AJ
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You might want to fill a bowl, get it lit, sit back and relax. I don't know how long this little story is going to be. Maybe I can keep it fairly short but I want you to see this as it went down.
Some time back I was visiting my friend in his B&M and I had been there about an hour smoking my pipe and engaging in some light joking with my friend and a couple of his customers when an old gentleman came in. My friend obviously knew him and without either saying a word my friend went into the back of the store and brought out three large cans of Sir Walter Raleigh tobacco and place it on the counter in front of the old man. Neither had spoken and the old man handed my friend some cash. It must have been the exact change because no money was given back to him. The the old fellow ask my friend how he had been doing? They exchanged a few pleasantries and then Sack, that's what he said his name was, came over to the table where I was sitting with two other patrons and sat down. He made the usual small talk you expect to hear from a stranger about the weather and how hot it's been, asked how we all were doing, and then complained about feeling tired and old. The small talked continued and in a bit he took out a Kaywoodie and filled it with tobacco from a worn leather pouch that he had in his hip pocket. I notice his pipe didn't look like it was an old pipe but the bent stem had some significant teeth marks on the end and there was a fair amount of cake build up. Somehow how the conversation got around to the second World War. Sack mentioned he was in Patton's 3rd Army and he had fought in the Battle of the Bulge. My Dad had been in Patton's Army and had also fought in that same battle like so many others. I mentioned this to Sack and he asked if I knew what outfit my Dad had been in and I told him. Sack said he knew it well and that he had some pictures that he had taken while he was overseas and some of them included my Dad's outfit and asked me to come by his home sometime and he's share them with me. Turned out that he lives only four blocks from me and I told him I would really like to go by and visit with him and to see the pictures. Well Sack got up and kind of waddled out the door and my friend told me he was a retired postman and that had been living alone since his wife died about 5 years ago. Said he was one of the nicest guys you'd ever meet.
About a week ago I was in a local grocery store and ran into Sack and he immediately recognized me. He came over slapped me on my back as though he'd known me forever and asked when I was coming over. I relied,"You say", and he said that he wasn't doing anything that afternoon and it was a good time as any for him. Well I didn't have any plans so I told him I'd be over about 2:30. At 2:30 I was knocking at the door of his nice little Craftsman style home. You could tell by how well the house had been maintained and the yard landscaped that he was meticulous about the things he owned. He came to the door and invited me in to his home that was furnished with furniture from the 40's and 50's. Dated but really well made and kept. We sat down and I immediately noticed a wall mounted pipe cabinet that contained a collection of pipes. Sack sat in a recliner across from me and put his feet up as he leaned back. Then suddenly he sat up and apologized for forgetting his manners and asked me if I'd like to have something to drink and I declined wanting to get to see the pictures he had offered to show me. We talked a bit about this and that and he got up and left the room and when he came back he had a shoebox with him and he came and sat on the sofa with the shoebox between us. We spent about an hour and a half looking at the picture of his buddies and some that were of my Dad's outfit. Sadly there were no pictures that had my dad in them but he was able to tell me how his outfit and my Dad's fought together in two major firefights. He knew of the incident that my Dad was involved in when he won his Bronze Star. He told how scared he was and how tough that engagement had been. Sack had been right in the middle of that particular conflict along with my Dad and his outfit.
