What is Your most Ridiculous piece of Kit?

[Verdant]

A custom Peterson pipe stem tamper. Its too big, heavy and looks odd by itself.

View attachment 104809

Haha a little too phallic.

 

[mikethompson]

We need more info on that! Looks like it's from the 1970's? Is it forced air or a heater (or both)?
What does the manual say? From The Smithsonian Collection?

It is not mine, but I did run into an ad for it once. I think it was marketed in the 1970s as a way for pipe smokers to dry out their pipes after smoking using a small heater.

 

[Smoke dog]

I have a Laguiole cigar knife…lovely item

Ohh man I was checking those out this morning, very nice file work on the spine. I'd like to make one at my forge but never have made scissors before, heck never made a lock back knife before.

What's the ring gage on those scissors?

 

[Smoke dog]

There was a member here who wanted to carve a tamper out of a human metatarsal bone. Apparently you can just buy those legally. ...

I'm very much macabre inclined and would love love that. My friend has an old tibetan skull (human) that's has carved designs and silver scroll work, glass eyes, and the top of the scull comes off to reveal a silver dish. It was used to drink spirits and do monk type ritual's.
It's also legal. There is a company that sells "lab cultured" human skin. There is a person who makes shoes, wallets , and purses out of them. Apparently the top 1%buys so many there is a 5 year waiting period for them

 

[Smoke dog]

That would be a great keepsake. There were many Ghurkas in WW2 Burma and I've done alot of reading on that campaign. (A great memoir is 'Quartered Safe Out Here,' by George MacDonald Fraser; also good is 'Behind Japanese Lines: With the OSS in Burma' by Richard Dunlop )
I've also seen several great stories in recent years, including some bandits that tried to hold up a train in India and, too bad for them, they were charged by a Ghurka with his kukri. The Ghurka won.
More:
Why Gurkhas Are the Fiercest Fighters on the Planet (popularmechanics.com)

I believe I heard of a story of 100 ghurkas (possible seiks) that held off thousands of Afghanis. Long time ago. They were using muskets, fortified at a fort. Certified bad ass's

 

[Smoke dog]

A custom Peterson pipe stem tamper. Its too big, heavy and looks odd by itself.

View attachment 104809

Looks like an anti smoking warning.

"Pipe smoking may cause impotence"

 

[mikethompson]

the top 1%

They also buy the Bentley Bentayga. There is no accounting for taste.

 

[hawky454]

I’ll never smoke this, it makes a great display piece though. This is the only pipe I’ve bought with no intention of smoking it.

 

[SBC]

Rubber stem bits. Looked like a good idea, but just didn't work for me.

I agree in general, but I did wind up with a use for one:
I chipped a little chunk off the bit of a meer stem (when trying to open up the airway with a hand drill...), then superglued it back on. The glue-up is perfectly functional, but ugly as sin. So I cover it with a rubber bit, and nobody's the wiser.

 

[sablebrush52]

@sablebrush52 That is a thing I would very much like to see pictures of.

And so you shall…
The interior is snakeskin not croc.

 

[virginialover]

I don't have one but a pipe holster must be one of the most ridiculous items for pipe smoking, it just looks wrong.

 

[trouttimes]

I don't have one but a pipe holster must be one of the most ridiculous items for pipe smoking, it just looks wrong.

Looks like a great way to break a pipe to me. I know what a beating my phone takes when I wear it on my belt.

 

[saintpeter]

A pipe tamper made from a human carpal bone. It's a long story.

 

[mikethompson]

A pipe tamper made from a human carpal bone. It's a long story.

 

[chilllucky]

And so you shall…
The interior is snakeskin not croc.
View attachment 105717View attachment 105718View attachment 105719

Maybe you see Sherlock Holmes. I see a lumpy fisherman.

 

[sablebrush52]

Maybe you see Sherlock Holmes. I see a lumpy fisherman.

Don’t know any fisherman who wears a deerstalker hat.
I agree about the lumpy.

 

[Duck]

Don’t know any fisherman who wears a deerstalker hat.
I agree about the lumpy.

Yeah, it's a sou'wester though.

 

[pipestud]

If it's useless I won't keep it, but for some reason I like to keep an old ten penny nail that I found back in high school and occasionally use it as a tamper/pick. Me and some buddies were sneaking some beer behind a construction site for apartments when I found it. I had just kept it in a drawer with a bunch of old coins and then one day, who knows how many years ago, I was looking at my stash of coins, found the nail, and decided to use it for a tamper.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Yeah, it's a sou'wester though.View attachment 107792

Not if it's a depiction of Sherlock, old cock! An artist's rendering- could be either, depending on who and what's illustrated.

 

[sablebrush52]

Yeah, it's a sou'wester though.View attachment 107792

With a bow on the top? It's simply a badly done deerstalker. And who would put a calabash on an old seasalt. Nope, wrong, both you and Chillunlucky. I never claimed the likeness was a work of high art. Since when did Holmes have a bull neck? Gotta look more closely.