What is the purpose of these? What do they actually do??

[mawnansmiff]

There are many 'kits'....

1. kit, n.1 View full entry14..
...A circular wooden vessel, made of hooped staves; in different localities applied to vessels of various sizes, with or without a lid, and usually having a handle or handles; as, a small...

2. kit, n.2 View full entry? 1520
...A small fiddle, formerly much used by dancing masters....

3. kit, n.3 View full entry 1562
...= kitten1....

4. † Kit, n.4 View full entry 1533
...Used esp. in Kit has lost her key....

5. Kit, n.5 View full entry 1584
...Kit with the canstick or candlestick = Jack-o'-lantern...

6. kit, n.6 View full entry 1815
...A composition of resin, pitch, and tallow applied to the canvas used for covering carcasses (see carcass7)....

7. kit, n.7 View full entry 1836
...A local name for the fish also called mary-sole, smear-dab, and sand-fluke....

8. kit, n.8 View full entry 1885
...A thin frame inserted in a plate-holder to hold plates smaller than those for which the holder was originally constructed....

9. kit, n.9 View full entry 1812
...= kit-fox...

10. kit, n.10 View full entry 1880
...A school of pigeons....

11. kit, n.11 View full entry 1834
...A basket plaited from flax....

12. kit, v.1 View full entry 1725
...transitive. To put or pack in a kit or kits; esp. fish for the market....

13. kit, v.2 View full entry 1758
...transitive and absol. To kitten, kittle....

Regards,

Jay.

 

[Chasing Embers]

There are many 'kits'....

1. kit, n.1 View full entry14..
...A circular wooden vessel, made of hooped staves; in different localities applied to vessels of various sizes, with or without a lid, and usually having a handle or handles; as, a small...

2. kit, n.2 View full entry? 1520
...A small fiddle, formerly much used by dancing masters....

3. kit, n.3 View full entry 1562
...= kitten1....

4. † Kit, n.4 View full entry 1533
...Used esp. in Kit has lost her key....

5. Kit, n.5 View full entry 1584
...Kit with the canstick or candlestick = Jack-o'-lantern...

6. kit, n.6 View full entry 1815
...A composition of resin, pitch, and tallow applied to the canvas used for covering carcasses (see carcass7)....

7. kit, n.7 View full entry 1836
...A local name for the fish also called mary-sole, smear-dab, and sand-fluke....

8. kit, n.8 View full entry 1885
...A thin frame inserted in a plate-holder to hold plates smaller than those for which the holder was originally constructed....

9. kit, n.9 View full entry 1812
...= kit-fox...

10. kit, n.10 View full entry 1880
...A school of pigeons....

11. kit, n.11 View full entry 1834
...A basket plaited from flax....

12. kit, v.1 View full entry 1725
...transitive. To put or pack in a kit or kits; esp. fish for the market....

13. kit, v.2 View full entry 1758
...transitive and absol. To kitten, kittle....

Regards,

Jay.

Baby foxes and squirrels are also sometimes called kits.

 

[timelord]

I think its a primarily British usage. I blame @mawnansmiff and/or @jpmcwjr

abbreviation of "whole kit and caboodle"...

...which is - I believe - an American expression

 

[bullet08]

Dumdum rounds for slingshot?

 

[mawnansmiff]

Baby foxes and squirrels are also sometimes called kits.

And they would come under sense 3 in the list.

Regards,

Jay.

 

[mawnansmiff]

abbreviation of "whole kit and caboodle"...

...which is - I believe - an American expression

3. colloquial. A number of things or persons viewed as a whole; a set, lot, collection; esp. in the whole kit. Also, the whole kit and boiling (boodle, caboodle, cargo). (Cf. caboodle n.) U.S.

1785 F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue Kit,..is also used to express the whole of different commodities; as, Here, take the whole kit; i.e. take all.

