hc/pc pipes

[tenngun]

hey folks a while ago suzkat posted a thread about carring a pipe in your possible bag.That went in to where to keep your smoke and how to keep it moist. This got me thinking.I carry clay pipes when out to an event,but I smoke meershams and briers at home.Most of the pipes in the old days were clay,brier became popular before the war on northern aggression(civil war).Now here is a question;meersham was smoked in europe by 1720;G.Washington planted apples for wood to make pipes out of.Does any one smoke somthing beside clay,tomahawk pipes,catlinite os sopestone?Does any one smoke an hc/pc pipe thats wood or meesham, does any one know when meersham was fist smoked in the Americas?Admitedly meersham is fragil to carry on a trek, but it does make for a good smoke in camp :hmm:

 

[Preacher Jeremy]

I smoke a pipe that I carved out of a piece of ash. I used a four inch horn hair pipe for a mouthpiece. I got the idea for the mouthpiece from some research I did where I discovered that the origin of the hair pipe started out as pipe stems for corn cob pipes that the traders were trading to the Natives for furs. :2

 

[Supercracker]

One of the pipes in my rotation is a Mid 19th century Meerschaum German lap pipe. I also have a Prussian (I think) briar/antler pipe. But I no longer smoke it as the antler is cracking.

I'll have to get some pics.

 

[DNICK]

could you tell me whare you found the referance to bone hair pipe being used as pipe stems that sounds interesting. Duane

 

[tenngun]

hows itsmoke?one of the resons for brier was how it can cake and not burn out. I'm 55 and don't think I would smoke out any hard wood,never have smoked out a brier,dont think I will now. does the ash have a flavor as you smoke. I'm now building a nw gun and am thinking of a pipe from maple cut off the extra waste of the stock...thanks for your reply :wink:

 

[LaBonte]

could you tell me whare you found the referance to bone hair pipe being used as pipe stems that sounds interesting. Duane

That info is included in the treatise
Hair Pipes in Plains Indian Adornment
A Study in Indian and White Ingenuity
By John C. Ewers http://www.sil.si.edu/DigitalCollections/BAE/Bulletin164/tptoc.htm


the section on -
THE SUBSTITUTION OF THE BONE HAIR PIPE
starts here
http://www.sil.si.edu/DigitalCollections/BAE/Bulletin164/section4.htm

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I use clay, but I also carry a corncob, especially when trekking.

I take a modern made corn cob pipe, that hasn't had any dye applied and that is rough, and cut off the wooden stem even with the cob. Then I carve out the portion of the original stem that remains in the cob, so that it will accept a reed stem. It works well, and it comes apart in my bag or pocket so there's nothing to break.

LD

 

[Rifleman1776]

LD, those corn cob pipes are called 'Missouri Merchaums'. tenngun is risking exile from his home state of Missouri for not mentioning those.
I gave up pipe smoking over 20 years ago but those were conventional briar and at ronny original efigy clays.

 

[Preacher Jeremy]

To insure I didn't burn any wood, and to create a cake fast, I mixed honey and wood ash into a thick paste (you can use tobacco ash instead) and spreading it on the inside of the pipe bowl. It's an old trick, and it works well. I've even used it to fix some store bought brier pipes that began to form a hot spot in the wood. As to how the pipe smokes, after the break in period, it smokes great, with no wood flavor at all.

 

[tenngun]

how long have you been smoking it?I smoke an englih blend,virginia/latokia blend or a blck navy plug with latikia. Would like to try the honey/ash in a maple pipe based on your experince, although camel poo and honey may make a funny taste for the first few smokes :rotf:by the by to rifleman I'm only missiouri by way of 30 years in arkansas :thumbsup:

 

[DNICK]

Thanks thats interesting reading. Duane

 

[Preacher Jeremy]

the first smoke is a bit bitty, and I recommend only smoking the first half of your bowl. (toss the rest) After that, the pipe smokes great I've only been smoking my ash pipe for a year, but I have others I've been smoking for several years. A side note, you may want to apply a second coat (after the first smoke)to assure you don't develop a hot spot in your pipe.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Of all the "period" styles I have found the clay bowl with reed stem the most durable and pleasant to smoke. I like a burl bulldog style when fishing but that is hardly period of historically correct.

