Words of wisdom if you're not trying to get drowned by any hobby.
Oops. I Did It Again.
- Thread starter Misanthrope
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Words of wisdom if you're not trying to get drowned by any hobby.
Anytime I go to spend money on a pipe I am stopped by the thought of how much tobacco I could buy instead. I am also balling on a budget so that does not work well for someone with PAD.
I am trying to switch from PAD to TAD or a more TAD forward balance. I have more pipes than I can or have smoked but they all having meaning to me. I need to start moving towards having more tobacco than I can smoke.
This year I bought one pipe, and just ordered my second pipe kit of the year. And I'm trading one of my pipes for a different pipe. Then I sold 6, and I'm about to give a cob away to my bro in law.
I was minding my own business, enjoying some TAD and then I took a solid one-two blow to the head from the PADmonster this week.
I grabbed a GBD Granitan and then this Poul Winslow from the fishnbanjo collection.
I grabbed a GBD Granitan and then this Poul Winslow from the fishnbanjo collection.
This is what has been saving my wallet recently.
A few months back I got some Kings Imperial pipes from Blakemar Briars. Massive things. If you go shopping for extra large pipes from most brands they charge an arm and a leg, but if you search long enough there are a fair number of inexpensive jumbo sized pipes out there.
I hate you.Since February:
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If you've only bought one this year, I would say you are doing just fine.?
P.S. I hate you.
Also, yes, I've been drinking! Love the pipes.
As of now, I’ve got a total of 6 new pipes on the way. My collection was all Dutch factory pipes made by Gubbels, so I decided to change things up a bit and throw some support to American factory pipe makers that offer similarly appealing styles. In addition to the two Briarworks stubby tomatoes that started this thread, I’ve picked up:
- Moonshine Pot Still in light smooth and black sandblast finishes
- Moonshine Cannonball in light smooth and black sandblast finishes
Just took my brand new polished natural Briarworks Original stubby tomato for a test drive with some Prince Albert and a tumbler of Glenlivet 12, which is essentially the single malt Scotch equivalent of Prince Albert: pleasantly inoffensive, highly enjoyable, and comfortably boring.
I absolutely adore this pipe, it smokes so well for a tiny, fat nosewarmer, and it passes a pipecleaner with zero effort. I’m looking forward to the Moonshine Pot Stills and Moonshine Cannonballs coming tomorrow...I hope they all smoke at least this well.
We also stopped by the Tacoma Tinder Box store the other day to pick up some one ounce samples of their house blends. mortonbriar recommended I try Chartwell, which is supposedly repackaged Lane RLP-6. I was a little unsettled, in a good way, at how very much like smoking a Milky Way/Three Musketeers it was. She doesn’t care for Lane 1-Q’s room note, but likes Chartwell’s room note.
We had the opportunity to check out some Seattle Pipe Club blends from their bulk jars. Plum Pudding smelled like the tragic aftermath of attempting to extinguish an out of control tire fire with boiling asphalt, and Mississippi Mud smelled like it should‘ve been called “Pa Burnt Down His Barbecue Joint For The Insurance Money” instead. I’m going to deduce from those impressions that I may not yet be ready for hairy-chest English blends just yet...although I did get some Sherlock’s Choice and Philosopher’s Blend to dip my toes in those waters.
I absolutely adore this pipe, it smokes so well for a tiny, fat nosewarmer, and it passes a pipecleaner with zero effort. I’m looking forward to the Moonshine Pot Stills and Moonshine Cannonballs coming tomorrow...I hope they all smoke at least this well.
We also stopped by the Tacoma Tinder Box store the other day to pick up some one ounce samples of their house blends. mortonbriar recommended I try Chartwell, which is supposedly repackaged Lane RLP-6. I was a little unsettled, in a good way, at how very much like smoking a Milky Way/Three Musketeers it was. She doesn’t care for Lane 1-Q’s room note, but likes Chartwell’s room note.
