Smoking one Pipe Until it’s Plum Worn out.

[Briar Lee]

In 41 years of law practice I had the privilege to open well over 20,000 new files and not one myself, personally.

A receptionist greeted you, offered you good hot coffee or whatever soft drink you wanted, and an astray if you smoked, and the first visit was usually free, never more than $50.

And in all those years, especially the first ten or twenty, a man would produce his one and only pipe, usually a Grabow.

I’d ask him about how long he’d had it, and the response was usually he didn’t keep good track.

He’d buy one at Walmart and smoke it until it was plum worn out.

Usually a year, maybe two at the most, he’d guess.

The last of those men I know of is still alive, but crowding ninety. He still puffs one pipe until it’s plum worn out.

How many of you do that, or knew somebody who did?

 

[didimauw]

My goal has always been to do this. Honestly. However it's taking me a long time to figure out which pipe is perfect for me. I think I've figured it out this year. Now to get rid of the rest. Im just so lazy, and cant muster up the energy to sell everything lol.

 

[Sparcdude]

I had a Grabow Omega that I smoked almost exclusively for about 5 years, then the shank broke. I’ve tried a few more pipes, but I’ve settled on my Peterson Christmas 2023. I don’t have the most extensive collection of pipes (maybe 9 or 10), and my Pete serves me well. I smoke about 8-10 bowls a day.

If/when it burns out, which I have yet to do with any pipe, I’ll probably just get another Grabow. I’ve heard rumors about this so-called “resting” of pipes. Not sure what that is.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I do not plan to do this, but all of those I see chock full of cake are what the original smoker was planning on doing. They’d smoke it till they couldn’t get tobacco in the chamber and then just toss the pipe. Otherwise, I have no idea what “totally worn out” means. To me, it just means someone who’d rather buy a new pipe than to have to clean one.

 

[Roach1]

I trying it with my two workhorse pipes. A Jirsa 210 and small Stanwell Freehand are both smoked at least twice a day. They are cleaned regularly so not much of a Chance to wear them out. I guess a burnout or break would be a problem.

 

[Briar Lee]

I do not plan to do this, but all of those I see chock full of cake are what the original smoker was planning on doing. They’d smoke it till they couldn’t get tobacco in the chamber and then just toss the pipe. Otherwise, I have no idea what “totally worn out” means. To me, it just means someone who’d rather buy a new pipe than to have to clean one.

Somewhere in my stuff there’s a box of those “plum worn out pipes” that men returned to give my receptionist instead of tossing. That’s how I keep track of the last old man who came in last year with one.

I gave him a nice Lee in exchange, of course.

They must ream and are forced to clean their pipes.

The cake was usually the thickness of a dime, more or less.

Using an air hose nozzle and washing in the sink were favorite cleaning methods.

The outside turns black, and slick.


When I cleaned one up, it wasn’t rancid anymore to my taste but they were never zesty and good, either.

One thing I’ll say in favor of a one pipe smoker.

His check will be good.

I can’t remeber one, ever, that was in my office because he was in legal trouble.

He was there to help somebody he loved, and who loved him, at a place where they always remembered him and offered him an ashtray and wouldn’t take his money unless there was a good chance I could help his family member or friend.

Plus offering a lawyer grade pipe in return for pipes plum worn out, wasn’t a bad advertising campaign, you know?

 

[RPK]

My Father who passed away in 1989 only ever had one pipe at a time for as long as I can remember. Usually a Kaywoodie, bent never a straight stem. Smoked Granger and used book matches.

 

[xrundog]

I came to pipes with the idea I would collect and restore whatever pipes struck my fancy. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the smoking. But the main focus is the pipes.

 

[mortonbriar]

If I only had one pipe I think I would chew threw (or is it 'chough through') the stem long before the bowl had sustained any damage.
I often stick to the same pipe for a month or two, but I have never done years with the same pipe exclusively...

 

[BingBong]

Used to. Unbranded "Made in London" briars, the last of those was quite small and handy, but one day I was poking the draught hole clear and hit the other side of the chamber and punctured the bowl. Then I got really classy and elevated to a Dr Plumb, eventually damaged the stem so badly it was a goner.

My next beater was the Sarome I still use - I have an unsmoked spare it's so irreplaceable. And many other pipes now.

 

[bobpnm]

My grandfather always owned two pipes. One he smoked at work and during the week. One he smoked on weekends. He called it his Sunday pipe. If I could, I would ask him now why he only owned two. I expect he might answer something about six daughters being very expensive.

 

[Briar Lee]

My grandfather always owned two pipes. One he smoked at work and during the week. One he smoked on weekends. He called it his Sunday pipe. If I could, I would ask him now why he only owned two. I expect he might answer something about six daughters being very expensive.

In 1964 when the Surgeon General’s report came out it caused a brief resurgence in pipe sales because studies found pipe only smokers lived a couple of years or so longer than non smokers and nobody was surprised.

Those types of pipe smokers had too many mouths to feed and too many bills, to die.

 

[Scrapyard Ape]

My father would tell me stories about his father and how he would buy a pipe and smoke it continuously until it would burn through or the insides become a solid chunk of carbon. He'd then walk to the nearby Rexall and get a new one to abuse.

 

[telescopes]

I just tossed a pipe that was worn out. It had gotten to the point that the briar seemed though it had just absorbed to much tar. The bit was worn out and the out side seemed unable to absorb a stain or keep a finish.

 

[Waning Embers]

Im just so lazy, and cant muster up the energy to sell everything lol.

 

[Briar Lee]

I just tossed a pipe that was worn out. It had gotten to the point that the briar seemed though it had just absorbed to much tar. The bit was worn out and the out side seemed unable to absorb a stain or keep a finish.

It stands to reason all the pipe instructions recommending rotation found in old pipe boxes from the golden age of pipe smoking were not all huckster’s appeals to move more product.

If a pipe gets continually smoked day after day after day without resting or drying out in time it’s going to get soggy and sour.

 

[Sparcdude]

If a pipe gets continually smoked day after day after day without resting or drying out in time it’s going to get soggy and sour.

Maybe it’s just me, but that’s never been my experience. I’m most likely an outlier in the sense that pipe smoking is not a hobby to me (to be honest, I really don’t understand why some refer to it that way), it’s a habit.

To each their own, though. The bottom line is if you get enjoyment and satisfaction out of it, that’s all that matters regardless of what anyone else may say.

 

[Briar Lee]

Maybe it’s just me, but that’s never been my experience. I’m most likely an outlier in the sense that pipe smoking is not a hobby to me (to be honest, I really don’t understand why some refer to it that way), it’s a habit.

To each their own, though. The bottom line is if you get enjoyment and satisfaction out of it, that’s all that matters regardless of what anyone else may say.

Of the plum worn out pipes traded at my office I will admit none were soggy, and I’d ream them to the bare briar to eliminate any sourness.

But the reason each one pipe at a time smoker bought a new Grabow was his old one was plum worn out. It looked worn out and had lost its goodie, and they’d claim their wives and daughters complained the side smoke no longer smelled good.

I never could get the goodie back in any of them.

 

[Brad H]

While I don’t advocated for wearing a pipe plum out, I do advocated for a pipe to be filled with plumcake

 

[damacene]

I've had a Ropp bulldog for the past 2-3 years that I've smoked several bowls a day for months at a time. It smokes Virginia/Perique better than the day I got it. I do clean it at the end of the day so that might be the deciding factor.