My dad's father was a lifelong pipe smoker. I was touring overseas when he died and had to miss the funeral because it just wasn't practical for me to get out of my contract and fly to British Colombia from wherever I was in Europe at the time. I wasn't a pipe smoker in those days, but when I took up pipe smoking I asked my dad about grandpa's pipes. My grandfather was a classy dude. The kind of guy who wore an ascot to go to the grocery store. Very old-school British. I imagine he probably had a collection of high-end mid-century briars. When I took up the pipe I asked my dad, "hey, grandpa must have had some pipes."
He said, "Yeah I'm pretty sure he had a collection of them."
"So where are they? You must have them?"
He said, "oh, I don't know where they are."
I was like, "What do you mean you don't know?"
"Well they're gone."
"What do you mean gone?"
"The insurance company took care of all that."
I wasn't a pipe smoker when he died but I was a cigar smoker, and I sure as hell would have held on to those pipes. I wonder if they're in a landfill somewhere, or if they actually got auctioned off and somehow ended up in a good home. Oh well. I can look forward to inheriting my dad's 2 Grabows with the plastic stems one day.
? I'm sure most non smokers just see a stinky dirty old pipe and think who in the world is gonna want that when they could buy a new one?
