Ruminations on Old Speedy

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Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,723
13,690
Humansville Missouri
My penultimate step father, when I was in college was a true son of the hills named Durwood.

Why my beautiful mother ever dated the man twice, much less took him as her third husband, is a mystery I’ll never solve, but it was so.

His sole valuable possession in this life was a brand new Chevrolet pickup, he made payments on, and he lived in a house his sister owned near Everton.

But many times Durwood would wax eloquent about his prized tree dog, Old Speedy, who had died at a ripe old age.

His brother in law and all his kin agreed that Old Speedy was a phenomenal tree dog, both day and night. Durwood had a wall full of plaques and trophies, won by Old Speedy.

Durwood would always say the Good Lord only allows a man one Old Speedy during a lifetime. He never again owned another dog, he just couldn’t, after Old Speedy.

I came home from college one weekend and Mama was infuriated with Durwood, for some trivial cause, demanding he leave, and she wanted to keep the nice suit she’d bought him.

I persuaded her that his kinfolks would think badly of her for keeping Durwood’s suit, and she allowed me to take it to him, and he drove away in his new Chevrolet pickup. I only saw him once after that, with another lady almost as beautiful as my Mama who did seem much less high tempered. He repeated his stories about Old Speedy, and his new girlfriend only smiled and beamed at him.

Today, I got in a pipe that is going to be my Old Speedy.

This Marxman has the tightest grained Algerian briar imaginable.

Except for a few fills, this pipe had to be intended as a 400.

It’s huge, as new condition, perfectly made, and I couldn’t make up a lie about how well it smokes as good as the truth. A pure asbestos pipe could not smoke cooler. It needed no break in. The smoke coming out the hand made stem is fragrant, delicious and rich beyond description.

Durwood would be proud of me, he surely would.

But maybe there is another one out there even better, you know?

6001BF6A-8BED-4195-BAD5-E14AD8B692E6.jpegC5B2CD0B-9F80-407E-AE3B-56F2A9769D33.jpeg58AA2BC3-5821-43C5-B324-916288E56CAF.jpeg235ABBEC-E9F9-49C6-BF61-ABBB2B12E8A0.jpeg9ED115B2-F844-4FE3-B241-BDFDD1B58283.jpeg819B57E5-3C11-4D15-A9FB-A5F8994A11FB.jpeg
 

Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,723
13,690
Humansville Missouri
In two smokes, the entire pipe has darkened in color from tan to a reddish ruby brown. At the top of the top grade of Algerian briar, it was light as a feather and porous as a sponge.

Such a pity about those sand pits, though.

Briar like this, of this large size, was intended for a $25 pipe.

The stem is of much higher quality than the mill run Marxman, too. Hand cut, highly polished, shiny as lucite, just a masterpiece of work.


I want a real 400, not an almost.
 

lraisch

Part of the Furniture Now
Jul 4, 2011
609
1,191
Granite Falls, Washington state
My penultimate step father, when I was in college was a true son of the hills named Durwood.

Why my beautiful mother ever dated the man twice, much less took him as her third husband, is a mystery I’ll never solve, but it was so.

His sole valuable possession in this life was a brand new Chevrolet pickup, he made payments on, and he lived in a house his sister owned near Everton.

But many times Durwood would wax eloquent about his prized tree dog, Old Speedy, who had died at a ripe old age.

His brother in law and all his kin agreed that Old Speedy was a phenomenal tree dog, both day and night. Durwood had a wall full of plaques and trophies, won by Old Speedy.

Durwood would always say the Good Lord only allows a man one Old Speedy during a lifetime. He never again owned another dog, he just couldn’t, after Old Speedy.

I came home from college one weekend and Mama was infuriated with Durwood, for some trivial cause, demanding he leave, and she wanted to keep the nice suit she’d bought him.

I persuaded her that his kinfolks would think badly of her for keeping Durwood’s suit, and she allowed me to take it to him, and he drove away in his new Chevrolet pickup. I only saw him once after that, with another lady almost as beautiful as my Mama who did seem much less high tempered. He repeated his stories about Old Speedy, and his new girlfriend only smiled and beamed at him.

Today, I got in a pipe that is going to be my Old Speedy.

This Marxman has the tightest grained Algerian briar imaginable.

Except for a few fills, this pipe had to be intended as a 400.

It’s huge, as new condition, perfectly made, and I couldn’t make up a lie about how well it smokes as good as the truth. A pure asbestos pipe could not smoke cooler. It needed no break in. The smoke coming out the hand made stem is fragrant, delicious and rich beyond description.

Durwood would be proud of me, he surely would.

But maybe there is another one out there even better, you know?

View attachment 203097View attachment 203098View attachment 203099View attachment 203100View attachment 203101View attachment 203102
A few fills?
 
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Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,723
13,690
Humansville Missouri
A few fills?
Too many for any 400, and it was too good to scrap. So they finished it up as a $10 Benchmade.

This briar is amazingly good.

I cleaned it with Everclear inside and out, and the carbon just wiped away leaving the bowl a tannish color, same as the rest of the pipe.

I also removed all the factory wax coating on the stummel when I cleaned it.

