Favorite Sherlock Holmes movie for pipe smokers?

[jcosmoasp]

I was watching TBS a couple of weekends ago and watched three Sherlock Holmes movies with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce played the weekend that the new SH movie with Robert Downey opened. In the film "Sherlock Holmes Faces Death", about supposed murders at a home for retired officers, there is almost non-stop pipe smoking and pipe smoking is mentioned in dialogue, culminating with a crucial scene in which pipe tobacco (or the lack of) plays a pivotal role. It got me to thinking about how much I liked smoking a pipe, so after a 32 year hiatus, I'm back. I had given all my canadians, pouches (sure miss the tan suede rollup), and a favorite calabash away, so I came online and started looking about. Now here I am, waiting for my Missouri Meerchaum Freehand, Savinelli Baronet Bruyere, and several Samuel Gawith tobaccos to arrive so I can try and regain the quiet pleasure I once enjoyed. I've got my eye on a Randy Wiley Galleon Rusticated Freehand Bent Dublin, and a whole raft of McClellan tobaccos. Although I miss the Roy's Pipe Shop on Wisconsin Avenue (Milwaukee) of my youth, I now have the world through the internet. It's good to be back.
Bruce.

 

[cortezattic]

Bruce, it's good to see you back in the world of relaxation and epicurean delight. It sounds like you're hitting the ground running! I'm sure many here would like to get your impression of how this hobby/pastime/obsession has changed after 32 yrs. (And you might share a few long-forgotten tricks and tips along the way.)

 

[python]

Welcome to the site Bruce!
And welcome back to pipe smoking!

 

[jcosmoasp]

Thanks for the welcome, all. My first impression is that the number of choices in pipes, tobaccos, and accessories seems to have grown exponentially, although it may just be a matter of the internet giving a kind of access I never had. I'd scour pipe shops whenever I'd travel the US and Canadian West as young man, looking for some treasure or another, and felt quite satisfied with bulk Cavendish the various MacBaren's favorites (Club Blend, Plum Cake, Navy Flake) that seemed like the apex of the tobacconist's art to me then. I spent my 20s and 30s working in the mountains, running snow removal equipment on California's Donner Pass at night (did the men in the Donner Party light up a pipe after dinner?), fighting blizzard conditions in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night, comforted by a pipe and a Stanley hip flask with rye whiskey--for emergencies of course! After an elk hunting trip on the Continental Divide in Colorado, during which I seemed woefully short of everything, especially breath, I joined a gym and quit smoking. Now that I am over 60, I'm not so worried about what may or may not happen in 20 years or so and, damn, I suddenly missed the comfort and aroma. Listening to those old guys in the movie talk about how good the "first pipe of the day" was was all it took.

I'll have to think a bit on any tips or tricks--most of them likely were how to fill and light a pipe while maneuvering a tandem-wheeled motor grader on hard packed snow.
More later...
Bruce.

 

[sinistertopiary]

there is almost non-stop pipe smoking and pipe smoking is mentioned in dialogue, culminating with a crucial scene in which pipe tobacco (or the lack of) plays a pivotal role. It got me to thinking about how much I liked smoking a pipe, so after a 32 year hiatus, I'm back.

Our experience is almost identical. As I say in my second blog post, one day I was watching Spellbound, a 40s Hitchcock movie, wherein a wise old psychoanalyst luxuriously smokes a calabash. "Damn, that looks like just the ticket I need in my life right now" I said to myself. So after a thirty year hiatus, I, too, returned to the pleasures of the pipe.
Yes, it is good to be back...

 

[dunendain]

I loved the Sherlock Holmes series of shows, with actor Jeremy Brett. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, and The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. With a few TV movies thrown in. Brett nailed Sherlock in imo. He smoked like a champ, too. Also, there was a terrific attention to detail, in creating an authentic Victorian era period piece. All of those shows can be watched instantly, on you're computer, with NetFlix.

 

[brazz]

My favorite gift was a set of four Shelock Holmes books given to me from my uncle after I sent him a drawing as a youngster. They are dark blue with guilt lettering and they still look new. I read them over and over again. This would be a great gift for anyone. My fav was Hound Of The Baskervilles.

