint
imprint in a smooth portion which has the word "Ronia" with the R in a
sheild.  There is also an "S" (in a sheild with two pipes over the
sheild), the number 627, and "Italy". 

The stand was made by a company called "Decatur" from Decatur, Indiana 
and it was made to fit the glass humidor on one half of the stand and 
three pipes on the other half.

All in all I liked the set alot and felt it was worth more than the 18 
(plus tax) that I paid for it.  I don't know about the pipe though.  I 
entertained ideas that it was something special because of the Savinell 
patent part of it but I stopped myself from getting any big ideas until I 
ran it past some of the more experienced members of the digest (I have 
only been smoking pipes and cigars for a year now and while I may like to 
fancy myself a connoisseur at times, I have to be careful that I don't 
get too hoity toity and make an ass of myself).

Anyways, any help some of the more knowledgeable in the group may 
wish to pass along would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Jason Hayes 

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The researches of many commentators have already shed considerable
darkness on this subject and it is probable that, if they continue,
we shall soon know nothing about it.                Mark Twain
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