1788 R. Galloway Poems 170 'Twas whiskey made them a' sae crouse,..But now I wad na gi'e ae louse For a' the kit.

1820 P. B. Shelley Œdipus Tyrannus i. 12 I'll sell you in a lump The whole kit of them.

a1852 F. M. Whitcher Widow Bedott Papers (1856) xxiii. 257 The hull kit and cargo on 'em had conspired together.

1859 J. R. Bartlett Dict. Americanisms (ed. 2) 32 Biling, a vulgar pronunciation of boiling. The phrase the whole (or more commonly hull) kit and bilin, means the whole lot, applied to persons and things.

a1861 T. Winthrop John Brent (1883) xxviii. 237 I motioned we shove the hul kit an boodle of the gamblers ashore on logs. 'Twas kerried.

1861 C. Dickens Great Expectations III. i. 12 A better gentleman than the whole kit on you put together.

1869 Trip to Rocky Mtns. At one time there was good reason to fear that the whole kit and biling, as our men invariably called our traps, would be swept away.

1888 Boston Globe 5 Feb. 1/3 If any ‘railroad lobbyist’ cast reflections on his character he would wipe out the whole kit and caboodle of them.

1895 S. Crane Red Badge of Courage (1911) i. 14 Of course it might happen that the hull kit-and-boodle might start and run, if some big fighting came first-off.

1908 Dial. Notes 3 327 (East Alabama) Kit an(d) bilin, the crowd. Usually in the expression ‘the whole kit and bilin’. Cf. kit and cargo of the middle west.

1909 R. Parrish My Lady of South ix. 113 Wal, I'm yere now, an' I reckon ther whole kit an' caboodle will know 'bout it afore I leave.

1920 S. Lewis Main St. 50 The whole kit and bilin' of 'em are nothing in God's world but socialism in disguise.

1946 Newsweek 16 Sept. 32/2 It gave the farm and the whole kit and boodle to Stanley.

1969 Listener 22 May 707/3 The whole kit and caboodle of us were then investigated by the FBI to see how many subversives there were among us.
(Hide quotations)

Regards,

Jay.

​

 

[condorlover1]

They are pretty useful if you smoke meerschaum pipes as they act in the same way as a coloring bowl so that all the tar and other crap is absorbed. I suppose they are the 'Ever Lasting Gob Stopper' of Philt Pads. Its the same idea as a silver button, three penny piece or in one instance a steam engine bolt I had to dig out of an ancient meerschaum 'cutty' pipe. This is what causes pipes to color along the stem and half way up the bowl as in this one here in the picture that I am currently smoking as I type.

 

[burleybreath]

There's a way of packing a bowl that leaves a void below the tobacco wad (which works quite well, by the way) that some smokers use. Seems like that would obviate any perceived need for whatever these are supposed to do.

 

[Duck]

So they are not for tobacco pipes?????

Dri-Kules are for tobacco pipes. They lift the tobacco off the bottom of the chamber and keep it out of the moisture gathering at the bottom of the pipe. They're a much coarser wire and grid than the screens used in weed pipes. You'll find them in any British tobacconist, because sometimes they're useful.

 

[paulfg]

Dri-Kules are for tobacco pipes. They lift the tobacco off the bottom of the chamber and keep it out of the moisture gathering at the bottom of the pipe. They're a much coarser wire and grid than the screens used in weed pipes. You'll find them in any British tobacconist, because sometimes they're useful.

i agree
the weed pipe screens seam to be only one layer of mesh,these are designed to keep a space below the tobacco.
As stated by @condorlover1 useful to use with old meerschaums as they tend to have the draft hole at the bottom of the chamber and easily block

 

[Duck]

i agree
the weed pipe screens seam to be only one layer of mesh,these are designed to keep a space below the tobacco.
As stated by @condorlover1 useful to use with old meerschaums as they tend to have the draft hole at the bottom of the chamber and easily block

Yep! New meers too.

 

[anotherbob]

if you really can't stand tossing the dottle from a pipe then these are for you or if you can't figure out how to pack a pipe without sucking bits of tobacco into your throat these are for you. I've only known two pipe smokers that used these and both swore by them.