Question About Tolkien's Pipe

[allenz]

Hello experienced smokers,
I am new here and this is my first topic (hopefully not a duplicate).
I am a Tolkien fan and was reading about him recently to find out about his pipe preference. One thing I noticed in some of the photos of him smoking a pipe is that he left a gap between the stem and the shank (webpage with photo). This seems odd to me and I am curious as to why.
Thanks.

 

[jgriff]

I can't tell the brand from the photo and I don't know what Tolkien favored. However, there are some pipes out there that have the tenon "stick out" a little further like the Peterson Deluxe System Pipes and that creates the appearance of the gap you see. I don't believe there is any reason for it other than cosmetic.

 

[allenz]

Thanks for the reply!

It's a strange style I reckon. It almost look like he didn't push the tenon in properly.

 

[kashmir]

Could simply be an old pipe with a loose stem. I've had that happen before, only to have the bowl invert ashes on my lap. Maybe his pipe just has a poor tenon fit, and that's why he's chuckling to himself. The pipe he's smoking doesn't look like a Peterson. Alternatively maybe its some idiosyncratic practice of pipe smoking that was popular in the day, and has ceased to be practiced. Like perhaps the thought was to pull the stem out a bit for cooler smoke? But I'm at a loss to proffer one. Maybe he just got done cleaning his pipe, and the stem hadn't been pushed in all the way, when the photographer hollered for the shot?

 

[rigmedic1]

I was under the impression that Tolkien favored Dunhill's, at least from the few places that address such things. Since pulling the stem on a hot pipe is discouraged, he may have smoked his pipes at half staff, so to speak, in order to remove the stem while hot to clear the draft hole. Or it could be that he neglected to push it back in completely, and we are merely making much ado about nothing. Heck of a thing, to be so well loved that people are analyzing how you were smoking a pipe in a photograph. I certainly wish he were still around to clear the mystery.

 

[judcole]

Could simply be an old pipe with a loose stem.

Looks like that to me. ::

 

[pipeinhand]

Or just tight, it doesn't look like a posed picture, so maybe just a lazy 'put back it' and got caught. I do it.

 

[kashmir]

Yeah, maybe too tight. He put the stem back, but it would not go in easily, and he didn't want to risk cracking the shank. Happened to me before. Stem starts making crying noises as your twisting it in, and you figure better wait till you get home and can apply some wax to the tenon joint. Just to be safe.

 

[doctorthoss]

Definitely much ado about nothing, but what the hell, right? If he was the type of old-school smoker I imagine that he was, then I'd guess that he just hasn't gotten around to having a damaged briar repaired and is just smoking "as is." Most of the older smokers I knew growing up were not at all fussy about their pipes. Heck, the idea of polishing one would have baffled them!

 

[Wellington]

The stem might not even be the fitted stem for that pipe. Maybe he simply broke a stem and found another extra one or one from another pipe of his and made do with it even though it didn't fit quite right, thats what I always thought.

 

[jbbaldwin]

Maybe he was just playing sharp. :D
My wife laughed at that, so I thought I'd post it. Non-wind players: move on; there's nothing to see here.

 

[allenz]

Thanks for replying.

All the ideas sound possible. I guess it is one mystery only Tolkien himself could solve.

 

[captainsousie]

Maybe he was just playing sharp.

:rofl: That was great.

 

[chum202]

Welcome and thanks for share allenz

 

[foggymountain]

Sometimes the stem just doesn't go in far enough. I have a great smoking Dunhill with that problem.

 

[cavendish]

Welcome to the forums allenz!
I'm fairly new here myself. You will find this is a great forum with alot of good people.
One thing that I have really noticed and I remember having a conversation with a forum member about it over coffee one saturday afternopn (I'm pretty sure it was him). And we got in the topic of The Hobbit and how pipe smoking has 'exploded' since LOTR came out in the early 2000's and now with The Hobbit it has double in numbers since LOTR releases. Pipe smoking is an ancient culture, I often think about things like that while I smoke my pipe. Kind of lose myself in wonder and just enjoy the smoke..
Happy smoking!!

 

[johnbarclay]

Hello and Welcome, thanks for share allenz!!

 

[tgwilt]

I recall reading a book about pipe smoking and LOTR. In that book, one of his sons said that he didn't think J.R.R. had a favorite, but that all his pipes had to be made of briar. I'll post more corroboration after I dig up the book.
Tg

 

[hunterwold1]

My only experience with this is my Peterson Mark Twain which has the gap. An interesting design choice.

 

[tennsmoker]

If I had to guess, and that is all it is, I would say that the great Oxford Don just wasn't all that particular about his pipe or pipes. As pointed out earlier, many old-timers weren't as picky as we are today.
I recall once when I interviewed the late (and great) southern author Shelby Foote in his bedroom office at his home in Memphis.
He was smoking his Dunhill. When the pipe tobacco stalled and went out, he reached for a tin trash can, pulled it over and proceeded to whack that precious pipe inside the can until the ashes fell out.
Good grief! But, for the old smokers, a pipe was a pipe was a pipe. Made for smoking. That's it.