After we finished looking at the pictures I mentioned his pipe cabinet and how ornate it was. He said he had made it himself and he got up and walked over to it and opened it up. I got up and went over to get a closer look and saw that it contained about 25 pipes. Well you know how it is when two pipe smokers are around pipes. The conversation is going to be about pipes and tobacco and so it was for the remainder of my visit. Sacks pipes were all Kaywoodies and Dr. Grabow. He said he hadn't bought a pipe since 1949 and had never paid as much as $25. for one. I was somewhat taken back because the pipes didn't appear to be old from what I could see. They were all hung with the stems down and all of the stems looked fairly good with the exception of some tooth marks. I mentioned this and Sack said he replaced the stems about every 6-8 years. He didn't like the taste of old rubber he said. He handed me one of the Dr Grabow pipes and it was in remarkably good shape and I asked him if he was teasing me when he said they were all bought in the 40'S. He just smiled and said for me to follow him. So I followed him out to his workshop that was inside of his garage and I saw a big electric motor with a belt and the belt was attached to an axle in the middle with a buffing wheel on each end. This was sitting on his workbench and he said this is where he cleaned his pipes. Sack reached into the cabinet under his workbench and brought out two containers. One was a bottle of Olde English Lemon Oil Furniture Polish and the other was an old can of Johnson's Paste Floor Wax. I asked him what he did with those(get ready here it comes) and he said that is what he uses to maintain his pipes. My immediate response was to cringe. I looked at him intently and in disbelief. I was expecting a smile or something to indicate that he was kidding me. He said he was serious. He said he picked that tip up while in France. Said he was in a pipe shop in Nance and the shop attendant told him it's what they used on their pipes. I asked if the lemon oil and the wax, which had a strong odor of some type of solvent, didn't affect the taste of the tobacco as he smoked. He swore he had never detected any off flavors. He said he used the polish about every six months and he waxed them about every 3-4 months. We went back inside and he allowed me to check his pipes for any unusual odors and I didn't detect anything. I asked him about the tobacco he smoked and he said he only smoked one kind and that was Sir Walter Raleigh. Said he'd been smoking it since before going in the army. When asked about trying other types he asked me why should he? He said he like the SWR and didn't see any need to confuse the issue. I didn't argue.
After getting home I thought about the furniture polish and wax. I'm still thinking about it. Both have strong odors and for the life of me I can't understand why they don't affect the taste of his tobacco. OK here it is. I would like for my brothers here to put their heads together collectively and decide how it's possible that furniture polish and floor wax can be used to maintain briar pipes with affecting the taste of the tobacco. I don't know why Sack would make up such a story but I just am having a difficult time accepting it as truth. :scratch:
AJ
Some time back I was visiting my friend in his B&M and I had been there about an hour smoking my pipe and engaging in some light joking with my friend and a couple of his customers when an old gentleman came in. My friend obviously knew him and without either saying a word my friend went into the back of the store and brought out three large cans of Sir Walter Raleigh tobacco and place it on the counter in front of the old man. Neither had spoken and the old man handed my friend some cash. It must have been the exact change because no money was given back to him. The the old fellow ask my friend how he had been doing? They exchanged a few pleasantries and then Sack, that's what he said his name was, came over to the table where I was sitting with two other patrons and sat down. He made the usual small talk you expect to hear from a stranger about the weather and how hot it's been, asked how we all were doing, and then complained about feeling tired and old. The small talked continued and in a bit he took out a Kaywoodie and filled it with tobacco from a worn leather pouch that he had in his hip pocket. I notice his pipe didn't look like it was an old pipe but the bent stem had some significant teeth marks on the end and there was a fair amount of cake build up. Somehow how the conversation got around to the second World War. Sack mentioned he was in Patton's 3rd Army and he had fought in the Battle of the Bulge. My Dad had been in Patton's Army and had also fought in that same battle like so many others. I mentioned this to Sack and he asked if I knew what outfit my Dad had been in and I told him. Sack said he knew it well and that he had some pictures that he had taken while he was overseas and some of them included my Dad's outfit and asked me to come by his home sometime and he's share them with me. Turned out that he lives only four blocks from me and I told him I would really like to go by and visit with him and to see the pictures. Well Sack got up and kind of waddled out the door and my friend told me he was a retired postman and that had been living alone since his wife died about 5 years ago. Said he was one of the nicest guys you'd ever meet.
