My Grandmother's Pipe!! (Pics & a story)

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pruss

Lifer
Feb 6, 2013
3,558
370
Mytown
My grandma Barb was a wonderful lady. She loved Duke & Louis, she was first to make the coffee and the martinis, and she held court with my grandpa at the kitchen table for hours after supper cleared.
Barb smoked Winstons, and one night exclaimed after dessert, "Why don't they make pipes for ladies!?!" See, she loved watching my dad, and grand-dad load their pipes and tuck into the evening conversation. Barb loved her pant suits and Estee Lauder perfume; but she knew she could do, and likely would do, anything that any of the men in her life would and could. She was elected to municipal office four times in her mid-Indiana town, and chaired the town's planning commission. My dad loved Barb, his step-mom to tell the truth (just don't tell either of them that), and heard her question as a request. So on a visit, much down the road, he presented this to Barb.

She hadn't forgotten her exclamation, and with glee opened the box. "It's so elegant!"

"And it's French!"

And my dad presented her with a pipe tool, and then took Barb to the tobacconist to find her tobacco. Given the burn on the front of the bowl, it appears that Barb had the same problem lighting a cutty that many do. But this just tells me that she loved, and used, this pipe.
My aunt, not knowing that I had come back to the briar, presented the pipe to my dad as she's cleaning out the last bit of Barb's estate. He, and she, passed it on to me last weekend. This all happened when I was crawling, but it's lovely to have the story and the pipe. I can't wait to clean her up. She's staying in my cabinet.



Cheers,
-- Pat

 

flakyjakey

Lifer
Aug 21, 2013
1,117
7
What a lovely story, and a really feminine pipe. Which provokes me to ask whether there are any Lady members on our site? If no Lady responds in the next few minutes I propose to post a new thread!

 

pruss

Lifer
Feb 6, 2013
3,558
370
Mytown
Thanks gents, it's a treasure for sure.
Flaky, there are a few female members of our community. I'm sure you'll run across 'em now and again.
-- Pat

 

pruss

Lifer
Feb 6, 2013
3,558
370
Mytown
Thanks gang. She was a treasure; she did cart wheels in the living room on her 80th birthday just 'cause.
Wish I'd seen her smoking a bowl, but I can totally picture it.
-- Pat

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
Great pipe, and a great story about your Barb. My mom and sister were/are both Barbaras. Terrific your

dad picked up the cue and bought her the pipe, and that she enjoyed it. There are still plenty of graceful

pipes that would look stylish being smoked by a woman. They just need to keep the airway wide enough

and not squeeze it down too much going for a delicate pipe, or the pipe cleaner lint clogs the airway.

I ran into this with a Dublin pipe not intended for women in particular, I don't think. From the box, it's

clear this pipe was marketed to women. I'm surprised pipe smoking hasn't been picked up more by women,

on campuses or as a "girls night out" thing among career women.

 

fnord

Lifer
Dec 28, 2011
2,746
8
Topeka, KS
Pat:
When you talk about your family like this the back story is just as important.
How did your Hoosier step-grandmother, (I had one of those from Texarkana, Arkansas and I adored her) end up in the frozen tundra?
Pard, as much as I value your restoration skills, I hope you never take a piece of sandpiper to that burn mark. To me, it's Grandma Barb's fingerprint and that is to be treasured.
Fnord

 

hodirty

Lifer
Jan 10, 2013
1,295
2
Great story and a family heirloom to go with it. I agree with smokey, I'd smoke it lady pipe or not. Looks sharp. Thanks for sharing!

 

pruss

Lifer
Feb 6, 2013
3,558
370
Mytown
How did your Hoosier step-grandmother, (I had one of those from Texarkana, Arkansas and I adored her) end up in the frozen tundra?
Jim, she didn't. My entire extended family remained/remains in the US. I'm from good Pennsylvania Dutch and Hoosier Bottom-land stock. I was raised until I was 12 in rural southern Michigan, at which point my folks, brother and I relocated to north Toronto following my old man's job trail.
Pard, as much as I value your restoration skills, I hope you never take a piece of sandpiper to that burn mark. To me, it's Grandma Barb's fingerprint and that is to be treasured.
I hear this, and value the thought. But Barb was a fixer. More often than not, she was the one who, of a Saturday, would be re-wiring the porch light or be shimming a door. She was also meticulous about appearances, and would have wanted this 'fixed' and looking pretty. So the pipe has a date with the bench top.
I agree with smokey, I'd smoke it lady pipe or not.
Amen. Scary as it sounds, I often agree with smokey. :D I will smoke it, and will report back. To me this pipe was marketed to women, but that doesn't mean that I shouldn't smoke it. Just like the fact that most pipe marketing is geared towards men doesn't mean that women shouldn't buy or enjoy pipes and tobacco. It is a wonderful group 2 sized cutty mini-warden. I have a Blatter & Blatter pipe which is its perfect partner. They will both have pride of place in my collection and occasional rotation.
Here's the other mini-warden:


Have a good Saturday friends.
-- Pat

 
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