Monday, October 31, 2011

Annual Mississippi Camping Trip





Mark and I spent the weekend camping at Tishomingo State Park in northeast Mississippi. We had a great (but chilly) time. It's great to get into the woods. -T

Monday, October 24, 2011

New? Old?

A new but old looking rack from Mark. This rack looks like it's been in the family for generations. Nice job Mark! -T

Saturday, October 22, 2011

The Lawnmower Cottage



Two Cousin's friend Chuck came over and helped out w/ the building of the new home for my lawnmower. I think it will lead to bigger and better projects in the future. Chuck and I had a great time building and smoking pipes. -T

Thursday, October 20, 2011

The Amazing Axel Glasner!

I have been looking at the German pipe maker, Axel Glasner's work for 2 or 3 years now, but my timing was always a bit off. I never had money at the right time. Also, I had never actually seen one of his pipes. Just photos on the internet. I had been told by folks whose opinion I trust, that his pipes were very good, but that's not the same as holding it in your hands. I think this slowed me down when I thought of purchasing one. But recently the stars were properly aligned and Axel posted this beautiful pipe on his website. I had a little money so I emailed Axel and found him very easy to work with in spite of my lack of German. The pipe arrived and I was amazed to see that it was even more beautiful than the photos had led me to believe. The craftsmanship is first rate. The transition from briar shank to bit is incredibly smooth - almost unnoticeable by touch. It's smoking qualities are top notch. It's one of those rare pipes that smoke to the bottom of the bowl using one or maybe two matches. I'm very impressed. I'm pretty sure the stars will align themselves in proper order again in the near future. -T