What's the story of your favorite pipe?

[rmbittner]

I own my share of higher-end pipes -- Dunhills, Castellos, Charatans, Radices. But my two favorite pipes were decidedly less expensive. They aren't favorites because of their brand names but because of the stories behind them.
My first briar pipe ever was a no-name Tinder Box pipe purchased for $8 back in 1980. It has no fills, no pits, and it has darkened beautifully over time. It wasn't so pretty initially -- the wood was oddly pale in a few places when I bought it -- but it has become my most treasured pipe because of the time I've spent with it and the friends I shared that time with. And it's seen everything from North Sea to Balkan Sobranie to Royal Yacht (ick) to Penzance.
My second favorite is a Sasieni Claret, a "second" from the mid-1980s. At the time, I was a full-time proofreader for a publishing company, working part-time at a Tinder Box. At the Tinder Box, I picked up Rick Hacker's first book, The Ultimate Pipe Book. I loved the book, but I was shocked at how many typos and errors there were in the text. So I wrote Rick a letter about it. He actually called me up and hired me to re-proof the text before the book's second edition. As payment, he sent me this Sasieni Claret and some assorted tins of tobacco. Granted, he got off cheap! But I still have that pipe -- which does have a noticeable fill -- and every time I smoke it, I'm reminded of the contribution I was able to make to his book.
Anyone else have stories to share?
Bob

 

[tbradsim1]

That's a good story, the old cajun

 

[rmbittner]

Forty-some pipes, and those are really the only two that have any "story" to them whatsoever. One of my great-grandfathers smoked a pipe, and it would be wonderful to have one of those -- you know, something with some personal history to it -- but I don't. Everything else I have is "just a pipe." Those two budget pipes are the only ones that bring any specific memories to mind as I enjoy them.
Anyone else?
Bob

 

[lyle]

I wouldn't say it was my favorite, really, but the pipe that comes to mind is an amateurishly carved freehand that I bought while on vacation with my wife. I was a new pipe smoker then, and I was determined to buy a pipe from a "local carver" at some point on that trip (we were going through tobacco country at the time). The pipe is heavy and huge and terribly finished, but it has some really beautiful plateau briar on top that reminds me of the rocky, shallow streams and rivers that run through the smokey mountains. At the time, it was the most I had paid for a pipe. At this point, it is the exact opposite of the type of pipe that I am attracted to, but I will never get rid of it. Every time I smoke it, I think of that trip.

 

[atboth]

My current favourite is a Benton I purchased as a tester over five years ago. There is no real story behind it - I was at Grants on Market Street, it looked like a decent pipe. Odd thing is it tells me I'm lopsided. It hangs crooked out of the right side of my mouth, but perfectly angled on the left.
For a long time I didn't pay much attention when I smoked it, but it eventually manifested itself as one of the best smokers I have. And it feels nice in the hand.

 

[joshwolftree]

My favorite two pipes, because of the stories, have to be my Carved out Deer Antler and my Medico lancer.
The deer antler was given to me by a great friend, He had bought it years ago on a whim and never smoked it. I only use it for when I'm smoking a prayer for somebody. It's a tiny bowl maybe 20 minutes on a really slow smoke but it burns right to the bottom and leaves nothing but a fine gray ash.
The medico used to be my grandfathers. I found it in his old workshop not long ago. According to my dad he used to hide out down there when Grandma got to nagging him. Every time I smoke it I think of him down there muttering about that d@^m woman, trying to work him to death. At the same time I found one of his old tampers it's was originally some sort of iron pin out of something. It's a brylon pipe so its not necessarily the best smoke out there. The bowl gets kinda hot, which isn't helped by the riducuthin walls. It gurgles like crazy if I put an aro in it, or an english that I haven't let dry enough. But a good dried out English, and the stars lined up just right, and I'm just in that mood to be nostalgic and listen to radio shows, while clenching a pipe and doing some woodworking with some old hand tools, and that pipe is amazing. Like I said it makes me think of my grandfather. Sometimes I can almost see him smiling at me through the smoke. Sometimes I can almost here his laugh, or him telling me "We'll work till we die me and you, we're the same, neither of us knows when to give up."

