I didn't even know this one was in my collection. Gave it a quick polish this afternoon, but no carnauba yet, should be here next week in the post. This is a lovely pipe, more golden brown than reddish (I'm still playing with white balance to get he colour right). Old briar, lovely grain, great finish and lovely feel in the hand. All in all a lovely pipe. Enjoy!
Nice pipe fabulous grain very classy
ReplyDeletegreat restoration job the wax will really make it pop.
The black and white pics define the grain so well
ReplyDeleteDo you think that the metal ring is gold.
ReplyDeleteIt is a pretty classy pipe, not so much as your Comoy's though. The pear is a funny shape, when you look at it it kind of looks a bit funny. A bulldog is not just that shape due to the whim of some maker. It is a highly modified billiard. The walls of the bulldog are thinnest where you light the tobacco, thickest where the tobacco is burning at it's hottest and then gently tapers down as does the heat of the tobacco being smoked. In many ways the bulldog is a billiard with all excess wood removed.
ReplyDeleteWhy talk about this in response to a pear shape? Well, the pear is, or at least in my mind has always been, the missing link between bulldog and billiard. It starts with the thinner walls then thickens out, but then almost falls back into a normal billiard pattern again. I always pictured these pipes on an evolutionary scale, kind of like the 'evolution of man' series. The oldest being the billiard, pear in the middle and bulldog at the end.
The black and white does work well, I may do some more from now on.
The metal ring is basically a nice brass washer that has been slid over the tenon and affixed to the bit. I like it as an idea. I've always thought that it served two purposes; creating a nice visual break between stummel and bit, and providing a hard material to protect the softer edges of the vulcanite from being rounded off when the bit is polished. It's no great hassle to polish most bits on the pipe, so rounding is not an issue there. But when restoring an old pipe sanding can easily round sharp edges, that's why I was impressed by your solution to the square shanked Comoy's issue. I like the metal washer attached to the bit idea and wished more makers would start using it!
Smoked this today. WOW. Head-to-heel with one match, then one more match to ensure all tobacco was finished - it was! Great flavor for the entire bowl (Orlik's Strong Dark Kentucky Flake, aged 13 years).
ReplyDeleteThe thing that amazed me was the duration of the smoke, 1.5 hours. No stopping, just puffing away whilst in the shed going through old pipes in boxes. The bowl is of a medium size, so it should have only lasted for half that. It just took nothing to stay lit, smoldering away.
The smoke itself was interesting as well in that it started out whit and gradually changed to a dark blue tint. towards the end of the bowl the tobacco all but lost it's taste (last 1/5 of the bowl). However, the pipe had a delightful nutty flavor to it that boosted the aroma and taste so it was enjoyable to till the very last puff.
No gurgle, no bite, just a perfect pottering smoke. this pipe just made my 'Super Smoker' rack. The last pipe to make that rack was a gold-banded Barling's Super prince from the 1930s!
I happy to hear it's such a good smoker.Makes your "Super Smoker Rack"
ReplyDeleteI don't know how you could possibly pick a pipe to smoke in the first place.
I stand in front of my cabinet and stare for ages try to make a decision as to what to smoke.
You are right about that, although it is better to have too many to choose from than not enough!
ReplyDelete