Three indescribably delicious, long smokes and the tan fills now stand out against the darkened briar.
 
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Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,723
13,690
Humansville Missouri
No disrespect but kinda looks like Ol' Speedy gnawed on it. Love the coon hound narrative! What breed was Ol' Speedy?

Old Speedy was a Blue Tic and Treeing Walker cross, and not much to look at, judging by all the photos Durwood had of him.

But one tree dog out of thousands, has a combination of an extraordinary nose and intelligence.

Old Speedy, knew what the game was about. Take him out in the daytime and he’d tree squirrels. And at night when Old Speedy opened he was on a coon, with a loud bawl mouth mixed with chops all agreed was musical beyond any description. And when he treed, he’d stay there with his tree bark, as long as it took for you to get there.

Mama always suspected Durwood was a lot more proud of Old Speedy than he ever was of her, but when a man gets the perfect tree dog he just naturally has to share it with his friends and family, you know?
 

TN Jed

Lifer
Feb 3, 2022
1,624
21,888
Franklin, TN
www.battlefields.org
Mama always suspected Durwood was a lot more proud of Old Speedy than he ever was of her
There's never been a better excuse for being out all night, coming home smelling of liquor, your clothes torn, scratches on your face and a shit eaten grin than a good coon hunt. I know a few old timers that still coon hunt. One of which is 87 and can run 100 yards up a 45% incline covered in greenbriar faster than most gen z's can run the same on a high school track.

Edit: His favorite dog is a Mountain Feist.
 

Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,723
13,690
Humansville Missouri
I rested Old Speedy all day Friday, but on Saturday I cleaned him up and must have put the stem on upside down, because now the pipe won’t sit up straight. I smoked it once yesterday and once early this morning.

Look at how dark the highest grade (not quality, too many fills) of briar turns after only six smokes, total.

Before
5B0FC6AB-44FF-4578-A87E-335A60F952B5.jpeg
After
0D159001-7B3D-4B22-9F71-A4890FD6305E.jpeg
A296E4A9-4351-4762-B31B-55CC9A4A190E.jpeg
7787A908-8704-45F1-A7B1-5B45285FF157.jpeg
 
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Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,723
13,690
Humansville Missouri
No disrespect but kinda looks like Ol' Speedy gnawed on it.

After he gnawed on it, Old Speedy used it to wipe his rear, too.:)

F6CC871A-831D-402E-A3C8-58208E5D91BB.jpeg Looking at it close, it’s incredibly tight cross grain, like a Lee on steroids. To find a block of this grade with perfect straight grain and no sand pits would be one out of thousands and thousands.

I’m trying to decide if the oil from my hands or the smoke is doing the coloring and it doesn’t matter. The best of the best briar is soft, and gossamer light.

For a truly expensive, highly polished, prestigious pipe it honestly is a poor choice. The owner would have a coal black pipe in a few month’s use.

For a twenty dollar eBay score it’s priceless.

Nothing I can imagine smokes as good as my Old Speedy, but like the original he ain’t much to look at.:)
 

telescopes

Pipe Dreamer and Star Gazer
Marxman Carvers colored outside the lines. His carvers certainly made many traditionally shaped and finished pipes. They look as nondescript as any other pipe for their times. But what we remember today and often see are the examples where carvers were allowed to free sculpt. Some are duds. Others are quite beautiful. Some are interesting busts and sculptures of people and things. Bob Marx and his carvers such as Louis Cowan made memorable pipes. Many that smoke exceptionally.
 

telescopes

Pipe Dreamer and Star Gazer
After he gnawed on it, Old Speedy used it to wipe his rear, too.:)

View attachment 203801 Looking at it close, it’s incredibly tight cross grain, like a Lee on steroids. To find a block of this grade with perfect straight grain and no sand pits would be one out of thousands and thousands.

I’m trying to decide if the oil from my hands or the smoke is doing the coloring and it doesn’t matter. The best of the best briar is soft, and gossamer light.

For a truly expensive, highly polished, prestigious pipe it honestly is a poor choice. The owner would have a coal black pipe in a few month’s use.

For a twenty dollar eBay score it’s priceless.

Nothing I can imagine smokes as good as my Old Speedy, but like the original he ain’t much to look at.:)
I don't know. It makes a lead Yokem look more appealing.
 
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Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
4,723
13,690
Humansville Missouri
Today I got in the mate for Old Speedy.


This one has even softer Algerian briar, but like Old Speedy, I think this pipe represents a 400 attempt.

A453C6B2-B40E-4FCD-BB46-669BBE089828.jpeg6A2AACD4-D227-4FDB-9B77-772FAFB7FFB1.jpeg71376D1C-4718-4246-B807-B1567D44D2FD.jpeg752FBE16-D16A-4DF5-9E5D-522ADC174E24.jpeg2004DD79-B445-480B-9051-7F6A3D421D9D.jpeg
02101D22-15E4-4072-A6EE-01D33D290EDA.jpeg

The two pipes are very large, have the same stem, but Old Speedy was polished more on the stummel and stem.

Old Charlie, was so soft he couldn’t take a polish.

But he smokes comparable, not quite as good, but better than all the other boys are smoking that haven’t discovered old Marxman pipes.:)
 
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