New pipes from the Chicago show

[winton]

I have been curious about clay pipes, and this year there were three vendors selling these pipes. I bought the white one from Virginiacob, one of our former sponsers.
Next is a mini-churchwarden from a French carver, Sebastian Beo. I have admired his work for a while and saw this pipe at a price I could not resist. It was fun talking to the carver.
On the brim of my hat is the pipe from the slow smoke contest. From pictures, I could not find anything about it that I liked. But as I smoked it during the contest, I began to really like it. At our next club meeting, I will see if I can get the saddle stem changed into a tapered stem. And finally a Rhodesian that is fully restored. I have been looking for this shape and found one at a price I wanted to pay.
I also bought a pipe making kit. Right now it is a block of briar with two holes and a stem. Just picture the most beautiful pipe you have ever seen. It won't look like that when I am done.
The best part of the show was meeting so many of y'all in person.

 

[jmill208]

Nice haul sir.

Who made the contest pipe? I like it. ::

 

[tobyducote]

Very nice

 

[jkrug]

That's a good looking bunch of pipes. A hat full of smoking enjoyment there for sure.

how did you do in the slow smoke contest?

 

[cigrmaster]

Very nice haul, I hope they all smoke great for you, enjoy.

 

[fmgee]

Does the mini churchwarden have a keel? An interesting shape.

 

[peckinpahhombre]

Nice grabs Winton. I enjoyed meeting you.

 

[quincy]

Winton, it was great to meet you! How did Sunday morning go? I bet it was great and was sorry to miss it. My family very politely asked me to hang home..

 

[pylorns]

Yeah that slow smoke pipe is nice!

 

[winton]

I had my best time ever of 27 minutes. That slightly longer than Lori and shorter than Kevin. I had a lot of fun during the contest. I was at the Chicago Club team's table and we spent most of the time telling jokes. Below is a link to the specs of the contest pipe. Luigi Viprati made it.
http://www.unitedpipeclubs.org/News_UPCA/3242946
Quincy, The only ones that showed up on Sunday morning were me and my son. To use the traditional U of FL battlecry, "Wait til next year!"

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Nice pipes! I wish I could have been there.

 

[winton]

Cosmic, Both Kevin and SamCoffeeMan were proudly wearing your lapel pins during the show. Very cool! Perhaps I can find a picture.

 

[okiescout]

Nice! Have you had a chance to smoke the clays yet????

 

[crazypipe]

very nice ::

 

[winton]

okiescout, I smoked the smaller one at least five times on Friday. It does not take long. The pipe cleanly smokes each blend without mixing with the former.
I wish someone had warned me to wet my lips before smoking it. They kept sticking to the pipe. Apparently beeswax is your friend. I have not the larger pipe yet.

 

[settersbrace]

This is the kind of account I've been waiting to hear! Great haul but no tobacco? I don't know if I could make it through all those tables without getting some pipe chow for those new burners.

 

[brass]

Some very nice pipes. May I ask what is a slow smoking contest?

 

[johnnyreb]

I like the marbling effect on the smaller clay. Is that due to the clay used or was it colored?

 

[cortezattic]

May I ask what is a slow smoking contest?

Here's a blog post by former mod Lawrence (aka pstlpkr) that will tell you more than you probably wanted to know about a slow smoking contest, Practice Pipe Selection, Preparation, and Competition Rules. Also, Lighting Your Pipe & Controlling Air Flow.

 

[okiescout]

Glad it is smoking good for you, Winton
Winton, in another life I worked with high fire clays in school. The moisture absorbing effect is a great plus for clay as a pipe. I had not thought about that aspect of a clay pipe. A ceramic is basically what a water stone for your humidifier is made of. Come to thank of it I really do not understand why they do not glaze the bit. They probably figured it was going to get snapped off anyway, back in the day. It would stop that lip grab for sure. Come to think about it I think I saw some online that were glazed on the bit.