Time Flies.
It has been a year since I was living in an abandoned house with no water or air conditioning, the largest bugs I had ever seen and a random bat who loved exploring all the rooms at night at high speed. The understanding was I would make repairs to plumbing, walls, ceilings, exterior, windows, etc. in exchange for living there plus a percentage of the sale price of the home upon completion. It didn't work out since the owner refused to remove tons of broken electronics and other shit so I could do the work. He was/is a hoarder. (there were no less than twenty-five random doors of various ages and styles sitting in the dining room, and that was just the tip of the iceberg)
It was in the midst of this chaos I found the Mayfair/Custombilt straight bulldog and fell in love with it. In the same abandoned drawer there was a Tinder Box tool with tamper etc. to deal with piping/smoking procedures. I had only met one person my age who smoked a pipe and hadn't seen him in years. The idea of a pipe seemed old fashioned and strange...in other words, right up my alley. Since money was tight and piping was cheaper, I bought some good strong tobacco and reeked of cigarette smoke for a week or two until I found ACTUAL pipe tobacco. A few weeks later, I found this site and lurked, picking up vital info here and there and steadily increasing my enjoyment of the hobby/addiction. Another month later I had moved to the farmhouse where I currently reside and purchased my first estate pipe, a straight medium billiard Kaywoodie Flamegrain with a ruby in the stem. I joined this Forum to find out anything I could about the $12.50 purchase and found I did good. Real good.
Sometimes I've been less than socially adept here. Sometimes less than hospitable. It has been many months since I have smoked a cigarette and I don't miss it one bit. Some of you guys are assholes, but most of you are intelligent, thoughtful, generous, engaging and a whole bunch of other fancy words. You folks continue to expand my knowledge and enrich my pipe smoking experience and I could not be more grateful. You guys and couple gals have helped me transition from smoking and living helter skelter to mindful zen-like appreciation of a fine plant some of my ancestors considered Holy. A gift from the Great Spirit. So now I raise my glass of chocolate milkshake and toast the piping community at large. Here's to sad endings, happy beginnings, and vice versa. The circle of life. Cheers.
It has been a year since I was living in an abandoned house with no water or air conditioning, the largest bugs I had ever seen and a random bat who loved exploring all the rooms at night at high speed. The understanding was I would make repairs to plumbing, walls, ceilings, exterior, windows, etc. in exchange for living there plus a percentage of the sale price of the home upon completion. It didn't work out since the owner refused to remove tons of broken electronics and other shit so I could do the work. He was/is a hoarder. (there were no less than twenty-five random doors of various ages and styles sitting in the dining room, and that was just the tip of the iceberg)
It was in the midst of this chaos I found the Mayfair/Custombilt straight bulldog and fell in love with it. In the same abandoned drawer there was a Tinder Box tool with tamper etc. to deal with piping/smoking procedures. I had only met one person my age who smoked a pipe and hadn't seen him in years. The idea of a pipe seemed old fashioned and strange...in other words, right up my alley. Since money was tight and piping was cheaper, I bought some good strong tobacco and reeked of cigarette smoke for a week or two until I found ACTUAL pipe tobacco. A few weeks later, I found this site and lurked, picking up vital info here and there and steadily increasing my enjoyment of the hobby/addiction. Another month later I had moved to the farmhouse where I currently reside and purchased my first estate pipe, a straight medium billiard Kaywoodie Flamegrain with a ruby in the stem. I joined this Forum to find out anything I could about the $12.50 purchase and found I did good. Real good.
Sometimes I've been less than socially adept here. Sometimes less than hospitable. It has been many months since I have smoked a cigarette and I don't miss it one bit. Some of you guys are assholes, but most of you are intelligent, thoughtful, generous, engaging and a whole bunch of other fancy words. You folks continue to expand my knowledge and enrich my pipe smoking experience and I could not be more grateful. You guys and couple gals have helped me transition from smoking and living helter skelter to mindful zen-like appreciation of a fine plant some of my ancestors considered Holy. A gift from the Great Spirit. So now I raise my glass of chocolate milkshake and toast the piping community at large. Here's to sad endings, happy beginnings, and vice versa. The circle of life. Cheers.
It is nice to have you here.