 

[Rod Lassey]

http://www.claypipes.com/index.html


Rod

 

[BullRunBear]

I don't do reenacting but have tried "historical" pipes for fun. I've had good smokes from clay (fragile), clay bowl with reed stem (more durable) and corn cob (easily made/replaced and a sweet smoke). The key is too puff gently and hold them by the stem. Haven't tried them but I assume a decent pipe bowl could be carved from a dense fruit wood like cherry or apple.

I keep a couple of Missouri Meerschaums for use with pressed Virginia tobacco. They seem to enhance the natural sweetness. When I need my hands free for fishing, whittling or writing, I prefer a bent bulldog shape with a saddle bit.

Jeff

 

[graybeard]

I smoke clays when reenacting and in the woods, mostly corn cobs at home. No question about the clay being p/c, but I'm pretty sure I read that the cob pipe dates only to about the 1860s. I smoke English/Oriental blends like Squadron Leader and Penzance. Has anyone ever actually smoked one of those tomahawk/pipe things? A pipe bowl is supposed to be porus. A few years ago cherrywood pipes were for sale. Smoking is a nasty habit, but so nice around a campfire with a sip of rum. graybeard

 

[Stumpkiller]

That's what I like about the clay bowl & reed stem. It smokes nice, the stem stays cool and you can hold it in your teeth without chipping your teeth. I pull mine apart to carry (in the flap of my haversack) and it is much more durable.

There's a lot to be said for a cob pipe. They're light and smoke sweet (if you like sweet smoke). I drink my coffee black, my burbon straight and bitter is another desireable flavor, like sweet, sour and salt (and that yummy taste you get from charred meat that is neither salt or sour).

While we are on the subject - Pipeworks and Wilke. High Hat Tobacco. Carole is good people.

 

[BullRunBear]

To my surprise, meerschaum pipes predate corncobs by more than a century. I had assumed corncob pipes would have started way before the mid-1800s.

Colonial Williamsburg gift shop used to sell packets of tobacco that (they said) was similar to what would have been around in the 18th century. I think political correctness has killed that item.

Thanks for mentioning the High Hat tobacco. Carole's site looks good and the High Hat and Royal Scots blends sound VERY interesting. I sense an order in the near future.

I generally prefer pressed Virginia tobacco but
I've been playing with English blends for the first time in years. Turns out they go great with strong black tea and the very peaty scotch I like.

I should probably look for some plug or twist tobacco to be cut up for pipe smoking. Haven't tried that.

Jeff

 

[Loyalist Dave]

To my surprise, meerschaum pipes predate corncobs by more than a century. I had assumed corncob pipes would have started way before the mid-1800s.

That's one of the problems of archaeology..., they are mentioned prior to the civil war, but they could have been used earlier, the Indians cultivated tobacco for smoking and had pipes of wood and crude clay pipes prior to European contact..., they also cultivated maize, so..., were concobs used for tobacco smoking prior to the end of the fur trade..., we cannot say they were.

BTW corncob pipes are a prime example of an item that was readily available, both in materials and technology..., but apparently they didn't come up with the idea..., or at least didn't write it down, 'til about 1840-1850.

I should probably look for some plug or twist tobacco to be cut up for pipe smoking. Haven't tried that.

I think you will be wasting your time and money. That stuff is "not for the young". Similar to stuffing your pipe with a piece of very dark, very cheap, cigar tobacco and smoking that. :barf:

If you want something very close to original you might try Samuel Gawith Full Virginia Flake which is the right tobacco made in an 18th century manner, or you might also like Navy Flake. It has rum in it but it's subtle. The company also does a rum flake.

LD

 

[tenngun]

I do smoke a black navy flake rich in latikia. It is unlikly that it was used in America before Mr Linclons war on the south as it seams to have been invented about 1828 and would have been slow to make it in to the usa.Still I like camel poo and will carry it into the woods.There are somethings used in the old days I just cant seem to develop taste for.Some things that were used to flavor beer just dont taste good to me,nor am I a fan of black sausage.Even at the risk of some of my ancestors disowning me I dont really like haggis.I find most good Viginias too mild in taste and kentuky burly not much improved.I dont mind perurique,but its not camel poo.I doubt if perurique got out of Louisiana until after the war also and sure Boone or Greene never tasted it.Ended up with a small piece of cherry that will make its way in to me warbag before fall :wink: