Santa smokes a pipe #32 (1912)

Santa smokes a pipe #31 (1911)

Santa smokes a pipe #30 (1910)

I've seen this one before, and skipped over it because this is one creepy-looking Santa. But now I'm sharing it with you. From 1910.

Santa smokes a pipe #29 (1910)

A rather grumpy-looking Santa from 1910.

Santa smokes a pipe #28 (1910)

Santa with a clay from 1910.

Santa smokes a pipe #27 (1910)

I am trying not to post any duplicates of images already posted. This one looks awfully familiar, but in looking through my old posts I don't think it's a duplicate. Santa with a porcelain-bowl pipe from 1910.

Santa smokes a pipe #26 (1908)

In keeping with a previous custom of posting vintage pictures of Santa Claus smoking a pipe, here is the first one of this year for your enjoyment.

The Bertram is back!

Although I am not currently able to take any new photos of this pipe, you can see my previous posts and some pictures of it here and here. This was a pipe that I rescued from an eBay lot of estate pipes and did some serious refurbishing/refinishing on. However, the previous owner had badly bitten through the stem and it needed a replacement stem. Quite some time ago, I took it to a local area shop to have the stem replaced.

And then I forgot about it. Today I was working in the neighborhood just behind where that shop is located, and I remembered it. So I looked through my glove compartment and found the old receipt still there and drove around to the shop to see what was up. I told him that I had left it there a long time ago and then forgotten about it, but they had never called me to let me know that it was ready either, and did they know what had become of it. It took the guy only a few seconds to step into the back room with my receipt and return with the pipe. He said there was no price recorded for it, nor any record they had ever called me about it, and since it had been such a long time he just let me take it for no charge.

The new stem is tapered a little differently from the original, but in this case, that's a good thing. The old stem had a very diagonal taper and holding it in the teeth caused it to slowly (or sometimes not so slowly) squeeze out of the mouth. The new stem has a more curved taper so that by the time it gets to the bit, it's almost flat and much easier to hold in the mouth.

This pipe is unusually large. It has the largest bowl volume of any pipe I have, not including the Oom Paul. It's also heavy and hard to smoke without hand support, but I am puffing on it right now and I think it's going to be a great pipe once it gets seasoned.

To see pictures of two other large Bertrams that I have yet to refurbish, just click on the Bertram label on the sidebar.

UPDATE: One hour and 15 minutes. One pipe. Yow.

I've gone green

Heh.

Got in some straight Perique for blending experiments today. I'm currently smoking a hybrid mixture that's roughly 60% Bayou Night and 40% Perique. I call it "Marie Laveau."

The Anspessade

click to enlarge

I don't remember exactly the book I scanned this from; I think it was a book on French history titled something like The World of Louis XIV. This graphic, listed as "ranks and uniforms of Louis XIV's army," is notable to us because of the picture on the third row center. The anspessade apparently has a pipe as part of his uniform.

Quick note

I have added a new Blogger gadget at the bottom of the sidebar that shows the top 10 most popular posts, going back to when Blogger instituted its own statistics function.

Pipe lore: Emerson and Carlyle

I have been re-reading a collection of anecdotes recently and have come across a couple of pipe-related anecdotes. I will be filing these under the category of "pipe lore."

At one point in his life, Ralph Waldo Emerson traveled to Europe to meet his poetic idols: William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Thomas Carlyle.

Among the sages who Emerson sought out on his visit to Europe was the notoriously reticent and difficult Thomas Carlyle. He called on Carlyle one evening and was given a pipe, while the host took one himself. They sat together smoking in perfect silence until bedtime, and on parting shook hands most cordially, congratulating each other on the fruitful time they had enjoyed together.

Another good reason to smoke a pipe...

click to enlarge

In this selection from a vintage ad (from 1935) found at The Gallery of the Absurd, there is--or may be--a lesson to be learned. Who is the only one not making fun of his co-worker's stubble? Why, the one with the pipe, of course!

Featured Pipe Smoker (Fictional): Kūkaku Shiba

Kūkaku Shiba is a character from the anime series Bleach. She is a former Soul Reaper who has gone renegade from the ranks of the Soul Reapers and lives with her brother Ganju in an outlying district of the Soul Society (the place where departed souls go after death). She is a very powerful spirit being with an expertise in fireworks and when left alone enjoys smoking her pipe, which is of the old Japanese kiseru design. She always appears with what seems to bandages around her head, right shoulder and ankles, and if you look closely you can see that her right arm is prosthetic.

