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  1. Briar Lee

    Ruminations on Error of Smoking Quality Theory

    It is both soft as butter, and incredibly dense. I just put a scratch in my newest pipe using my thumbnail. Kaywoodie launched an ad campaign when they made $15, $20, and $25 pipe to match Lee. There never again is going to be any factory pipe more beautifully grained than a $10 four hole...
  2. Briar Lee

    Ruminations on Error of Smoking Quality Theory

    A new to me Marxman arrived today and wow, was it caked up. It had some kind of varnish on it, and was dirty and grimy. The cake just crumbled at the least touch of a sharp pocketknife and left behind a perfectly brown, fresh looking bore. A paper towel and Everclear cleaned the varnish...
  3. Briar Lee

    Zippo Fluid

    Naphtha is a fractional distillate of refining petroleum. The current market price is somewhere about $635 a ton, and a ton of naphtha varies in weight, but the lighter naphtha weighs 5.5 pounds per gallon. If my math is right, Zippo buys 360 gallons of naphtha for $635 and then sells two...
  4. Briar Lee

    Watch Out or Watch on? Pt 2.

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/115743811982?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=AqfI2fl6Snq&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=oTNLKnzSTyy&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY Is a million dollar Patek Phillipe worth a million? Yes, absolutely, if you have a net worth of over 100 million dollars. Xxxxx...
  5. Briar Lee

    Reamer For Bottom Of Bowl

    I own a Butner and a lot of other framers but I don’t use them anymore. Turn a sharp pocketknife sideways. Scrape out the cake, don’t slice it, scrape it. When it turns brown, STOP!.:)
  6. Briar Lee

    My Pride is Showing

    I’ve visited the factory and watched them made. A natural cob pipe is taken straight from the bin and made into a pipe. The ones I want, are taken from the bin and drilled and plastered inside and outside. Then the next day they get made into pipes, and are further drilled, polished, and...
  7. Briar Lee

    Zippo Fluid

    Years ago there was Red Devil lighter fluid, and Zippo, and Ronsonol. -It was all naphtha, maybe different scents added. Now Zippo owns Ronson and I’ve not seen any Red Devil in years. If there’s any difference in potency I’ve not noticed it, but if there really is it would have to be from...
  8. Briar Lee

    Snüs or pipe healthier?

    Of course snus is less harmful. No chance of inhaling smoke that’s not there. Nictotine isn’t danger free. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4363846/ The real culprit is the modern, inhalable, quick, convenient cigarette. People used tobacco for centuries and only after forty or...
  9. Briar Lee

    Watch Out or Watch on? Pt 2.

    Here is the problem with most high end Swiss watches. https://www.ebay.com/itm/176002584573?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=_09xjYvHQ8a&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=oTNLKnzSTyy&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY...
  10. Briar Lee

    On the Importance of Beauty

    Cleaning this one up a little more, there’s an A stamped on the bottom hex shank. It was wishful thinking to see a B in the online photos. An A size Jumbo was five dollars. The B size was $7.50, slightly larger. Kaywoodie and Lee also sold higher end factory pipes. The difference was all...
  11. Briar Lee

    On the Importance of Beauty

    My $22 ugly Marxman arrived today and in a few minutes it’s no longer ugly, or at least not uglier than any other pre 54 Marxman. Like all other Marxman pipes I’ve bought this one had all the cake flake off and crumble away, leaving a brown bowl and all the grime came off using a paper towel...
  12. Briar Lee

    Watch Out or Watch on? Pt 2.

    Bulova is owned by Citizen. That one reads Swiss Made which makes it a higher end Bulova. If it’s an original Astronaut with tuning fork movement it’s as valuable as a new lower end Swiss luxury brand watch today. In-Depth: Bulova's Accutron Astronaut – The Watch Chosen By The CIA For...
  13. Briar Lee

    Watch Out or Watch on? Pt 2.

    Humansville had a noon whistle on the water tower, loud enough to be heard for miles and miles. You’d see men check their Westclox Scotty “ dollar “watches or Timex wristwatches at the cafes by it. My parents also had a Westclox alarm clock. Before quartz everyday time pieces were...
  14. Briar Lee

    Top Three (YMMV)

    Codger Blends——- Carter Hall Prince Albert Half and Half Pipe Shop Blends—— Any Black Cavendish Any of Lane’s blends. Any of Sutliff’s blends True Aromatics—— Smoker’s Pride Cherry Smoker’s Pride Vanilla Smoker’s Pride Peach Virginias—— PS Luxury Navy Twist PS Luxury Twist Flake...
  15. Briar Lee

    Watch Out or Watch on? Pt 2.

    My mother owned a Longines watch, she wore to church. If still runs, and is so small my wife and daughter wouldn’t begin to wear it. Wrist watches are primarily for men. I bought a 1960 Longines automatic from an old man who asked $40 for it, and spent another fifty or so (then) to have it...
  16. Briar Lee

    Watch Out or Watch on? Pt 2.

    In checked and I’d been repeating something I’d heard for years, they were independent but all under the same holding company. True of Seiko and Orient but Citizen is a seperate maker. But take for example the Swiss ETA 2824. The only thing on that movement new was a rotor winder. When...
  17. Briar Lee

    Watch Out or Watch on? Pt 2.

    Swatch is on the bottom. Then Tissot. And then Hamilton. And on up with Longines But starting with Omega, the watch has an Omega in house movement, unique to Omega, built by ETA. Below Omega and a Swiss watch has an ETA movement, either a complete one from ETA or based on ETA parts. All...
  18. Briar Lee

    Watch Out or Watch on? Pt 2.

    For my 35th birthday in 1993 my mother bought me a Tudor Monarch exactly like this one By far it’s my highest quality modern watch. Everything that’s gold on it is solid 14k gold. Essentially it’s a Rolex oyster with a quartz movement. And it’s the one and only quartz watch I’ve ever owned...
  19. Briar Lee

    Tired of Crooks

    The irony is the services that serve to protect your information are mostly frauds themselves. Try going to a bank and getting a loan on a piece of real estate you’ve forged a title to yourself. They’ll do a title search and verify your name. You’d better have good credit, and a good photo...
  20. Briar Lee

    Watch Out or Watch on? Pt 2.

    What fascinates me so much about watches, is that during the fifties the Swiss perfected the automatic wrist watch and after that, when a Rolex is regulated within a second a day there’s no more room to improve one. It’s a time counter. They must all have exactly the same parts, if purely...
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