-
Kevin Godbee - Jan 8, 2014
- 5 min read
G. L. Pease
In the (somewhat more than) three decades I’ve been accumulating pipes — I choose the word purposefully to distinguish the briar aggregation that currently shares my residence from the purposeful, themed groupings curated by more deliberate and true collectors — I’ve found myself attracted at various times to many different shapes, at one time chasing Princes, another bent Bulldogs, or Apples or Blowfish. You get the picture; my tastes are capricious. There have even been moments of attraction to wild freeform pipes that do not adhere to any prescribed taxonomy, though I rarely admit it in public. The result of all these years of accumulation with abandon is that my “collection” is a motley crew of shapes from traditional to modern, the only threads running through it from one end to the other being the word pipe, and that, at least at one time, I was attracted enough to each one to acquire it. If I wanted to elevate it, I suppose I could call it a collection of collections, but even that seems overly lofty.
Throughout, my appreciation for the pure and refined elegance of the simple Billiard has waxed and, mostly, waned. In my early days, all those years ago, emboldened mainly by the neophyte’s enthusiastic but too often blind hubris, I remember telling a friend who collected nothing but the Billiard was “boring;” I liked more interesting shapes. He laughed, and tried to guide me to realize that, in fact, the well-cut billiard could well be the pipe’s most perfect shape, the very quintessence of the pipe. I wasn’t having any. In reflection, now that I may have learned a thing or two, I know that my uninformed statement couldn’t have been more wrong. The Billiard is anything but boring. Neither is it as simple as it may first appear.
It seems I had naïvely dismissed the Billiard as being little more than a couple of cylinders at right angles to each other with a stem stuck in the end of the smaller one. No wonder I thought the shape was boring. It wasn’t until, my old friend’s words echoing in my mind, I really looked at the things, the rich diversity of one of the oldest shapes in the history of the briar pipe, that I began to appreciate it not only for what it was, but for what it wasn’t.
That “cylindrical” bowl is actually far from it. Looking through old catalogues at hundreds of different examples, it becomes clear that those soft curves, anywhere from delicate to voluptuous, are far more defining of the shape than a straight sided cylinder would be. Go too far along the curvy road, and the bowl morphs into that of an Apple or a Brandy, but leave the sides straight, and it’s just …wrong.
And, that right angle thing? Forget it. When the major axis of a straight pipe’s bowl and that of its shank are geometrically perpendicular, the bowl looks like a drunk ready to fall over backwards. A very slight forward tilt, even if it’s only a degree or two, is essential to the shape’s poise. A little more, and the pipe gains thrust, a little velocity; too jaunty, though, it moves towards the Belge. And the shank? It is often cylindrical, but it’s sometimes slightly tapered, or square, or diamond shaped, and the long, elegant, oval-shanked Canadian is just a billiard in a tuxedo.
Because of fairly loose specifications, the Billiard is one of the most versatile shapes, subject to a great deal of freedom in interpretation, and that’s part of its charm. In contrast to a highly constrained shape — the Prince, for example, which if treated with anything more than light-handed variation, transforms into something very much not a Prince — the billiard is very forgiving. Large, or small, long or short, chubby or slender, saddle stem or tapered; all can qualify for the term “classic.” As one of the oldest shapes on the books, it would be tempting to assume that every possible variation has been made, yet new stylistic forms are still being created that may push against the shape’s envelope, but still remain true to its defining outline. So much for being boring.
Why am I going on at such length about Billiards? Because of a newly rekindled appreciation for their simplicity, for their variety, for the purity of their nature as the archetype of the briar pipe, and, mostly, for their beauty. Though my tastes are fairly firmly rooted in the classic shapes, I do appreciate the creativity and playfulness of some of the more sculptural designs. But, occasionally, something emerges from the pipe maker’s folly that looks more like the result of a late-night tryst between a Cylon raider and My Little Pony than a pipe. When it becomes too much work to coerce my thinking in strange ways to embrace or even comprehend a shape that doesn’t speak the word “pipe” to me, or just to try to figure out how I’d hold the thing, my brain begins to throb.
