Carnauba Wax

Well...this arrived today, 10.2kg of T1 carnauba wax in flake form, only supposed to be 9.4kg - go figure. Perched atop the booty is a Bayard billiard I received yesterday from Germany. It's there for scale, that's a big bag of wax...

Pipe Spotting

Sherlock Holmes And The Secret Weapon 1943

Peterson

Look for the second pipe.

Restored Barling

All of the polishing was completely done by hand.
Wanted to see if i could do it.
I used the Dunhill pipe bowl polish on the bowl.
Polished it about 10 times so far.
Sanded the bit with 1200 grit wet and dry and hand polished it
with Dunhill stem polish.
The stem took most of the work and a fair bit of polish
but who cares when you are as polish rich as i am.
I have spent about 4 hours on the pipe so far and i will continue polishing it
every time i smoke it.

It will get better over time.
I have just packed it for the first time and it is smoking well.
As with all of my pipe pictures any specs are dam dust and not on the pipe.
Well worth the effort. 

Carnuaba Wax Flakes (T1 Grade)

Well, I needed a supply of carnauba wax...and then this came along. 9.4kg of T1 (highest grade) pure carnauba wax. I'll melt it in the oven in some muffin trays to make pucks for use with the polishing mop. I know even a little bit of this stuff goes a very long way, so this should be the only time - for MANY years- that I'll need to purchase carnauba.

Barling London made

This pipe has amazing grain and is pure class and when cleaned up will look fantastic.
A gift from Hoot to add to my collection.
Will post when its fully cleaned and polished.

Lovely grain.

The bit is a great shape no tooth marks.
And will clean up a treat.

  I would like to thank Hoot for his continuing generosity.

Dunhill polish

A gift from Hobo Hoot

That's the mother load.

Thanks Hoot.

Old Movie "Pipe Spotting"

I like to watch old movies so when i see a pipe i take a  screenshot.
The movie is Rene Clair's - And Then There Were None (1945)
and Sherlock Holmes  Dressed To Kill downloaded from http://archive.org.
Not a great movies but it's all about "Pipe Spotting"
All of the movies i take screenshots from are in the Public Domain.

Looks like a Bulldog.
I so need a Monocle.
This guy sure has the head for one.

Dr Watson with a Bulldog.

Three Peterson Perfect Plug Flakes 3P

Smoked it in my Rock Pete.

My Flake Cutter works so well.
Its a pleasure to use.

50 blocks of briar...

Well, I bit the bullet and bought 50 blocks of briar from Alexander of Greece. I have seven of his pipes from the early 80s-90s and all of them are great smokers. These blocks come from his stocks and are of the ebauchon grade (not plateau). Most of them have been aged (dried and cured) for about 27 years in his sheds. I'm aiming at carving freehands, and that means complete freehands - drilling and all. We'll see what happens! There are some interesting shapes and sizes in there, not one the same, just how I intend the pipes to be...

Blakeney's Best Latakia Flake

A distinctive full English mixture in the grand tradition, rich with smoky Cyprian Latakia, fragrant with exotic Xanthi Yaka. Toasted for smoothness, then pressed in cakes to age and marry the flavors. Result: Exceptionally smooth, cool-smoking, full-flavored little Levantine flakes ready to rub out--the Best Oriental Mixture.
McClelland introduced their Blakeney's Best line at the 21st CORPS (Conclave of Richmond Pipe Smokers) Pipe Show in Richmond, Virginia. The 50g tin was released to the public in late 2005.
At this rate i won't have to buy any tobacco in Australia. [ Take that nanny state and "The Man" ]
Just smoked my first bowl in my Peterson Bulldog nice smokey flavor and a fair dose of nicotine i like it.
Its the Latakia flavor i like.
The same flavor is in the Black Mallory's it has Latakia in it as well.
I am learning little by little about tobacco as i smoke different blends o what fun.

This can 2005 vintage.

The smell is so wild my eye's almost watered.

Smells so rich and strong.

Zoomed you can see the bloom and sugar crystals .

Tobacco

Salmon & Gluckstein 1894 Silver Billiard

Well....Tom and Emily showed up with a birthday present...what do you all think?

It is Salmon & Gluckstein cased billiard, square shank from 1894. Fantastic craftsman ship with perfect carving. The bit is a screw-fit and seats in perfect line with the shank...after almost 120 years and a lot of use...WOW. What can I say, incredible pipe that I can't wait to smoke. Will take some better pictures of it in the coming weeks, but I just wanted to get it up tonight!