Have you ever seen one of these before???

[kris]

So, I was in a B&M in Coventry yesterday having a mooch around when I spotted this. Didn't have a clue what it had to do with pipes at first, I thought it was a thimble!

At 75p each I snagged the 2 they had. I've never seen anything like these before, so was pretty pleased with my find!
(Fingers crossed the pics work, it's my 1st time trying & can't find a faq on how to do it...)

 

[rd02sir]

looks like you;d put it on your finger then tamp.

 

[kris]

That's exactly what it's for!

 

[numbersix]

Great! Now I'm gonna be checking ebay for thimbles—lol!
Seriously, neat find. ::

 

[clyde]

Have never seen anything like that. Darn good idea and I'm surprised there aren't more of them in use. :puffpipe:

 

[keith929]

Now I know what to do with the wife's unused sewing thimbles.

 

[johncorosz]

Well...well....well...who'd-a-thunk-it?
SO I did a bit of research and this an old idea and the prices are wild on true (rare) tobacco tamper thimbles.
But I found this novelty here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-THIMBLE-OWL-WISDOM-BIRD-ENAMEL-RED-EYES-STERLING-SILVER-925-SEWING-ITEM-/170866318327
and this oddity

http://www.leopardantiques.com/object/image/download/1571/Antique%20Silver%20Thimble%20-%20Charles%20Horner_Side%20view.Jpg​

 

[wnghanglow]

That sure is cool and no I have never seen anything like it!

 

[jpberg]

Falcon smokers go nuts for them, they are pretty rare now.

 

[tbradsim1]

I have a sewing machine drawer full of them, belonged to my Grandmother, Cajun women quilt a lot, I have a quilt made by my grandmothers mother when she was a girl, dated it around 1870s, 3 brown cotton blankets made from scratch, grew brown cotton, carded it, weaved it into string,borrowed a loom, took furniture out of living room and made these special blankets, Smithsion museum came and asked me to donate them for their Cajun exhibit, told them no they were going to my 3 children.grandmother sold her spinning wheel to send me money when I was in service, what a shame, I would have treasured that. The old cajun

 

[lumberjakpipester]

That is pretty neat! An old codger I knew years ago used one of his wife's thimble to tamp all the time, but I had no idea they produced one made specifically for that purpose! It's cool.

 

[tbradsim1]

They were also used for leather working, although I don"t know how my grandfathers big German fingers fit in that. LOL. The old cajun

 

[nsfisher]

Ya that is pretty cool for a fact. I use my finger 95% of the time to tamp and one of those sure would have saved alot of burns before the calouses took over.

 

[bassem]

Here is a thumb tamper that I purchased from Germany couple of years ago. Very useful

 

[pipeinhand]

My wife sews and I smoke pipes, why didn't I ever think of this? I have one in my pocket right now though, what will they think of next? ::

 

[cajunguy]

Very interesting. I've never seen one of those, and I've seen quite a few Falcons.