We had the opportunity to check out some Seattle Pipe Club blends from their bulk jars. Plum Pudding smelled like the tragic aftermath of attempting to extinguish an out of control tire fire with boiling asphalt, and Mississippi Mud smelled like it should‘ve been called “Pa Burnt Down His Barbecue Joint For The Insurance Money” instead. I’m going to deduce from those impressions that I may not yet be ready for hairy-chest English blends just yet...although I did get some Sherlock’s Choice and Philosopher’s Blend to dip my toes in those waters.
PAD strikes again. I finally found a sandblasted black Briarworks OR01 stubby apple with black stem at Winston’s Pipe And Cigar Emporium, so I grabbed it and then ordered the light smooth version with black stem from SmokingPipes. That was the last remaining pair of Briarworks pipes on my wish list.
I was pleased to discover that Missouri Meerschaum *does* in fact carry stubby cobs, so I also picked up a couple of those as taster/beater pipes. I decided to accessorize them with a rustic-looking pipe nail tool and a leather tobacco/pipe pouch direct from MM. To further keep within the corncobby theme of rustic Americana, I also got a brushed chrome Zippo pipe lighter.
The Moonshine Pot Stills and Cannonballs arrived today. The Pot Still is just as good as the Briarworks OR05 chubby tomatoes that arrived yesterday—smokes very nicely and passes a pipecleaner perfectly. I haven’t tried the Cannonballs yet because they have a voluminous enough chamber that I don’t feel like sitting out in the rain for the next 2.5 hours today, but they feel great in the hand and seem to clench well. I think they’ll be good pipes for writing sessions.
I was pleased to discover that Missouri Meerschaum *does* in fact carry stubby cobs, so I also picked up a couple of those as taster/beater pipes. I decided to accessorize them with a rustic-looking pipe nail tool and a leather tobacco/pipe pouch direct from MM. To further keep within the corncobby theme of rustic Americana, I also got a brushed chrome Zippo pipe lighter.
The Moonshine Pot Stills and Cannonballs arrived today. The Pot Still is just as good as the Briarworks OR05 chubby tomatoes that arrived yesterday—smokes very nicely and passes a pipecleaner perfectly. I haven’t tried the Cannonballs yet because they have a voluminous enough chamber that I don’t feel like sitting out in the rain for the next 2.5 hours today, but they feel great in the hand and seem to clench well. I think they’ll be good pipes for writing sessions.
Today's mail haul was a nice one. I got one of my Briarworks Original OR01 stubby apples from Smokingpipes, and the 2 stubby corncobs, leather pipe/tobacco bag, and pipe nails from Missouri Meerschaum.
The Briarworks OR01 knocks it out of the park as a small, short-smoke pipe. It's sort of like a Big Ben Ranger in that regard, but much better because it doesn't have a gurgly stinger.
The MM stubby corncobs look and feel way better in the hand than their Internet pictures suggest. I haven't tried them out yet, but I expect they'll perform just fine.
I was a little disappointed to see that the MM pipe nails appear to be aluminum and have a prominent "MADE IN CHINA" stamped into their shanks, but I'm not heartbroken because they were under a buck each. Those are going in the junk drawer as emergency spares, and I'll hunt down a matching rustic-looking tamper from somewhere.
The MM pipe bag is not made in America either, but it's still quite a nice bag. Too nice, in fact, so I'm gonna use it with my Briarworks/Moonshine pipes instead. I think I'm going to hunt down something a little more rustic and old-timey, like a possibles bag. for the corncobs.
The Briarworks OR01 knocks it out of the park as a small, short-smoke pipe. It's sort of like a Big Ben Ranger in that regard, but much better because it doesn't have a gurgly stinger.
The MM stubby corncobs look and feel way better in the hand than their Internet pictures suggest. I haven't tried them out yet, but I expect they'll perform just fine.
