The word “meerschaum” means “sea foam” in German, alluding to its natural white color and its surprisingly low weight. Meerschaum is a very porous mineral that absorbs the tars and oils during the smoking Filling cut tobacco process, and gradually changes color to a golden brown. Old, well-smoked meerschaum pipes are valued by collectors for their distinctive coloring.
Butane lighters made specifically for pipes emit flame sideways or at an angle to make it easier to direct flame into the bowl. Torch-style lighters should never be used to light a pipe because their flames are too hot and can char the rim of the pipe bowl. Matches should be allowed to burn for several seconds to allow the sulfur from the tip to burn away and the match to produce a full flame. A naphtha fueled lighter should also be allowed to burn a few seconds to get rid of stray naphtha vapors that could give a foul taste to the smoke.
A Rhodesian is essentially a Bulldog, except where the Bulldog’s shank is diamond shaped, the Rhodesian’s is round, and in very rare cases, oval shaped. Much like its parent pipe, the Rhodesian is very difficult if not impossible to create without the use of a lathe, due to the precise rings that are turned into the bowl. The round shank of the Rhodesian tends to impart a chubbier look to the piece overall, a homebody counterpart to the out-and-about Bulldog. Often difficult to distinguish from the Author, Brandy and sometimes even the Tomato, the Apple pipe is traditionally a slightly shorter and softer version of the beloved Billiard. The more generous curvature is most noticeable at the top going toward the rim, and around the middle of the bowl, the walls of which are more convex than a Billiard’s.
Most, including myself, do not consider it “smoking”, in the same way I don’t consider myself an alcoholic because I have a beer once a week. It’s not an addiction, but certainly appeals to collectors and those that want to explore an incredibly diverse variety of tastes and smells. Also, pipes are made from various materials such as briar, clay, ceramics, corncob, glass, meerschaum, metal, gourd, stone, wood, bog oak and calabash. Pipes were and continue to be made of various sizes depending on what would be placed in the pipe. Because of the long history of pipes and the materials that were used to make them, they have become quite collectible. You may recall movies and television shows of Native Americans smoking pipes.
Both messenger and guardian, the great Wizard transcends even death to reach his goals of peace. At the end of the day, all those who bring light and work for peace deserve their rewards, perhaps even the pleasures of a simple pipe. Double-sided filter has both ends ceramic that can withstand hot smoke. Single-sided filter has ceramic end to the bowl and plastic end to the stem.
Well, Native Americans had pipe-smoking traditions before the arrival of Europeans in America. The 1964 Surgeon General’s report referenced earlier resulted in a boom in pipe smoking as the report claimed that pipe smokers actually lived longer than other smokers. Smoking pipe tobacco is not only harmful to the health of the user, but it is also a serious health risk to anyone exposed to its smoke. Secondhand smoke is classified as a known human carcinogen because it contains many of the harmful chemicals that are in the smoke directly inhaled by smokers. This bizarre little smoking instrument is designed to fit in the pocket of a vest, as the name implies. The bowl of the pipe is rather unique in that the chamber is actually oval shaped, and not round.
Do this until all the tobacco is in the pipe, tight enough so that when you tip it upside down, no tobacco falls out. It’s likely you’ll need to use the small nail to poke a hole down the center to let some air in. Test the draw on the pipe at this point; it should be reminiscent of sucking soda through a straw. This is the method that I prefer, and have had the most success with. We do not ship cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, or roll your own tobacco. Let’s cut right to the chase here; you can fit a lot of tobacco in this one.
The bowls of tobacco pipes are commonly made of briar wood, meerschaum, corncob, pear-wood, rose-wood or clay. Less common materials include other dense-grained woods such as cherry, olive, maple, mesquite, oak, and bog-wood. Pipe bowls are sometimes decorated by carving, and moulded clay pipes often had simple decoration in the mould. I made a conscious effort to identify pipe smokers in my travels, as soon as I decided on this focus for today’s column. While many pipe smokers came to mind from the past, I could not find anyone and could not tobacco pipe identify anyone that I knew who smoked a pipe today.
The most direct route is to look at pipe tobacco consignment shops like 4noggins and Boswell’s Pipes. Due to either the discontinuing of lines or small batch production that can never saturate the market, certain blends tobacco pipe are in perpetual demand. But as a general rule, compared to rare cigars or whiskies where a single serving may cost $100 or more, even the most rare pipe blends, if they can be found, will not cost much more than $3 a bowl. So a rare, ambrosial pipe experience can be had for the same price as a pour of well whisky or a yardgar.