Tobacciana
Jason Kuznicki on Aug 15th 2008
Yesterday I went to TG Cigars to pick up a couple of stogies for the vacation: 5 Vegas A-Series “Apostles.” To connoisseurs, they’re Churchill-sized, with a Costa Rican maduro wrapper. To everyone else, they’re known as stinky sticks.
Although a cigar is a nice change of pace, I’m usually more of a pipe smoker, so while at the cigar shop I took a look at some of their tobacco pipes and hookahs. I recalled my father’s pipe collection, and one pipe in particular: a relic from my childhood memories, possibly plastic, possibly ceramic, with a perfectly smooth, Carolina-blue finish and an aluminum stem looking for all the world like a heat sink on a CPU.
The pipe looked like a spaceship, or like something a mad scientist had improvised, artfully, from his lab equipment. Its races right past tacky, and verges closely on bizarre. I love this pipe, I thought to myself. I covet this pipe.
“Ah well, I’ll probably never find its like again,” I said to myself. I thought I knew, too, because I’d looked for it on eBay and never found anything quite like it.
I paid for my Apostles and left. And when I came home there was a package for me on the kitchen table. Here’s what I found inside.
Now this surely must be one of the great coincidences of my entire life. My dad heard I’d gotten into the hobby, and he sent it along as a gift. How about that.
I did some digging, and from the inscription on the base I was able to ID the pipe’s stem and bowl at Smoking Metal, an illustrated site about metal tobacco pipes. Turns out mine is a Yello-Bole airograte pipe. The bowl unscrews, and there’s a metal mesh in the bottom of it, I suppose for cleaner smoking. Or perhaps for marijuana. (”Your dad was a total pothead,” said Scott.)
I still can’t pin down the year or find any info on the funky blue bowl finish. The pipe was made of aluminum and synthetic resin back when everything synthetic was just automatically awesome (I understand bakelite pipes were popular at the time, sometimes in freakish shapes. Because with bakelite, the sky’s the limit.) I also know it’s not high quality or top of the line or anything, but still. Sweet.
Thanks, dad! Assuming that the whole screen-and-heat-sink setup isn’t too annoying, I think I’ve just found my new favorite pipe.
Filed in The Bistro
I’m happy to hear your relationship with your family is improving.
I had no idea you smoked pipes. My favorite way to end a day is with a bowl of McClelland Black Star smoked from my Peterson St. Patrick’s Day Rhodesian on the pedestrian bridge over the river in my town.
A cigar afficianado and friend once told me that anyone can buy a good expensive cigar, but that the real trick is to find an inexpensive cigar that you really like. I never learned his definition of inexpensive, but armed with this bit of wisdom I eventually discovered Cojimars with a hint of vanilla, whose price ranges from $2-$3 (depending on the crop, hurricanes, and other factors), and have never since paid for a $5 or more cigar (which is not to say you shouldn’t if there’s one you like).
I just bought a few as I prepared to head off to a quiet cabin to prepare my fall classes. I hope you enjoy yours as much as I enjoy mine.
I paid 7.99 for each of these, which I understand I could have beaten if I’d gone online. I’m a small-time cigar buyer, however, since I don’t have a humidor for storage. (My brother, who reads this blog, has I think two of them, and he actively collects cigars.)
I’ll have a report on the 5 Vegas later. And yes, I’m happy that things are approaching normality with my parents, step by step.
Oh yeah, and Hawaii is freakin beautiful. Today I was swimming and saw a bunch of amazing tropical fish, right off the shore in walking distance from my hotel. And they said you can’t see that kind of thing on Waikiki. Maybe the north shore of Oahu is even better, and I’ll find that out soon!
I do actively collect and smoke cigars. The 5 Vegas “A” series is one of my favorite cigars on the market today. It is a good value and it has a great taste.
James,
You are correct. Anyone can buy a good cigar. Only the well traned palate will understand the complexity od said cigar. If you find yourself looking for a cigar of the “non-infused” sort, feel free to stop by the cigar.com forum and let the good people there help you find your cigar legs. You will be treated well.
[...] Jason Kuznicki finds a very cool retro pipe [...]
I followed a link from Agitator’s blog to here.
Congrats on a neat pipe.
If you like this style, check eBay for Dr. Grabow “Viking” pipes.
Same general design, and you can often find “New Old Stock” pipes for sale
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[...] I: That blue-resin-and-aluminum Airograte pipe produces some very cool smoke, but in the process the metal stem gets so hot that I had to hold the [...]