In Praise of the Czech Tool

kane · Apr 20, 2015

Is there really anything better?

I appreciate the aesthetics of a handmade wood or bamboo tamper (perhaps with a shell casing tip for added mojo), I dig all things Dunhill, but does anything really beat this $2 standby? The cob, the Zippo, the box of penny matches, the Czech tool......

cosmicfolklore · Apr 20, 2015

When I had a Czech tool, I only ever used the tamper part with my pipes. I did use the poker thing to loosen cigars that were rolled too tight, but I couldn't figure out what good it could do in pipe smoking. And, the spoon seems better for snuff or eating soup from a very small bowl than emptying my ashes, which knock out just fine on the heel of my boots. Isn't it funny how we can all see the same thing differently. Now, a good roofing nail... good times.

kane · Apr 20, 2015

Yeah, boot heels and roofing nails. Old school.

cortezattic · Apr 20, 2015

I hold the same opinions of the pick and spoon as Cosmic does, and I have a quirky dislike for the tamper's lack of circular symmetry.

A few months ago the Old Cajun advised me to try a smoker's knife pocket pipe tool, and I've never looked back. : puffy

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jackswilling · Apr 20, 2015

I have a couple Czech tools, who doesn't? A classic to be sure. The Mitchell Thomas Smoker's Knife Pocket Pipe Tool linked by Cortez is a great option and I have two. Good value for the $$$.

But, it is nowhere the quality of my Rogers Sheffield England RED STAINLESS Pipe Reamer Scraper Poker Tamper Tool Made in England which the Mitchell Thomas tool copies. I also like the simplicity of Nails.

jmill208 · Apr 20, 2015

I recall a similar thread that included some poetry (by me). : puffy

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czech tool

huntertrw · Apr 20, 2015

To my way of thinking the Czech tool is ideal. The tamper is long enough without being obtrusive. The pick is perfect for poking a draft hole in tobacco which has compacted too much during the course of a bowl. The spoon is splendid for loosening dottle at the end of a smoke, and a much safer alternative to imitating a cobbler by hammering the pipe's bowl on the heel of your shoe (I can hear the tenons and mortices breaking now)!

drezz01 · Apr 20, 2015

That's a very fine sestet couplet you've got there. Yes, I googled it.
Czech pipe tools are certainly handy things and you learn to appreciate them when you are without. I recently bought an 8 Deco tamper from smokingpipes and love the feel and effect of the thing. It makes great little mounds which I have heard are desirable :|
When I head out on the deck with it, however, and run in to my constant nemesis: the dottle, I am forced to look around for some sort of makeshift tool to clear my chamber. Somewhere inside a jacket pocket in the closet, a czech tool is laughing at me.

antbauers · Apr 20, 2015

I'm with cosmic and Cortez. I think the way cosmic explained the way he uses the pipe tool is actually what those were designed for anyway. I'm not sure of the history of the Czech tool but it was it very common for someone who does snuff, smoke a pipe and cigars (maybe all at once!) so they needed a tool. It only makes sense...Then again i could be wrong.
One thing I don't like about the tamper is sometimes I'll scoop out ash or tobacco by accident, but maybe that's just me.

mso489 · Apr 20, 2015

The pipe nail and horseshoe nail are my obsession. The tamper and scoop are about all I need. I think the Czech tool pick is of occasional use in stirring and loosening tobacco after you dump white ash, but not so much that I miss having it. I'm always afraid the pick of a Czech tool will get me in the eye as I am using the tamper or spoon, but maybe that's a comment on my dexterity. I am always tempted by those little stainless steel folding pipe tools, like little pocket knives, but then I fall into my vast admiration of the pipe nail. So simple, so efficient, so basic and essential.

cosmicfolklore · Apr 20, 2015

Ironically, I praised the nail and just finished making a handful of sterling silver tamps with stones set in them, ha ha.
Do many guys stir their tobacco? When I have tried this I just get ash in my mouth faster than if I just leave it alone.

menuhin · Apr 20, 2015

The Czech has almost all the basic functions needed to keep smoking a pipe - except for a cake trimming blade. Instead of for stirring during end-bowl, I use the pick to poking draft holes in too tightly packed or tightly tamped tobacco, and I use the scoop every day for digging out the dottle after finishing a smoke - there aren't too many round-edged tools with the right size for this purpose.

Definitely has been there for quite a while.

sparrowhawk · Apr 20, 2015

Thank you, Cortez, for the link to the pocket pipe tool. This is exactly what I've been looking for, and I've bookmarked it for my next purchase.

maxx · Apr 20, 2015

As a new pipe smoker, I had to get a Czech Tool when I saw the cost and learned of its popularity. I like the tamper the least of the three implements in it. I use the poker to detach that super light ash from the tobacco so I can dump it. Sometimes I use it to poke a couple of air holes in the packed, burning tobacco. Or if I messed up initially when loading the bowl and I'm sucking too much air, I poke down and try to move some tobacco around at the bottom to fix the problem. I use the scoop to clear out the dottle and ash after smoking. The tamper is handy and light, but it pulls up tobacco when removed from the bowl unless monitored. You can't just stick it in the bowl, tap a couple times and bring it out, all in a quick go. It's too often reluctant to leave the tobacco behind and trys more than I like to take some along on its way out. I've been exploring other objects as tampers, and hadn't imagined, must less considered, a horseshoe nail.

gloucesterman · Apr 20, 2015

I never leave home without it!

settersbrace · Apr 20, 2015

I appreciate the Czech tool and have one. The aluminum pipe nail gets the workout most often though. My secret obsession is to someday make a tamp from a 45/70 case and some ancient bone or antler. I'm coming around to the idea of a cupped tamp but I've never tried one so the jury is still out. In a pinch I've used a golf tee but there's not much surface area there.

michiganlover · Apr 20, 2015

I'm a much bigger fan of a pipe nail, or long golf tee than the Czech Tool. Both are simplicity at their best and work perfectly. Pipe Nails are $1 each so if you lose it you won't cry much.

spartanfan · Apr 23, 2015

I found an antique silver pipe tool in the style of the Czech Tool on ebay. It is a little heftier and the button the on the tamper is centered and larger than the standard tool. I have found that this has become my favorite pipe tool. It does everything I need it to do and is also a beautiful hand made item. They pop of on ebay from time to time if you keep your eye out.

newbroom · Apr 23, 2015

I use a couple of nail sets. These are tools used to seat a nail below the surface of wood w/o damaging its surrounds. They weigh a bit..making tamping quite effective and the pointy end is a great digger and hole puncher is you screw up and pack something too tightly. That doesn't happen much to me anymore, but, the pointy end is still great for clearing the chamber.

In Praise of the Czech Tool

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