Greetings from Nancy, France (Lorraine)

Hello all,
Antoine, 54, coming from France. I began smoking the pipe when I was 20 or so, and stopped after few years. Rebegan in 1998, then stopped in 2008. And rerebegan a few days ago. But during these last smoking vacations, I continued to take care of my numerous smokers, and my cellared tins (± 600). I'm currently sipping a 2007 McClelland Grand Orientals Classic Samsun in a Bauer meerschaum (and it's great!).
I teach architecture, have a German girlfriend, a female cat named Patafix, and a Harley Fatboy.

I interest in nose flutes history and collecting them (yes!), I love teas, play some music (uke, oud, baglamas, guitar).
I'm glad to join your group and thank you for your welcome
Antoine

Thank you a lot!
@folanator : well, I mostly have McClellands, GLPease, Dunhill, Cornell & Diehl and Rattrays. Plus many other brands/blends in small quantities. Most of them were bought (obviously) before I stopped smoking in 2008, so they are 10+. I have some collectors : a Murray Baby's Bottom from 2001 (and other Murray Dunhill : DL Navy Rolls, EMP, Elizabethan (2003 & 2004), 2 tins of NASPC GL Pease limited productions (NASPC 2001 Southfarthing and NASPC 2004 Aragorn), 1 tin only of Renaissance 2003. I also have some scarce Bufflehead blends. But nowadays, McClellands become collectables, aren't they ? (I have 163 tins of them . I also have some bulk blends that I jarred (not so many... some 2 kilos or so).
I began to store them for ageing, but also because tobacco laws were (and still are) becoming more and more strict in France. Nowadays, the tins sold in France are covered both sides with horrible (disease) pictures on 2/3 of the surface. And the taxes are incredibly high. (a Dunhill 50g tin is sold Euro 23, kinda $27). So, I didn't do that for speculation, but just to secure my future smokes (Yes when I stopped smoking, I knew it was for a certain lapse (10 years!)
@mso489 : Thank you. Yes, we have a beautiful country, as you do! On my side I went only 2 times in the US, once in Washington DC area ad NYC, and once in...Ohio! (and also NYC again)
@civilwar : Thanks a lot for your welcome words

thank you Ekert and jpmcwjr!
@jpmcwjr : no no no! Nose flutes are nose flutes! Never heard of Humanatones? (you blow with the nose, make the tone with the mouth, and it provides an incredible flute music!

Take a look here (this one, that I restored, dates of the 1920s) : Humanatone

Thank you!
@jpmcwjr : you seem to speak french nicely. Your "je suis perdu" was perfect!
@folanator : yes, in the same family of small and rather unknown instruments...
@nitemair13 : you saw the picture over there. Indeed, there are many many shapes for a nose flute, that make you look more or less stupid/frightening when you play them The first one was invented in 1892 in Albion, NY. It was called the "Nasalette" (see here). I hmake a blog on the topic, but I'm not sure I'm allowed to post its URL here.
@Chasing Embers : Thank you! If you get a nose flute (on Ebay for instance), avoid the current plastic Humanatones, there are not good. Choose either a wooden nose flute, or better, the rolls-royce : the Bocarina.
@bnichols23 : thank you! Greetings from France!
@scloyd : hahaha! You can't say better to me. That's what I am in my mind, despite the mordern necessities. I can add to that : I interest in Alchemy, I make rebus(es), ... any kind of obsolete arts/sciences

Welcome to France when you arrive! I hope that the Parisians will be polite with you (that's not their specialty... I've lived 15 years in Paris, and when I came back to Lorraine, I was surprised that the baker said "hello" when you enter his shop
@brassmonkey : thank you! You are right. In Hawaii too, and in the Philippines. But those are traditional nose flutes that were pitched with the fingers. I'm interested and collects only what I call "urban nose flutes", that is, pitched by the mouth (the idea is to have both hands free, notably to play a stringed instrument at the same time).

Here you can can see a short video of my girl friend playing nose flute and uke altogether : The Bear Necessities

Chasing Embers, you made the right choice! If you need advices to play it, don't hesitate to ask!

The principle is :

- to blow with the nose (only) (NOT to blow with the mouth)

- to open a bit the mouth
Try to insure some hermeticity at the nose side (no air leaks). And then change the pitch with changing your mouth opening (but it's rather instinctive, like when you whistle). You don't need to blow hard, a soft flow is enough. You can achieve up to 3 octaves.
My turn to welcome you!