She has a very elegant way of holding her pipe which keeps her fingers away from what is most likely a very hot bowl.

Her brother Ganju had previously encountered Ichigo Kurosaki (the main protagonist of the series). Kūkaku's and Ganju's brother, who had also been a Soul Reaper, had been killed by another Soul Reaper, which was one thing that led to Kūkaku's departure from the Soul Reaper ranks. As a result of her brother's death, both she and Ganju have great animosity for other Soul Reapers, of which Ichigo is one. He and Ganju begin fighting, which she tolerates as she placidly smokes her pipe.

Until one of them knocks it from her fingers during the fight.

At this, she becomes somewhat agitated.

Soon after, in their ongoing struggle, Ichigo steps on...

...and shatters her pipe.

At which point she becomes quite perturbed.

And things tend to...

...escalate...

...from there.

Still here...

Hello everyone, I'm still here, still have some stuff to post--I've just been taking a break.

I thought I'd mention some new pipe cleaners I got today. I buy pipe cleaners from Wal-Mart a lot because it's convenient, but the cleaners they sold (called "chenille stems") were made for arts & crafts and not for pipe cleaning, and they weren't the best. Like I said, I only bought them because it was so convenient and they are cheap. The fluff tending to come off the ends sometimes and get into the pipe, so you had to watch for that. However, today I bought some that are a different brand. These are called "Fuzzy Sticks." They are much better pipe cleaners. The fluff doesn't come off and it's much denser than the old ones. I don't know if this is a permanent change or if it's just something they found cheaper than the old ones. Anyway, I thought I'd throw this info out there in case someone finds it useful.

The Fuzzy Sticks also come in a plastic bag with a ziplock on one end, to keep them fresh or something, I guess. Anyway, I'll be back with the usual stuff eventually.

Vintage Ad (1942): Kaywoodie

A simple ad from the World War 2 era featuring a picture of a Kaywoodie lovat, which they probably just called a Canadian. To my knowledge, Kaywoodie never bothered to differentiate between the different styles of long-shanked pipes.

Featured Pipe Smoker: Edward Fox

Edward Charles Morris Fox (b. 1937)

Edward Fox is from a family of actors and theatre people. His big breakthrough film was Day of the Jackal in 1973. Other movies he has starred in are A Bridge Too Far, Force 10 From Navarone, and Ghandi.

He was made an Officer of the British Empire in 2003.

Futher links: Wikipedia, imdb.

Vintage Ad (1923): Bakelite pipes

Another vintage ad (check the archives for another) about pipes made from Bakelite, "the material of a thousand uses."

Featured Pipe Smoker: W. Somerset Maugham

William Somerset Maugham (1874 - 1965)

"Only a mediocre writer is always at his best."

English playwright, novelist and short story author who was reputedly the highest-paid author in the world during the 1930s.

Maugham was born in Paris on the grounds of the British Embassy so that he would technically be born on British soil (his father's wish). His mother died when he was 8 years old and it so traumatized him that he kept a picture of her on his bedside table until his own death. He studied medicine in London and spent much of his time there filling notebooks with writing ideas.

By 1914, when World War I began, he was too old to enlist so he became one of the Red Cross's ambulance drivers. During the war he also worked on the continent for British intelligence.

Many of his works were adapted for film.

Further links: Wikipedia, imdb.com.

Pipe smoker update

The post on Pinako Rockbell has been updated with information and a link about the style of pipe she uses. Thanks to commenter BrSpiritus.

Vintage Ad (1896): F.W. Kaldenberg's Sons

I had some computer problems last week and had to restore some backups, so I'm trying to make sure I don't duplicate any of my old posts. I don't think I had posted this one before.

This is the second old ad from this company that I have seen (check the archives for the other one).

Movie tip: Barquero

Just wanted to mention that I saw a movie last night that you might want to see if you're a fan of westerns and pipe-smoking. Barquero, from 1970, starring Lee Van Cleef. Also starring Forrest Tucker as a jovial yet ruthless mountain man.

Van Cleef will be a featured pipe smoker here sometime in the future--I keep finding so many cool pictures of him smoking a pipe that I keep putting it off--so I'm not going to post any pictures now.

In Barquero, Van Cleef plays a hard-bitten barge operator at a remote spot on the Rio Grande who gets caught between a group of sheepish settlers, who he doesn't particularly like, and a gang of murderous outlaws, who he truly hates. Lots of great pipe-smoking action as Van Cleef puffs away on a Peterson in between shooting bad guys.

