Questions I wish I would have asked

[Doc Holiday]

[SIZE=3]As a youngster I remember hearing talk of how my great grand father and great uncles smoked pipes in the early 1900’s. Now that I smoke a pipe there is really no one left in the family to ask questions of how they did things back then. Too bad I wasn’t sharp enough as a kid to ask some of these questions…..along with others[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3].[/SIZE]
Anyway…..does anyone here have any idea how they took care of their pipes and tobacco back then? I’m sure most pipe smokers didn’t have the funds to have a bunch of pipes laying around for a rotation like we have now.

[Vrbas]

I've often pondered the same thing. From what i've gathered, it seemed to be less out of the ordinary or more acceptable to smoke inside, but that could just be my opinion.

Lesson learned?: Be sure to pass on the knowledge of YOUR pipe smoking experience down to your future generations, as time tends to change a lot of things and perhaps 50-80 years down the road, great grandchildren will be curious as to how we smoked our pipes in such a "primitive" environment (seeing as if that's the case w/ the future, lol).

[RJpuffs]

Originally Posted by Doc Holiday

[SIZE=3]As a youngster I remember hearing talk of how my great grand father and great uncles smoked pipes in the early 1900’s. Now that I smoke a pipe there is really no one left in the family to ask questions of how they did things back then. Too bad I wasn’t sharp enough as a kid to ask some of these questions…..along with others[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3].[/SIZE]
Anyway…..does anyone here have any idea how they took care of their pipes and tobacco back then? I’m sure most pipe smokers didn’t have the funds to have a bunch of pipes laying around for a rotation like we have now.

I've heard stories, so take this with a pinch of salt (and some alcohol, if cleaning your pipe).

Before the invention of "pipe cleaners", one would smoke a pipe until it became a disgusting mess then toss it away. Dunhill pioneered the removable tube in the airway, which could be replaced, thereby extending the life of the pipe. Thereafter pipes started becoming works of art, especially after pipe cleaners arrived, since pipes were no longer disposable and thus became assets to be passed onto future generations (or something to that effect).

As for baccy, there were tobacconists on every corner back then. I'm sure one simply trotted next door and picked up an ounce or two for the evening smoke, jolly good show and all that sort of rot, what, what, what?

[drastic_quench]

I've gotten the impression that most (Americans) took a utilitarian view to their pipes. I've inherited pocket knives and turkey carving sets from way back in the day, and they've seen a great amount of use and wear & tear. Pipes seem to be no different. It also seems like a lot of folks just smoked whatever was available and cheap back then too.

It seems odd that my choices in both pipes and tobacco are better than my grandfather and their elders - yet the pipe smoking population has to be a fraction of their day.

We're living in a golden age of a specialty market.

[Mad Hatter]

Things were a lot different back in the day. Everyone used tobacco either chewing it, smoking a pipe or smoking cigarettes. I imagine for the average pipe smoker the pipe was just a tool to use tobacco whether you inhaled or not and of course it had a well-used flavor. When the pipe became nasty it could be washed out with hot water or the shank even cleaned with a drill bit. My great-grandfather washed his out from time to time and reamed the cake all the way out and then coated the bowl with honey before starting the process over again. Sometimes he'd scrub it out with a bristle brush. One thing I know from cleaning out his house after he passed away is that in the olden days they had a lot of variety in all things for doing it yourself, I mean the guy's family made their own soap from wood ash until he was in his 30s. Of course in the end a pipe might become so nasty it had to be tossed but then you just made another or bought another in the later days when you were lucky enough you didn't have to make your pipes anymore. Even in the 70s the corner drug store had several display cards of pipes, more than twenty types of pipe tobacco and thirty or so different cigars. I wish I had been old enough to be allowed to ask Greatpa questions but unless you were an adult it really wasn't allowed and all you could do was sit and listen to his wandering stories of giant catfish, winter blizzards and making lye soap on cold spring days.

[Mister Moo]

My father-in-laws (74 yrs) uncles smoked virginia tobacco in molded clay pipes with heavy reed stems; cut a new reed when you need one. Get another clay bowl, probably for pennies, when you broke one. Photo on request.

[Hydrated]

Originally Posted by Mister Moo

My father-in-laws (74 yrs) uncles smoked virginia tobacco in molded clay pipes with heavy reed stems; cut a new reed when you need one. Get another clay bowl, probably for pennies, when you broke one. Photo on request.

Being born and raised down here, I am a student of all things Southern. I'd love to see some pictures of those reed stemmed pipes.

I've never seen one in person, but my Dad says that he remembers his Father smoking a reed pipe back in the 1940's... they were sharecroppers down here in Dooly County, Georgia. Those pipes must have been nearly free if my Grandfather could afford them on a sharecropper's income.

[Mister Moo]

Originally Posted by Hydrated

Being born and raised down here, I am a student of all things Southern. I'd love to see some pictures of those reed stemmed pipes...

Slacker.


Awwww... OK. Each time I take that old thing out I figure I'll drop it. So far so good. I figure the ridges on the bowl to handle heat, make it easier to hold and, maybe, add some rigidity. The airhole through the clay and into the bowl has an integrated downward-facing baffle-flap. If it was intentional I assume it helps prevent the airhole from getting plugged when you mash in the tobak. The reed tip is shaved to a perfect fit in the shank; it is steam bent. All in all, it's a work of art; probably western NC made (red clay). Age unknown - could be recent (1960's) or much older.

[Vrbas]

^^^ Gimme

[Arizona]

Very interesting pics of the clay pipe Mr Moo thanks for sharing.

As to the original question I'd bet you'd be surprised on how the old timers were able to maintain a pipe - boiled alcohol perhaps poured into it? or use a drill bit, slim branch/piece of wood? They were ingenious in figuring out things like this with what they had on hand.