The perfect Billiard is something of an opposing force, a backlash, a remedy to the throbbing. It’s comforting and comfortable. It’s PIPE writ large, reduced to its basic elements, with everything unnecessary cut away, but with impeccable aesthetics. There’s no jutting chin, no bulbous protuberances, no harsh angles, no decorative wings. Its beauty lies in the purity of its voice, the nuances of its line, the subtlety of its curves, its balance. There’s a reason that in many of the old catalogues and shape charts, the billiard and its variants account for roughly half of all the straight shapes. Even when their numbers are added together, the delightful Dublins and Apples remain a distant second. For over a century and a half, the Billiard has reigned as the king of straight pipes.
I’m certainly not abandoning all the other shapes I’ve come to love and accumulate over the years — the Bulldogs, the Princes, the Dublins — or any that might find their way into my racks in the future. But, at a time when so many wild styles are lauded by collectors, it felt like someone had to speak up for the grand old man, give him a little extra time in the sun, and offer a voice to all the closet Billiard fans out there. Long live the Billiard.
Your turn.
-glp
 Since 1999, Gregory L. Pease has been the principal alchemist behind the blends of G.L. Pease Artisanal Tobaccos. He’s been a passionate pipeman since his university days, having cut his pipe teeth at the now extinct Drucquer & Sons Tobacconist in Berkeley, California. Greg is also author of The Briar & Leaf Chronicles, a photographer, recovering computer scientist, sometimes chef, and creator of The Epicure’s Asylum. See our interview with G. L. Pease here. |
Written by Kevin Godbee
16 Responses
Recent Posts
October is that deep-breath month we take when the sizzle of summer begins to fizzle and fades into the joys of autumn. The month always puts me in the mood for a walk in the mountains. With pipe, of course. Fall colors depend upon weather, shorter days, and cooler nights. These events limit sunlight, starving deciduous trees of chlorophyll, its sugary food. So, following the natural chemistry of deciduous trees leads us down a trail of transformative annual colors. Greens change clothes from green to reds, yellows, purples, and a painter’s palette of art-worthy other hues, showcasing special autumnal moments in the natural world. And no, the Pundit is not a arborist. He just thinks he is. Each fall deciduous trees in the mountains do their best to festoon hills and ridges with so much beauty. When the mists rise over the ridges, and lift away, beneath lie the changing hills and valleys. During this short, in-between season of nature in its rainbow of natural blush, it seems as if the slopes rust from tiptop to their root tips, in nature’s full kaleidoscopic fashion. Back in the Pundit’s flyfishing days on burbling mountain streams in fall, it was de rigueur to make sure pipe and tobacco pouch were firmly housed safely in flyfishing vest. On one of these precious long ago days, Pundit waded an Arkansas mountain stream, a beautiful four-mile stretch of water known as the Norfork. The river was a tailwater of the famed White River, a trout fisherman’s paradise. Here rainbow, brown, brook, and cutthroat trout frolic for a variety of watery bugs, such as hatching mayflies. I had just purchased a special German-made trout knife that hung around the Pundit’s neck for quick access. The shiny blade was housed in its nice leather pouch, sans button-down leather flap to hold it secure. Pitching a fly line into this water one fall day with knife—and a pipe clenched tightly—Pundit found a willing customer nibbling one of my special hand-made ties. Excited, I fought the big trout and watched it leap in attempting to dislodge the fly hooked in the trout’s hard upper lip. There was wild acrobatics swooshing up and out of the stream with more leaps and frantic tail flapping. And—as the Stoics warned, do not become attached to things, for they are not forever—I hastily leaned over to haul in the big boy with my net when suddenly, away into the wine-dark water flew my lovely knife vanishing ‘neath the billows like Odysseus’ Ino (Goddess of the Sea) veil. With sincere apologies to the ancient Greek poet Homer. Like our mortal hero lost at sea, I yelled expletives. So aghast I was, I believe I heard dark Poseidon himself reply, “Go! Go, rove your high seas if you must, and take your blows!,” for right then I lost my most precious pipe as “a wave suddenly took it and Nymphe Ino’s hands received it” away into the fast-running water. Dear reader, pause a moment if you will, and imagine my shock at the burbling, green-blue stream