I will not describe the end lest I give away a spoiler, but the ending scene I found especially enjoyable: pipe smoking, a muzzle-loading rifle and long-distance shooting--three things I like the most!

Featured Pipe Smoker: Jacques Faizant

Jacques Faizant (1918-2006)

From Comiclopedia:

Jacques Faizant was one of France's most popular press illustrators. After studying at the hotel school in Nice, he worked in several hotels until 1938. He settled in Marseille and went to work as an illustrator. During the War, he drew for Le Dimanche Illustré and La Revue de l'Écran, while also composings songs and cooperating with Lortac on animation projects. Upon the Liberation, he headed for Paris and started out working for Carrefour and L'Ecran Français. He was eventually assigned by Jean Nohain of Bonjour Dimanche and its supplement Le Petit Canard. For this supplement, Faizant made comics like 'Le Colonel Broum et Patapoum', 'Pyk et Pato au Centre de la Terre', 'Monsieur Mite' and 'L'Invraisemblable M. Pluche'.

He also made several strips for the daily press, of which 'Adam et Eve' was the longest running (approx. 700 or 800 gags). This family comic debuted in France Dimanche in 1949, and was renamed 'Adam et Eve (et Caïn)' when the characters got their first child. In addition, Faizant made independent strips, as well as 'Le Tour en Dessins' in La Dépêche (1948), 'Les Aventures de M. Faribole' and 'Docteur Doublevé' in Le Parisien Libéré, 'Bouts (de crayons) Rimés' in Ici-Paris and 'M. Patraque' in La Vie Catholique. He also made the advertising strip 'Le Chimiste BP', that was published between 1954 and 1957 in Le Midi Libre, L'Union, La Dépêche and Le Main Libre.

From 1960, Faizant worked as a political cartoonist for Le Figaro, while also continuing to work as a humorous illustrator in Le Chasseur Français, La Vie du Rail, Détective, Rires Magazine and jardin des Modes until the 1990s.

Vintage Ad (undated): Medico Filters & Pipes

Click to enlarge and you can read all the fine print. Probably from the 50s. I used to try filtered pipes when I was a pipe-n00b, and I didn't like them. I note one completely bogus claim in this ad: "Cushion Bite Nylon Bit Guaranteed Bite Proof." I've seen many, many nylon bits chewed completely to h***. The most bite-proof stem is the hard acrylic, from my experience. Using a nylon stem is like smoking a drinking straw.

Featured Pipe Smoker: David Rose

David Rose (1910 - 1990)

David Rose was born in London but raised in Chicago. He was a songwriter, composer, arranger and pianist who wrote primarily for television, Broadway and radio shows. His most famous piece (probably) was "The Stripper." Some of the television shows he wrote music for include "Little House on the Prairie," "Highway to Heaven," "Father Murphy," "Bonanza" and "Red Skelton Hour." I have read that at one point, 22 different TV shows used theme music written by him.

He was married to Martha Raye, Judy Garland, and finally to Betty Bartholomew, with whom he had two children. He was a live steam hobbyist and had his own backyard railroad.

He appears to be smoking a pipe in the shape that is referred to as the "horn."

A pipe smoker revisited

Thanks to a new picture and some further information from a reader, I have made an update to François Gros Louis. Click to check it out.

Vintage Ad (1949): David Rose and Edgeworth

Composer David Rose advertises Edgeworth. More on David Rose for the next Featured Pipe Smoker.

Featured Pipe Smoker (Fictional): Pinako Rockbell

Pinako Rockbell

Pinako Rockbell is a character from the anime series Fullmetal Alchemist. The series (which also a manga) tells the story of two teenage boys (Edward and Alphonse Elric) with alchemical skills in a world where alchemy works, and is a sort of parallel to our own reality set in the early 1900s.

Pinako raised her own grand-daughter Winry after Pinako's son and daughter-in-law (both physicians) were killed in a war. Ed and Al's father abandoned them and their mother when they were children, and Pinako, who lived nearby, also served as something of a surrogate grandmother for them.



Pinako Rockbell is a no-nonsense kind of person who also has strong nurturing instincts and is wise in the ways of the world. She is also a highly skilled automail engineer. In a world that has been torn by war, there are a great many amputees. Automail is her world's version of prosthetics--prosthetics which are made of metal and which are connected to the remaining nerve endings to give the wearer almost full recovery of functional limbs. Although automail limbs are highly articulated, they still do not grant the wearer the sense of touch.

