Pipe Whacking

[cosmicfolklore]

Yep, the heel of my boot is just as soft as a cork knocker, and I don't have any issues with my pipes being damaged by such. However, I am not about to clunk a pipe on a brick, rock, or the side of a building, unless it's a cork building, ha ha. To me, whether it is a Becker, Dunhill, or a cheap-ass Icarus, I bang 'em. I bang 'em, love 'em, and treasure 'em. They are mine till they pile my tobacco cellar and collection of pipes on my pyre and send them off with me into the great unknown.

You can do what you want to your own pipes.

 

[wcannoy]

We get wrapped up in our little world of pipe forums and shows, and we tend to forget that the vast majority of pipe smokers out there are neither hobbyists, nor collectors, nor even pipe enthusiasts in any sense. They are simply pipe smokers. These smokers walk in to a store and snatch a new pipe off the wall, paying little attention to the grain, finish, brand, or even shape in many cases. They are not concerned with these things. They just need a tool to smoke some tobacco out of.
I don't know what the actual numbers are, but recent industry estimates suggest that this group of pipe smokes represents over ninety percent of the worldwide pipe market.
Those of us who care for our pipes are the exception, not the rule!

 

[captainprophesy]

Is that the same shoe-sole which stood in the pool of "water" beneath the urinal in the Men's Room or stepped on dog feces in the city park?

@Hunter... no no no, you don't, well at least I don't, use the bottom of the sole... I use the side of my boot heel.

They are not concerned with these things. They just need a tool to smoke some tobacco out of.

@ Mr Cannoy... I fall in-between these two categories, since I'm a woodworker, I GREATLY appreciate the grain and finish of a pipe as well as the workmanship that goes into making it... I do take care of my pipes but I don't coddle them either, they are a tool and as a tool they should be used... Ive known "collectors" to buy pipes just for display and never to be used... that I find that to be a damn shame.
But at the end of the day... to each their own!

 

[gloucesterman]

Pipes purchased to be smoked are utilitarian devices, to be replaced when used up. Pipes to be collected are treasured possessions to be protected and cherished. The pipe hasn't changed, we have. The market just responded to that change. According to Walt 90% of pipe smokers still see the pipe like our grandfathers did, something you buy to smoke tobacco in. For a few of us it's much more. How you treat something is reflection of the value you assign it. To the old timers the pipe was a consumable and they treated it that way. A few dings to the rim didn't change the way it smoked much, so what's the harm?

 

[phil67]

There isn't any harm whatsoever in tapping the edge of the bowl against the heel of ones shoe. I often do it while smoking on my front porch during the summer months no matter if it's a cob or one of my more expensive pipes. However, if your going to beat the crap out of the damn thing against your shoe while holding it by the end of the stem is a completely different matter. Other than that, it's basically the same thing as tapping the edge of the bowl on a pipe cork. I've heard of steel toed shoes, but steel heels? As for any concerns about dirt I normally don't use the heel of my shoe after having walked through a mud slide, wet concrete, just having used a 'port a jon', or stepping on a pile of dog shit, but that's just silly me and luckily that doesn't happen very often. :wink:

 

[dutch65]

I remember a couple years ago, while sitting in a parking lot smoking my pipe, I noticed another pipe smoker standing across the parking lot enjoying his own. I was considering getting out and going over and talking with him, but the summer heat was discouraging. While I sat there, trying to decide if I was willing to endure the heat, he takes his pipe out of his mouth, and begins to bang his pipe out on one of those concrete filled steel pipes, like you see in parking lots from time to time.
After witnessing that display, I decided fairly quickly, that we probably didn't have as many common interests as I had initially assumed.

 

[brudnod]

I come from a long line of pipe smokers; my grandfather always said that he had relatives who smoked pipes and this goes back into the 19th century. That being said, he never banged his pipes on concrete or rocks but did use his shoe (ah, no Hunter, he did not use public urinals or walk in parks where dogs treaded - so he said). My father, on the other hand, had this old ashtray, which I still have but only as a decoration, that he would bang his pipes on mercilessly and the pipes showed the damage. So the pipes that I inherited from my grandfather look pretty good to this day and my father's look pretty beaten up. It is all about expectations of what you want your pipe to be in the future, I suppose. My grandfather was a very forward looking kind of guy.

 

[ray47]

I've always stirred the ashes with a pipe tool pick and then banged the bowl against the palm of my hand to empty. I figured that's one of the reasons God gave me hands. As a side note, I have around 50 cobs and I take care of them like I would a high dollar hand carved briar or meerschaum. You have to do that when your retired, living on a pension.