so immediately thieving away my treasures, along with the now dislodged trout as if for good measure. Just a moment earlier I was a placid hunter in the god-loved lands of the Phaeacians. Now I was a forlorn man. A complete loss! Total discombobulation. In addition to losing the big one that got away, Pundit lost a fine German-made trout knife and a very pricey pipe. Lesson one: Never purchase a German-made blade and hang it around your neck in an open leather pouch while flyfishing fast-moving trout waters. Lesson two: When flyfishing fast-moving trout tailwaters below power-producing rivers, smoke only inexpensive cobs—they’re the best smokers for the money. And if they drop into the “sucking ebb sheeting with foam” of our finest fast-moving trout waters, at least you haven’t lost expensive blade and pipe, which continue to float in the mists of dreams to this day! These days, Pundit is content to stroll about in the color sensation of the moment in mountains, pipe firmly in hand. Flyrod left at home. My enjoyment today sitting next to mountain cascades is watching others wade the streams, whilst I confidently puff and marvel at the splashy canopy of colors. Which reminds old Pundit of one of his favorite poems by one of his favorite poets, Robert Frost. A couple of lines if you please, maestro, will do here: From the poet’s autumnal poem, Nothing Gold Can Stay: “Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold.” If you are a poetry, buff, ahem, you can read the short poem at https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/148652/nothing-gold-can-stay-5c095cc5ab679 Now for a few more short takes. This time of year, I enjoy pure Virginias. Okay, call me flaky, that’s perfectly fine. I love Virginia flakes as well when ridge-chilled winds rush into the valleys. I am among those who bemoan the demise of the cherished McClelland blends, most especially the famed nonpareil 5100 Red Cake Virginia. And, of course, the much-lamented loss of McClelland’s annual Christmas Cheer of outstanding broken flake Virginias. I first found this fabulous blend in 1992. One more to whet the tobacco appetite is Iwan Ries IRC slices, another favorite this time of year. This is a fine Old Belt flue-cured Virginia flake with a dollop of perique. You can find its review at https://www.tobaccoreviews.com/blend/2725/iwan-ries-irc-slices Now, a couple of old pipe smokers of the past: Günter Grass, Nobel Prize winner in Literature and a prolific German author of novels, poems, plays, and graphic art. He was born, Oct. 16, 1927, and died April 13, 2015. And Evelyn Waugh, British journalist, novelist, and travel writer, was born Oct. 28, 1903, and died April 10, 1966. A parting quote from Waugh sums up the autumnal comings and goings: “Change is the only evidence of life”–Brideshead Revisited Photos by Fred Brown
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 524! Our featured interview tonight is with Russ Hicks. Russ is a sketch artist and long-time pipe collector / smoker. Russ is a returning guest helping us kick off a new series of discussions regarding which current production pipe tobaccos he is aging. In Pipe Parts, Brian will discuss seasonal weather changes, and how they affect him, and his pipe smoking. Sit back, relax with your pipe, and enjoy The Pipes Magazine Radio Show!
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show. Not only is it the 523rd episode, it is also the 10th anniversary of the show! We never thought we’d go this long. Our featured interview tonight is with Professor Kelly Jolley. Kelly is a Professor at Auburn University in the areas of religion and philosophy. These are certainly contemplative areas, so it is quite fitting that he smokes a pipe as well. He has four books that you can check out on Amazon. In Pipe Parts, Brian will have Part I of a review of a quite large pipe collection. Sit back, relax with your pipe, and enjoy The Pipes Magazine Radio Show!
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 522! Our featured interview tonight is with pipe maker Jason Patrick. Jason is from the Chicago area, and he started making pipes in 2019. Some of his earliest memories are of his grandfather smoking a pipe. He started pipe smoking in his early 20’s, and soon decided that he wanted to make them. He started with standard shapes, and then branched out into Danish-style freehand designs. He likes to listen to our show while kayaking. In Pipe Parts, we will have an Ask the Tobacco Blender segment with Jeremy Reeves. Jeremy is the Head Blender at Cornell & Diehl, which is one of the most popular boutique pipe tobacco companies in the USA. Sit back, relax with your pipe, and enjoy The Pipes Magazine Radio Show!