(also pictured: Winry Rockbell)

Ed Elric was severely injured during a forbidden alchemical experiment, losing an arm and a leg. Pinako and her grand-daughter Winry built new automail limbs to replace his missing arm and leg. Winry is also a very skilled automail engineer, having been taught the craft from childhood by Pinako. Whenever Ed's automail becomes damaged (which happens fairly often), he always travels back home to have Winry repair it for him rather than seek out a more conveniently located engineer in whatever area he happens to be in. Pinako's home remains a sort of second home and anchoring point for him and his brother Al. Although Pinako often offers her rough and direct, even blunt advice, it is obvious that she cares for them deeply and sees them as part of her family.

Pinako's pipe appears to have a wooden stem with a clay or metal bowl. As you can see from these pictures, she is always depicted as holding it by the stem, which is correct for that type of pipe. If she held it by the bowl, it would certainly burn her fingers.

UPDATE: Thanks to commenter BrSpiritus, we have the information that Pinako's pipe is likely the Japanese style known as the Kiseru.

Kiseru is an old style Japanese smoking pipe. Kiseru have been used for smoking a very fine, shredded tobacco, as well as cannabis. It is typically made out of metal on the ends (the mouth piece and bowl), with a shaft typically made out of bamboo. Another distinct trait of a kiseru is that the bowl is much smaller than that of many western-style pipes, and if fitted with a fine-mesh metal screen, permits small servings of any sifted herb at a low burning temperature.

Click the link for more details and history.

Vintage Ad (1948): Al Schacht and Edgeworth

Al Schacht, the "'Clown Prince' of Baseball," a fan of Edgeworth Ready-Rubbed.

Three pounds from C&D

Today I spent over an hour packing away my recent big tobacco order--big for me, anyway, at 3 pounds. One pound each of Bayou Night, Gray Ghost and Exclusive, all from C&D. Half a pound of each was put away in vacuum-sealed bags, the rest in Mason jars.

The Gray Ghost is drier than most other tobaccos I've had, it seems. The previous batch was also on the dry side and I rehydrated it almost from the very beginning. The dryness means it takes up more space than the other blends; a Mason jar would hold only 3 ounces of Gray Ghost compared to 4 ounces of the other two. This may be something to be wary of if you are particularly particular about the moistness of your tobacco. The most dense of these three--as usual--is the Bayou Night, and I'm pretty sure that is because of the very high Perique content. I have custom-ordered Gray Ghost with Perique mixed into before; I think this is a good idea not only because I like the flavor but also because it helps bring the moisture content up.

I also updated my online tobacco cellar (link in the sidebar), so you can see what I have if you want. I'm still not entirely sure how many bowls I average per ounce of tobacco, but I think 12 sounds about right. I know from my last pound of Bayou Night that one pound lasts right about 3½ months--during which time I smoked almost nothing else. So 14 months sounds about right for what I have on hand. I would like to keep my stock at more than 1,000 bowls; the current calculation has me at 862 bowls, a little short. I do need to re-weigh some of the tinned tobaccos I've opened and put in Mason jars because I no longer have full tins and that will bring me down just a little. I'll try getting that done during the coming week.

I have posted a couple of items regarding pipe smoking on my other blog recently which I didn't include here because they are mostly aimed at non-pipe smokers, but if you wish to read them click on Gooorrraakkk!!! and Pipes and hummingbirds.

Featured Pipe Smoker: Salvador Dalí

Salvador Felip Jacint Dalí Domènech (1904-1989)

Every morning upon awakening, I experience a supreme pleasure: that of being Salvador Dalí, and I ask myself, wonderstruck, what prodigious thing will he do today, this Salvador Dalí.

The artist famous for his strikingly beautiful yet surreal works. This self portrait was made in 1921, when he was only 17.

Vintage Ad (1945): Dr. Grabow

"Baldwin can relax anywhere when he's smoking his Dr. Grabow Pre-Smoked Pipe."

Featured Pipe Smoker: Irving Wallace

Irving Wallace (1916-1990)

"To be one's self, and unafraid whether right or wrong, is more admirable than the easy cowardice of surrender to conformity."

Prolific author Irving Wallace wrote novels and non-fiction, as well as writing some TV shows (he even wrote for Have Gun, Will Travel). Several of his books were made into movies.

He was born in Chicago and grew up in Kenosha, WI.

I read once that he liked to celebrate finishing a book by buying himself a new pipe.

Biblography of Irving Wallace.
Filmography of Irving Wallace.

