Restored Favorite and Upgraded Cobs

My dealings with Walker Briar Works came to fruition. First, I received my signature pipe (see profile picture below.) What I call my Dunhill nose warmer. I've never seen another one so I don't know what the shape should be more properly called. The pipe is a shell briar measuring 4 1/2 inches with an oval shaped bowl. The identifying number is 4125 and if anyone can supply any interesting collector information I'd love to share it. I have always loved the pipe except for the fact that the air-hole was just too damn small. I tried to widen it myself a few months ago with a crude file and while I thankfully did not ruin the pipe irreparably, I stuffed it up good, couldn't clear it and knew it was going to have to go to a professional for assistance. As I have reported here, I recently found Walker's Briar Works and in addition to purchasing forever stems for my corn cobs and a nose warmer corn cob that I hadn't seen anywhere else, I sent Dave my Dunhill. While he had cautioned me that it could take a few months, when he received it and saw how little it would take to make it right, he did the work,sent it to me essentially by return mail. Within about 4 dyas the pipe had gone and returned with a wonderfully widened air flow. I am ecstatic.


My new "forever" stems also arrived quickly and I must say they are perfect. I ordered 6 of them and immediately transformed my rotation. Smoking the cobs without feeling the soft plastic crunching beneath my teeth was a pleasure and the acrylic presents the pipe so much more appealingly. Definitely a great find.

As is the Missouri Meerschaum nose warmer (with forever stem) that also arrived. It is a perfect nose warmer size and smokes very well.l

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I write during the week between Christmas and New Year's. I usually take this week off from work and this year managed to rent a lovely cabin in the Poconos to retreat to with Annie. We do not celebrate Christmas, but since it is our wedding anniversary we are (usually) in a festive spirit. This year marks 41 years. Hard to believe. The house is well apportioned with a front and rear porch so getting in a few bowlfuls a day will not be a problem.In fact the rear porch even has an outdoor gas heater, the kind the fancy restaurants use for outdoor seating in Philadelphia. Actually, so far I'm just as happy to go out dressed for the weather than to fiddle around with it, but I may just give it a try before the week is out. Of course with ten inches of snow predicted over night, it may be a couple of days before I venture out for a smoke. Below pictured is me on the porch. "And below that my very peaceful view.

My choice of tobacco for the week was Louisiana Red from the PipesandCigars.com Hearth and Home Series blended by Russ Ouellette. It is described as: "A great sweet and spicy blend containing two different Red Virginias and a good amount of outstanding St. James Perique. The rich, round sweetness of the Virginias are complimented by the plum and pepper hints of the cool-burning Perique. An overwhelming favorite of our local pipe club members." I've purchased it before and enjoyed it so grabbed the 4 ounce bag that I'd ordered for the trip. It frankly does not compare to either Exhausted Rooster or Riverboat Gambler by Cornell&Diehl and at first I was disappointed I hadn't reached for one of those instead. But I soon settled in and have enjoyed it through the week.

Out of paranoia I won't be posting this until after I get home; right. I shouldn't be advertising all over the web that we are away. So belatedly I wish you all a happy holiday season and a coming year of blessings and smoke rings.

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Cases

In one of my last posts I showed a picture of my Corn cob rotation as the pipes sat nested in the wall rack that I'm using for them. One of the comments on that post was "nice rack." It kind of took me aback. I hadn't even been thinking about the rack when I took the picture, rather only about the pipes. I guess that's the way it is most of the time, but as any pipeman knows finding the right racks is an ongoing project. there are magnificent racks that are custom made by some fine artisans and I wish i could afford them. For average collectors like myself it has almost always been a matter of making do as I can with store bought racks. Even store bought racks of any value, with enough space for a growing collection, with the holes slotted the correct way to hold the numerous shapes of pipes that today no longer necessarily follow the traditional shape chart can not only be problematic, but expensive. So I realized that over the years I'd solved the problem somewhat creatively and serendipitously and I decided to focus on my racks and the stories behind them. This little essay does not count desk type racks. I have about 5 of those, holding 6 to 8 pipes that I've used over the years, but I'm not using presently and they are of less interest.

