Glad I Quit Collecting the 904s

[telescopes]

I grew up on a farm. Too many inaccuracies in those tales.

Tales, like experience, are anecdotal. From my experiences, I find them unbelievably accurate. Eerily so. But what does it matter, to quote a famous rock band.

 

[Briar Lee]

My dad is a hillbilly, but further south and deeper in the Ozarks than @Briar Lee. My dad also has less teeth, not being a lawyer and all. But to your point, yes, boys and gals from the Ozarks tend to be very affable, engaging, and FULL of S...stories. What, you thought I was going to say something else? Well, they are full of that too, I suppose. For them, the truth isn't in the accuracy of the description so much as it is in the metaphors, idioms, and hyperbole of the story. After awhile, you can find their way of describing something is just as relevant, and maybe more accurate, than a description of any particular data set. My dad meets with the men several times a week for breakfast and coffee. I've sat with him at a few of those gatherings and wow, the storytelling is rampant, even about the most minor of events that may have or may not have happened that week. The men are able to intuitively decipher what is being said and while hyperbole is 90% of the story, they know exactly what is being said and what is not being said. The entertaining way of talking makes the truth of the story easier to go down with the biscuits and coffee. True natives of the Ozarks are a very different type of hillbilly than I have found from those who live in the Appalachians. There are some similarities of course, but the culture and poverty of the Ozarks and the Boston Mountains seems to have some real differences. I imagine the men who live in the outback might have some similarities to those who live deep in the Ozarks. One thing is for sure, they seem much more happier and don't wear their sensitivities on their sleeves. I appreciate people who enjoy who they are and are able to laugh about it.

True parable:

The Christians (they use no other description between themselves) of Southwest Missouri believe to the very existence of their immortal souls, as sure and certain as they are of being sentient, that they are In His Service.

Imagine having the certain knowledge you have some kind of God’s body camera on 24/7 that records your every act, thought, deed, and what you DON’T DO.

It might tend to improve your behavior.

My mother’s brother Jiggs (named Sy Thomas in his mother Ma Agee’s Ma and Pa series in The Index and Jethro Bodine in the Beverley Hillbillies inspired by it) lived in North Kansas City, across the Missouri River.

The entire clan used to congregate on Sunday afternoons at Ma Agee’s home in Hermatige Missouri, where we’d play and sing old songs, about life.

Once in the morning and again of evening my father was privileged to milk his cows. We took off a week a year to vacation in Colorado Springs, leaving Sunday after church and returning Staturday afternoon in time for the Humansville stock car races. This required a substitute milker.

But once when I was about eight, during the week my father had Edgar Proctor milk and we drove to Kansas City to visit Uncle Jiggs and Aunt Bobbie and my cousins for a few days.

Driving though downtown Kansas City was the first time I saw my father and mother afraid. They had me lock my doors in the back seat.

I was just astonished people lived like that.

I enjoyed my visit to Kansas City, but on the way home I asked:

Daddy, how do they keep all those people inside Kansas City?

Why don’t they escape?

He turned around and said, chasing that dollar bill, keeps them there.

Besides, they don’t believe places like Humansville exist.

 

[drastic_quench]

You've got great taste. My collection is all over the map.

I would've built a good stable of Stanwell's 217 shape, but shortly after I bought my only one, they shut down the Danish factory and an already somewhat uncommonly available shape fell off of the face of the earth.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Gents: Don't post comments about people. And watch treading around religious matters. please!

 

[cigrmaster]

I finding it interesting that we can collect certain makers, shapes, sizes and a plethora of minutia to keep us interested and then one day ir all goes away and we are onto to something new and different.

I have done it 3 or 4 times in over 20 years and had a blast each time I did it. There must be some type of psychological aspect to this but I have yet to figure it out. All I know is that I enjoy the exercise each time I do it.

 

[sparker69]

In terms of design, I too prefer the more pointed heel. It gives the shape vigor and definition. The newer version looks like a half-hearted yacht.

I like it that Savinelli has stuck with its 404 yacht shape even into the Rossi 8404 line. I picked up my first one as an unstamped unfinished basket pipe at my local independent B&M, and was pleased that I'd spotted a good pipe without knowing its brand.

I have the 404 Cocktail - beautiful shape - love mine.

 

[Salvaje]

So far it'll only have three pipes on it.

Ok…that’s badass. That’s 3 more pipes more than my Christmas tree will have.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Ok…that’s badass. That’s 3 more pipes more than my Christmas tree will have.

My girls wanted me to add personal items as ornaments to represent me on the tree. Couldn't think of anything more suitable.

 

[Salvaje]

My girls wanted me to add personal items as ornaments to represent me on the tree. Couldn't think of anything more suitable.

That’s cool. I told my wife and she wants me to do it too.

 

[mingc]

Maybe the shape of the 904 is changing because the cutters in the fraising machine is wearing down over the years?

 

[Chasing Embers]

Maybe the shape of the 904 is changing because the cutters in the fraising machine is wearing down over the years?

I had thought it may have been the difference between the filtered and non filtered models but in the past the two were indistinguishable without removing the stems.

 

[sparker69]

I had never thought about it til I watched Moreno on youtube, but the Bruno Nuttens Twiggy looks an awful lot like the 904!

 

[Chasing Embers]

I had never thought about it til I watched Moreno on youtube, but the Bruno Nuttens Twiggy looks an awful lot like the 904!View attachment 174413

There are a few that do. It's basically a fancy 1/8 bent dublin with a saddle stem. The GBD 9613 is nearly identical aside from being slightly larger.

 

[condorlover1]

Ok. Someone answer me this - is a 904 a Dublin? I would never have one since I only like one style but I am just curious since that shape was always called either a Dublin or a 'Mick Pipe' back in the U.K. were I came from in Essex. Answers on the back of a fag packet please?

 

[Chasing Embers]

- is a 904 a Dublin?

That it is. The bowl gives the illusion of a forward cant, but the chamber is a vertical conical bore.

 

[condorlover1]

OK that makes total sense. You know Pollocks used to make a clay version of the Dublin without the vertical bore probably because of heat issues. I got a couple in a box of clays from him back in the late 1980s that completely threw me for a loop!

 

[midcentry]

There seems to be a recent shift of change in Savinelli's 904 shape. This appears to be the current rendition shown here on their 2022 St. Nicholas offering that I picked up to hang from the Christmas tree.

View attachment 167229

Gone it seems is the graceful, tall sweeping arc at the front of the bowl as well as the severe transitions from the front to the bottom and the back of the bowl to the shank the bowl is shorter. It seems they've thickened and softened everything that once made the shape catch my eye that had lasted for decades.

View attachment 167231

I really love that ‘50s. Nice collection!