International Pipe Smoking Day

Read all about it at the International Pipe Smoking Day website.

Today’s hectic environment almost dictates that we run on full efficiency, have total involvement in our work, our families and in every aspect of what we do to survive and achieve in a world set at high speed. With ever-changing values it is the intent that The International Pipe-Smoking Day will allow us, the Brothers and Sisters of the Briar to step back and appreciate our rich historical value. For pipe-smokers and pipe-smoking everywhere the day will be emblematic of our shared values, history, traditions, and aspirations.

When I get a chance, it will be 1792 Flake for me.

Vintage Ad (undated): Sterncrest

This undated Sterncrest ad is interesting to me for the visual at the top that shows how small the finished stummel is in relation to the raw burl.

Featured Pipe Smoker: Graham Chapman

Graham Arthur Chapman (1941 - 1989)

The humor of the group collectively known as Monty Python has been a great influence on me. Here is a collection of photos of Python member Graham Chapman smoking a pipe.


During a break in filming Monty Python and the Holy Grail, in which he starred as King Arthur.


Taking some shelter in the cold with most of the other pensive-looking Pythons.


Mr. Chapman appeared to favor straight pipes with longish stems and tall, straight bowls.





One of the earliest group publicity photos, taken (I think) sometime in 1969. Mr. Chapman is seated in the center, pipe in mouth, along with fellow Pythoners John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, and Eric Idle.


This shot was taken in 1982 at the Hollywood Bowl, Mr. Chapman again in the center, surrounded by the other members of Monty Python, this time also including animator Terry Gilliam, to Chapman's immediate right.


This shot, also with Mr. Chapman in the center, is from the "Twit of the Year Contest" skit. His character was named Oliver St. James Mollusk, and he somehow managed to run over himself with the car.

Chapman was born in Stoneygate, Leicester. He became a fan of radio comedy at a young age, especially a program called The Goon Show. He qualified as a physician at the Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry but never practiced professionally. He became most famous as a member of the comedy troupe Monty Python and went on the play the starring role in two of their movies: Monty Python and the Holy Grail and The Life of Brian.

For a great many more details regarding his life and work, I refer you to his Wikipedia entry.

Graham Chapman died of spinal cancer in 1989, one day before the 20th anniversary of the first broadcast of Monty Python.

Vintage Ad (1895): Durham Tobacco

I don't know if Durham made tobacco for pipe smoking or just for roll-your-own cigarettes, but that was more than 6 million of today's dollars.

Featured Pipe Smoker: Alan Watts

Alan Watts (1915 - 1973)

"Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth."

Born in England in 1915, Alan Watts attended King's College School Canterbury, served on the Council of the World Congress of Faiths (1936-38), and came to the United States in 1938. He held a Master's Degree in Theology from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary and an Honarary DD from the University of of Vermont in recognition of his work in the field of comparative religions.

Alan Watts become widely recognized for his Zen writings and for The Book On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are. He died in 1973 at his home in California, and is survived by his second wife and seven children.

For more than forty years, Alan Watts earned a reputation as a foremost interpreter of Eastern philosophies for the West. Beginning at age sixteen, when he wrote essay for the journal of the Buddhist Lodge in London, he developed an audience of millions who were enriched through his books, tape recordings, radio, television, and public lectures. In all Watts wrote more than twenty-five books and recorded hundreds of lecture and seminars, all building toward a personal philosophy that he shared in complete candor and joy with his readers and listeners throughout the world. His overall works have presented a model of individuality and self-expression that can be matched by few philosophers.

His life and work reflect an astonishing adventure: he was an editor, Anglican priest, graduate dean, broadcaster, author, lecturer, and entertainer. He has fascinations for archery, calligraphy, cooking, chanting, and dancing, and still was completely comfortable hiking alone in the wilderness.

He held fellowships from Harvard University and the Bollingen Foundation, and was Episcopal Chaplain at Northwestern University during the Second World War. He became professor and dean of the American Academy of Asian Studies in San Francisco, made the television series "Eastern Wisdom and Modern Life" for National Educational Television, and served as a visiting consultant for psychiatric institutions and hospitals, and for the United States Air Force. In the mid-sixties he traveled widely with his students in Japan, and visited Burma, Ceylon, and India.

Vintage Ad (1934): Campbell's Tomato Soup

Okay, so it isn't a pipe ad, but it's my blog and I'll post what I want. This 1934 ad for Campbell's Tomato Soup features an image of one of my favorite authors, Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), smoking what appears to be a Peterson and contemplating a very large tomato.