Pipe Whacking

[aldecaker]

When I was a little kid, I remember a lot of the old codgers that hung out at the local dairy co-op would bang out their pipe on the sole of their shoe. Some estates I've seen, it looks like the original owner banged them out on a rock or something. This is clearly no good for the rim, and probably pretty hard on the shank-bowl junction, as well.
These oldsters were true blue been-there done-that survivors of the Great Depression. These guys would keep a hardware-store pocket knife until it had only a sliver of blade left from all the sharpening. They treated their tools like they were irreplaceable gifts from God himself. I've often heard many guys of that generation only owned one pipe at a time, which would also be in keeping with the frugality of Depression-era thought.
Does anyone know what would posess them to treat their pipes so horribly, when they treated eveythong else with such evident care?

 

[huntertrw]

Whack your porcupine?

Yes.
Whack your pipe? Never!

 

[huntertrw]

aldecaker:
In all seriousness I believe that many old-timers of the era to which you refer treated their pipes as simple tools; nothing more, nothing less. Today many pipe-smokers tend to put pipes on a pedestal, some to the point of quasi-veneration.
Personally, I follow the "take care of your pipes and they will take care of you" line of thinking. An occasional dent or ding here or there is to be expected, and is just part of one's life story.

 

[tarak]

+1huntertrw. I think pipes, back in the day, were pieces of wood that held burning leaves, nothing more. Now, our pipes are our collections, our pride, and very expensive works of art.
None of those guys were banging an S. Bang on their shoe....it was a drugstore pipe that was replaceable. We (me included) have elevated the tools of the hobby higher than the hobby itself probably!

 

[mso489]

The pipe ashtray cork knocker (cork to pad the knocking of the pipe to loosen ash) goes way back, so pipe smokers were aware at least well back into the Twentieth Century that knocking a pipe against hard surfaces might not be a good idea. My dad was a one-pipe-at-a-time smoker, but he knocked the pipe against the heel of his hand and only rarely against a hard surface, and then gently. There was less reverence about pipes; pipes led rough "lives." I think my dad bought his pipes at the drugstore or downtown newsstands and only rarely if ever at a pipe shop. There was a really good pipe shop in our suburb of Chicago, but he visited it only out of curiosity, disapproving of the prices on pipes and tobacco. Granger was his leaf, and I think his pipes were domestic products. He enjoyed the occasional cob.

 

[hierophant]

I agree with hunter. Want to know what the old timers thought of pipes, sit one down and have a conversation with him about how to build cake, or some other nonsense that no one ever heard of until piping became a hobby. My dad's response to that by the way, "Je*** Chr*** boy, all you're doing is burning some damned leaves."

 

[voorhees]

My dad(smoked a pipe for a short while) told me that is was a sign of achievement to smoke a pipe until the cake took over. I've seen a lot of pipes just like that in estates.

 

[jiujitsubowl]

I sometimes get the statement "its just a pipe, quit babying it" from people. I think that plays into the old school way. I dont think our modern generation (outside of the smoking world) respect the artisan craftsmanship like we in the pipe community do. They see it as a tool only, which indeed it is, but is also can be a work of art from a master carver.

 

[warren]

I'm sure some of those old timers saw their pipe as cheap, disposable and simply a tool which delivered nicotine, a bit of diversion or some such. Judging from many of the old used pipes I've seen, others treated them as expensive acquisitions, to be treated with care and proudly displayed. Maybe they were status symbols.
Not everyone acquires a pipe for it's beauty. For me, a cob is just a such a tool. I appreciate what it does, particularly if it does it well. It's a pipe for work, abused, lost, broken or simply discarded when the plug falls out. My briars are treated a bit better. I treat them so as to have many years of use. The ones I own have been carefully culled and maintained as great smokers, not works of art.
The meers in the collection are reserved for the house, my moments of relaxation and treated somewhat reverently in that they are not exposed to the elements or otherwise abused. Obviously, the more money and time I have invested in them the better they are treated. More than a couple are cherished for their shape and feel, and the memories (two were gifts from my sainted wife). One of the gifted pipes is very whimsical, not unlike my wife, the bowl too small and the shape uncomfortable but, when I smoke it the memories evoked are priceless and the smoking experience sublime.

 

[petes03]

Yep, the old timers have/had different ways of looking at things than most of us now.

I have a great uncle who is a "one pipe" guy. He only smokes Savinelli pipes, and only Carter Hall in them. He puts his pipe(s) through hell!

I don't get to see him often, so I don't know if he's still smoking this one or not, but the last pipe I saw him smoking was what used to be a very nice Sav bulldog.

Sadly, it looked to have been coated with roofing tar, the shank had been cracked at some point and repaired with welding wire and super glue. It was so full of cake that it would only hold enough tobacco for about a 5 minute smoke!

The poor thing was a shadow of its former self.
When I asked him this, "Damn Terry, don't you think it's about time for a new pipe?", his reply was "What for? There ain't nothing wrong with this one. " And he was being dead serious.

To each his own. I just can't help but feel sorry for those poor pipes.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I've tapped a bowl on the leather sole, and I've also pounded a pipe on a heavy glass ashtray. No more on the latter! I now have some pipes I baby, but hopefully treat them all with care. Still working down the smudges on some rims, and glad I didn't char much at all when I was a kid.

 

[huntertrw]

"Pipe Whacking"
Yes, booker, this sounds like it could be a risqué topic at that "other' Website!

 

[captainprophesy]

Yeah I tend to bang my pipes on whatever I find... I mean I won't do it on concrete or anything like that... but I do use the sole of my boots, the side mirror in the truck, etc..
My briar pipes I will bang, but I am careful... now my cob's, oh those poor bastards, I'll bang them just about anywhere. They are mere "tools" to me, really any pipe I see as a tool, albeit it can be a beautiful one and like my woodworking tools I take care of them... but oh those poor cobs! :P

 

[petes03]

@captainprohecy. That's funny about the cobs! I'm just weird about things, even my Mm cobs and hardwoods.

I know they're cheap, easily replaced, and that the byproducts from making the we're most likely fed to the cows, but I just can't help but be gentle with them.

My cobs are basically relegated to garage and yard work duty, but I'd still be upset if I broke one, lol!

 

[coraxsnag]

I'd imagine using the sole of a shoe came about when someone had a bit of stubborn dottle lodged in the bottom that wouldn't yield to tapping it in the palm of one's hand. (Or, perhaps when in a hurry.) And, of course, they were more utensils than art pieces back in the day.
Of all the things one could conceivably use for this purpose, I'd rank the sole of a shoe rather low on the list of bad things. Sure, the pipe might get a bit dirty, but given the composition of the average shoe sole, (pliable rubber or a composite with other things.), I don't see it as being all THAT horrible. Granted, as the price levels go up for a pipe, one is naturally inclined to take greater care with it. So long as they weren't trying to ring a gong on their shoe, it strikes me as comparatively harmless.

 

[huntertrw]

"Of all the things one could conceivably use for this purpose, I'd rank the sole of a shoe rather low on the list of bad things."
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?

 

[petes03]

@huntertrw. My thoughts EXACTLY!

 

[aldecaker]

So, stop cleaning the "mud" out of my boot treads with my pipe stem?
@booker and hunter: I really do need to think my post titles through a little better...

 

[jaygreen55]

I thought pipe whacking is what you do when you watch porn

 

[jpmcwjr]

Heh. Good thread, though!