Autopsies Performed On Several Old Pipes

Log in

SmokingPipes.com Updates

Watch for Updates Twice a Week

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

Status
Not open for further replies.

blueeyedogre

Lifer
Oct 17, 2013
1,552
30
There is an impressive amount of "meat" still in the walls even though some look fairly charred. Very cool and most impressive.

 

jpmcwjr

Moderator
Staff member
May 12, 2015
24,565
27,065
Carmel Valley, CA
From the OP's translation"

Quiet Sleep, lovers of erica arborea, your pipes, well cared for, do not go up in smoke before you were breaking yours.
"breaking one's pipe"= the big sleep. So the admonishment is a pipe well cared for will last longer than you!
Anyone have an opinion on the cause of the bent's chamber's very thin bottom? I think gouging while reaming with a pocket knife.

 

briarcudgel

Starting to Get Obsessed
May 6, 2016
108
108
Interesting article that settles much in my mind. It does prove the durability of the venerable briar.

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
These pipes are relatively pristine compared to my dad's pipes, by the time he recycled them. He was a chain pipe smoker, just after breakfast until bedtime, including his train commutes in "the smoking car" reading "the Trib" going and the "Daily News" coming home. Puff, puff. He used only one pipe at a time until it was not smokeable. Usually the briar split right up the bowl, often brim to near the bottom, so burning ash would almost escape. Then he'd go to a newsstand and buy a new pipe. Those pipes may have had some residual briar somewhere on the bowl, but the bowl was shot, integrity gone. In his language, the smokers of these autopsy pipes were "pikers" by comparison. Granger was his leaf. Anything else was fussy and unnecessary. TAD for him was a new pouch of Granger, never a can. I think pipes lasted for him about 18 months to two years, but I'm remembering back decades.

 

andy

Might Stick Around
Aug 28, 2013
66
0
Wonderful thread! Thanks to all who contributed, this is what keeps us coming back.

 

lonestar

Lifer
Mar 22, 2011
2,854
161
Edgewood Texas
Jpmcw, I think that pipe was probably drilled that way. Notice the airway goes straight down to the bottom. If it had been reamed thin, I would expect the airway to be high compared to the bottom of the bowl.

 

lawmax3

Can't Leave
Jan 18, 2013
405
12
Puzzles me after seeing this, how the type of stain used on a pipe would matter.

Doesn't seem like it could make its way into what you are smoking.

Just a thought...

 

aldecaker

Lifer
Feb 13, 2015
4,407
42
Thanks for the link! That was pretty cool; the pipe absorbed less than I thought it would. Then again, I can't even imagine only getting 9 months' use out of a Country Gent. Maybe I baby mine too much, or maybe they like the low humidity here in southern Arizona. Either way, I put more mileage on mine with less swelling. I guess that's why it's a good idea to have spares of the shapes you like, though.

 

jvnshr

Moderator
Staff member
Sep 4, 2015
4,616
3,868
Baku, Azerbaijan
Thanks for the link! That was pretty cool; the pipe absorbed less than I thought it would. Then again, I can't even imagine only getting 9 months' use out of a Country Gent. Maybe I baby mine too much, or maybe they like the low humidity here in southern Arizona. Either way, I put more mileage on mine with less swelling. I guess that's why it's a good idea to have spares of the shapes you like, though.
You are welcome. I guess he smokes the same pipe few times a day for a long time. I have been smoking my cobs (4) for more than a year and they are still doing fine.

 

stranger

Might Stick Around
Apr 27, 2016
86
0
Very interesting pictures, brier is a tough bugger! Does the meer lining ever stay in tact or is the bottom chipping out an eventual failure?

 
Status
Not open for further replies.