Greetings Pipe Smokers! Summer is having a week-long last hurrah at the moment, so to hurry Autumn along I thought I'd share with you my churchwarden journey.
LIke many here Tolkein has had at least some influence on my becoming a pipe-smoker. I am certain that this is why a churchwarden was the third pipe I purchased (after getting started with Savinelli and Peterson). I found a really good deal on P&C for a Stanwell Hans Christian Andersen VII smooth bent-egg. I liked the flowing curves, the just under-$100 sale price, and the fact that it came with a standard stem as well.
The HCA smokes very well and helps me channel my inner-Gandalf. It necessitated the purchase of some churchwarden-length pipe cleaners of course; I use BJ Long Extra Absorbent to really sop up any moisture from the long stem. The pipe also smokes great with the standard stem, but as my non-CW collection has grown considerably, I have recently been only smoking the HCA in its full length configuration. The only negative I have is that the CW stem feels very cheap, thin, and plasticky to me. It isn’t very comfortable in my mouth.
Churchwardens for me are a wonderful pipe style. They are particularly comforable to hold while sitting and reading or watching TV. My arm can remain on the arm rest of the chair while I thoughtfully sip and contemplate. I find that I tend to smoke even more slowly and deliberately with them. While I have occasionally rushed through a standard pipe in an effort to move on to some other activity, this has not been the case when smoking churchwardens. I also subjectively think they smoke slightly drier and cooler than their standard-stem counterparts.
My overall positive experiences with the HCA (stem notwithstanding) caused me to look into Vauen Auenland churchwardens. Visually they looked a lot more like the fantasy-pipe image in my head, and the stems are substantive wood. They have an interesting range of styles many of which I like. Their 2x+ price over the HCA pushed it outside of my impulse buy range so I added it to my wish list.
My wife thoughtfully decided it would make a nice birthday present this year and bought me a Vauen Auenland Eron smooth bent-egg churchwarden pipe and a Castleford 2-pipe churchwarden bag. The pipe is even more beautiful and substantial in person and it smokes wonderfully. It is so much like the fantasy-pipe in my head that I feel like I should be wearing a wizard’s robe while smoking it. It is quite long however — my churchwarden pipe cleaners barely protrude when cleaning, and I actually have to remove the bowl from the stem for it to fit in the Castleford bag (the HCA fits while assembled). Minor nits for what is a fantastic pipe. It is also a 9mm-filtered pipe; I use the Savinelli 9mm charcoal filters with it.
I am not really looking to collect more churchwardens specifically. I love them as an option and am glad to have the two that I have for that. But I am even slowing down on just ‘collecting’ pipes in general — they have to really grab me to join the fold.
Here's a parting shot of the whole kit:
LIke many here Tolkein has had at least some influence on my becoming a pipe-smoker. I am certain that this is why a churchwarden was the third pipe I purchased (after getting started with Savinelli and Peterson). I found a really good deal on P&C for a Stanwell Hans Christian Andersen VII smooth bent-egg. I liked the flowing curves, the just under-$100 sale price, and the fact that it came with a standard stem as well.
The HCA smokes very well and helps me channel my inner-Gandalf. It necessitated the purchase of some churchwarden-length pipe cleaners of course; I use BJ Long Extra Absorbent to really sop up any moisture from the long stem. The pipe also smokes great with the standard stem, but as my non-CW collection has grown considerably, I have recently been only smoking the HCA in its full length configuration. The only negative I have is that the CW stem feels very cheap, thin, and plasticky to me. It isn’t very comfortable in my mouth.
Churchwardens for me are a wonderful pipe style. They are particularly comforable to hold while sitting and reading or watching TV. My arm can remain on the arm rest of the chair while I thoughtfully sip and contemplate. I find that I tend to smoke even more slowly and deliberately with them. While I have occasionally rushed through a standard pipe in an effort to move on to some other activity, this has not been the case when smoking churchwardens. I also subjectively think they smoke slightly drier and cooler than their standard-stem counterparts.
My overall positive experiences with the HCA (stem notwithstanding) caused me to look into Vauen Auenland churchwardens. Visually they looked a lot more like the fantasy-pipe image in my head, and the stems are substantive wood. They have an interesting range of styles many of which I like. Their 2x+ price over the HCA pushed it outside of my impulse buy range so I added it to my wish list.
My wife thoughtfully decided it would make a nice birthday present this year and bought me a Vauen Auenland Eron smooth bent-egg churchwarden pipe and a Castleford 2-pipe churchwarden bag. The pipe is even more beautiful and substantial in person and it smokes wonderfully. It is so much like the fantasy-pipe in my head that I feel like I should be wearing a wizard’s robe while smoking it. It is quite long however — my churchwarden pipe cleaners barely protrude when cleaning, and I actually have to remove the bowl from the stem for it to fit in the Castleford bag (the HCA fits while assembled). Minor nits for what is a fantastic pipe. It is also a 9mm-filtered pipe; I use the Savinelli 9mm charcoal filters with it.
I am not really looking to collect more churchwardens specifically. I love them as an option and am glad to have the two that I have for that. But I am even slowing down on just ‘collecting’ pipes in general — they have to really grab me to join the fold.
Here's a parting shot of the whole kit:
