High-End Beauty

[Harlock999]

:cyclops: I can't get even the same pipe with the same tobacco to smoke the same two times in a row.

I've known that feeling! 8)

 

[Anonymous]

They would smoke the same as in a billiard tends to smoke within billiard parameters. As opposed to Apple, Stack, Dublin &c. parameters.

This necessarily includes outside-the-chamber-itself-&-part-of-the-design elements like wall thickness, stem length, shank-to-bowl axis angle, &c.

It's a package deal.

Again, you're the one who got the "identical" bit into it. "Identical" isn't even available to those who strive for it.

:cat: :face: :study:

 

[the rev]

two words Rad Davis

rev

 

[i.keenum]

The only word that matters is the last one.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

but yak said they would smoke the same if they had a traditional shape.

Look, when it comes to pipes and their smoking qualities... I think I will trust rad Davis. Not sure why its so hard for people to just admit they have a subjective preference for a certain thing, having nothing to do with "smokability"

rev

What Yak says and what Yak means are sometimes not directly clear. I've learned to speak Yakese in an intensive course lately, and he's trying to say the shape dictates the tobacco chamber, which dictates the generalities of the way a pipe will smoke. I get what he's saying, if it isn't directly clear. A 1991 three-cylinder Geo Metro will always get 45MPG, but will never (stock) go over 100MPH. A 1969 Corvette with a 427 will go 140MPH, but will never (unless going downhill in neutral) 45MPG. Neither car will corner like a Porsche 935.

There's a certain end-limit with pipes that are basic generalities. I often wondered why I hated the look of the bulldog shape until I smoked them...and lo, they performed great...just my capacity, fit and feel. So their performance met my desire, not their looks. Now they're a symbol of trust to the way I like to smoke. Still--do they all smoke the same, side by side? Of course not, but I'm also not getting such wildly-different variance smoke-to-smoke as I flit from freehand, to brandy, to blowfish.

Yet, because I like the way they look, I will have other pipe shapes. My only rule is a slight bend. I have a stable of really swell-smoking champions right now, anything else at this point is mere hoarding.

8)

 

[beetlejazz]

Stephen Downie is a pipe carver who is "way out there" with his imagination and designs. Guys like that have the imagination to do much bigger things than make pipes, and I would never make any comments that would denegrate him or his fantastic work.

Holy! :shock: Those look so cool.

Flashy pipes can look lovely but mostly are not for me - in the same vein Rev talks about his style and being not an ordinary guy, I think that because of my personality and style I would feel a bit weird smoking an awfully flashy pipe.

But even with a preference for the slightly boring, HOLYMAGAWD would it be GREAT to smoke this one! :shock:

Something about it is just so right. I can just see myself with that one, being my crooked weirdo self. :lol: Preferably matched with a simple black dress, to not to take attention off the pipe. Preferably at the openin of a new exhibiton. 8)

 

[alfredo_buscatti]

The same pipe made by the same maker will smoke differently. There's not much more to say. We don't know what the variables are other than those customarily mentioned. If we did we probably wouldn't know how to measure them.

 

[KevinM]

"The Curmudgeon" is at heart simply one carver's iteration on a bent Dublin blast. It is hidden a bit, since the pipe seems to be sitting in its own stand, a nice touch. But it's a Dublin. It looks to me as if the weak spot in this modernist twist on a very traditional design is at the crossroads of the shank and the bowl.

The design forces the shank upwards to enter the bowl at such a high point that the floor of the bowl either sits well below the air hole or else the bowl of the pipe is less capacious than the size of the pipe would promise. Some will like the design. Others may not. No matter. The only person whose opinion counts is the owner's, who will buy both appearance and function.

The debate on design and smokability has now entered a cul de sac, because not everyone understands what "traditional" signifies when applied to pipes and twists "the same as" reference, (a phrase I don't recall that anyone actually used), the better to argue with a handicapped straw man rather than appoach what is actually said.

 

[Rad Davis]

"The Curmudgeon" is at heart simply one carver's iteration on a bent Dublin blast.

The design forces the shank upwards to enter the bowl at such a high point that the floor of the bowl either sits well below the air hole or else the bowl of the pipe is less capacious than the size of the pipe would promise.

See this is what I'm talking about when I say you're being ridiculous when critiquing a pipe from pics on the internet.

You have no idea how that pipe is drilled. You're guessing that it must be drilled with the smoke hole well above the bottom of the bowl, or the bowl must be drilled shallow. And you say all of this with great authority.

What you can't see, and I, as a pipe maker and knowing Stephen Downie's work, can, is that it can easily be drilled with the smoke hole at the bottom of the bowl, and with the bottom of the bowl being within a half inch of the bottom of the shape. A capacious bowl indeed.

It will smoke just like a 3/4 bent pipe. :lol:

Rad

 

[KevinM]

See this is what I'm talking about when I say you're being ridiculous when critiquing a pipe from pics on the internet.

