Why Prof. Einstein Smoked Pipe This Way?

[guylesss]

Great question! The Duke of Windsor seemed to have stored some of his Dunhills this way--which has long struck me as a bit odd (not to mention how aggressively chewed and very charred they were).

 

[3rdguy]

Larson is a genius.

I have the book with every cartoon in it. When I open that book it is tough to put it down.

 

[homesteader]

The tiniest visible gap between the stem and shank bothers me. If you were a perfectionist you might choose to pull the stem partially out to exaggerate the gap so it is now part of the design, and not an imperfection. Just a random thought.

 

[mso489]

Both Einstein and Tolkien were extra-creative minds that both neglected ordinary details of life, or invented new ways to relate to these details, so I suspect both had quirks in their daily habits -- Einstein more famously, but likely Tolkien too. It is likely neither could have told you why, or would have had to think about it a minute or a week to explain it. I'd subscribe to the less-clean pipe theory, but these guys were haunted by their notions, so it might be something more esoteric in either case, or both.

 

[mso489]

... the Duke of Windsor post suggests that maybe this was a mannerism cultivated by the royals and aspiring gents to show how fastidiously they maintained their pipes, always keeping the stem loose to better clean the pipe? Farfetched but a possibility.

 

[kurtbob]

I’m not gonna lie, I’m a cheap SOB. I do that with my cobs all the time. When the cheap plastic stems start to wear and get loose when all the way pushed in, I pull em out a little till they are tight. Hell, I can get another 8 months out of a stem......yup a cheap SOB

 

[greeneyes]

Modern-day smokers generally smoke, use pipe cleaners occasionally while they smoke, and then rest the pipe before removing the stem to clean it further.

I've seen several older gentlemen smoke their pipe and remove the stem while smoking to clean it. My best guess is that this practice has something to do with this. Either the stem doesn't re-insert fully on the warm, and now-expanded pipe, or leaving it incompletely inserted makes it easier to continue to remove it and clean it.

It makes sense. Not every pipe passes or passed a pipe cleaner, and indeed several stem passage bores are so narrow as to suggest the manufacturer never intended them to. Add to that the fact that stingers certainly don't allow the use of pipe cleaners.

 

[anotherbob]

Larson is a genius.

you probably already look at this then, but on the slim chance you haven't seen it.... The Official Far Side site. The Far Side Comic Strip by Gary Larson - Official Website | TheFarSide.com - https://www.thefarside.com/

 

[anotherbob]

My completely unfounded assumption was that they were old pipes with replacement stems. Why did I think that, no reason otherwise then jumping to conclusions.

 

[Pipelady20]

Modern-day smokers generally smoke, use pipe cleaners occasionally while they smoke, and then rest the pipe before removing the stem to clean it further.

I've seen several older gentlemen smoke their pipe and remove the stem while smoking to clean it. My best guess is that this practice has something to do with this. Either the stem doesn't re-insert fully on the warm, and now-expanded pipe, or leaving it incompletely inserted makes it easier to continue to remove it and clean it.

It makes sense. Not every pipe passes or passed a pipe cleaner, and indeed several stem passage bores are so narrow as to suggest the manufacturer never intended them to. Add to that the fact that stingers certainly don't allow the use of pipe cleaners.

See this is why I can't bring myself to buy a pipe that costs more than maybe $50-60 (yet). I'm pretty hard on my pipes and I will pull it apart if the pipe cleaner won't go through while smoking.

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

Its amazing that this thread still doesn't appear to have a definitive answer.. but I keep checking.

 

[BROBS]

See this is why I can't bring myself to buy a pipe that costs more than maybe $50-60 (yet). I'm pretty hard on my pipes and I will pull it apart if the pipe cleaner won't go through while smoking.

Then I would recommend an army mount pipe. ?

 

[jpmcwjr]

Great question! The Duke of Windsor seemed to have stored some of his Dunhills this way--which has long struck me as a bit odd (not to mention how aggressively chewed and very charred they were).

He was too weak to seat the stem all the way.

 

[jpmcwjr]

One of his equations showed that the 4 mm gap would lower the heat of the smoke at the button by 2/1000 of one degree Fahrenheit.

At the same time it's more efficient to not close the gap.

 

[tacoman]

I do it in slow smoke contests so that I can remove the stem and shake out the liquid without disturbing the burning tobacco. As BROBS suggests, as if it were an army mount. That’s my guess.

 

[lukasstrifeson]

EDIT: Fixed Capitalization in Title (See Rule 9)

My friend sent me this pic asking why Einstein smoked with a part of the mouthpiece pulled out. I found many pictures showing that he smoked pipe this way. I absolutely have no idea about this method. Anybody here smokes like this? and why?

Happy smoking.
View attachment 34744

Tolkien too.

View attachment 34749

I've heard it said it has a cooling effect similar to a reverse calabash. If that's the case, sounds like they didn't know how to smoke.

The tiniest visible gap between the stem and shank bothers me. If you were a perfectionist you might choose to pull the stem partially out to exaggerate the gap so it is now part of the design, and not an imperfection. Just a random thought.

Modern-day smokers generally smoke, use pipe cleaners occasionally while they smoke, and then rest the pipe before removing the stem to clean it further.

I've seen several older gentlemen smoke their pipe and remove the stem while smoking to clean it. My best guess is that this practice has something to do with this. Either the stem doesn't re-insert fully on the warm, and now-expanded pipe, or leaving it incompletely inserted makes it easier to continue to remove it and clean it.

It makes sense. Not every pipe passes or passed a pipe cleaner, and indeed several stem passage bores are so narrow as to suggest the manufacturer never intended them to. Add to that the fact that stingers certainly don't allow the use of pipe cleaners.

So immediately I noticed that both pipes had a wider shank/mouth piece, and this is exactly what I do with my pipes with these wider stems (the straight brandy shape in particular, also Castello Canadian or the shorter Shape 15).

It's a mixture of having to clean the pipe sometimes while smoking and having a flat stem which is surprisingly difficult to line up exactly shank/mouthpiece. (Something this also happens with the diamond shanks on my bulldog pipes).

 

[shikano53]

My take is why would anybody care or spend time speculating and asking the 'why' question in the first place? Must be covid19 isolationism at work.

 

[didimauw]

That’s what I thought. I ordered one anyways haha
View attachment 34755View attachment 34756
I haven’t met anybody who’s broken one before XD Just those who’ve lost them

Is the tenon extra long? Or the mortise extra short?

 

[3rdguy]

I will say, just put a forever stem on a cob and it does not seat all the way and I left it like that thinking it will be easier to remove the stem midway through a smoke....maybe Einstein was not stupid

It’s a cob so...

 

[canucklehead]

They were always losing the ferrules.

That is your theory on the stem gap, that it's related to that one ring vanishing?