<<Sherlock Holmes does seem to have settled on the cheapest and strongest tobacco he could find, for everyday smoking at least. And Watson, in the early stages of their acquaintance, did the same, for in _A Study in Scarlet_ Holmes asks if Watson has any objections to strong tobacco, and Watson replies that he always smokes ‘ship’s’ himself. ‘Ship’s’ is corded plug, formed by placing the leaves of an inexpensive tobacco – in Watson’s day, quite probably the inferior “Nicotiana rustica”, rather than the now universal “N. tabacum” – on top of one another in a long row, then rolling them up and compressing them, originally with a thin cord, though machinery was used on a commercial scale later. When the resulting roll was a very thin one, the tobacco was called ‘pig-tail,’ and this form was widely smoked, or, in the days of wooden hulls, when burning tobacco would have been a fire hazard, chewed, by sailors.
‘Ship’s’ can still be found at specialist tobacconists, but is not recommended for those of a weak constitution. The mere act of lighting the pipe produces a concentrated blast of tar and nicotine at the back of the throat, which makes breathing extremely difficult. There is no taste as such, only a harsh, rasping sensation, and the fumes and smell are ‘acrid’, just as Watson describes them in _The Hound of the Baskervilles_. A marvellous line by the underrated Nigel Bruce, in one of his films with Rathbone, sums it up very well: ‘Fresh in here. Smells like a pub after closing time.’
If Holmes’ before breakfast pipe consisted, as Watson says in “The Engineer’s Thumb”, of plugs and dottles from yesterday’s smokes, and if he had been smoking ‘ship’s’ yesterday, then it is not surprising that he sometimes left his breakfast – and other meals – untouched.
Holmes remained faithful to his early love, the strongest possible tobacco, frequently asking Watson to arrange for vast quantities of ‘shag’ to be sent round. ‘Shag’ is a generic term for any rough-cut tobacco, but Holmes usually insists on the strongest available.”>>
I think there is a difference between "Famous Pipe Smokers" and "Pipe Smokers on the Silver Screen and Page." Some may qualify to be on both, but there are Famous Pipe Smokers who never appeared in a movie or was a character in a book. There are also those listed here who are fictional characters and not real people.
The other night, SWMBO was watching one of those annual Christmas Holiday baking competition shows. At the end of the episode - the finale - the three judges and the host was sitting in front of an outdoor fireplace and the host actually had a pipe in his hand. I was shocked.
PAPPYJOE: Watched the old John Wayne movie "In Harms Way" yesterday. Noticed both Carrol O'Connor and Burgess Meredith smoked pipes in the movie. Also noticed one surprising mistake in the movie. At the end, when Kirk Douglas character commandeers a PBY for a recon mission, they show him taking off in the plane. Except he wasn't flying a PBY - which was a Consolidated Catalina also called a flying boat. It looked more like a Lockheed PV-1 Ventura. The other mistake is that neither of the planes could be flown by a single pilot. They always had a co-pilot and at least one crewman.
@johnspecht I haven't seen that movie in a couple of years but I think I remember Kirk Douglas' character taking off from an aircraft carrier. I readily admit I could be wrong on that. So another possible mistake is that I don't think either of those planes were used from aircraft carriers. From what I've read, the carriers didn't have a catapult capable of launching the PBYs or Catalinas.
@PappyJoe As I recall, the PBJ was the first large aircraft to take off and land on an aircraft carrier (experimentally), but that was very late in the war after much fast-tracked development of launch & recovery systems. The famous Doolittle raid was flown by B-25s from a carrier in 1942, but all they could do at that time was do a maximum power takeoff with aircraft that had been stripped of everything "non-essential". It was a near thing anyway! Jimmy Doolittle took off first because he had the shortest distance on deck. They watched his B-25 lift off at minimum speed, sink out of sight below deck level for a few seconds, then climb up towards Tokyo - a heart-stopping moment, but it worked! All of that was a one-off special mission they trained for for months, not repeatable after the surprise of the first time. Thanks for remembering a great movie - I'm going through my DVD collection now to try and find it!
@johnspecht The Navy did a series of tests using the PB style aircraft. The 4-engine PBYs could land on a carrier by reversing all four engines about 30 feet before hitting the deck. During one of the tests in 1944, one of the aircraft tried landing on the USS Saratoga with one engine not working. When the reversed the other 3 engines, it landed out of control and hit the island.
The Doolittle raid was indeed made with every "non-essential" ounce stripped off the planes and the launch was almost as dangerous as the end of the mission.
I never flew in a Navy PBY Catalina but in 1976 I did get a short flight in a Coast Guard HU-16 Albatross. Both the Catalina and the Albatross were "flying boats" and they required a lengthy run to take off. During the 40s and 50s both services developed a rocket boost system that was used to assist in the take-offs.
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The other night, SWMBO was watching one of those annual Christmas Holiday baking competition shows. At the end of the episode - the finale - the three judges and the host was sitting in front of an outdoor fireplace and the host actually had a pipe in his hand. I was shocked.
Kyle's Dad from South Park.
GREAT MOVIE! You have touched one of my favorite topics. I forget what he called it in the movie...guess I need to watch it again...but I remember it being a PBJ - the aircraft, not the sandwich! This was what the Navy and Marine Corps called the B-25 Mitchells that they purchased. I have read that it could be flown by one pilot, but not in keeping with regulations. I am sure you are correct that minimum flight crew was to be pilot, co-pilot, and flight engineer, unless of course you are flying an unauthorized solo recon mission for purposes of atonement!
I haven't seen that movie in a couple of years but I think I remember Kirk Douglas' character taking off from an aircraft carrier. I readily admit I could be wrong on that.
So another possible mistake is that I don't think either of those planes were used from aircraft carriers. From what I've read, the carriers didn't have a catapult capable of launching the PBYs or Catalinas.
As I recall, the PBJ was the first large aircraft to take off and land on an aircraft carrier (experimentally), but that was very late in the war after much fast-tracked development of launch & recovery systems. The famous Doolittle raid was flown by B-25s from a carrier in 1942, but all they could do at that time was do a maximum power takeoff with aircraft that had been stripped of everything "non-essential". It was a near thing anyway! Jimmy Doolittle took off first because he had the shortest distance on deck. They watched his B-25 lift off at minimum speed, sink out of sight below deck level for a few seconds, then climb up towards Tokyo - a heart-stopping moment, but it worked!
All of that was a one-off special mission they trained for for months, not repeatable after the surprise of the first time. Thanks for remembering a great movie - I'm going through my DVD collection now to try and find it!
The Navy did a series of tests using the PB style aircraft. The 4-engine PBYs could land on a carrier by reversing all four engines about 30 feet before hitting the deck. During one of the tests in 1944, one of the aircraft tried landing on the USS Saratoga with one engine not working. When the reversed the other 3 engines, it landed out of control and hit the island.
The Doolittle raid was indeed made with every "non-essential" ounce stripped off the planes and the launch was almost as dangerous as the end of the mission.
I never flew in a Navy PBY Catalina but in 1976 I did get a short flight in a Coast Guard HU-16 Albatross. Both the Catalina and the Albatross were "flying boats" and they required a lengthy run to take off. During the 40s and 50s both services developed a rocket boost system that was used to assist in the take-offs.