 

[jcosmoasp]

Well, my Missouri Meerschaum Freehand arrived via post yesterday, and my order of Gawith tobaccos did not. I found there was a Briar Patch shop about a mile away from my house, and drove there about 3 PM. After some discussion with a friendly tobacconist (Ron Michelson) about "bite" om a "new" tongue. I insisted on and purchased an ounce of Bullseye Flake. I poured some Beam Rye and fired up, preferring to fold, twist, and stuff, (rather than first rub the discs of dark-centered flake) into the tall bowl of the Freehand. A large kitchen match got things going. Then another, and a tamp or two. After the first third of a bowl was white ash, the aroma and peaceful contentment cascaded back upon me as if it had never left. I sipped and puffed, with only one relight. I was perusing a coffee table book of Native American photos taken by Edward Curtis, and reflected upon the use of tobacco through the ages and how the First Nations used it as it was intended, and how much I missed the aroma. I must have hovered over the bowl fifty times if once, savoring the aroma of that flake. Today, I smoked another pipe, having experienced a bit of "bite" this morning, but really, after the second pipe, it seems to be no big thing. The size of the bowl allows for a good hour or so of easy smoking. I'm now eagerly awaiting the 1792 Flake, Bracken Flake, Brown #4 Finest Kendal Twist, and Balkan Flake to arrive, along with the Savinelli Baronet Bruyere.

Not a bad start.
PS-I've tried several times to upload a photo for my avatar, and successfully done so (I think), but still see a silhouette with a question mark besides my posts. Any suggestions from the group?
Bruce.

 

[dunendain]

Christopher Lee played an aged Sherlock Holmes in 2 movies, in 91 and 92. The Incident At Victoria Falls and Sherlock Holmes and The Leading Lady. Throughout both movies he smoked a very cool Peterson Meerschaum. Lee did a good job as Sherlock, and was a very convincing pipe smoker. I hate to see an actor who uses a pipe as a prop.

Both of those movie can been seen for free, on youtube.

 

[cortezattic]

jcosmoasp

There is a second place where you need to upload your avatar picture.

1. Go to your profile page by clicking on the word member beneath your silhouette.

2. Slide the bottom scroll bar to the right to reveal the "Avatar" button in the upper right part of the profile window.

3. Click on the Avatar button and you should be good to go.

 

[python]

Thanks for posting the instructions Larry.

 

[jcosmoasp]

Thanks, cortezattic, for the avatar tip.

 

[jrtaster]

bruce,

hi

just a minor disagreement with your original post. i believe the film you referred to is in fact entitled "house of fear." by far, it is the most pipe-smoking oriented of the rathbone series.

it also is the film which probably gave rise to the notion that holmes smoked seaweed in his pipe.

watson disparages the foul smelling tobacco of one of the characters, asking him "seaweed"? to which holmes asks (not to watson, but the other character)"cuban?" interstingly, the character, one capt. simpson, actually replies "aye, 'jamaican(?)', flavoured with rum." holmes later borrows some of the noxious tobacco.

i'm not sure the dialogue actually makes a lot of sense but i can see how viewers might infer that holmes actually smoked 'seaweed.'

no quarrel with your post and i hope you don't mind my interjecting this useless piece of meaningless trivia.

best,

john

 

[pstlpkr]

Welcome back "jcosmoasp" we all missed you.

You might give this site a look-see.

This is THE BRIARY's site our local pipe shop here in Birmingham, AL.

I've been trading with the Elliots for years.

 

[jcosmoasp]

Thanks, jrtaster, for the correction. I should have remembered the orange pips from reading "The Complete Sherlock Holmes" as a teen (my dad's copy--now gone). I believe I'll head to Amazon and find a copy of both the book and the film.

 

[jrtaster]

bruce, i personally hate nitpickers so forgive me again. it's so easy to get misled by the rathbone films, as much as i love them all, because their relationshipo to the holmes' stories is so often slim if not non-existent.

enjoy the book when you find it.

conan doyle is best read, i find while smoking a calabash filled with some shag,tho when swmbo is present, i still enjoy a story or film.

all the best,

john