While browsing through some old Sears Wishbook archives, I discovered they used to sell pipes and accessories through their catalogue. While I didn't go through every catalogue, I found ads from the 1958 and 1977 editions offering pipes for sale. They seem to disappear sometime in the 80's, but I can't find the last time they show up in a Wishbook. Found on wishbookweb
@motie2 I can answer that. Reading that forum back in 2010 and 2011 was influential on me deciding to take up pipe smoking. After smoking a pipe for a year, I joined the forums and met some very cool people on there. Two of the members even sent me samples of blends to expand my pipe smoking horizons, which forever changed what I choose to smoke.
The posters on there are very nice, and I'd recommend anyone sign up and join them. Since the forum has been around for over ten years, there is an old guard, which can be a bit intimidating for newbies. Topics can also get off topic quick, and there's not much you can do to get it back on track. I did stop posting there, due to not being into forums at the time, and I can't seem to sign on anymore. I gave forums another chance when TPL started up, since it was a new forum. However, if you're interested in trying a new forum, and don't mind plenty of silliness, give them a try.
If you'd like to see a well laid out forum go to Pipechat, it had over 1000 members at one time and is a great source of info. Unfortunately there was a prolonged inactive period due to a software change and a really bad political upheaval that decimated it. There are still some members left and I contribute to it as much as I can. The upheaval was caused when a "Soapbox Section" was created for people to voice their opinions/ views, that was it. Soapbox was pulled in about 2 months, too late.
For @motie2 and others who use Linse lighters, Amazon has some available with a different skin from the usual stripes, although I'm not sure the new look is better. The one I just received resembles a Nintendo game controller which I find amusing. The lighter works great. I find it a bit hard to 'click' but the directional nozzle is a really nice.
@motie2, I had a similar experience yesterday. While I was typing a post, the font size kept changing back and forth from regular size to large size. By the time I finished the post, the software had settled down, and when I hit post comment, the font was regular size. My guess would be some sort of paranormal activity.
Whether we realize it or not, pipe smoking and change are inherently intertwined. Combustion, by definition, is change. When we apply the charring light, the visibly dark, mocha-colored leaf is rendered all the more so, before being met with the gentle nudge of a cool metal tamping foot. When the flame is reapplied, like the final winding of a pocketwatch, the gears of crackling tobacco start to turn within. But pipes are not pocketwatches. Their presence always seems, at least from the smoker's vantage point, to slow down time to a steady, gentle pace, easily followable without any need to rush. They also seem to, at least for the moment, make change a welcome thing.
Change is typically quite unwelcome, as it's an indicator of loss of control. It's difficult and therefore naturally incites resistance. In the context of enjoying a pipe, however, it's part of the pleasure of the experience. Over the course of a bowl, a given blend can greet the smoker with myriad flavors, with certain notes potentially making themselves known gradually over time, and others appearing intermittently from puff to puff. The smoke takes on a life of its own, adapting to our cadence and draw. But what is it about the framework of pipe smoking that shifts this paradigm for us, making change not only tolerable, but exciting?
Like a Rube Goldberg machine, when we enjoy a pipe we let the smoke run its course. We open our mind to the flavors and notes of whichever blend we happen to be enjoying, allowing them to evolve as they see fit. We sit back and watch the smoke billow and plume, with each draw slightly different from the last. Smoking, like life I suppose, is really about the experience, rather than the destination at the bottom of the bowl.
A very nice Pipes of Middle Earth video, with an obnoxious introduction. BE SURE TO SKIP THE LURID FIRST 26 SECONDS THAT HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH PIPES OR MIDDLE EARTH. [ONLY @ghostsofpompeii MIGHT LIKE THOSE FIRST 26 SECONDS] https://youtu.be/STmTzp4vZYs
Comments
.pdf of 236 pages for downloading
https://pipedia.org/wiki/Glossary
Found on wishbookweb
The posters on there are very nice, and I'd recommend anyone sign up and join them. Since the forum has been around for over ten years, there is an old guard, which can be a bit intimidating for newbies. Topics can also get off topic quick, and there's not much you can do to get it back on track. I did stop posting there, due to not being into forums at the time, and I can't seem to sign on anymore. I gave forums another chance when TPL started up, since it was a new forum. However, if you're interested in trying a new forum, and don't mind plenty of silliness, give them a try.
https://www.revolvy.com/topic/pipe tobacco&stype=topics
If you are interested in growing your own,
https://www.revolvy.com/topic/Types of tobacco&uid=1575
provides an finely detailed introduction to varieties.
Be warned: there is some repetition.
kapnismologist = one who studies smoking
Pappy's World -- Random thoughts from a southern white male with a brain.
https://macpappysworld.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2017-03-17T10:50:00-07:00
First and fourth essays at that page
FRIDAY, JULY 11, 2014 Pipe Smoking Forums: "Join at the risk of your sanity"
SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 2017 "Pipe smoking used to be simpler..."
I have enjoyed watching Ralfy review distilled spirits for years, and his You Tube Channel is comprehensive to say the least.....
@xDutchx -- Thanks for the tip.....
With beards and pipes......
http://www.synjeco.com/pataall/info/home.php?i1
https://web.archive.org/web/20061121091722/http://www.tobaccoreviews.com/
Everything Changes (from smokingpipes.com)
Thursday, September 28, 2017 by Daniel Bumgardner
Whether we realize it or not, pipe smoking and change are inherently intertwined. Combustion, by definition, is change. When we apply the charring light, the visibly dark, mocha-colored leaf is rendered all the more so, before being met with the gentle nudge of a cool metal tamping foot. When the flame is reapplied, like the final winding of a pocketwatch, the gears of crackling tobacco start to turn within. But pipes are not pocketwatches. Their presence always seems, at least from the smoker's vantage point, to slow down time to a steady, gentle pace, easily followable without any need to rush. They also seem to, at least for the moment, make change a welcome thing.
Change is typically quite unwelcome, as it's an indicator of loss of control. It's difficult and therefore naturally incites resistance. In the context of enjoying a pipe, however, it's part of the pleasure of the experience. Over the course of a bowl, a given blend can greet the smoker with myriad flavors, with certain notes potentially making themselves known gradually over time, and others appearing intermittently from puff to puff. The smoke takes on a life of its own, adapting to our cadence and draw. But what is it about the framework of pipe smoking that shifts this paradigm for us, making change not only tolerable, but exciting?
Like a Rube Goldberg machine, when we enjoy a pipe we let the smoke run its course. We open our mind to the flavors and notes of whichever blend we happen to be enjoying, allowing them to evolve as they see fit. We sit back and watch the smoke billow and plume, with each draw slightly different from the last. Smoking, like life I suppose, is really about the experience, rather than the destination at the bottom of the bowl.
BE SURE TO SKIP THE LURID FIRST 26 SECONDS THAT HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH PIPES OR MIDDLE EARTH.
[ONLY @ghostsofpompeii MIGHT LIKE THOSE FIRST 26 SECONDS]