A Worn Out Star Grade Lee

[pipesandscotch]

The person cleaning the pipe.

View attachment 167638

Thanks. Good to know. How do you use it?

 

[Chasing Embers]

Thanks. Good to know. How do you use it?

I spray it on Q-tips and pipe cleaners and swab out the mortise and chamber. I've only ever had to use it on latakia ghosts as coffee grounds will kill nearly anything.

 

[Briar Lee]

I was unfamiliar with the term lignin:
—-
Lignin removed by the kraft process is usually burned for its fuel value, providing energy to power the paper mill. Two commercial processes exist to remove lignin from black liquor for higher value uses: LignoBoost (Sweden) and LignoForce (Canada). Higher quality lignin presents the potential to become a renewable source of aromaticcompounds for the chemical industry, with an addressable market of more than $130bn.[22]
—-

So, lignins are little tasty things inside the structure of briar.

Could it be, that as the extreme thousand degree heat from the ember permeates the porous briar again and again and again for say, two thousand cycles, those little lignins say that’s enough, Harry Hosterman, no more goodie for you!

Time to buy another Grabow?

 

[pipesandscotch]

I spray it on Q-tips and pipe cleaners and swab out the mortise and chamber. I've only ever had to use it on latakia ghosts as coffee grounds will kill nearly anything.

Thank you.

 

[craig61a]

I was unfamiliar with the term lignin:

And it would seem you still are…

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

That sums up the fundamental problem with this "discussion" quite succinctly.

It's a castle built on sand.

I think you mean pillar of salt!

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

I realize the majority opinion is that Mediterranean briar isn’t some magical wood sent down from heaven above for our pleasure. I know that in theory briar is just a hardwood, and that it has no soul, as we do. But still yet I cling to the fond hope, that each piece of briar is magical, individual and unique, and that each one gives us pleasure until the day comes, the poor briar is worn out, and can no longer serve us.

Awhile back I won three pipes for $9 each, and each one had a cake the thickness of a dime, and showed signs the owner had smoked them for thousands upon thousands of smokes.

And after three separate Everclear and sea salt treatments this poor tired old Star Grade Lee is simply worn out, in the service of man.

While it’s bit and even it’s rim are still sharp, and it’s enjoyed extraordinary care, no longer does it add zest and flavor to any tobacco smoked in it.

The tars and juices from tobacco have saturated the briar, enlarging and cracking the shank, and darkening it as surely as it would be if it were made of meerschaum.

And while it still can serve to smoke tobacco as it did ten thousand or more bowls ago, the soul in this Lee is no more. In comparison with every other Star Grade Lee I own, this one imparts nothing to the flavor of the smoke.

It’s time to retire this one, because it’s race has run, and it can serve no more.

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I’ve seen plenty of other pipes abused to death, but I think this is the first one I’ve seen, that’s simply worn out.

I have to admit seeing the author and the premise I assumed the thread title was an oxymoron! It wasn’t, so I’ve had a Felix Unger moment!

 

[Briar Lee]

And it would seem you still are…

I grew up in a home where books were under every bed and all over the walls, yet like all other little Christian only (Campbellite) boys I was forbidden to learn to read until I turned six and started public schools.

I wanted to read so badly, I was just about to bust when I started first grade.

For one thing. it meant I could use the set of World Book Encyclopedias I’d got as a present when I was four years old.

I’ll bet anything the World Book had a good entry for lignin.

—-

Lignin is a class of complex organic polymersthat form key structural materials in the support tissues of most plants.[1] Lignins are particularly important in the formation of cell walls, especially in wood and bark, because they lend rigidity and do not rot easily. Chemically, lignins are polymers made by cross-linking phenolic precursors.[2]

Lignin - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

—-

Those tiny lignins explain why there is no good substitute for briar. We all know the taste of briar in new pipe. Even after break in, inside the briar those specific lignins remain.

And when their flavor is exhausted the pipe becomes like a piece of gum that has lost it‘s goodie.

I suppose they might also color the briar as they decompose.

If the entire world would look up words they aren’t familiar with from a trusted mainstream reference source, there’d be less myths and fables in this old sin cussed world today, I think.

 

[OzPiper]

If the entire world would look up words they aren’t familiar with from a trusted mainstream reference source, there’d be less myths and fables in this old sin cussed world today, I think.

That's laughable coming from someone whose ruminations are the main source of his "facts".

 

[georged]

Surrealness (Surreality? Surrealifization?) has officially been achieved.

 

[craig61a]

Surrealness (Surreality? Surrealifization?) has officially been achieved.

Denialist; a conundrum…

 

[craig61a]