 

[baronsamedi]

My Meerschaum pipes are my favorite, if I had to pick, particularly my first one (in the middle). It's a big billiard with a simple grape leaf design. I got it on Ebay with a busted mortise for $10.99 and fixed it up. Later I sent it to Walker Briar Works for a draft hole improvement and it smokes like an absolute dream now. I smoked it almost every day for a year. It was my go-to pipe for trying any new tobacco, including my all-time favorite!

Here is the pic from when I first got it. I've put some color on it since then!

Oh yeah, I can't forget my Peterson African Meerschaum, too. Great smoker.

 

[hawk60ce]

I have a few pipes from my grandfather and father in law that I don't smoke often. I like them just because they are heirlooms. Grabows and Willard's, but they're cool.

 

[rmbittner]

Joshwolftree: Thanks so much for sharing that information about your grandfather's Medico. Exactly the kind of thing I was hoping folks would post.
Bob

 

[judcole]

Only have one really good pipe story.

First year we were married, my wife had been doing a bunch of Christmas shopping at the shops in the Fisher Building here in Detroit. As her last stop she went into the Churchill's of Birmingham shop there. (At that time Churchill's had several shops around the Detroit area.) She bought me a gourd calabash as my present. Going out the revolving doors, her arms full of packages, the bag with pipe got caught in the door, and got smashed. Crying, she went back into Churchill's. (We were not exactly rolling in dough at that time.) The clerk put a new calabash in the broken box, and wrote off the other one.

I still have that calabash, and still enjoy smoking it. Smoked it on Thursday, with the Holiday Spirit my secret Santa sent me. I still have a soft spot in my heart for Churchill's. They only have the main store, now, in Birmingham, which is not really close by, so I haven't been in one for quite some time. I'll have to drive out there sometime soon. :puffpipe:

 

[locopony]

I dont have my favorite pipe yet.

 

[winton]

I have two pipes from Jasongone. He used to post here a lot. He was an artist with a dremel. Actually, I prefer the straight pipe, even though I have a very strong preference for bent pips. The rustification is really cool and the grain is awesome. It also smokes really good.
Winton

 

[rmbittner]

Jud: I love that story! And it might please you to know that I visited the Birmingham Churchill's several years ago -- not being from the area, I'd never heard of them before -- and was pleasantly surprised to discover a quite well-stocked shop. I'm used to places like this having a ton of cigars and a half-dozen pipes and maybe some bags of bulk pipe tobacco. But Churchill's had a really good selection of tins, and I remember picking up some Margate, And So to Bed, Gordon Pym, and Penzance while I was there. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to spend taking in their pipe selection. . .

 

[rmbittner]

locopony wrote:

I dont have my favorite pipe yet.

Best that you keep searching, then!
Bob

 

[piperl12]

I guess my favorite pipe is a straight dublin pipe that belonged to my father who smoked a pipe for 50 years. The pipe was made by Brigham pipes in the 60's and now has a body filler plug in the bottom from burnout and is held together by black electrical tape. The bit is chewed through and scratched. It is not a pretty pipe but it was his, and I am one of the men who's father to this day will always be his hero. He was a build like a brick outhouse Irishman who smoked a pipe because he smoked. The pipe always looked tiny in his big hands but it smokes like a dream and even though I have never liked Amphora Regular pipe tobacco in any other pipe, this pipe smokes it well because it never saw anything else in thirty years.

 

[morton]

I still have my first pipe that I bought at a tobacconist shop in my small town over 30 years ago when tobacconists and cornerstores could be one and the same. Its a Peterson apple billiard Shannon with the nomenclature badly skewed. I'm sure that Old Mike thought that I was going to smoke something else in it but I never did. I still smoke it occasionally. Its taken almost this long to get ghost of that horrible cherry aromatic out of it. My favorite pipe right now is a Peterson system african meer that just gives super smoke after super smoke, any tobacco, any time.

 

[captainprophesy]

Great story... I dont really have any remarkable stories behind any of my pipes. I have two that were gifts (one from my wife and another from my best friend) and my very first pipe I purchased... the three pipes have sentimental value but no story behind them.
I guess I have a very boring small collection :P