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Some say that the closest thing to heaven is a quiet corner and a good book – I might add and a pipe. I have just finished reading The Western Island by Robin Flower. The book relates Life on the Great Blasket Island off Ireland’s west coast in the 1930’s. Robin Flower was a professor of Gaelic language and this island was one of the last colonies of Gaelic speakers.
His summers were spent with the people of the Great Blasket and one person he always spent time with was Big Peg, an elderly woman and one of the finest Gaelic speakers known to him. He often sat with her by her smouldering peat fire…”and taking a pipe from the hole in the wall at the back of the fire, picked up a burning fragment of turf in the tongs, set it on the bowl of the pipe and began to draw the smoke through the short stem.” The room note from this peat smoke must have been eye watering. Well, if they ever ban tobacco, we can always follow Big Peg’s example. In the meantime, I will enjoy Capstan Navy Flake packed into my Dunhill with a large mug of black coffee. Happy New Year!
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Loaded a bowl of McClelland Black Shag from the Persian slipper on the mantle into a Pete Watson. Just kidding, about the slipper, not the tobacco or the pipe, lol. Gifted by our fellow BoB, MikeM. Tin date was Jan 2021. Opened and jarred it in sept of 2021 but didn't smoke it till Oct of this year. Decent tobacco but as Jiminks reviewed pretty one dimensional. Not a lot going on. Don't know that I buy the story about Sherlock Holmes smoking this. On my 3rd mug of coffee. Gray and overcast here. Maybe some rain later. Only up to 45 today.
 
Back to burley. John Patton Storm Front in a MM general cob. On my 4th mug of coffee. Lazy morning since wifey decided to cancel her riding lesson. Too cold, wet, and windy. So just sitting here, enjoying my pipe and coffee, and contemplating life. Seems like our quiet, quaint little town is in the midst of change with all the idiots from Cali moving in. Yesterday a guy walked into a Chipotle and stole all the take out orders. Never would have happened a couple of years ago. I'm surprised no one shot his ass as probably 30% or higher of the population carries concealed.
 
Back from work, Smoking a Bari Wiking long bent Rhodesian with SWR aro and a mug of my re-heated morning coffee (too lazy to make a fresh pot!) Seems like my boss hired a new cook,so I got demoted to the cleaning crew with a raise,LOL! My boss always hated me and was always after his wife to fire me. The jokes on him as I am sure he does not know about the raise in pay. The cleaning crew is great and there`s less headache`s and responsibilities. This is great!
 
JimInks said:
Willard pipes were sold in drugstores, too. My father bought one in the late 1950s, though he didn't stick with pipe smoking. And that became the pipe I started with.
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I finally found some info on pipephil.eu (LOVE that website), it says they were produced by Sparta/Dr. Grabow in North Carolina from the early 60's to the mid 70's. I can't find any info beyond that but if your dad got one in the 50's I'm wondering if "Willard" was an independent pipe company/brand prior to the 60's, that Sparta/Dr. Grabow bought up? I hope you still have that pipe JimInks!
 
Close to finishing this bowl of year 2014 Edward G. Robinson's Pipe Blend in a 2014 Basil Meadows smooth slight bend squashed tomato with an aluminum band and a black pearl acrylic stem in the military mount style. It's supposed to rain most of the day, so no walking for now.
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mosin1932 said:
I finally found some info on pipephil.eu (LOVE that website), it says they were produced by Sparta/Dr. Grabow in North Carolina from the early 60's to the mid 70's. I can't find any info beyond that but if your dad got one in the 50's I'm wondering if "Willard" was an independent pipe company/brand prior to the 60's, that Sparta/Dr. Grabow bought up? I hope you still have that pipe JimInks!
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I do. It's the most important pipe I own because it was my dad's. It's the bottom pipe.
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Smoked a big bowl of John Dengler 1917, a light vanilla aromatic, out of a meerschaum for breakfast. Now giving Haunted Bookshop a second try in a Peterson Kapet 87 while watching my favorite soccer team get blown out by my least favorite soccer team...I am worried about forming an unfair negative association.
 
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Half way through this bowl of year 2020 Dunhill Elizabethan Match Plug in a black sandblasted quarter bend 2015 Rossi Vittoria author with a tapered black vulcanite stem. Daisy the Feral Princess and Tomato the Brave slept on my deck and were waiting for me to feed them. They got extras! Shy Stripesy doesn't go out in the rain, so I don't expect to see her.
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Enjoyed a ten slice stack of cinnamon raisin French toast with a sliced golden delicious apple and unsalted peanuts on the side. I'm closing in on the last third of this bowl of year 2014 Sutliff 1849 in a medium bend smooth dark brown 1968 Barling 5631 London England TVF billiard silver spigot with a tapered black vulcanite stem. King David Coffee Fog Lifter, neat, is my drink. Been watching the That's Entertainment series on TCM.
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A quarter of the way through this bowl of D&R Penhooker Silver in a straight smooth dark brown late 1890s, early 1900s WDC bulldog with silver bands around the ridges, a decorative sterling silver band and tapered black vulcanite stem with an orific bit.
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Half way through this bowl of Erik Stokkebye 4th Generation Evening Flake in a smooth medium bend 2021 Peterson Ebony POTY 4AB No. 422/500 military mount with a silver cap and a tapered black vulcanite AB stem. Ice water and bergs is my drink.
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JimInks said:
Part way through this bowl of Chris Morgan Jackalope in a straight smooth medium brown year 1912 Henry Tongue bulldog with a silver cap and band and an amber saddle stem with an orific bit.
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I've always wondered, how does an amber stem compare with other types (i.e. different enough to really matter?)
 
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