Old Toby anyone?

Well I must apologize; The Daily Briar has not been so daily. Life has been busy the last couple of weeks due to traveling and well, life. But never fear for I will double my efforts to keep you up to date on my adventures in briar. I will leave you this evening with a picture I took last month while driving to New Orleans. We were passing through Bossier Louisiana when I spied this out of the corner of my eye and did an instant 180 degree turn because this I could not pass up. Oh, and it reminds me that I really need a churchwarden.

As my Father before me

I just want to take a moment on this Father’s day to mention my father and those pipe smokers in my family before me. Both of my grandfathers and my father were pipe smokers. My dad these days rarely smokes his pipes and usually goes for cigars, but I have many fond memories of watching him and taking in the images and aromas of his pipe. I never had the opportunity to know my grandfather on my dad’s side but have often treasured my dad’s tales of him. His health led him to move from the steel industry in Illinois to become a wheat farmer in Oklahoma and later retire to west Texas. He was a quiet, hardworking and straightforward kind of man and was often seen with his pipe. As for my other grandfather, I did have the opportunity to know. My oldest memories of him were of two things. Number one was the pipe that was always present with him and usually always burning. And two, the little fedora hats he wore with the feathers on the side stuck in the band. But mostly I remember the pipe and my fascination with it. He was an amazingly good man. His name was Homer and he stood a towering five foot five but commanded an admiration and respect seldom seen these days. He was an engineer for the Santa Fe railroad and due to my late, and unexpected, arrival into the world he had already retired when I was merely a baby so I was the only one of my siblings who never had the chance to take a ride with him. I look back fondly at that small man donning his plaid coat, fedora hat with feathers and puffing on one of his many well worn Dr. Grabows. And this tradition carried on to my father who would fill the air with that mesmerizing aroma emanating from his pipe. I recently asked my dad about the tobaccos they all smoked. He laughed and told me that his dad was a Velvet man and that my other grandfather was a Prince Albert man and that both made fun of him for smoking London Dock (to which I can find no reference of). I have found that what I once thought to be my story alone is actually shared by vast numbers of pipe smokers, that memory of dads, granddads and times gone by. It would probably be safe to assume that it was that reaching to the past, grasping for that nostalgic linking to those gone before us, that influenced us in so many ways, to pick up the pipe. I dream of times gone by and memories lived as a child looking to these great men before me, hoping to have even the smallest measure of impact that they had on so many. And with this, dad I wish you a happy Father’s day and hope you enjoy those AVO 85th Anniversary cigars.

A Danish via Dallas

Last weekend Kayla and I traveled to Dallas for a wedding and I took the opportunity to search the local pipe shops for a new addition to my collection. We found a shop in north Dallas called Up in Smoke to begin my quest. The shop had an incredible atmosphere and a superb pipe collection. After a quick study of all that lay before me my attention was drawn to a quaint Nording poker hiding in the back of the case. But all came to an abrupt stop when I mentioned to the sales lady that this would be my first Nording. Quickly she placed the pipe back in its proper space and reached for another. Turning to me she said “If you are going for your first Nording there is only one to start with” and presented me with an Erik Nording hand-made free form signature model crafted by the man himself. There sprawled across it was the legends signature. It was totally natural, no stain, no varnish, no finish at all just the natural aged beauty of the raw briar. The rim of the bowl still contained the rough outer portion of the briar totally untouched. I was love at first sight and I was sold. The sales lady went to the back to retrieve her own to show me the beautiful patina that the natural briar was taking on with each smoke. I finished off the visit with a tin of McClelland’s Frog Morton on the Bayou and left a most satisfied man to face the grueling Dallas traffic once again.

In the words of Charlie Sheen, "Winning"!

Well it’s been a winning kind of night all around, that is except for my screaming quad muscle.  To start off my soccer team, the Shooting Blanks, gained some much needed vindication tonight after last weeks game by taking down the GeriHatricks, great team name, 5 to 3.  And what better way to follow up a great win then a winning combination of pipe and tobacco?  Tonight’s after game celebration consisted a beautiful duet staring Dunhill and Savaneli.  The pipe of choice for tonight was a fairly new acquisition from Heroes and Legacies one of the local tobacconist here.  It is a Heroes and Legacies signature model made by Savaneli and a truly beautiful pipe and smokes superbly.  It is nicely rusticated with a translucent yellow lucite stem.  The first time I saw this pipe in the store I, without giving it a second glance, quickly passed it by. But I found that it began to slowly creep into my mind over the next couple of weeks.  And strangely enough my intrigue with grew.  I soon returned to give it a closer inspection and moments later it was mine, a proud new member of the family.  Not to disparage my other pipes, this one has quickly climbed the ranks and become one of my favorite smokers.  As for the other half of this night’s equation, the renowned Dunhill Nightcap fit the bill flawlessly.  I just recently acquired my first tin of night cap and have enjoyed in a many of nights since.  With its well balanced yet distinguished mellowness it makes for a perfect conclusion to this victorious night.  And with that I bid a good night to you all.