I was a little disappointed to see that the MM pipe nails appear to be aluminum and have a prominent "MADE IN CHINA" stamped into their shanks, but I'm not heartbroken because they were under a buck each. Those are going in the junk drawer as emergency spares, and I'll hunt down a matching rustic-looking tamper from somewhere.
The MM pipe bag is not made in America either, but it's still quite a nice bag. Too nice, in fact, so I'm gonna use it with my Briarworks/Moonshine pipes instead. I think I'm going to hunt down something a little more rustic and old-timey, like a possibles bag. for the corncobs.
I need to quit the Internet. I was perfectly happy with my collection of Big Ben, Al Pascia, Briarworks, Moonshine, and Missouri Meerschaum pipes, and then I somehow managed to find all 6 of the Morgan Bones stubby nosewarmer shapes in one place. Naturally, I grabbed all of them.
In other news, those mini corncobs from Missouri Meerschaum are kinda cute. I picked up 4 for quick breaks during the day, but they're kind of unsatisfying/impractical for that purpose, so they don't see a ton of use.
I also discovered that Denicotea briar saddle cigarette holders, some Carter Hall, and 70mm rolling papers makes for a really nice micro-sized reverse calabash briar paper pipe, which can also take 9mm pipe filters perfectly if that's your speed. It lasts for about the same amount of time, feels better in the teeth/mouth, is a more satisfying short pipe break, and then drops into a pocket perfectly when you're done. It looks about as ridiculous as a mini corncob, except instead of looking like you ought to be wearing bib overalls and packing a banjo, you look like Harry Truman or Hunter S. Thompson, so it's really down to which flavor of looking ridiculous suits your taste.
In other news, those mini corncobs from Missouri Meerschaum are kinda cute. I picked up 4 for quick breaks during the day, but they're kind of unsatisfying/impractical for that purpose, so they don't see a ton of use.
I also discovered that Denicotea briar saddle cigarette holders, some Carter Hall, and 70mm rolling papers makes for a really nice micro-sized reverse calabash briar paper pipe, which can also take 9mm pipe filters perfectly if that's your speed. It lasts for about the same amount of time, feels better in the teeth/mouth, is a more satisfying short pipe break, and then drops into a pocket perfectly when you're done. It looks about as ridiculous as a mini corncob, except instead of looking like you ought to be wearing bib overalls and packing a banjo, you look like Harry Truman or Hunter S. Thompson, so it's really down to which flavor of looking ridiculous suits your taste.
Wow, nice!!Since February:
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If you've only bought one this year, I would say you are doing just fine.?
My confession isn't about pipes, but tobacco. I told myself I wouldn't buy anymore for at least two weeks. I've made 2 orders in the last 5 days. I really need to stop!
The struggle is real. The only thing stopping me from hoarding more tobacco is a lack of room for more tubs and 2-liter CVaults. I'm also now officially out of room for more pipes, so hopefully that puts the brakes on my PAD and forces me to start voting stuff off the island before getting new stuff.
To err on the side of having too much tobacco to smoke is probably wise. That is distracting me from PAD. It doesn’t seem to be changing the bottom line.
Me too, alas. As Oscar Wilde put it, "I can resist anything except temptation."
Well, here I go again. 4 Chacom bent apple reverse calabash pipes (orange matte, brown matte, sandblasted black, sandblasted brown) arrived today from Smokingpipes, and a fifth (gray) from The Danish Pipe Shop is on its way. I love the shape, it’s very similar to the Briarworks OR01 bent apple, but larger. All 4 of them will pass a pipe cleaner, some with a little more finagling, but they all smoke really well.
They’re displacing a bunch of Big Ben pipes that kind of don’t do it for me anymore for various reasons. I’ll probably be offloading them at some point.
They’re displacing a bunch of Big Ben pipes that kind of don’t do it for me anymore for various reasons. I’ll probably be offloading them at some point.
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