As my collection, in fact, began to overflow those aforementioned desk racks I began to consider something bigger and more pleasing for presenting the collection. After searching the web for a few minutes I knew that I had a problem. I couldn't afford what I wanted. So I envisioned what I wanted and went searching for a way to make it. Keep in mind that unlike many in the pipe community, I have no manual skills whatsoever. The idea of heading to the lumber yard and starting from scratch was ludicrous. Instead I headed for the used furniture/thrift shops and after a little while found an old cabinet with glass sliding doors that I thought would do the trick. I bought it for probably $20 and lugged it to my friend's house who is manually skilled and he helped me put in some thin boards to create a slant instead of affixing the pipes to the deep, straight back cabinet walls. We also sanded it down and re-painted it. It was now ready to accept the pipes. The question of how to affix the pipes vexed me for awhile until I visited an old fashioned pipe store that looked like the cigar boom and everything else had passed it by. I got to talking with the proprietor and turns out he had a load of the little rubber-like clasps that old fashioned pipe stores always used to affix the pipes to display boards. I bought a bag-full of them and my problem was solved. I screwed them in at various angles to accept various shaped pipes and the pipe case pictured below emerged. The only problem left was that this cabinet was either intended to be affixed to the wall -which I wasn't going to do- or rest on a table -which I didn't have. So I began another search and found a lovely floor unit painted the same color that I had painted my case and had two shelves behind doors in the front and two side doors with corner shelves. Perfect for storing tobacco, pipe books and assorted paraphernalia. As you can see, since I've shrunk my collection I have been able to move some of my tins of "cellaring" tobaccos up into one of the main areas for display.

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Not too long after getting the case up and operating, I ran out of room. At the same time an old friend and venerable Philadelphia pipe smoker named Herschel Barron reached the age when he had to de-acquisition. Actually only a few months before he passed (at a ripe old age I must say) he gave me this double row wall rack that I featured because I now use it for my cobs. In addition to the sentimental value that Hershel's memory invokes this rack is also special because it really wasn't in very great shape when he gave it to me. So my lovely wife Annie the artist refinished it and added the pipe and tobacco themed collage that adorns it. I wouldn't think of not using it.

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But lovely as it is, it doesn't compare to the cabinet below that Annie surprised me with for my birthday a few years later. She commissioned it from a young man who does beautiful wood working. Then a student and member of my congregation the cabinet is flat out gorgeous. It rests on a large file cabinet that I keep near my desk and is directly across the corridor from both of the other cases described above.

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Finally, the cabinet below. Cruising around ebay one day I came upon it for a ridiculously low price and had to have it. I probably didn't need this much more room for my collection, and now that I have been de-acquisitioning myself I must admit its largely empty. But what pipe smoker could resist a beautiful Sherlock Holmes pipe cabinet? I couldn't.

What are the stories your cases hold?

Pouch Mixtures

I'm sure someone has written about this before, but I don't remember seeing anything so here goes. A few days ago, as I prepared to leave my house in the morning and chose my pipe for the day and went to fill my pouch, I realized that I had a small amount of Exhausted Rooster left in the pouch (but none in the tin) and a small amount of tobacco left in my tin of Katerini Classic. (Despite this occurring on Hanukah I did not expect that either small amount would last the day, let alone the week.) Separately there was not enough to get me through the day, but together there would be. In my growing phase of non-obsessiveness regarding pipe smoking I dumped the remaining Katerini Classic into the pouch, shook them together for a couple of seconds and...presto...a new, never to be repeated blend was born. Call it Exhausted Katerini, or what you like, but it smoked very nicely and tasted pretty darn good. The heavier VaPor mixed with the Orientals worked just fine. I suppose I should have paid more attention to the proportions and other relevant information for repeating the experiment or even creating a personal blend, but half the fun was the serendipity of the whole thing. I'll settle for just waiting for the next time the situation presents itself and hoping for similar results.

I expect to receive my first package from Walker Briar Works today. That will be my cob nose warmer and my new pipe stems. Looking forward to trying those out. Meanwhile, I sent my Dunhill to Dave at Walker to widen the air-flow and he finished it the day he received it for an incredibly modest price. That package is already in the mail and I should have it tomorrow or Friday. Reports to follow.