It’s no secret that I love old pipes. Like a well broken-in pair of jeans, there’s something they bring with them that makes them sort of special. They carry an unspoken history with them; the places they’ve been, the tobaccos they’ve seen. Sometimes, this history is evidenced by the knocks and dings they show, or the aromas and tastes of tobaccos long since forgotten. Depending on how poorly it’s been treated, this can make an old pipe rather less than desirable, but a well cared for briar from eras past can be, or can become, a cherished favorite. Some collectors I’ve spoken with have insisted that old pipes are better than new ones. How often have we heard, “They just don’t make ‘em like they used to?” There may be some validity to this, but I’m not convinced this sort of universal statement is true, or even necessarily a positive one. Let’s look a little closer, first at pipes of olde, and see if we can make some informed speculations. At the zenith of the pipe’s history, at least with respect to popularity, pipes were made and sold by the millions. Manufacturers across all quality levels procured briar by the ton, not by the piece, and the best makers performed whatever magic they felt appropriate to ensure a good smoking result, always with an eye towards differentiating their pipes from those of their competitors. Some air dried their briar for long periods, others force-dried their briar more quickly in klins. The final processes of sorting, grading and finishing was sometimes a closely guarded secret amongst makers, with only the finest pieces finding their way down the line to being sold as top grade pipes. Additionally, various techniques were often employed after the pipe was machined, such as Dunhill’s famous “oil curing,” used as part of the finishing process for their legendary “Shell” sandblasts. Sasieni was said to “oven-cure” turned bowls, subjecting them to tortuous heat over a prolonged period; those that survived the ordeal were reputed to be very dry smokers. Of the more budget friendly brands, the Dr. Grabow “pre-smoked” pipe, employed what is likely the most dramatic “curing” method. Using a technique developed by Louis B. Linkman in 1933, finished pipes were filled with tobacco, smoked gently to the bottom by his Automated Smoking Machine, the process repeated several times. This was, if nothing else, a stroke of marketing genius. Inexpensive as they were, the briar used to make Dr. Grabows was arguably not especially consistent or well cured, which would result in at least some pipes tasting bad out of the gate. The smoking machine could mitigate the potential harshness of those early bowls without suffering the torment a human smoker would, allowing lesser quality briar to be made into acceptably good smoking pipes. One thing is certain. Of the millions of pipes made each of those golden years, some were certainly exquisite, many were likely dreadful, and the majority fell somewhere in between these extremes. Pipes then, especially those in lower price categories, were seen as tools, simple items to buy, use, and occasionally discard. It’s probable that the worst of them simply never survived to share their horror with us today. Even if a pipe was good and smoked heavily, it would eventually reach the end of its useful life, either through just being “smoked out,” or suffering a broken tenon or bitten through stem or other misfortune, and find itself cast aside. Only “special” pipes, the favorites, the best of the best, would be lavished with sufficient care to allow them to survive the decades in relatively good nick. So, when we find old pipes, at least those from the makers with good reputations, they are more likely to be accidentally curated specimens rather than overall representative examples. If we add to the equation the fact that old pipes, again, if well cared for, have already been thoroughly broken in, we are likely to find some true gems amongst the antiquities. So, are old pipes really “better?” What about today’s low volume pipe makers who operate in a rather different environment? Because today’s demand for briar is significantly lower, suppliers can be more careful in choosing and cutting burls. They’ll cut blocks to maximize their quality, or at least their grain consistency, rather than to achieve the burl’s greatest yield. Too, they can spend more time ensuring that the wood they sell is carefully boiled and dried sufficiently to deliver consistently good smoking. The pipe maker can then do whatever is in their bag of tricks to further increase the probability that the pipe they make is an exceptional one, lavishing great care on all the subtle details of its creation. Additionally, with today’s ease of information exchange, and perhaps somewhat less of a tendency towards competition, a lot of experimentation