Any Value in Keeping the Pipe Level While Smoking?
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I rotate while smoking to compensate. I always spin in clockwise circles because I haven't made it to the southern hemisphere yet. I find a swiveling office chair to be a big help.
Seriously, I think it's over thinking it. It's unnecessary obsession. But then, wouldn't that really describe the whole hobby? Smoking a pipe is really pointless in the first place and that's part of the beauty of it. So if it's an aspect of pipe smoking that you enjoy obsessing over, then I say obsess away! Try different techniques and compare. Make charts if you want to. Otherwise, don't worry about it.
Personally, I don't want my pipe, or anything else for that matter, drooling on me. OK, maybe a dog. But nothing else. The answer to your question is, absolutely, there is a value, but nobody wants to bother with it. We prefer to spend hundreds of dollars on gorgeous grain and carefully wrought shaping so that we can deface it. This makes us masters of the universe, and allows us to deny future generations an opportunity to enjoy a pipe from this period in any but crappy condition. There is nothing more satisfying to the male than to prove our superiority by incinerating small, but costly bits of wood, or chewing up bits of carefully shaped rubber. A pipe is a tool, period. There is no art in it. There is no art to it. That's why only idiots spend any more than they have to on grain, shaping, or any of that superfluous crap. Got a beautiful display of birdseye on the rim? Get out that acetylene torch and show it who's boss! Until you understand this basic fact, you will never be a man!
Ha ha, right on Sable!
But, I'd have to admit that I could care less about people of the future wanting any of my pipes. A well sought out local potter had a sign in his shop telling patrons to stop asking him to repair broken work of his. The sign read, "If pottery didn't break, we'd be up to our necks in it." I uderstand those who want to seek out bits of antiquity, but if antiquity were everywhere, it wouldn't have as much value.
Sure, I take care of my toys for my own sake. But, I'm not going to fret about holding a horn, zulu, yachtsman, or bent bulldog up in a silly position while I smoke it. That removes some of the joy for me. I understand that the cake does form out of round in the bowl, it really does, but I am precise enough with a soft touch and a pocketknife enough to keep my pipes in great order.
I keep my pipes nice for my enjoyment. Damn the eyes of the collector wanting my pipes later on. :wink:
That's just me. Do what you like.
But, I'd have to admit that I could care less about people of the future wanting any of my pipes. A well sought out local potter had a sign in his shop telling patrons to stop asking him to repair broken work of his. The sign read, "If pottery didn't break, we'd be up to our necks in it." I uderstand those who want to seek out bits of antiquity, but if antiquity were everywhere, it wouldn't have as much value.
Sure, I take care of my toys for my own sake. But, I'm not going to fret about holding a horn, zulu, yachtsman, or bent bulldog up in a silly position while I smoke it. That removes some of the joy for me. I understand that the cake does form out of round in the bowl, it really does, but I am precise enough with a soft touch and a pocketknife enough to keep my pipes in great order.
I keep my pipes nice for my enjoyment. Damn the eyes of the collector wanting my pipes later on. :wink:
That's just me. Do what you like.
Advantages to keeping a pipe level are a)less strain on the teeth and jaw, b)nasty juices not running into your mouth, c)smoke not getting in your eyes, and d) not looking like an idiot.
I generally don't bother either, except for lighting or when I'm holding the pipe instead of masticating it. That's because I'm Master of the Universe!
Even thinking about smoking my pipe dries my mouth out, my body preparing to accept the much desired and needed smoke full of nicotine. And, I have to sip a drink to keep my mouth moist while I smoke. I don't even comprehend the idea of drooling down the stem. Is that REALY a thing for some guys?
Sable, that is the best philosophical synthesis of pipe smoking I've ever ever heard. Brilliant.
Interesting. I have the opposite philosophy around pipe smoking from you, Sable. I think it's all about the "art" and other superfluous elements. I love it because I don't have to.
I don't get it. Makes it seem like a chore to me. Why not just get some nicotine patches then? If it ever becomes totally functional for me I'll quit.
I enjoy keeping my pipe level as I light it, to give me the feeling that I am doing a precise (and appetizing) job of getting an excellent even ember going in the bowl. This thrill ends when I blow out of the match, and after that, the pipe is on its own. I try to remember to keep it level enough that the the spent ash and any live embers don't tumble out on a pile of newspaper or other ignitable materials, but otherwise, I don't think about it -- nor does anybody else if I read the above posts correctly.
