Now that 2019 is coming to a close, I'm curious what the most discussed threads or most appreciated comments were on the forum over the past year. Maybe this is a question for the admin guys. Any highlights?
The Best Of 2019
- Thread starter JMcQ
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My learning highlight was wiping my pipe bowls out with a paper towel. I’d always done this to meers but never with briars. Works great and they dry out to smoke again much faster.
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I’m actually beginning to ‘get’ the breathe method after working on it steadily for several months. It’s fabulous!
Oh and a new top favorite blend: Doblone d’Oro. /applause
Oh and a new top favorite blend: Doblone d’Oro. /applause
The water flush.
After reading many comments about this I became intrigued. Despite everything I thought I knew and felt, I tried, with some trepidation, the water flush this year and have had great success with this method of cleaning briar pipes.
Amazing when a long held conviction is swept away and replaced with something useful and revolutionary.
Thank you @jpmcwjr
After reading many comments about this I became intrigued. Despite everything I thought I knew and felt, I tried, with some trepidation, the water flush this year and have had great success with this method of cleaning briar pipes.
Amazing when a long held conviction is swept away and replaced with something useful and revolutionary.
Thank you @jpmcwjr
gotta go with paper towel thing. makes cleaning easier.
Look up the thread on The Frank Method.....
Most appreciated comments cannot, I think, be judged just on the number of "Likes". So, dunno what the answer is.
That is very kind; thank you.
But without such stalwarts as Jesse, Michael and quite a few others agreeing that this method had merit and would not melt wood or rubber, I'd have been shoved out by the nay-sayers, the timid, the stuck, the old school guys, and the I've done it this way for 30 years, and.....Fortunately, not so many of those.
The best thing I learned here this year is that "When you pay for Snoop Dogg, you gon' get Snoop Dogg!"
I tried the Frank method, but ultimately adopted my own technique, as documented in this post from 7/18:
I use the Jay method.
I fret over tobacco selection for 2-4 minutes.
I open the container and curse bitterly because it is too wet or too dry.
I spread the 12x12 tarp to catch the majority that I spill all over the place.
I load the smallest pinches in order to almost gravity fill, loosely.
When filled in that fashion, I grab a big pinch and finally put some pressure on, leaving strings and trailers hanging out all over the place, which produce burn marks on my pants, the chair, the tarp and sometimes the carpet.
After sifting through the pile of lighters, I eventually find the one with both flint and gas. I then extinguish my eyebrows, since the regulator was left wide open by SOMEONE...
I grab the tamper and ram on the load like a civil war re-enactor with a rusty cannon. More bits and dottle launch for my genitals.
I drop everything on the desk to see who is calling or texting me during this delicate operation. If it's not Mrs. jaytex or Ed McMahon's ghost, I curse bitterly and crawl around looking for everything again.
I take a break, enjoying a long sip ofBeekeeper's Friend iced tea.
Adjusting the flame, I get my char on. More embers find my open fly and into the tops of my shoes. I mentally note that the burning smell of cotton/wool blend military surplus socks is kind of nice.
My wife needs a hand. I throw it all back on the desk. The damned cat got in my room. There's regurgitated kibble and grass on my tarp now.
I turn the phone ringer off and re-secure the implements for having my peaceful pipe smoke.
I google the blend I have lit and enjoy the soothing soliloquy of whatever illiterate ass-hat has a review of it up on YouTube.
Hope that helps...
I tried the Frank method, but ultimately adopted my own technique, as documented in this post from 7/18:
I use the Jay method.
I fret over tobacco selection for 2-4 minutes.
I open the container and curse bitterly because it is too wet or too dry.
I spread the 12x12 tarp to catch the majority that I spill all over the place.
I load the smallest pinches in order to almost gravity fill, loosely.
When filled in that fashion, I grab a big pinch and finally put some pressure on, leaving strings and trailers hanging out all over the place, which produce burn marks on my pants, the chair, the tarp and sometimes the carpet.
After sifting through the pile of lighters, I eventually find the one with both flint and gas. I then extinguish my eyebrows, since the regulator was left wide open by SOMEONE...
I grab the tamper and ram on the load like a civil war re-enactor with a rusty cannon. More bits and dottle launch for my genitals.
I drop everything on the desk to see who is calling or texting me during this delicate operation. If it's not Mrs. jaytex or Ed McMahon's ghost, I curse bitterly and crawl around looking for everything again.
I take a break, enjoying a long sip of
Adjusting the flame, I get my char on. More embers find my open fly and into the tops of my shoes. I mentally note that the burning smell of cotton/wool blend military surplus socks is kind of nice.
My wife needs a hand. I throw it all back on the desk. The damned cat got in my room. There's regurgitated kibble and grass on my tarp now.
I turn the phone ringer off and re-secure the implements for having my peaceful pipe smoke.
I google the blend I have lit and enjoy the soothing soliloquy of whatever illiterate ass-hat has a review of it up on YouTube.
Hope that helps...
Seeing as how the like option is only as old as the new forum format, three months, it would be hard to determine a yearly score. I just take it all in as it comes. The setup now though reminds me too much of social media and not specialty forum as it was prior to the change.
