New Clays and Some Baccy(Long Post But Pictures)

My orders just got here!!!

So without further ado...Pics!





For the tobacco:

4oz bulk black house

4 oz LL 1-Q

1 50g tin Peterson Irish Oak

All from P&C
The Pipes:

Two Pamplin Clay tobacco pipes fromPenn Valley Pipes & Tobacco Company with reed stems

Three extra reed stems
I'm smoking the first smoke out of the diamond patterned pamplin right now and will let yall know how it smokes in a minute.

(RANT)

I'll also be writing an email to the pipe shoppe. If you like a lot of communication and knowing right where your pipes are all the time, yeah no. The only communication I got prior to pipe arrival was the paypall form receipt 3 minutes after the order went in. As a testament to their speed in getting it to you, I had planned on calling today,the fourth weekday after placing it, to make sure they got the order. Would have been nice to get a shipment confirm, but hey, pipes got here quick

(/rant)

as far as the pipe itself

(pipe review)

So the pipe came with some papers I guess I'll start there. Ones a full page of boring cleaning and care stuff along with a warning to be gentle when fiddling with the stem as the clay may be more brittle at the shank.

The other is a business card on on side and on the other has

The Pamplin Clay Tobacco Pipe

Pipes of this style date back to the Appomatucks Indians in the area of Pamplin City in Appomattox County, VA. The Pamplin Smoking Pipe and Manufacturing Company operated from 1878 until 1951 and used a local red clay. The pipes we sell may be from the Akron Smoking pipe Co. which owned a plant in Pamplin from 1890 to 1920 and made Pamplin-type pipes.

Click to expand...

As for the pipe itself they are thicker walled than other clays I've seen, also the airways a bit larger. With the long reed stem being round and not at all tapered on the bit side they are a bit uncomfortable to clench. Though that's not as much an issue because the bowl itself is easier to hold since it doesn't heat up as bad as other clays. The length and Internal diameter of the stem provided for a nice cool smoke with an easy draw. The smaller of the two bowls provides for about 30-45 minutes of smoking. Haven't smoked the larger one yet but I'd gonna guess an hour or so. The draft holes in both are nice and low and centered and the one I have smoked had very little dottle when I was done.

(/pipe review)

All right well that's a bit of a long post. ::

Further review: Pamplin Pipe Day Two

so I spent the first day trying to smoke the pipe enough to get a gurgle.

I smoked for about 10 hours straight, with 5 to 15 minute cool downs between the bowls. Mostly LL1Q but a bowl of black house and a bowl of Frog Morton Across the Pond tossed in there.

I can't get a gurgle I smoked fast, I smoked slow, no gurgle.
While smoking I decided I wanted a hand's free version for driving. The reed stems are about a 8 inches long and straight,as stated above uncomfortable for clenching. I'm still looking into options for bending the reeds in order to make a hanger. I do have a more comfortable option for now. I Took a my dremel and cut one of the stems and sanded down the end to fit into the pipe then took the smaller rotary sanding drum and ground out the approximation of a bit lip the entire way around the stem. It is functional and more comfortable for clenching now. This stem is approx 2 1/2" long with a comfortable indent for my teeth. The short length bring the center of gravity back far enough that it doesn't pull down as much when held from the stem end.

Due to the insane amount of smoking I put the pipe through in an attempt to find it's limits it is beginning to color nicely already.(pics when I get time and am not at work)

I don't mind a little heat but my tiny clays are blister raising hot, which on a former professional chef is well above the realm of hot. These are thick enough, or large enough, or both, that there is enough mass to disperse the heat a little more and prevent burning temperatures, it'll still warm the hand up though

okay so home and have a few minutes

here's the pipe with three stem's the bottom two were cut down


here's a close up of the coloring taking place way faster than anticipated


and here's the modified Clenching end on the shortest of the stems


Was seriously not expecting the coloring to be that far along on day two with the pipe maybe I need to slow down and smoke less or not