My Grandpa's Pipe

[Byrd]

Please don't laugh! My grandpa passed away in 1968 when I was 16.
He taught me to fish and shoot a rifle. We spent many hours roaming the plains in southeast Wyoming. He bought me my first cowboy hat and every year took me to the Cheyenne Frontier Days. He was a vendor so I got to hang out with the cowboys when he ran his booth. I loved that man!
He always had a pipe clenched in his mouth. Well, this is it. I've had it for years and it hadn't been smoked since he passed.
I tried to figure out what to do with it and this is how it turned out. Reamed and cleaned, but I don't have the skills to rebuild the stem so I cut it off and shaped the remaining stem into a nose warmer. Yep, I smoke it and when I do I've got fond memories of a great time in my life!

 

[xrundog]

Nothing funny about any of that. Thanks for sharing. Good job on the stem.

 

[Byrd]

Appreciate it! Till this day I'm convinced that I smoke a pipe because of him.

 

[RPK]

Absolutely nothing to laugh at. You are fortunate to have such fond memories of your childhood and grandfather and having his pipe is very special.

 

[Byrd]

Agreed! Those were such simpler times. I wish I would have had the foresight to ask about him growing up. He was born in 1899 and had seen so much in his life.
As a side note his tobacco of choice was Prince Albert!

 

[Briarcutter]

I don't believe there's much hope for the stem but what ever you do never get rid of the stem! Great pipe and story.

 

[Briarcutter]

He was a vendor

What did he sell?

 

[Alanon]

This is such a wonderful memento you have! And such a lovely way of prolonging the pipe’s life.

You did a marvellous job at reaming all that cake, and regardless of your stem repair skills I’m not sure that it was possible to reconstruct the original button with the usual techniques.

 

[Byrd]

What did he sell?

He rented seat cushions for the bleachers! It was a hoot because if people didn't return them my job was to go looking for them.

 

[anotherbob]

Appreciate it! Till this day I'm convinced that I smoke a pipe because of him.

Seems a really common story here. I know for me the draw started with being fasinated by the practice it always seemed to have more going on then other tobacco for me when I was a child. Honestly it almost looked like the pipe smokers understood some esoteric secret about smoking that other people just didn't get.
Lovely pipe and great stories too.

 

[Byrd]

That's a good thought. It seems like pipers are more introspective than others. It's easy to get lost in the smoke. After posting this thread I went out on the deck and smoked my Grandpa's pipe. For about an hour I sat in the sun and could picture him at Medicine Bow setting by a fire drinking coffee. Actually it made me feel a little saddened for times that will never be again.

 

[anotherbob]

That's a good thought. It seems like pipers are more introspective than others. It's easy to get lost in the smoke. After posting this thread I went out on the deck and smoked my Grandpa's pipe. For about an hour I sat in the sun and could picture him at Medicine Bow setting by a fire drinking coffee. Actually it made me feel a little saddened for times that will never be again.

fun fact the word nostalgia use the algia root which means pain. It literally means the pain of not being able to go back. And the origin of the term was for legionnaires that realized when they returned from service that the place they left does not really exist anymore.
The pipe smokers being more introspective in my opinion has two causal reasons. One the activity promotes introspection. It literally reminds me of the Japanese tea ceremony where the teas caffiene and L-Theanine are part of the experience but the real thing is that along with those aids you're doing a simple activity that requires focus and measured action. I feel like pipes do a similar thing.
The other is that it's a skill and you have to be the kind of person that is willing to learn a skill to enjoy something a little more then the convenient version provide. No one had to learn how to smoke cigarettes and cigars might have technique but you'll still get the basic experience without frying your mouth just by burning one end with the other in your mouth.

 

[tartanphantom]

A Legacy pipe (or any other item, for that matter) Should never be considered as worthy of ridicule, no matter the condition. The source of the item and your connection to it, is the primary value here, not the pipe itself, so who cares what others think. Good on you for being able to modify it and give it a second life.

And I'm with @Briarcutter on this one-- hang on to the original stem. It's part of the story.

I have an old, severely weather-beaten fedora that belonged to my paternal grandfather who passed away in 1987. It has always been too small to fit me, it is in a condition unworthy of public display, but I wouldn't take $1000 for that raggedy old fedora, because the memories contained within are worth far more to me. I recently found a use for it though, it appears on the back album cover of one of my band's recent albums. We used it in the photo shot as a busker's tip hat, filled with coins and other cash, like you would see in front of a street musician. A worthy legacy indeed.

 

[Briarcutter]

You could always get a new stem made for it but keep the original as is, as mentioned it's part of the wonderful story.

 

[Byrd]

I thought about that but decided to modify the original instead. When I cleaned it up I didn't top the bowl or sand any of the dings out of it. I just wanted to let it tell the story of my grandpa. It's not a showpiece as I have a lot of other pipes that smoke better or are prettier but they are just smokers with no history.

 

[Joe H]

This is a great thread! Well done in bringing a family keepsake into smokable form. And by modifying the stem, the pipe now tells both of your stories. Enjoy the heck out of it now and hopefully it will be enjoyed by future generations of your family.

A lot of families can put together a family tree that says so-and-so was born and died during these years, but tangible personal items like pipe or watches or old razors that were used every day, those are the things that really bring the past to life.

Most of my pipes came from my dad and I’ve written up a short blurb on him and the pipes that I keep with the pipes. Some of the pipes are so well used that the bowl stamps are virtually worn away. I figured I’d be the last member of the family to be able to say with any surety “this was dad’s Kaywoodie Supergrain #33 Large Apple from the 1950s,” or whatever. I figured I was interested in the pipes and maybe future generations would be as well, but as time passes some of the details get harder to pin down.

The relationship you had with your grandfather makes the pipe valuable, and it probably will to your relatives as well. I encourage you to document what you know of the pipe and the man. That you remember smelling Prince Albert being burned in that pipe while fishing as a kid or at a rodeo or whatever is a beautiful memory that future generations deserve to know.

 

[Byrd]

Great reply! That's a good idea to document the pipe and it's history. After I'm gone nobody would know it was my grandpa's. I think tradition is important for a family, it gives continuity to future generations.
Another memory, there was a real army surplus store in Cheyenne and he took me in there and I was like a kid in a candy store! They had a barrel of bayonets and he bought one for me. A 1917 Remington for $2! I gave it to my grandson when he turned 15 and told him it's story, and that he had to give it to his grandson. It's hanging on his wall now. Hopefully it'll stay in the family for generations.
That's kinda why I started this thread, just to show a pipe that has no monetary value but is priceless to me.
I appreciate everyone's input!

 

[jhowell]

Well done!

 

[BenMN]

Real nice. I've enjoyed this thread. These pipes are special

 

[WerewolfOfLondon]

Blimey, that's a fantastic job, and a pipe with serious pedigree. Great story, thanks for sharing.