The New York Pipe Show 2018
This week’s blog entry is just a quick recap of the my visit to the New York Pipe show this past Saturday March 10th. The show was held at the Wyndham Garden Hotel near the Newark airport. It’s a bit…
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A Challenging Replacement Stem
In my opinion, diamond shank stems are the most difficult to match. When making a pipe with a diamond shank, the stem and shank are shaped together as one piece allowing for a seamless fit. However this can not be…
What is a pipe Part 4: Design of the Airway
In the last installment we looked at the abstract geometry of the tobacco chamber in order to gain some understanding of how bowl diameter, height, and shape impact on the performance of the pipe. We now turn to to other…
International Pipe Smoking Day
Tomorrow, February 20th is the annual event we have come to know as International Pipe Smoking Day (IPSD). I have heard mixed opinions about this day, and honestly I have gone back and forth over the years in terms of…
What is a Pipe Part 3: The Design of the Tobacco Chamber
As we move through this series on what defines a pipe, keep in mind that at this stage we are focusing more on the abstract geometry of the voids in the pipe (i.e. the tobacco chamber and airway). We will…
Putting Some Zip Back in a Zippo
For 86 years the Zippo Manufacturing company of Bradford PA has been making the iconic Zippo lighter. The Zippo has an unmistakable appearance and feel in the hand, and an instantly recognizable sound. Sure the lighter has it’s critics, and…
What is a Pipe Part 2: Fire, a Science Nerd’s Guide to Pipe Smoking
To understand the workings of a pipe, it is first necessary to understand the thing that it is designed to do – burn tobacco. And while it might seem a bit odd to find yourself reading a nerdy description of…
My Love-Hate Relationship with Stem Patching
When confronted with the choice between repairing a heavily damaged (ie chewed through) ebonite stem or making a replacement stem, I will always lean towards making a replacement. This is because I have yet to find a satisfactory method of…
What is a pipe – Part 1
Early last year I purchased a used copy of William Goldring’s “The Pipe Book: A History and How To.” While certainly not one of the best books written on tobacco pipes, it is of interest for the excellent historical overview…
In Praise of Simple Tools
My first serious introduction to woodworking came while I was in college working in the theater scene shop. Certainly most of my theatrical creations were little more than exercises in basic carpentry, but I did tackle a few personal projects…