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'Dayyy from Athens-Greece with sun and 60 'F

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Rincon De La Pipa No. 1.
Wow, put a silver ring around the shank and that pipe looks almost exactly like the Design Berlin I just acquired. Love the way your photos always look so artistic. Hope the rebellion is going well.
 
Just finished a bowl of 2016 Christmas Cheer in an Ashton Brindle XXX. Got to take my girlfriend's mother in to get her COVID-19 vaccination today. Oh joy, she talks constantly and it drives me crazy.


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I am watching the Max [2015] film.

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After U.S. Marine Kyle Wincott is killed in Afghanistan, Max (which was injured in the incident) he refuses to leave Kyle’s coffin at the funeral.

Benjamin Hartwell Chesdin Mixture.


Wow, put a silver ring around the shank and that pipe looks almost exactly like the Design Berlin I just acquired. Love the way your photos always look so artistic. Hope the rebellion is going well.

Thank you sir! The briar on the rim and the ring is a mofification.
 
Some Benediction gifted from Brunello in a Pete 606 straight billiard. Don't usually smoke Lat blends in the am but this is smoooth stuff. However it is mu 3rd bowl, lol. 1st was PA in a cob, 2nd Rivendell in a Pete Rosslare bent. Now this with winter blend coffee.
 
I was about to compliment you on the nice cob but I think the Galleon takes top honors. Love the undulating rim. Just exactly how many pipes are in your collection? They all seem top notch!
Thanks brother. That Wiley was the first "good" pipe I bought back in 2007. It smokes wonderfully. I only have about 25 pipes in my collection with 9 of them being Peterson's. I enjoy the Pete's very much. I have a couple of meers, a few cobs and about 8 or 9 artisan pipes. I try to buy only those pipes I really want these days so I am very picky when it comes to adding one.
 
Wish I had your restraint. From here on only top grade artisan pipes. Probably next one from Ron Powell when I save up the coin.
Thanks brother. That Wiley was the first "good" pipe I bought back in 2007. It smokes wonderfully. I only have about 25 pipes in my collection with 9 of them being Peterson's. I enjoy the Pete's very much. I have a couple of meers, a few cobs and about 8 or 9 artisan pipes. I try to buy only those pipes I really want these days so I am very picky when it comes to adding one.
 
Wish I had your restraint. From here on only top grade artisan pipes. Probably next one from Ron Powell when I save up the coin.
Well unfortunately for my bank account I just got my first Tom Eltang a few weeks back and fell in love with it. I will be adding at least 1 more to the collection when the right pipe pops up at the right time. I have artisan pipes from Wiley, Ruthenberg, Rad Davis, Bruce Weaver, Tom Eltang. The meers are a Baki gourd Calabash and an IM Baglan hand carved Gandalf pipe. I think Wiley is still carving as of course is Tom Eltang. Ruthenberg and Rad Davis have retired (though Rad does the sanblasting on Mark Tinsky's pipes), Bruce Weaver has passed to his reward and I don't know about Baki and Baglan. Maybe I have just been lucky with my artisan pipes but they have all been outstanding smokers with fantastic engineering and they are beutiful to look at (at least to my eyes). I know there is a lot of debate about whether or not an artisan pipe is worth the extra money. If just depends. If you find the right artisan who has some proven experience and it's a pipe you want then I don't think you can lose. Of course cost comes into the picture. A bespoke pipe where you have a chance to interface with the makerhas some added intrinsic value as well since that pipe represents a relationship between you and it's creator. I can not smoke my Bruce Weaver without recalling my phone calls and emails with Bruce and remembering what a warm, wonderful man he was. It has become so much more than just a pipe. I really sort of chuckle sometimes when I see someone on a forum ridicule another brother after the purchase of an artisan or high end pipe with comments like" For the price of that pipe you could have bought..." Such folks don't really grasp the concept that there is really a different between what something cost and what it is to it's owner. I am proud to own good smoking cobs and good smoking artisan and factory pipes but there is something very special about my artisans that I would really not expect anyone but me to understand. I smoke and enjoy them all.
 
What am I smoking?

