@BROBS, I recently saw that Dr Grabow has a military mount, I've been eyeing it ?
Why Prof. Einstein Smoked Pipe This Way?
- Thread starter piperRowan
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sometimes you're blowing out "juice" to kill a gurgle, and the stem won't easily go all the way back in.
Theory: there's a shank/stem gap because they've mixed up their stems; the stems are mismatched and won't go in all they way because they're too big.
No idea...
How about the Freudian “sometimes a cigar is just a cigar...”
In that, at that place and time, these were photographed in that state, and nothing more?
Emphasizing, “no idea...”...
Quite a detailed observation of pictures though I might add!
How about the Freudian “sometimes a cigar is just a cigar...”
In that, at that place and time, these were photographed in that state, and nothing more?
Emphasizing, “no idea...”...
Quite a detailed observation of pictures though I might add!
For what it’s worth I have a friend who’s one of the premier slowsmoke guys in the States; he always leaves a gap between the stem and shank.
Yo Rich Funk - my definitive answer: one of the Morley's PC members grew up in Germany. He told me it is common practice there to leave a gap with the stem to make it easier to pull off the stem mid-smoke and shake out condensation. The official Slow Smoke Comite rules allow this, especially since now pipe cleaners are not allowed during the event. Possibly there were PC shortages during the war?
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I bought two of them in 1974, and never had a problem with them. In fact, the first one I bought back I still smoke. After several thousand smokes in that pipe, there's never been a problem with the ferrule. The same goes for all of my military mount pipes.
Einstein predicted the inevitability of an outbreak of Covid. He consequently posed with his 'stem out' to give future pipe smokers something abstract to take their minds off the pandemic.
No it would look like this then...cheap haha
Instead there is an extra step between the tenon diameter and the stem diameter. This makes the shank chubby. Like this...
Reasons this is done is not for cleaning but to give some complexity to aesthetics. It’s still best to wait for the pipe to cool before removing the stem. Stepped stems can also be cost effective to make compared to flushed stems.
The smallest part of the stem is still 12mm I’ve been told. So no worry about breaking it...
So the benefits of a stepped stem to a maker is cost and benefits the user in aesthetics.
This is just what I’ve been told while ordering/waiting on my pipe from Chris Askwith. I’ve only been a pipe smoker since May haha
Most people would like to have a longer pipe...
My guess is that it was a makeshift moisture trap... everytime I see pics of them smoking, the pipe is dangling downwards. The gap would give a space for a drop of moisture to go instead of in the airway.
This is the result of having pipe racks with top opening that are too small to permit a long pipe, or one with a wide bit, to be angled in from below. The only way to get a pipe into the rack was to remove the stem, insert it through the hole from the top, then reconnect it with the stummel. Some stems with flared bits wouldn't be able to reach far enough down to fully seat in the shank. But that's not the only reason to leave a gap because, even if the stem could be made to fully seat in the shank, doing so would make it more difficult to reverse the process when it came time to take the pipe out of the rack.
BTW, I'm not surprised the Duke of Windsor didn't baby his pipes. In that era Dunhills didn't cost an arm and a leg (not that that would have been a problem for the Duke). And pipes were not collectibles; they were simply vehicles for smoking tobacco—wear and tear was expected and showed they'd been well-used. When they got too grotty, they were tossed. No one needed to keep them in pristine shape to be passed on or sold to someone else. Then again, maybe the Duke was getting his pipes on Ebay.
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Absolutely excellent observation and reasoning re the poor design of table top pipe racks.
As for the mysterious habits of the British aristocracy and the royal family, and tossing out grotty old things, my knowledge is limited--particularly with regard to pipes.
Nonetheless from what I have seen of everything from old Savile Row suits, Lobb shoes, china, bed linens, and you name it, nothing, however inconsequential, was ever tossed out, and everything was maintained (as often as not, scrupulously by servants), or periodically repaired, generations at a stretch.
This not for Ebay or out of any particularly focused consciousness of collectibility or merit, and more with the thought that absolutely everything was an heirloom, and buying new things should be avoided whenever possible. Nice things were infinitely nicer when not bought but inherited.
As for Dunhill during the period the business was being run as a close-knit family dynasty inventing many aspects of modern global luxury brands, my impression is they took dead aim at changing the idea of any of their pipes being a disposable vehicle for smoking tobacco. (And that Edward, for example, like, say, seriously aggressive retail pipe pricing, was meant to advance the cause). Apologies for rattling on at quite such length. But, basically, I suppose my question (looking at the appalling state of the Duke's pipes) is, why wasn't there some man who regularly cleaned and polished them? But, hey, maybe you are right.
The real answer is that Duke was an absolute tosser.
I’m pretty sure he had other things on his mind than such trivialities.
I think you're right about the Duke of Windsor not tossing a grotty pipe—on principle. Rather than discard something that still had a useful life, HRH would more likely have returned it to Dunhill for repairs (and perhaps cleaning). And Dunhill would have been honored (I mean honoured) to oblige him.