has been performed and shared, along with some pretty detailed analysis of what has worked in the past, and what may not have. The result is that more is probably known today than ever before about what makes a great pipe, and what doesn’t, which certainly benefits us as pipe smokers. In terms of artistry, witnessing the exploration some makers have taken in creating new shapes and forms can be a remarkable adventure in its own right. And, there are more choices to be found for interesting stem materials, including improved vulcanite that is less resistant to oxidation than much of what was available in the past, and custom-cast acrylic that presents the smoker with more choices of color and style than ever before. Though probably not universally true, even amongst “high volume” manufacturers, today’s lower demand can result in greater care in briar selection, with advances in technology arguably creating increased consistency in construction. There are many factory pipes at affordable prices that rival the best the past had to offer. I’ve got a lot of beautiful old pieces in my collection that are brilliant smokers, including the one I’m puffing […]
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 521! On tonight’s show we have a new episode of an ongoing segment of what Brian likes to call “Inside Fred’s Head” with Fred Hanna. Fred is a well-known pipe collector, author, and speaker at pipe shows. He has a PhD. in psychology and teaches the same at the Chicago Campus at Adler University. He is also author of the book, “The Perfect Smoke”. This is the 11th in the series with a long form discussion of pipe and tobacco questions sent in by our listeners. In the opening “Pipe Parts” segment, Brian will get caught up on some of the longer answers from questions mailed in. Many of these are great tips for newbies, and a good refresher for the rest of us. Sit back, relax with your pipe, and enjoy The Pipes Magazine Radio Show!
Greg,
Great article – amusing and thought provoking.
I must, however, dissent from your main thesis as I sit here smoking one of Luigi Radice’s reverse calabashes that might be described as a 1/8 bent tomato and has a bowl with wonderful thick walls that produces a wonderfully cool smoke even by the standard of the tobacco in it (your sublime Robusto as so often happens). Which brings me to the core of my antithesis; the shape of the pipe should match its function in meeting the needs of the individual smoker and my requirement is for thick cooling walls of wonderful briar and while the billiard can be thicker or thinner, to meet my preference it would need to be unfathomably huge or impossibly asymmetric. So in the last few of my 35 years of equally haphazard acquisition I have favoured cobras, squashed bulldogs (Peter Heeschen’s one might be a saucer inspired by yourself) and, indeed one of of Soren Refborg’s wildish freehands. Yes, I still love my old billiards but I find I smoke them less and less. Others will, of course have their own preferences many met by billiards but many by all sorts of shapes particularly bent or hooked pipes.
Why is the billiard the archetypical pipe shape? I would contend simply because it is easy to draw and easy to recognise so, apart from Sherlock Holmes calabash (and I will not go into this not being the shape he smoked in the books but probably started in a later play or film) it is the shape used by particularly cartoonists. This is particularly so as they tend to use the pipe as a symbol of a certain “pipes and slippers” conservatism or old fashionedness and while the billiard can be very crisp in design it is comparatively staid.
The billiard is the great classic shape certainly but for me thicker walls please!
Best wishes for the coming year to you all and I hope you and all your North American readers avoid the appalling weather we read is threatening you.
Ed
Good read – thanks!
I’m new to pipes and pipe smoking (just over a year now), and I was initially drawn to shapes other than the straight billiard. It’s a classic silhouette, but I associated it with the old-fashioned, even stodgy, image of pipes and pipe smokers, and looked more toward the flowing lines of bent pipes, calabashes, and churchwardens.
I’ve since come to appreciate the lines of a well-done straight billiard, and added one to my own extremely modest “collection” – and I find myself looking at them more and more as I decide what to add next. Thanks for pointing out some of the subtleties of the shape.
As I’ve gotten older, my racks have become dominated by the billiard and its variants. Sometimes I prefer a lovat, or Canadian, or a pot, or whatever, but they’re all pretty firmly in the billiard family tree.
Great read! I am A fan of the billiard shape! Nothing says pipe smoking to me like a classic, unadorned straight billiard.
