Gorgeous bent billiard witht he famous Boswell sandstone stain (my favorite Boswell finish). This pipe sports a new stem material which I guess you could call a "vanilla fudge swirl" acrylic stem. The finishing touch is a band made from a shotgun shell. I think this piece is stunning.
Another sweet Viprati pipe. I really love how these pipes look and smoke!
I really love the Sasieni 4-Dots...especially in the Rough Root Light finish. I bought this one today and am looking forward to enjoying many smokes with it.
Inside the jar was a large blob of briar hideously mutilated by some sick twisted creature. It had a jagged plank of hard rubber sticking out of its back orifice and a gaping hole in its head. The "face" was contorted in geometrically impossible distortions. Looking closer I realized that this was not just a piece of wood but was actually a pipe!
Whoever, or "whatever", created this monstrosity must have a heart of black ice and a terminally diseased mind. While this pipe seemed to be functional I could not see how anyone would have the courage to actually smoke this thing.
A note fell out of the jar and on it was an address to a web site. I went to the site and found that it was the home of a ghoul who calls himself "The Pipe Butcher". It was this "Pipe Butcher" that created the pipe I just received.
From the site I learned that the pipe's name is Bilious Tortoise and he's really not that hard to get along with. Bilious says that while he is smoker-friendly, he really does not enjoy the company of other briars. Territorial to the extreme, Bilious has recently taken a fancy to a cute little meerschaum brandy and they enjoy sharing a common space on the same pipe rack.
Bilious has expressed an interest in writing a few columns here on "Straight grain" so stay tuned to read about pipe smoking from a real pipe's point of view. It should be fun. Until then, beware the Pipe Butcher!
While browsing some sites this morning I came across this gorgeous pipe by JM Boswell and I could not resist buying it. This makes Boswell #24 for me. I just know that this will be a fine smoking pipe.
The horror...
It arrived this afternoon. A plain brown box on the porch sitting on top of a patch of ice discreetly delivered with no signs of who placed it there. I brought the box into the house immediately in fear that the contents would be damaged by the bitter cold air.
Upon opening the box I found newspapers from a faraway land and what appeared to be glass. I cleared the paper debris and pulled out an ancient glass jar. By the looks of the lid it had been sealed for long-term storage, almost as if whomever sealed it did not want what was inside to come out. There was a large bed of what seemed to be corn cob grounds. I do not know what one would use such a material for as there is no recipe known to mankind that employs ground up corn cobs. It is not an edible matter, nor is it used for fuel or anything practical, so why did some stranger leave this tightly sealed glass relic full of unusable waste matter? Then something happened...
Something inside the jar was moving. I quickly put the jar onto the floor and moved far away so I could watch from a safe distance. For what seemed like eternity there was no movement other than the rapid beat of my palpitating heart. The cob started to rustle then it began to be strewn all around the inside of the jar. The thing in the jar started to shake and convulse like it was possessed by some vile force that was penetrating it's very soul. I feared that the glass would surely shatter at any moment. Soon this creature was going to be unleashed upon the world bringing unspeakable horror with it. Whatever was in there was angry and it wanted out...NOW!
There was a sudden silence. Nothing moved and the jar remained intact. I slowly, cautiously, inched towards the jar. The air was so thick with suspense one could slice it with a knife. As I got within inches of the jar a flash of tan and black appeared on top of the cob grounds! It was then that I was face to "face" with pure horror. This was not good.
To be continued...
Stanwell has a new line of pipes called "Harlequin" and they are very similar to the Kirsten pipes in design. Apparently you buy a bowl and a stem that are interchangeable. The stems come in various colors and seem to be made of acrylic. The bowls are genuine briar bowls that screw into the stems. I have added a couple of pictures as examples of the new series.
So are these new Harlequin pipes a great new thing or just plain ridiculous? Personally, I am on the fence with this one. Let us know what you think!
To see more about these pipes or to purchase one, they are available at Dan Pipes, Danmark.
I really like Stanwell pipes so when I saw this new panel billiard shape I knew I was going to have to start collecting them. This one will be the first one in what I hope to be a series of one in each finish. This one is in the Legend finish. The brass band is a nice touch to the transition of the reddish-orange to the jet-black stem.
For a long time I wondered about how good the Mario Grandi pipes are. I've seen them on EBay for a couple of years now but so far very little information about them. I recently found out that the pipemaker who makes the Mastro Beraldi pipes also makes the Mario Grandis.
This pipe was the very first Grandi I have seen sporting a white stem. It also has a gorgeous blue acrylic shank band and the shape reminds me very much of the 2002 Nording Hunting Pipe.
