It was a dreary, overcast day as I took the first steps of my journey into Dark Moor. The persistent mist threatening to turn into a smothering deluge as the darkening clouds defeated the sun’s attempts to pick away the clouds. Even the cawing of the ravens clinging to scraggly waterlogged trees had succumbed to the heaviness in the air. …
It is an unfortunate truth that available pipe tobacco blends constantly change. Lost forever are old, revered tobacco blends. New blends go on sale. Then suddenly become hard to find or disappear. Old blends lost, new blends found is the constant we live with today. Hundreds of old pipe tobacco blends dating back to the late 1800s have completely disappeared. …
Keep Calm and Have A Pipe… Or is it have a pipe and keep calm? Either way works for me. I have always found pipe smoking to be relaxing and contemplative. There are times I light up my pipe just to relax and decompress. There are times when I light my pipe free my mind to think about… anything it …
One of the things I’ve “enjoyed” doing during the past year is exploring new tobacco blends. Define “new tobacco blends” as blends I haven’t smoked before. Since July 2020, I have become an even bigger fan of Rattray’s, HU Tobacco, Kohlhase & Kopp, and Dan’s Tobacco. The problem is that many of the blends I enjoy are hard to find …
When is an estate pipe find not sweet? When it’s a Savory pipe. If you never ever heard of a Savory pipe, you’re not alone. When I first saw the “Crown over S” logo I thought it was a Stanwell. But, it was stamped “Made in London England” so I knew it wasn’t a Stanwell. I started doing some research. …
Pipe smokers keep asking me how I keep finding good pipes at antique shops, malls and junk shops. My answer is always, “Just dumb, blind luck,” and that is the Truth. I’ve come to the conclusion, that I go looking for a pipe, I don’t find one. For some reason, I seem to have more success just going into a …
I saw my first Ardor pipe seven years ago at a Denham Springs “antique shop.” It had eight or nine beautiful, new Ardor pipes on display and priced at the MSRP. This “antique” shop – about a half-step above a roadside flea market, was asking full retail for the pipes. The least expensive one was $375. (In my opinion, an …
Which Stem for Which Pipe? When the Ben Wades arrived, the Martinique came with a beautiful, amber colored but transparent acrylic stem. There was a minor amount of tooth chatter near the bit, but nothing I felt the need to repair. The airway, on the other hand, was black from being smoked. The stem was tight in the mortise and …
Not Ben Wade the U.S. politician or Ben Wade the baseball player and scout, but Ben Wade pipes. Specifically, a Ben Wade Martinique and a Ben Wade Royal Grain produced by Preben Holm in Denmark. I first saw the Martinique and the bowl for the Royal Grain at Penny’s Little Flea Market just outside of Marion, MS two weeks ago. …
August has been a good month for rescuing pipes from various antique shops in Mississippi. Earlier this month, I bought a Peterson Kapp-Royal and a Søren Refburg Rasmussen freehand from an antique mall in Picayune, Mississippi. Click the link to read about the Peterson and read about the Søren at the end of this post. This past weekend, we visited …