About a week ago I was in a local grocery store and ran into Sack and he immediately recognized me. He came over slapped me on my back as though he'd known me forever and asked when I was coming over. I relied,"You say", and he said that he wasn't doing anything that afternoon and it was a good time as any for him. Well I didn't have any plans so I told him I'd be over about 2:30. At 2:30 I was knocking at the door of his nice little Craftsman style home. You could tell by how well the house had been maintained and the yard landscaped that he was meticulous about the things he owned. He came to the door and invited me in to his home that was furnished with furniture from the 40's and 50's. Dated but really well made and kept. We sat down and I immediately noticed a wall mounted pipe cabinet that contained a collection of pipes. Sack sat in a recliner across from me and put his feet up as he leaned back. Then suddenly he sat up and apologized for forgetting his manners and asked me if I'd like to have something to drink and I declined wanting to get to see the pictures he had offered to show me. We talked a bit about this and that and he got up and left the room and when he came back he had a shoebox with him and he came and sat on the sofa with the shoebox between us. We spent about an hour and a half looking at the picture of his buddies and some that were of my Dad's outfit. Sadly there were no pictures that had my dad in them but he was able to tell me how his outfit and my Dad's fought together in two major firefights. He knew of the incident that my Dad was involved in when he won his Bronze Star. He told how scared he was and how tough that engagement had been. Sack had been right in the middle of that particular conflict along with my Dad and his outfit.
After we finished looking at the pictures I mentioned his pipe cabinet and how ornate it was. He said he had made it himself and he got up and walked over to it and opened it up. I got up and went over to get a closer look and saw that it contained about 25 pipes. Well you know how it is when two pipe smokers are around pipes. The conversation is going to be about pipes and tobacco and so it was for the remainder of my visit. Sacks pipes were all Kaywoodies and Dr. Grabow. He said he hadn't bought a pipe since 1949 and had never paid as much as $25. for one. I was somewhat taken back because the pipes didn't appear to be old from what I could see. They were all hung with the stems down and all of the stems looked fairly good with the exception of some tooth marks. I mentioned this and Sack said he replaced the stems about every 6-8 years. He didn't like the taste of old rubber he said. He handed me one of the Dr Grabow pipes and it was in remarkably good shape and I asked him if he was teasing me when he said they were all bought in the 40'S. He just smiled and said for me to follow him. So I followed him out to his workshop that was inside of his garage and I saw a big electric motor with a belt and the belt was attached to an axle in the middle with a buffing wheel on each end. This was sitting on his workbench and he said this is where he cleaned his pipes. Sack reached into the cabinet under his workbench and brought out two containers. One was a bottle of Olde English Lemon Oil Furniture Polish and the other was an old can of Johnson's Paste Floor Wax. I asked him what he did with those(get ready here it comes) and he said that is what he uses to maintain his pipes. My immediate response was to cringe. I looked at him intently and in disbelief. I was expecting a smile or something to indicate that he was kidding me. He said he was serious. He said he picked that tip up while in France. Said he was in a pipe shop in Nance and the shop attendant told him it's what they used on their pipes. I asked if the lemon oil and the wax, which had a strong odor of some type of solvent, didn't affect the taste of the tobacco as he smoked. He swore he had never detected any off flavors. He said he used the polish about every six months and he waxed them about every 3-4 months. We went back inside and he allowed me to check his pipes for any unusual odors and I didn't detect anything. I asked him about the tobacco he smoked and he said he only smoked one kind and that was Sir Walter Raleigh. Said he'd been smoking it since before going in the army. When asked about trying other types he asked me why should he? He said he like the SWR and didn't see any need to confuse the issue. I didn't argue.
After getting home I thought about the furniture polish and wax. I'm still thinking about it. Both have strong odors and for the life of me I can't understand why they don't affect the taste of his tobacco. OK here it is. I would like for my brothers here to put their heads together collectively and decide how it's possible that furniture polish and floor wax can be used to maintain briar pipes with affecting the taste of the tobacco. I don't know why Sack would make up such a story but I just am having a difficult time accepting it as truth. :scratch:
AJ
