A Musical Interlude

My daughter Maggie came by for the weekend. It's always great seeing her and we always have a lot of fun. Maggie is a young woman of many talents ( visit her website -  luvreforsale.com  ) and while the family was talking it up in the living room, my wife Pat brought up the old Dolly Parton song "I will always love". I broke out the guitar and Maggie and I sort of figured out the tune. Pat grabbed the camera and recorded the event on a whim. Maybe I'm biased, but I think Maggie sings like an angel. Thought I'd share it with you. -M

http://s658.photobucket.com/albums/uu302/hendrenpat/?action=view&current=HPIM0232.flv

Looking Our Best

Mark and I both attempt to keep our pipes clean. We are not absolute pigs when it comes to pipe maintenance - but at this time of the year, we both turn into cleaning machines. We may look shabby, old, slightly pathetic, but our pipes will look good for the Chicago Show! 

I recently had several stems oxidize and turn green rapidly. I am not sure why. Weather? Anyway, they looked bad. As though I never cleaned them. And they were difficult to clean w/ any of the creams, pastes, gooes that I have accumulated over the years. Nothing was working until I saw Jeff Gracik's blog. He had 3 posts on ways to clean your stems and they work. The bits on my pipes haven't been this black and shinny since they were new. Thanks Jeff! -T

Vollmer & Nilsson Chicago Preview.

Here's  a sample of what Martin and Anders will be bringing to Chicago this year. They make great pipes! I own 7 and I want more! -T

Vollmer & Nilsson website

What They Smoke Part 5 - Anders Nilsson

I was very happy to receive an email from my friend Anders Nilsson of Vollmer & Nilsson today. He sent some photos of a few of the beautiful pipes that he and Martin will be bringing to Chicago ( I'll post those soon) and he included a shot of the pipes that he smokes. -T

Here's what Anders had to say about them-

Evil tongues may brand me a "billiard taliban", but a look at this selection proves that accusation to be patently untrue. As a matter of fact, many days when I feel a bit adventurous, I reach for a Lovat, a Dublin, or even a Canadian... However, it is true that I prefer straight pipes of a classic cut - for some reason bents aren't really my cup of tea.

The pipes in my daily rotation are a mixture of our own rejects and classic English makes, with a sprinkling of Danish brands added. It should be mentioned that, much as I love the old English pipes, most of them have had to be "opened up" to provide a really good smoke. The exception to this rule is Dunhill: Of the few old Dunnies I have come in contact with, all have had a nice, open draw from the start.

The picture shows, from top to bottom: Dunhill Tanshell billiard; V&N billiard; GBD New Standard lovat; Comoy's Grand Slam billiard that has been among my favorites for ages; Dunhill Root chimney, cut down to billiard size; V&N army mount billiard; Stanwell Brass Band Canadian.

More Bookends

Another pair of bookends. One side for pipes, the other side for stuff. -T

Yours for $50 plus shipping (Sold)

Tobac 4 Chi

Okay- this was easy. I will be taking my 2 favorite tobaccos to the Chicago International Pipe & Tobaccaina Show (in just 2 weeks!). I love their flavor and they both stay lit and burn like champs. No multiple lighting or even worse- won't light. I suppose the only dilemma here is ... I wish I had something special to take and share w/ friends. I'm not really good at that - sharing that is. It's not that I'm stingy (well, not just that) but I really haven't a clue what other people would want to share. I don't know what's "Special". A couple of years ago pipe collector and all around good guy, Neill Roan, brought some nicely aged John Cotton and it was wonderful. But I don't know about vintage and extinct tobaccos- so I have nothing to share w/ friends. Maybe this will be part of my pipe quest this year- to discover the world of tobacco more fully. That's the fascinating thing about pipes and tobacco- the more you learn , the more there is to know. -T

Pictured above- Orlik Golden Sliced, wonderful Wolfgang Becker Bamboo, and S. Gawith Best Brown Flake

Book Case Finished + 2 Pipe Racks

The book case is done. While I was working on it I was able to use the "drying time" to make a couple of pipe racks. I've been wanting to make some bookend racks for a while, but just haven't gotten around to it until now. I think everything turned out pretty good ... at least pretty much the way I envisioned them.

If anyone is interested in any of them, send me an email. I would love to sell them. I plan to take the pipe racks to Chicago, so if you're going you can see them there. -T

Victorian Pipe Rack-

$95

Simple Bookends -

$40 pair (Sold)

Book Case -

$225 (Sold)