Surly a treasure from the KIng of the Leprechauns

While out perusing the local antique shops today, as my wife and I often do, I came across this little treasure.  And I do mean little!  At first sight of it I immediately thought it to be a novelty or possibly an advertising piece but upon closer inspection I found it to be a fully functioning oddity of the briar type.  If you can’t get the size perspective from the included pic, it measures a grand 3 ½ inches in length with an outer bowl diameter of ¾ inches.  It is marked “Wally Frank, imported briar”.  When I removed the stem it contained one of those wicked looking metal filters that are often found on old pipes.  And yes, in case you have all been wondering, it had been smoked.  I was able to search and find a small bit of information on Wally Frank pipes but found no mention of this pint sized marvel.  So unless I hold conclusive proof of the existence of leprechauns, I would be glad to glean any insight you could throw my direction.  Regardless, it is now a proud addition to my collection.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

Well the vacation is over and I am officially back to the daily grind.  My wife and I went to New Orleans for a week and have both fallen in love with the place (note that our sentiments could have been unduly influenced by the uncharacteristically cool weather and low humidity that we are told is not the norm for New Orleans).  But apart from the hustle and bustle of the French Quarter, we most enjoyed the night we spent in one of the cottages at Oak Alley plantation just a short drive from the city.  I would highly recommend this if you ever have the opportunity.  The plantation closes at Seven o’clock I believe but when you stay at one of the four cottages on site you have run of the entire property.  Now I must admit that I am a huge history buff and found myself to be quite content sitting beneath the towering three hundred year old oaks watching lightning over the swollen Mississippi and enjoying some of Virginia’s finest tobacco.  Ahh, if only time could have stood still.  Ok ok enough of that, I have other things to get to.  As I mentioned in my last entry there are new things to discuss concerning a new Peterson and tobacco.  A few weeks ago my dear wife purchased a coupon for me through http://www.groupon.com  that was offered at one of my local tobacconist Heroes and Legacies.  It was a thirty dollars for fifteen gift card, can’t go wrong there.  So I rushed off to put it to good use and walked out with a new Peterson.  This would be my first experience with a Peterson p-lip mouth piece.  My first move once I got home was to run straight to the inter webz and get others opinion of this conundrum that had found its way to the bit of my new pipe.  I can easily say that I had defiantly given to skepticism after reading only the first few reviews ushered to me by goggle (skynet).  It seemed clear that there was little love for this daring innovation by Peterson.   At last it was time for trial by fire.  Now at this point in the story I must diverge for a moment but assure you it will all come together momentarily.  The day previous to the purchase of the Peterson, I was making my rounds and stopped by my other tobacconist, Smokers Haven, in hopes of finding something new in way of an English tobacco.  As luck would have it the guru of the pipe tobaccos was out and in his place was a young man who wielded his knowledge solely to the realm of cigars but did seem somewhat aware that they were in the business of pipes also.  So despite my craving for something of the latakia persuasion he was persistent that I should try his “pick of the day” and assured me it was a sure fire hit.  So in the spirit of comradeship I bit and went home with a tin of Villiger 1888 mid-day. 

                Now back to the p-lip.  As I earlier stated, my expectations were low due to the reviews that I had read.  The p-lip if you are not familiar with it takes a slightly different approach to the traditional mouth piece and places a small hole on the top of the mouth piece diverting the smoke to the top of your mouth other than across your tongue.  This design is supposed to help prevent tongue bite.  Pack, light and puff and we are a go.  To sum up a lot of rambling, I found the p-lip to perform as promised and had no issues with it.  Many complained that the design while preventing tongue bite would irritate the roof of the mouth, opening a whole new bag of concerns; I myself did not experience this but found it to smoke quite well and cool.  Although I found the p-lip to work quite well I must confess that I prefer a traditional mouth piece.

                So you must be asking yourselves “What about the villiger 1888 mid day” right?  Well to the best that I can explain I would liken it to craming a fruitcake basted in bourbon in to the bowl of your pipe and lighting up.  There, how’s that for ya?  Seriously I felt that I was smoking a fruitcake.  I’m not saying that I am diametrically opposed to the smoking of a fruitcake, who’s to say that to some that isn’t the ideal fix, but just wasn’t  the smoke I was looking for that day.  I will note here though that after a couple of weeks I did give it another try and found that with a bit of drying it did mellow a good deal and was much more palatable.  I did the next day acquire a tin of Ashton’s Consummate Gentleman to quench my appetite for English.

Two negatives a positive does not make.

Well its afternoon on a Friday and the view from my office is one that seems to be the norm here lately.  Spring time winds in west Texas are nothing to be trifled with for at the moment the gusts are reaching sixty miles per hour and contain a good portion of earth in them.  Ahh the subtle beauty of a dirt red sky.  There is nothing like a fresh sand blasting for your skin each and every time  you venture from the safety of the indoors. On to the point, I am leaving town for a couple days but wanted to leave you with a teaser of what’s coming up.  First off unfortunately unlike in the world of mathematics, in the world of pipe smoking two negatives do not equal a positive.  Bad advice on a bad tobacco in this instance can best be acquainted to the smoking of a fruitcake and for added measure the reviews were stellar so what does that say of me?  And what was this most unfortunate dish...?  Ahh but that, my friend, must wait until I return.  But on the better side of things I will discuss my conclusions on the Peterson p-lip paradigm.