Stuck w/o a pipe!

[fishnbanjo]

I was sent to Dunoon Scotland in 1987 and found my luggage had not arrived which means I didn't have any pipes. I worked 22 1/2 hours that first day getting machinery tested for deployment in the dry dock, got 1 1/2 hours sleep and worked 20 hours the next day.
Finally got a break of a 16 hour day the following day and just had enough time to make it to the Tobaccoonist Shop down the road from the B&B I was staying in. Just had enough money to pick up a pipe called Puffin, it's a Meerschaum pipe but not block it is pressed. The bowl was fumed at the top and yellow the rest of the way, picked up some tobacco and I was good for the next day of work which was 18 hours.
It's been 30 years now since I picked up this Puffin Meerschaum pipe and while it has never smoked as good as my block Meerschaum pipes it became a rather decent smoker over time and has colored pretty well.
Keeping it smokey with some aged Mac Baren Dark Twist Roll Cake.

banjo

 

[didache]

Hi fishnbanjo ... three years ago my family gave me tickets for the Commonwealth Games as a birthday gift on the occasion of my 60th. The Games were in Glasgow and as we had tickets only to the games on two days, we booked a holiday cabin in Dunoon! Or, rather, just a mile or two north up the coast. For those days we had games tickets, we drove to Dunoon and got the ferry across to the mainland. Other days we went to Loch Lomond, the Isle of Bute, and some other places.
Dunoon these days is very geared up to the holiday industry - I am not sure there would be dry docks there any more.
Happy days!

Mike

 

[jpmcwjr]

Great stories, both.

 

[fishnbanjo]

You are correct didache the floating dry dock was shipped off from Scotland in the mid 90's and the Sub Tender stationed there relocated to Italy, the US no longer has a presence in Scotland for submarine work.
Sounds like you had a great celebration of your 60th birthday, I enjoyed Scotland making the trip on the ferry daily twice to and from the dry dock we actually had to go through US Customs and U.K. Customs, quite an experience. I would love to have seen something like those games, cheers.

banjo

 

[didimauw]

Awesome story fishnbanjo!

 

[mso489]

As long as you have the money and the time, it's often fun to pick up a pipe in transit and on the fly. Obviously this one is a keeper, for its story and its smoking. I liked buying a diplomat MM cob at a convenience store in small-town Missouri, the state where I met my wife when we were both undergraduates, and where she grew up. I still have the pipe, upgraded with a Forever stem.

 

[didache]

banjo
Just to remind you of the terrain around there .. this is my grandson having a paddle.
Mike

 

[hobie1dog]

This kind of post makes this forum great.
Thanks guys