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  1. mso489

    Anyone Bought Pipes Due to Lower Euro Exchange Rates?

    The Euro has lost ground relative to the USD in recent months. Has anyone enjoyed the benefits in terms of buying pipes at the improved exchange rate with their USD's? I haven't noticed any appreciable lowering of prices from U.S. retailers, so I assume they are pocketing the benefit in the...
  2. mso489

    How About the All-Black Pipe, Visually

    There's an attractive austere simplicity to the all-black pipe, whether it's a blast with a shiny black stem, or a polished smooth ebony with maybe two slender bands. On the other hand, I'd hate to look at my cabinet and racks and see only the color black staring back at me. I am grateful for...
  3. mso489

    Highland Park, Illinois, Sorrow

    I feel a sorrow for Highland Park, Illinois, and the victims of the mass shooting there at their July 4 parade. Highland Park was a paternal home place, where my dad grew up, where my great grandpa served as mayor twice, once in his twenties and again in mid-life, and where my younger sister...
  4. mso489

    The Too Many Pipes Syndrome

    I think it was Mae West who said (something like) too much of a good thing is never enough. I have too many pipes, for sure ... by some standards. And I am a big piker by others. So here are a few pros and cons of owning, ahem, quite a few pipes. First I acknowledge that the grand total...
  5. mso489

    Are GBD Pipes Good Currently Or Historically?

    I've seen a few posts on Forums commending GBD pipes among Britwood brands. Is that recommendation extended to the currently manufactured examples or only to certain historical periods of the brand? Gregg L. Pease is said to be a GBD collector. Are new GBD's recommended, or is it only their...
  6. mso489

    Thumbnail on the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore Today

    The second race in the triple crown series will not have a triple crown winner this year because the Kentucky Derby winner will not run, but will likely be entered in the third race at Belmont in June. The Preakness is today, post time about 7 p.m. EDT and to be broadcast on NBC. Yesterday...
  7. mso489

    Has Forums Gone Budget On Pipes?

    Some member mentioned in a post that they felt Forums had leaned toward less expensive pipes over the years. That might be partly my fault, in a small way. I do remember, when I joined in 2013, nearly every day a different $600 to $800 and up artisan pipe appeared in a post, beautiful briars...
  8. mso489

    Squadron Leader, MMM-MMM Good

    A Forums member sent me a small and large tin of Barbary Coast because I mentioned enjoying it, and he was off Perique. Most generously, he also sent me five other blends, one of which is SG Squadron Leader. I'm really getting to like it. It's a Virginia based English with Latakia and...
  9. mso489

    Huck Finn and His Corn Silk in a Cob

    Somewhere in my youth or childhood, i think i followed Huck Finn's example and tried smoking corn silk in a cob. Boy, was that a whole bowl full of nothing. Remembering that Samuel Clemons, aka Mark Twain, the author of Huckleberry Finn, was an adamant pipe and cigar smoker, was this a cruel...
  10. mso489

    Puffing Away With Utmost Contentment and Gratitude

    It's been Christmas in May hereabouts lately. I received the limerick contest for veterans prize from bayareabriar, an elegant Caminetto bent Hawkbill with perfect rustication that looked brand new on arrival. It is a compact pipe with a high capacity chamber, a perfect clench, and a fetching...
  11. mso489

    The Kentucky Derby Happens Saturday

    The Kentucky Derby horse race, the first in the Triple Crown races, happens Saturday, usually with a start at about 6 p.m. EST, but check your local listings. Coverage in the papers has been thin. One national paper published its first Derby story today, and basically it was a history of the...
  12. mso489

    Problems With Online Retail Anyone?

    Twice in the last month or two, while ordering online from retailers I've used successfully before, the sites have jammed just as I've gotten to the payment section. Meantime, I've used online for other items at other sites without a problem. One site that failed me was a perfume and toiletry...
  13. mso489

    Consider Writing A Letter, I Mean Snail Mail

    Coming out of the pandemic -- one hopes we're coming out of it -- I find myself trying to get back in touch with close friends with whom I have fallen out of touch. Popping up on email seems abrupt, like, oh, hi, me again. I decided to follow my atavistic impulse and write a few letters. A...
  14. mso489

    NCAA Basketball Championship Versus Benjamin Franklin

    I can't believe I might skip the UNC/Kansas NCAA championship game for the Benjamin Franklin documentary, but I might do it. From a N.C. point of view, the UNC vs. Duke game was the game to see, with the lead changing 15 times, and Duke's Coach K. missing his chance at a last championship shot...
  15. mso489

    Advantages of Factory Pipes

    Artisan pipes are generally believed to be superior to factory pipes. One artist/craftsperson does the whole pipe with undivided attention and usually a comprehensive understanding of the whole process, from selecting the materials, to drilling, to applying the finish to exacting standards. In...
  16. mso489

    Does Having a Lot of a Blend Make You Smoke More or Less of It?

    When you've stocked up on a particular blend, does this make you smoke more of it, or less on the basis that you have plenty and can smoke it any time, thus postponing actually smoking it? To ask a different way, do you tend to smoke in inverse proportion to the amount you have cellared?
  17. mso489

    Spring Is Here, So I Hung a Birdhouse

    My wife got me a birdhouse for Christmas, which I fairly quickly assembled with the screws provided. It had a little latch for the hinged front, to clean it out after a brood hatches and fledges and leaves the nest, but the screws for that were so minuscule, I opted to just drill a hole and put...
  18. mso489

    Are Burley Smokers a Breed?

    I'm a burley devotee, though I enjoy many Virginia based blends and other varieties of leaf. A good burley blend always makes me feel comfortable and fulfilled in the pipe smoking department. There are burley blends I don't like, but that's not the topic. Some people smoke mostly or only...
  19. mso489

    New Rossi Series "Sera" Offers Many Classic Savinelli Shapes For a Flat Sixty Bucks

    Yup, Rossi, a sub-brand of Savinelli, has many shapes in this rusticated format, for a mere 60 USD, at SP. Shapes include billiards, Dublins, pokers, pots, princes, and others. If you are a newbie starting a rotation of pipes, or just need a good smoking pipe at a moderate price, this might...
  20. mso489

    Some Blends Improve, Such as this Sutliff Match

    More than a year ago, I ordered and jarred about two ounces of Sutliff Sobranie 759 Match from SP. It's been tasty enough to smoke it down to less than an ounce now, but what an improvement it has shown. When fresh, it had an awkward edginess, a hint of harshness, that got in the way of what...