Pipers -- not just yours truly -- critique internet pipes every day, because that's the new meeting point between us and sellers. So we have to learn what to look for, lacking the B&M opp to check out the pipe in person. A carver may be a dentist with the drill, but cordial skepticism stands a buyer well in a business transaction. When I buy pipes I usually have a few pointed questions for the seller, and no seller has ever taken offense or regarded my questions as an imposition. Most are surprisingly good humored, candid, voluntarily point out flaws I missed, and promise a no-questions-asked return of an unsmoked pipe should I not like it.

I have no idea what the "great authority" complaint is about. Most of the posters on here seem to be fairly brimming with confidence. If not, they'll become so.

 

[the rev]

:roll:

 

[Dutch]

:lol!:

 

[Rad Davis]

Pipers -- not just yours truly -- critique internet pipes every day, because that's the new meeting point between us and sellers. So we have to learn what to look for, lacking the B&M opp to check out the pipe in person. A carver may be a dentist with the drill, but cordial skepticism stands a buyer well in a business transaction. When I buy pipes I usually have a few pointed questions for the seller, and no seller has ever taken offense or regarded my questions as an imposition. Most are surprisingly good humored, candid, voluntarily point out flaws I missed, and promise a no-questions-asked return of an unsmoked pipe should I not like it.

Of course they do, and I get questions like this all the time, but that's is not what I'm talking about.

What I'm talking about are your declarations about the Downie pipe and before that, the modified blowfish. You didn't ask "a few pointed questions" about either one. You said one would smoke hot, wet and would probably burn out. You said the other had to be drilled in one of two ways. Or were these actually questions, and I've misunderstood your post?

I have no idea what the "great authority" complaint is about. Most of the posters on here seem to be fairly brimming with confidence. If not, they'll become so.

Sorry for the confusion. Perhaps I should have said, "as if you know what you are talking about", instead of "with great authority".

My point was that there's no way to tell how a pipe is drilled from a profile pic, yet you're telling everyone "The design forces the shank upwards to enter the bowl at such a high point that the floor of the bowl either sits well below the air hole or else the bowl of the pipe is less capacious than the size of the pipe would promise." It ain't necessarily so. :roll:

Rad

 

[Kyle Weiss]

I have a critique: "The Curmudgeon" is a terrible name for that pipe. It's curvy, whimsical, and almost cheerful. If there was some stodgy darkness, some kind of drooping bend in it, then...yes.

:lol:

There, see? Anything can be critiqued. It's all right, and it's all wrong.

Funny enough, arguments usually continue in circles because there's two valid points on the table. Or three. Or five...and no one will admit it. :mrgreen:

8)

 

[the rev]

I admit there are two valid points... mine and Rad's

rev

 

[KevinM]

Or were these actually questions, and I've misunderstood your post?

You can call them questions, statements, ruminations, divine revelation, idle speculation, whatever you want. The point you're avoiding is that internet buyers can and should take note of a pipe's design features before forking over their cash. "Trust me" is not a big theme in the 21st century.


I admit there are two valid points... mine and Rad's

And here's Amen Charley to tell us even more about the universality of subjective viewpoints.

 

[the rev]

:roll:

 

[Steveaux]

I have a critique: "The Curmudgeon" is a terrible name for that pipe. It's curvy, whimsical, and almost cheerful. If there was some stodgy darkness, some kind of drooping bend in it, then...yes.

:lol:

There, see? Anything can be critiqued. It's all right, and it's all wrong.

Funny enough, arguments usually continue in circles because there's two valid points on the table. Or three. Or five...and no one will admit it. :mrgreen:

8)

HEY !!!

I'm curvy, whimsical, and almost cheerful ... yet, many tell me I qualify as a curmudgeon.

Harumph.

 

[the rev]

I have a critique: "The Curmudgeon" is a terrible name for that pipe. It's curvy, whimsical, and almost cheerful. If there was some stodgy darkness, some kind of drooping bend in it, then...yes.

:lol:

There, see? Anything can be critiqued. It's all right, and it's all wrong.

Funny enough, arguments usually continue in circles because there's two valid points on the table. Or three. Or five...and no one will admit it. :mrgreen:

8)

HEY !!!

I'm curvy, whimsical, and almost cheerful ... yet, many tell me I qualify as a curmudgeon.

Harumph.

Well, I could use those adjectives to describe myself, but what I really mean is I am fat, impetuous and take joy in others misfortune... and I think that is the definition of a curmudgeon

rev

 

[Slide]

Or were these actually questions, and I've misunderstood your post?

You can call them questions, statements, ruminations, divine revelation, idle speculation, whatever you want. The point you're avoiding is that internet buyers can and should take note of a pipe's design features before forking over their cash. "Trust me" is not a big theme in the 21st century.


I admit there are two valid points... mine and Rad's

And here's Amen Charley to tell us even more about the universality of subjective viewpoints.

Oh he doesn't have to tell you about subjective viewpoints.

You've got that down pat.