As I sit in my smoking corner in the garage surrounded by the tools around my workbench, I reflect on how blessed/fortunate/lucky??? (you pick the word that you like best), I am to be surrounded by things that I enjoy and bring such contentment and peace. We have snow in the forecast and not really a whole lot on the ground yet, but I think that is about to change. I love days like this at this time of year. The first picture is looking off our back deck. I don't want this to be a warm and cheesy Kleenex kind of thread,or do you need a hug thing, but more just a few observations on what pipe smoking is in to me and the enjoyment I get out of the hobby. Some people golf, sail, make beer or whatever: I enjoy this. My oldest daughter has started making something called Kombucha using something called a scoby. I sure as hell don't know what a scoby is but it sure looks disgusting. Like something somebody horked up out of their lungs. But the Kombucha is pretty dang tasty once I strain the scoby thingy out and rinse it down the drain.
To sit in my tiny workshop, gaze out the window from time to time, puff a bowl contentedly and totally lose myself while I destroy yet another piece of briar. A guy I know told me that cheap ebauchons and Japanese ebonite are your friend. I think what he means is, it's better to mangle and destroy a whole lot of less expensive briar and ebonite rod than the more expensive relatives.
I happen to love winter. In fact it is my favorite season. I love the short days and the snow. I have a 16 month old border collie that is pretty much joined at the hip with me. We had a BC years ago and I finally convinced She Who Must Be Obeyed that I wanted to have one more kick at the can with another BC before I kick the proverbial bucket. I have an old doggie bed that I have placed in the workshop to try and induce her to come and lay while I work away, but that is not to be. The machinery in the shop scares her so it's a no go. I placed a nice big bone on her bed one day in the shop to see if that might perhaps persuade her but all she did was sneak stealthily in, snatch the bone and race back into the house. So be it. For me, working out in the garage and what passes for a workshop, is kind of a healing process for me. Maybe a better word is, cathartic. I can be pissed off, agitated, frustrated as only a cranky old guy can get and yet the moment I enter my micro-sphere something happens. I look around and say where was I? Oh look, there's that mangled piece of ebonite rod shit I was cutting a slot on. Hmm, can I salvage this? Let's see. Naw, I don't think so but it sure was fun mangling it up like it is. Oh look, that chunk of briar is still chucked up in the lathe. Wait, you managed to drill the airway right through the backside of the block. Geez, that was fun too! Maybe the next block??? One can only hope! The trick for me isn't in producing the perfect pipe, but in perfectly bringing all my focus and current ability (
) and transferring it all to that briar block. I'm not trying to sound Zen, just giving it my all. That's when the magic starts. That's when for me, time slows down and the files and tools become an extension of my mind and what I see the briar becoming through my hands. Someone told me that when working on a piece of briar to close my eyes and go over the stummel with my hands and fingers 'feeling' the shape. To my surprise it amazed me what I could distinguish through the touch of my fingers seeing the shape.
So, today as it snows, I will do a bit of briar busting, open a tin of Irish Flake that I finally was able to replenish and smoke a bowl and think of all the myriad ways I am blessed.
To sit in my tiny workshop, gaze out the window from time to time, puff a bowl contentedly and totally lose myself while I destroy yet another piece of briar. A guy I know told me that cheap ebauchons and Japanese ebonite are your friend. I think what he means is, it's better to mangle and destroy a whole lot of less expensive briar and ebonite rod than the more expensive relatives.
I happen to love winter. In fact it is my favorite season. I love the short days and the snow. I have a 16 month old border collie that is pretty much joined at the hip with me. We had a BC years ago and I finally convinced She Who Must Be Obeyed that I wanted to have one more kick at the can with another BC before I kick the proverbial bucket. I have an old doggie bed that I have placed in the workshop to try and induce her to come and lay while I work away, but that is not to be. The machinery in the shop scares her so it's a no go. I placed a nice big bone on her bed one day in the shop to see if that might perhaps persuade her but all she did was sneak stealthily in, snatch the bone and race back into the house. So be it. For me, working out in the garage and what passes for a workshop, is kind of a healing process for me. Maybe a better word is, cathartic. I can be pissed off, agitated, frustrated as only a cranky old guy can get and yet the moment I enter my micro-sphere something happens. I look around and say where was I? Oh look, there's that mangled piece of ebonite rod shit I was cutting a slot on. Hmm, can I salvage this? Let's see. Naw, I don't think so but it sure was fun mangling it up like it is. Oh look, that chunk of briar is still chucked up in the lathe. Wait, you managed to drill the airway right through the backside of the block. Geez, that was fun too! Maybe the next block??? One can only hope! The trick for me isn't in producing the perfect pipe, but in perfectly bringing all my focus and current ability (
) and transferring it all to that briar block. I'm not trying to sound Zen, just giving it my all. That's when the magic starts. That's when for me, time slows down and the files and tools become an extension of my mind and what I see the briar becoming through my hands. Someone told me that when working on a piece of briar to close my eyes and go over the stummel with my hands and fingers 'feeling' the shape. To my surprise it amazed me what I could distinguish through the touch of my fingers seeing the shape.So, today as it snows, I will do a bit of briar busting, open a tin of Irish Flake that I finally was able to replenish and smoke a bowl and think of all the myriad ways I am blessed.