That had me wondering momentarily what the metaphor "get my char on" might really mean...but I quickly decided it's better left unexplained.
I'm putting a dollar on Captain Black Grape for 2019 honorable mention.... 
Is there a rewards show for pipery?
Best new blend.
Carver of the year.
Best manufacturing quality.
That sort of thing.
Best new blend.
Carver of the year.
Best manufacturing quality.
That sort of thing.
I think the most notable event of 2019 is Kevin's redesign of the forum. Whether you love it or hate it, it definitely had an impact on our lives.
Now there's more new members than I can swing a dead cat at, and because of everyone reverting back to the name they signed up with or changed their avatar, I have no idea who I am talking to. But, hey, it's getting me ready for old age. I already end up calling my kids by the names of my dead pets.
We seemed to lose Georged somewhat. That man is a wealth of pipe making and repair knowledge. I loved the curmudgeondy way he would deter nay-sayers.
Javan left... then came back... and, hopefully he will stick around.
Why all the damned Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia avatars? Did these guys join thinking this was another kind of pipe thing? The smell of patchouli is interfering with my Balkan blends. JK guys... and, put some shoes on.
Sablebrush... taking a break while he makes imaginary worlds for the movies. The guy has the dream job... making dreams come true.
More people are joining in washing out their pipes with water. Muah ha ha!!! jpmcwjr, our evil plan is working.
Chasingembers no longer has a bonsai in his Dunhill. And, I think he is ignoring me. Life is good, ha ha. Love ya Capt'n.
The pipe girls are gone, and it took a few months for someone to notice.
And, where the hell is moderator, Zach? Last I saw he was floating around the Caribbean in a yacht. Someone needs to check up on him. Boats worry me.
I think we lost a few pipe companies. What was it Brebbia? and some French pipe company,,, I can't remember their name.
Congress is more aggressively trying to stop the ordering and mailing of tobacco.
Peterson now makes Dunhill tobaccos, which brought about a big sigh of relief from fans. But, they all have to smoke through the new dipstained tins.
Lane is moving away from America, because they don't like us anymore. It was probably all the 1Q naysayers. "Come on guys, smoke up some sticky goopy fruity tobacco with no nicotine. Do it for your country."
And, believe it or not, I now have more C&D Virginias in my cellar than McClellands... Hell hath frozen over.
I'm looking forward to 2020.
Now there's more new members than I can swing a dead cat at, and because of everyone reverting back to the name they signed up with or changed their avatar, I have no idea who I am talking to. But, hey, it's getting me ready for old age. I already end up calling my kids by the names of my dead pets.
We seemed to lose Georged somewhat. That man is a wealth of pipe making and repair knowledge. I loved the curmudgeondy way he would deter nay-sayers.
Javan left... then came back... and, hopefully he will stick around.
Why all the damned Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia avatars? Did these guys join thinking this was another kind of pipe thing? The smell of patchouli is interfering with my Balkan blends. JK guys... and, put some shoes on.
Sablebrush... taking a break while he makes imaginary worlds for the movies. The guy has the dream job... making dreams come true.
More people are joining in washing out their pipes with water. Muah ha ha!!! jpmcwjr, our evil plan is working.
Chasingembers no longer has a bonsai in his Dunhill. And, I think he is ignoring me. Life is good, ha ha. Love ya Capt'n.
The pipe girls are gone, and it took a few months for someone to notice.
And, where the hell is moderator, Zach? Last I saw he was floating around the Caribbean in a yacht. Someone needs to check up on him. Boats worry me.
I think we lost a few pipe companies. What was it Brebbia? and some French pipe company,,, I can't remember their name.
Congress is more aggressively trying to stop the ordering and mailing of tobacco.
Peterson now makes Dunhill tobaccos, which brought about a big sigh of relief from fans. But, they all have to smoke through the new dipstained tins.
Lane is moving away from America, because they don't like us anymore. It was probably all the 1Q naysayers. "Come on guys, smoke up some sticky goopy fruity tobacco with no nicotine. Do it for your country."
And, believe it or not, I now have more C&D Virginias in my cellar than McClellands... Hell hath frozen over.
I'm looking forward to 2020.
Whatever this Frank Method debacle was, I must have missed it. Did many get banned? Threads closed? People flame out? I always seem to miss out on the really good things in life.
Yes they did! Can't believe you missed that. Like sleeping through WW2!Whatever this Frank Method debacle was, I must have missed it. Did many get banned? Threads closed? People flame out? I always seem to miss out on the really good things in life.
I was out most of the summer. Damn, I hate missing wars. Like someone insisted that we all start using the Frank method? And, people flamed him? You know, after being on here for years, the weirdest possible thing you could imagine happening on a forum, seems to be totally believable.
Its pipes and tobaccos! why get mad? at all?
Methinks there's some serious jesting above. In fact, I bet cosmic, under a nom-de-plume, started the whole Frank debacle. Frankly.
I would totally take credit for it, but having no idea what happened, I am afraid that I might be taking credit for something really, really unsavory... like killing puppies... or, Mixture 79... or Peterson pipes.
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