I'm smoking a bowl of Ashton Artisan's Blend in a Dunhill Shell bent billiard. Nice day for January here in East Tennessee. Took my girlfriend's mother in to get her COVID shot today; it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

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This afternoon: WC Aromatic #7 in a Nording Freehand Signature. Then, Peretti Cuban Mixture in a RD Pipes Bamboo Brandy.
The Nording was a Christmas gift from my son two years ago or maybe three?
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Well unfortunately for my bank account I just got my first Tom Eltang a few weeks back and fell in love with it. I will be adding at least 1 more to the collection when the right pipe pops up at the right time. I have artisan pipes from Wiley, Ruthenberg, Rad Davis, Bruce Weaver, Tom Eltang. The meers are a Baki gourd Calabash and an IM Baglan hand carved Gandalf pipe. I think Wiley is still carving as of course is Tom Eltang. Ruthenberg and Rad Davis have retired (though Rad does the sanblasting on Mark Tinsky's pipes), Bruce Weaver has passed to his reward and I don't know about Baki and Baglan. Maybe I have just been lucky with my artisan pipes but they have all been outstanding smokers with fantastic engineering and they are beutiful to look at (at least to my eyes). I know there is a lot of debate about whether or not an artisan pipe is worth the extra money. If just depends. If you find the right artisan who has some proven experience and it's a pipe you want then I don't think you can lose. Of course cost comes into the picture. A bespoke pipe where you have a chance to interface with the makerhas some added intrinsic value as well since that pipe represents a relationship between you and it's creator. I can not smoke my Bruce Weaver without recalling my phone calls and emails with Bruce and remembering what a warm, wonderful man he was. It has become so much more than just a pipe. I really sort of chuckle sometimes when I see someone on a forum ridicule another brother after the purchase of an artisan or high end pipe with comments like" For the price of that pipe you could have bought..." Such folks don't really grasp the concept that there is really a different between what something cost and what it is to it's owner. I am proud to own good smoking cobs and good smoking artisan and factory pipes but there is something very special about my artisans that I would really not expect anyone but me to understand. I smoke and enjoy them all.
Dave, believe me I totally understand. I thought the Galleon you recently showed was an absolute work of art. I have about 50 pipes now but any going forth will be artisan pipes, a Ron Powell or an Eltang. I would rather pay $500/$700 for a Wiley than a grand for a Dunhill. Same as when folks ask me why I ride Harleys when jap bikes are so much cheaper, and I tell them because they aren't Harleys, lol.
 
Well unfortunately for my bank account I just got my first Tom Eltang a few weeks back and fell in love with it. I will be adding at least 1 more to the collection when the right pipe pops up at the right time. I have artisan pipes from Wiley, Ruthenberg, Rad Davis, Bruce Weaver, Tom Eltang. The meers are a Baki gourd Calabash and an IM Baglan hand carved Gandalf pipe. I think Wiley is still carving as of course is Tom Eltang. Ruthenberg and Rad Davis have retired (though Rad does the sanblasting on Mark Tinsky's pipes), Bruce Weaver has passed to his reward and I don't know about Baki and Baglan. Maybe I have just been lucky with my artisan pipes but they have all been outstanding smokers with fantastic engineering and they are beutiful to look at (at least to my eyes). I know there is a lot of debate about whether or not an artisan pipe is worth the extra money. If just depends. If you find the right artisan who has some proven experience and it's a pipe you want then I don't think you can lose. Of course cost comes into the picture. A bespoke pipe where you have a chance to interface with the makerhas some added intrinsic value as well since that pipe represents a relationship between you and it's creator. I can not smoke my Bruce Weaver without recalling my phone calls and emails with Bruce and remembering what a warm, wonderful man he was. It has become so much more than just a pipe. I really sort of chuckle sometimes when I see someone on a forum ridicule another brother after the purchase of an artisan or high end pipe with comments like" For the price of that pipe you could have bought..." Such folks don't really grasp the concept that there is really a different between what something cost and what it is to it's owner. I am proud to own good smoking cobs and good smoking artisan and factory pipes but there is something very special about my artisans that I would really not expect anyone but me to understand. I smoke and enjoy them all.
@Tennessee Dave the old adage “smoke what you like and like what you smoke” applies to pipes as well as tobacco I believe. When I started back into pipe smoking a couple of years ago, I added some less expensive factory pipes and cobs to my meager 40 year old accumulation. Then a number of estate pipes. The outlier was a Limited Edition Larrysson bent Dublin, the Badger & Blade Brown Leaf POY, what a sweet pipe! While I still buy the occasional estate pipe, I tend to be more selective. I agree with your assessment of artisan pipes, they are a good way to go given the right circumstance.
 
Ready to enjoy a quiet, relaxing Saturday evening here in Eastern Tennessee with St. James Woods in a Rad Davis Squashed Tomato and bit of jazz. Life is good for this blessed ole man.

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