"...they have a soul and smoke impossibly well..."

[Anonymous]

I don't see how it doesn't come down to the basic sense (if any) you regard being alive here on planet LooneyTunes as making.

This is where "life" is, so little aspects of it (like BoB) reflect that.

I seem to be stepping on a sore spot . . . (?)

Unintentionally

:face:

 

[Kyle Weiss]

I'm hoping to seem to be getting back on topic...intentionally. I happened to really like the progression of this thread. :scratch: Come on, now. Quit reading into things. Wanna talk about forums and BoB? Cool. Let's put this over on the two recent "BoB Love Fest" threads. I'm game.

8)

 

[Anonymous]

OK. Easily done.

Back around 1960 people started realising that, while new Martin guitars were nice instruments, the ones they made back in the later 1930s were freaking fantastic guitars. 30 or so years does that to wooden things.

Same with violins.

Same, IMHO, with pipes.

You can taste it, the way you can hear it. Not just Good briar ; Ripe good briar.

Relevantly Yours,

:face:

 

[J Soshae]

I'm hoping to seem to be getting back on topic...intentionally.

We are 6 pages deep into this thread. If you can get it to stay on topic, it just might be a new record for our group.

 

[Zeno Marx]

aren't the best conversations the ones that don't stay on topic?

 

[MisterE]

Careful boys, tiltjlp might come and rip y'all a new one for straying off topic.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Though there is something to be said about the original wood that was used and the craftsmanship to get it there. Suddenly, I'm going to end up going full circle and almost sounding as if I'm switching to Sas' camp--which, in a sense, I agree with both sides. I think there was a method of hearty, proper simplicity that, coupled with "good wood" made for these gems of pipes that stick with us these days. The status quo, years back, was a little different product than the mass-produced "churn 'em out" methods we've become accustomed to having now a days--the kind of product that I don't think years will do much for. Violins especially come to mind on that...ahem...note. Like violins, with pipes, you have to find a good maker doing things the old (right?) way to assure yourself something that will find its own warmth and grace with time.

8)

 

[Anonymous]

Point taken. But I don't know that English pipes 1950-80 are separable from, say, Stanwell/Peterson/Savinelli/Brebbia pipes 19-whatever 'til nearly today on a "quality" or "standards" basis.

Similar machinery, similar economic-driven production efficiency, &c. The goal in both cases was not perfection but a high standard of acceptable standardness. Which is "why" outfits like Castello & the Great Danes (even the Pretty Good Danes) could distinguish themselves from the production line stuff.

IOW, about the only difference I see between my older-timey "name" and no-name Britwood and their post-20th Century analogues is age and use.

:face:

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Sure. You're far more seasoned in experiencing these side-by-side than I would be. I don't have many "good" older pipes to really say. I'm making a generalization only with the way the producing world tends to plan and execute their wares. I do know my "budget pipes" I've found at junk stores, sometimes with name, sometimes not, are likely were not "top shelf" pipes in their day, let alone now, but they have a bit more attention to detail and seem more sturdy when used. They also seem to take a little more abuse (or they just like it). This new Brebbia, the one with the "evergreen stem" is a classic example. I have been giving it a strict diet of Union Square to see if I notice an improvement--time will tell. Bought it new, pipe was made just a few years ago, but its performance just isn't like my old Noymer leather bulldog, which has been used a bit, wasn't cut particularly pretty and can have breathing problems on a muggy day (maybe the leather).

8)

 

[Anonymous]

Breathing Problems :

You're using drill bits to keep the throat un-clogged ?

I have to with my older ones or else they clog shut. Smoking tin-humidity level flakes slowly generates a LOT of tars that accumulate on the bottom of the bowl & at the shank entrance.

:face:

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Not those kind of breathing problems... more like wearing a rubber glove makes your hand sweat type of breathing problems, ala the leather-wrapped bulldog. I can get one good smoke out of it on a damp day before it just starts sweating.