William G.

Reviews


Books - Sherlock Holmes As A Pipe Smoker
Check around
My rating is in reference to the presentation of the book here. Amazon.com offers a much more extensive description, including the information, omitted here, that the book contains 106 pages.

McClelland - 40th Anniversary 100g
Deserves the kudos
A rich, mostly dark and complex Virginia. Don't expect thin well-arranged flakes that you can easily fold into your pipe. Many are "broken" and those not broken are about 1.5 inches long. They are thick and take some care and effort to rub out. The moisture level out of the can is ideal, but a bit of drying will make them easier to rub out. Once packed and ignited it did require some relights.

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Blog's Commented on

    All Pipes Considered: Musico Pipes
  • ► I have just looked on Google Maps for the shop in Rome at 29 Via de S.Vicenzo and it appears to be permanently closed. If so, that's a shame.
  • ► Here's a link with photos of the shop:https://thestandardedition.com/2013/01/31/pipe-dream-becker-musico/
    Life After McClelland
  • ► Great article, Chuck. I've long been a Beacon fan, blithely believing that it would be around forever. The same goes for their Anniversary blends (I have some of the 40th stashed away, but not nearly enough). I'm now very glad that I once bought on a whim and stored several tins of their Blending Perique. For those of us who have been wringing our hands about the demise of McClelland your article is a godsend.
    Proper Pipe Tobacco Humidification
  • ► Just so, Chuck. That's the brewery, and I'm the one who "confused the specifics" getting the name of the contaminant wrong. It wasn't PG, but DEG (diethylene glycol). Sorry for the "fake news".
    Robert Service: Yukon Pipe Smoker and Poet
  • ► Thanks Chuck, for a very well-researched piece. Personally, I think that the "poetry" of Robert Service is pretty awful. "Some of the boys were whooping it up..." Give me a break. Moreover, his stereotyping of the pipe smoker in the eponymous verse, if you think about it, is simplistic and somewhat insulting.
  • ► Obviously, some people who claim to "ponder and marvel" (sounds intense, but isn't) have no critical sense.
  • ► "Smokin" and "sit a spell" sound just as "folksy" and Service himself.
  • ► I'll let others, if they so wish, figure out what you're trying to express.
    The History of Meerschaum Pipes
  • ► Long ago I purchased an "Ambroseli Meerschaum" pipe. It's black and rusticated, and has "Tanganyika" engraved on the shank. This helps date it, since Tanganyika was the mainland part of present-day Tanzania, and existed from 1961 until 1964. I guess anyone can legally call anything "meerschaum". For me, "the real thing", as you call it, comes only from Turkey, specifically from the area of Eskihir. Meerschaum pipes may well be manufactured in Austria (or anywhere else). In fact, some very collectable pipes made from this material have been made in Austria. My own favorite meerschaum, which is not "fake", I'm smoking at the moment with some Pease Telegraph Hill, and has the name of the artisan, "i.Becker" on the shank. and "CAO" on the stem. A few years ago, in Paris, I had it treated by a specialist with whale oil, and since then (OK, I know it's not PC) it has colored beautifully.
  • ► How about a rubber "softy" bit?