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Birddog66

Lifer
Nov 29, 2020
2,997
53,371
Newhaven England
Afternoon everyone, I was so impressed with the H&H Viprati that I decided to try some more of their blends, I love Bengal Slices so I thought I’d try the Russ Ouellette version, Fusilier’s Ration. I packed it straight out the tin and into my Kiko meer poker, Fxxk me it’s good, the top is much lighter than BS and the tobacco comes through a lot more, I found that BS needed a couple of months in the jar before mellowing but this stuff is pure genius. Will it replace Bengal Slices on my shelf? No, they’re both great blends in their own right and I think I’ll be keeping both on hand. image.jpg
 

Birddog66

Lifer
Nov 29, 2020
2,997
53,371
Newhaven England
As I’m sure some of you are aware, I’m a sucker for the Ornsby Pipe, I was fortunate enough to get one at the weekend with the original tube it was sold in and paperwork that came with it. They were only in production for the second half of the 1970’s and the company was closed in 1980.
I’m about to give the newest addition a go with some 633. image.jpgimage.jpg
 

Christos D. Tsatsaronis

Part of the Furniture Now
Hello brothers in smoke.

A rare afternoon (instead of morning) bowl today. With Amphora original. In a noname, low cost, basket olive wood pipe, which I purchased during my summer holidays in the island of Crete (olive trees grow there for thousands of years, some exist still!). Lots of fillings in this pipe but I don't especially care, smokes well.
On the side a hot, red drink with spices (but without alcohol).

May you all have a good week good people.

Amphora Original in olive wood basket pipe.JPG
 

atwaterville

Starting to Get Obsessed
Nov 15, 2021
209
2,505
Los Angeles, CA
Thank you for sharing a very thorough elaboration of the various pipes Holmes had smoked according to the stories. Being a new pipe smoker, I'm not yet ready to start collecting antique pipes so will have to start with new and affordable pipes in the shapes as depicted in illustrations and in the films. So far I have two straight billiards and about to pick up a clay pipe. I missed the chase for the limited edition of Peterson 4AB so I plan on getting a XL315 at some point for the iconic Calabash shape that's often associated with Holmes in films and pictures. I'm a big fan of Jeremy Brett's interpretation of the famous sleuth who often smoked various churchwarden pipes so it's a shape that I would like to acquire at some point.
Yes, I can't imagine anyone - young or old - not being a fan of the Sherlock Holmes stories ...

As for pipe brands mentioned in the stories the author was unfortunately light on details and I think only ADP (Adolph David Posener) got a mention in The Adventure of Silver Blaze, "There was a box of vestas, two inches of tallow candle, an A.D.P. briar-root pipe, a pouch of sealskin with half an ounce of long-cut cavendish,..."
No mention of the other top brands of the day such as BBB, Barling, GBD etc.

If you're aiming for accuracy - i.e. based on the famous Sidney Paget illustrations - there's the long-stemmed cherrywood pipe ...
In “The Adventure of the Copper Beeches.” Holmes and Watson are discussing the latter’s chronicling of their adventures: “You have erred, perhaps,” he [Holmes] observed, taking up a glowing cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a disputatious rather than a meditative mood….”
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... the black or blackened-through-use clay ...
In “The Red-Headed League,” Watson describes a contemplative Holmes: “… there he sat with his eyes closed and his black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird.
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... or a straight briar, sometimes with a mount
In “The Man With The Twisted Lip,” Watson recalls, “In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him….”
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