Having Cornell & Diehl Exclusive (courtesy of
@PaulRVA ) in a sandblasted Savinelli Autograph Fan (with a finger hole), which I refer to as my “Second Chance” pipe. I’ve alluded to the background story on this pipe; now that a year has passed, here’s a more complete version: Back in 2024, I had been eyeballing this pipe on the smokingpipes.com website for awhile, but was between checks and couldn’t pull the trigger on getting it; the July 4th sale was happening and somebody snagged it when I couldn’t. I was pretty disappointed.
After work, on July 17th, 2024, I was on my way to my brother’s place to play table tennis (something we’ve done just about weekly since 1984 with a few gaps due to injury and the pandemic). I felt short of breath after every point while playing that night. This being unusual, my brother urged me to go to the hospital. I was half considering it on the train ride home. Fortunately, he called Susan on the phone to tell her what was going on. She met me at the train station and convinced me to go get checked out right away. We had finally gotten a new electrician to begin work on our house Thursday morning, the 18th. I wanted to wait until we got back to Pennsylvania, but Susan insisted we get me looked at in Brooklyn now. I acquiesced. Had I been stubborn, I might not be here.
Anyway, on July 19th, 2024, I was stuck in a hospital bed with not much to do except be in that bed—I had been in the ICU since the morning of the 18th. I was checking out the smokingpipes site and the pipe that I was drooling over just a couple weeks earlier reappeared! Maybe it was bigger than the buyer expected (it measures over eight inches in length) and it got returned. I have no idea why it reappeared, but I took this as a sign I was meant to have it and ordered it immediately. I seized my second chance.
In the ensuing months,
@PaulRVA and
@Chasing Embers (among other friends here) checked in on me with regularity—which touched me dearly. Paul had sent me some Exclusive prior to my medical issue; it only made sense to dedicate Exclusive to this pipe which now serves as a reminder to me of the most precious things in life—family and friends. Here’s to Second Chances!
Progress picture on my Yenidje tobacco sprouts:
