From: "Graeme T. Steel" <?????????????????>
Subject: For Next Pipes Digest

Dear Steve, Great to receive the new Pipes Digest. Lots of things of
interest. Living in Indonesia as I do, pipe smokers will know the recent
problems we have had here, so it is a sign of some improvement that we are
able to hold a long postponed meeting of the Surabaya Pipe Club - the first
since the fall of President Soeharto. I hope my adopted country can now get
back to normal! David R. Lundgren asks about the make of his meerschaum
pipe. I think he is referring to a "Kiko" pipe made in Tanganika (now
Tanzania) which has an elephant or rhinoceros motif. I have one and it
smokes well. They were quite well-known in England in the early 1980s and
distributed there, but I don't know if they are still made. I very much
enjoyed John Ridgway's quotation of Victor Cesarini's autobiography. It
reminded me of how civilized London was in those days - even in my more
recent memory: smoking sections on the upper level of London buses and half
of every cinema auditorium dedicated to smokers. I never go to the cinema
now because it's too long to sit without smoking my pipe - and modern films
are rubbish anyway - all special effects, method acting and no story. For
those who can absorb even more pipe discussion than Pipes Digest, A.S.P. and
the Pipes Web Page can offer, I'd recommend Ron's Pipe and Pouch
Co-Operative which has a digest too,  which anyone can subscribe to. I find
it a very good adjunct to what else is available. Inquire to ??????????????
The subject of health and pipe smoking always comes up at least once in
every Pipes Digest, but I don't mind at all. I would rather be well-informed
than ignorant. A source of pictorial information on cancer risks can be had
at http://iumeded.med.iupui.edu/tobacco/leuko.htm  It seems from what
reading I have done that we are most at risk from oral cancers, but even
then one has to be very unlucky to succumb. I occasionally check out this
site and compare the pics to my mouth to  make sure I have nothing quite
like it. Warning: the pics are rather graphic if you are squeamish. I
recently e-mailed the Savinelli pipe site to ask if they could identify a
Savinelli pipe I was given some years ago. How reassuring it is to  get a
big company taking the trouble to reply in detail to my inquiry, and what's
more, for Mr Servile himself to reply in person. What a friendly fraternity
we belong to! Best Wishes, Graeme ?????????????????


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