Your article reminds me of my collecting habits, eclectic as they have been. But just when I think I have it all figured out, along comes a billiard that may just be the perfect pipe. Think about it, when you reach for a pipe, how often is it going to be a billiard? You might be surprised.
Good article, as always. I am a fan of the billiard family also. Most of my favorite pipes fall into this category.
Form follows function! Billiards (and their derivatives) for me function well and so the form is stripped down classic shaping.
I enjoy seeing artistic designs but, in the end, simple functionality contains its own beauty.
I am another billiard fan. When you add the variants of Canadian and lovat, that covers a majority of my small aggregation of pipes. It’s classic, and therein lies its appeal for me.
Not a straight billiard fan at all. The design just looks too pedestrian to me. My pipe carving friends assure me that carving a true billiard is extremely demanding.
The billiard will the shape for the upcoming 2014 GKCPC Pipe Carving Contest and I am told that the judging is going require that the pipe be a billiard not just some resemblance to one.
Ok, I can agree that for pure functionality a straight pipe is the only way to go. A pipe cleaner goes straight through and the chance of moisture is minimal. And if course, lets not forget ‘Father knows best’
But what about the bent? The bent pipe is my complete favorite, hands down. Yes, I own several straights, Dunhill, Scott Thile, two no-names, and I try to reach for them in my rotation. But it is an effort on my part; more like I should smoke them than I really want to.
The bent is just so comfortable to my jaw and my teeth. It is so easy to light and tamp and relight. True, if you have a poorly made one, it can get moist and if you are unlucky enough to have one where a cleaner doesn’t go through, well, there is some misfortune.
but get a well made one and you can be in tobacco heaven.
To you billiard guys, bless you all. For me, the gorgeous shape and form of a bent sends me to nirvana.
I love billiards. I only smoke straight pipes and quite often find this shape’s purity and minimalism quite commanding.
Makes me want to go out to my shop and make one right now!
My first love, in pipes, was and still is a billiard.A shape you should master, since so many are born from her.She is difficult, simple, yet demanding to create.Once perfected, you never forget all you were put through to create her.Life gets better from knowing this pipe.You can carve thousands of pipes, yet see a glimpse of her every now and then. I’m glad we met.
Pipedreamer, of guild pipes.
Glad to see the billiard getting some love. Great comments! Pipedreamer really captured it. I’ve tried, myself, and failed miserably in making a really nice billiard. In Tom Eltang’s shop, I made an almost pot-like billiard, and when I was done shaping, Tom looked at it critically (his eye is amazing, and he taught me a great deal about “seeing” the briar and the shapes within it), and said simply, “Pretty nice, but you should remove about 1/2 mm of wood here – and took it to the disk. Sure enough, that tiny change made a huge difference. It really made me appreciate the complexity of “simple” shapes.
I still don’t own even one true, straight-all-around billiard, but I’ve got several that are close- a lovat, a bent apple, Dublin etc. I am more of a curved pipe guy for many different reasons. You don’t have to clean a curved pipe as often, you can see the bowl better while you are smoking, and while I continue to find reasons to not smoke while driving- imagine that pipe in the even of an accident ramming into the back of your throat. Ditto for taking a fall while walking. I’m not a safety nut, but it’s worth considering.
Billiards often have smaller bowls, so if you like Virginias and vapers, you might want one. I’ve gotten attracted to them for that reason, and also as a reaction against my own natural tendency towards curvy, droopier ones.
I do take exception to the idea however that the billiard is the quintessential pipe style. It is if you are a 20th century kind of guy. Vintage modern marketing definitely bears that out- I think the Brits, Dick Van Dyke, and Bob Dobbs of the Church Of The SubGenius back that image. But if you have a love for the 19th century, and you go through the images of day from newspapers (woodcuts etc) you will see that the curvy pipe stem predominates.
My first pipe, purchased in 1963, was a billiard. I guess it was the archetypal “pipe” to my youthful eye. Since then my “collection”, has also become a “Motley Crew”, but billiards probably still outnumber any other shape.