↓
 

Losing the thread

Head Rambles Posted on by

Disaster struck last night.

I was sitting quietly. I stoked my pipe and went to light it.

The bowl fell off.

I knew this was coming. It has been more and more difficult to attach the bowl to the stem as the threads have become worn. I have a box of spare parts and managed to cobble together a pipe that just about works. But I’m waiting for the bowl to fall off again.

Okay, it’s not quite the end of the world. I have a load of other pipes ranging from very old Petersons, through Churchwardens to your bog standard ordinary straight pipes. But none of them are quite as good as my Elie. That’s the pipe I reach for when I want a puff and I would hate to abandon it.

So I dispatched an express pigeon to France and am awaiting in expectation for a response. I’m watching the pigeon loft in the hopes of a reply. Will Elie save my bacon? Will I have to revert to one of my more conventional pipes?

The tension is killing me.

I need to relax with a pipefull.

 

Comments

Losing the thread — 10 Comments

    • Condor.  I like the reviews it got too, especially the first one.  I buy in bulk along with fags for Herself so I'm not sure of the exact price here.  It's within shouting distance of €12 for a 25gm pack so you have my sympathies.

      • Thanks, Grandad! (not sure if I should appear so familiar!) Just a title, then.

        I now recall that Frank kindly sent me some Condor about 3 years ago.

        I took photos! Yes, that was nice.

        Reading the reviews, I see further down St Bruno mentioned in comparisons.

        I was also lucky enough to get from a local auction site, the tobacco paraphernalia mostly dealing in empty tins and the like, back in Feb 2013, a vacuum sealed tin of St Bruno Flake that dated back to WWII. He was a boy in Denmark, later emigrated to NZ, kept it all those years.

        As he wrote to me at the time of sale (and of course I opened it, took photos, and smoked it!)

        <i>"I don't know if you intend to try to smoke the tobacco. I did smoke the pipe a lot. This tin for me is more a nostalgic memory. As a boy on the North Sea coast and Kattegat these tins became prized items for the black market, though most of them were Capstan  or Player's Navy Cut cigarettes; drifted in from ships torpedoed or having hit mines.
        Because of the vacuum seal they were in perfect condition, though the label had mostly washed off , but the content could be identified from the embossed lids. A tin of 50 cigarettes were worth 50 kroner, nearly a week's wages.
        You can judge my age from above, but as Dan David often said in his ripe old age: I have a long life behind me, and a short one in front of me.
        I should have mentioned that these tins went through the black or "greyish" market, because anything drifting in on the Danish coast belonged, and still belongs, to the Crown through the local royal beach master, later to be disposed of by public auction."</i>

        Well, it was pipe tobacco, not cigarettes, and it had some sugar crystals in it but not mould.

        Not bad for nigh on eighty years old.

        I'd post pics, but I suspect your blog may not allow that or make feasible.

        Relegated to memory of really nice pipe tobacco previously smoked … ;=})

         

        • Familiarity is encouraged [within the bounds of normal civility of course].

          I would have thought that an eighty year old unsealed tin would have been worth something?  A bit like a rare bottle of wine – buy it but don't open!  Indeed, I have smoked St Bruno in the past, also Benson & Hedges Mellow Virginia, though the latter is a bit sweet for my taste.  Local shops only stock Condor and B&H anyway so I am restricted somewhat for choice.

  2. I thought that that black pitch that settles in the bowl bottom was what held pipes together. That and a little oakum.

    By the way, 'n ' that, what happened to your magnificent steam- punk pipe?

    • The thing about the Elie pipe is that the gunge is easily removed so the insides remain clean and pristine.  None of that horrible goo to get sucked into the mouth.

      I have a quite large selection of pipes.  I assume you mean my Trombone one?  Temporarily out of action….  crying

    • I doubt it as it's quite a small screw with a very short "bite" [part of the problem].  I might try something along those lines anyway.  Thanks for the thought!

  4. I feel for you, Grandad. Just about to enjoy 'a Condor moment' myself, too.

    Btw, Condor over here sells for about £7.50 for 25 grammes. About 9 Euros, I think.

    Chance for a keen lad to visit Norniron now and then?

    • I holidayed a couple of times in Ballintoy [great memories] some years ago.  Sadly since then if have been somewhat restricted in range, which currently stands at the distance to the village.

      I wonder if they sell by the ton?  That would make my trip worthwhile?

Hosted by Curratech Blog Hosting
↑