Lastly, having finished up some tins (see above) I bought another C&D blend, Riverboat Gambler. Lo and behold! It is a Virginia perique blend with "the exotic taste of Turkish leaf"! Sounds a lot like mixing Exhausted Rooster with Katerini. Well, its better than that. The main taste impression in this one is precisely Exhausted Rooster but with something subtlety and deliciously different. This is no mistake blend. It melds together all the flavors I most enjoy and, at least for now, is my regular, C&D have really got that Virginia Perique mixture down pat.

I had a chance to show it off, along with my Peter Heeschen Blowfish at the Christopher Morley Pipe meeting last night. One of the most pleasant meetings I can remember, for no particular reason except perhaps that the temperature was 20 degrees outside and I started my meal with a very nice Manhattan. As usual I wat next to George Amram from whom I always learn something about pipes and tobacco (see todays A Passion For Pipes post.) I am also excited by the tentative plans we made to go up for the next meeting of the New York Pipe Club, which so far my schedule amazingly permits. Though because of this blog some of the guys knew of my new passion for Cobs, I mostly bring a nice briar or two for use at the meetings. Don't want to forsake them entirely, after all. The Heeschen smoked really well, by the way.

The Benefits of the Fraternity of the Briar (or cob)

With temperatures dipping into the 20's and a few canceled appointments freeing up some afternoon time I trucked over to Holt's for an afternoon bowl or two yesterday. Just after I settled in a gentleman sat down next to me saying he wanted to sit next to the pipe smoker. As he sat down and unwrapped his cigar he mentioned that he preferred pipes but never traveled with them. I smiled and said he should consider a corn cob if he was worried about losing or breaking a pipe. He said he had a few and we began talking. Usually the cigar smokers at Holt's really don't know much about pipes, about collecting, about brands and artisans or about tobaccos. This gentleman, Robert, knew his stuff and we spent a good hour intelligently discussing our collecting habits, different pipe shops (his vendor of choice was Cup O'Joes ) and we meandered on to the subject of pipe repairs. I mentioned my Dunhill Shell whose air hole was too tight and how I'd clogged it entirely by trying to fix it myself. Robert suggested that I check out Walker's Briar Works . I did that and what a wonderful surprise. Not only do they repair pipes, but they also specialize in selling Missouri Meerschaum pipes and make hand worked acrylic and vulcanite stems for them! They are called Forever Stems and certainly solve the ever present problem with corn cobs: the quick deterioration of the stems. I called Dave at Walker's and had a very pleasant conversation. I told him about my dissatisfaction with my Dunhill airhole and he assured me he could fix it. I sent it off this morning. While on his website I ordered a number of Forever Stems for the corn cobs I use most and ordered a Missouri Meerschaum nose-warmer that I had not seen anywhere else. All from a friendly conversation at the pipe store (where I bought a couple of tins of tobacco which I do from time to time, as opposed to buying off the web, to "pay my dues" for the luxory of having a place to go and smoke.

Anonymous Cob

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I'm wondering if anyone out there might have some information about this pipe. I bought it in an estate sale, I don't remember which catalog, maybe as long as 20 years ago. It has no visible identification. It is a corn cob, but has a bamboo shank and an acrylic stem with a permanent metal filter attached to the stem, rather than the soft plastic stem and wooden shank of a Missouri Meerschaum. Anyone know who might have made a more sophisticated cob than Missouri Meerschaum back in the day?

So Far So Good

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The temperature has plummeted for sure, but the wind has been tolerable and the skies mostly clear, so smoking out in the backyard has been ok once or twice a day. And the occasional visit to Holt's helps. I have not had much to write about other than the fact that I continue my devotion to cob pipes. I have gone back to Exhausted Rooster as my everyday tobacco and really can't say enough about how much I enjoy it. Given the weather I don't want to open too many tins that won't get used quick enough to keep them fresh despite a fantastic post on how to do exactly that on Neil Archer Roan's Passion For Pipes blog.