Drooling... it's in my genes.
Ancestors: gap-toothed, slack-jawed, mouth-breathing, drooling, knuckle-dragging, slope-headed, inbred, Carpathian Hillbilies
Me: same, except Rocky Mountain Hillbilly
Don't like pipe drool. Takes like licking an ashtray (don't ask how I know this).
Ancestors: gap-toothed, slack-jawed, mouth-breathing, drooling, knuckle-dragging, slope-headed, inbred, Carpathian Hillbilies
Me: same, except Rocky Mountain Hillbilly
Don't like pipe drool. Takes like licking an ashtray (don't ask how I know this).
Art, fart.
Pipe, tobacco, thumb - the sum total to the art of packing. All the rest is fuffy silliness and pretentious metro sexual snobbery. Just remove thumb before lighting.
You only need a pipe for portability. You don't even need a pipe. Make a depression in the ground, toss in some weed, and light her up! Then inhale. Simple. No fuffy pipes.
Artisan makers! What pretentious nonsense! A corn cobb and a piece of plastic blows all of 'em out of the water!
So beat the crap out of that pretentious $100 and up pipe you're so impressed with. It deserves it.
Pipe, tobacco, thumb - the sum total to the art of packing. All the rest is fuffy silliness and pretentious metro sexual snobbery. Just remove thumb before lighting.
You only need a pipe for portability. You don't even need a pipe. Make a depression in the ground, toss in some weed, and light her up! Then inhale. Simple. No fuffy pipes.
Artisan makers! What pretentious nonsense! A corn cobb and a piece of plastic blows all of 'em out of the water!
So beat the crap out of that pretentious $100 and up pipe you're so impressed with. It deserves it.
"I just felt like destroying something beautiful." ~ Fight Club
There is some wisdom to buying the best of something and destroying the hell out of it. Fireworks comes to mind, in as it is the destruction that encompasses the enjoyment. As they say, cake, having and eating it... I know of a group of folks from back in college that pooled their money and bought one of the works by their art professors and threw a party where everyone dressed in costume and took turns doing something that destroyed the work and having a blast doing it. The art prof was overjoyed that he could create something that could bring so many people such joy.
In the early 19th century, Japanese woodcut artists used their prints that didn't sell as packing material for things shipped to Europe. The Europeans loved the woodcut print more than the things shipped. A market grew up from this, and when they approached the Japanese about buying more prints, they were baffled with our notion of preserving "art." After a raku tea ceremony, where days were spent making the raku, then enjoying the tea, the cups were then smashed.
I love the idea of destroying beauty. There's something far more powerful in the destruction and enjoyment than the attempts at immortality that "preserving" this shit provides.
There is some wisdom to buying the best of something and destroying the hell out of it. Fireworks comes to mind, in as it is the destruction that encompasses the enjoyment. As they say, cake, having and eating it... I know of a group of folks from back in college that pooled their money and bought one of the works by their art professors and threw a party where everyone dressed in costume and took turns doing something that destroyed the work and having a blast doing it. The art prof was overjoyed that he could create something that could bring so many people such joy.
In the early 19th century, Japanese woodcut artists used their prints that didn't sell as packing material for things shipped to Europe. The Europeans loved the woodcut print more than the things shipped. A market grew up from this, and when they approached the Japanese about buying more prints, they were baffled with our notion of preserving "art." After a raku tea ceremony, where days were spent making the raku, then enjoying the tea, the cups were then smashed.
I love the idea of destroying beauty. There's something far more powerful in the destruction and enjoyment than the attempts at immortality that "preserving" this shit provides.
Keep a pipe level(or straight and square)???!!! R U kidding??!! Omg, I have enough trouble keeping myself level!!! Why just the other day one of my associates said, "Jeez J, you really ARE several bubbles off center, aren't you?!" [Solution: my signature shape is an Oom Paul! It hangs as it will and drool usually just misses the mark entirely and dribbles harmlessly to the ground.] [Unless I'm smoking GasLight or similar... then the dog licks it up and has a seizure.]
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