The Trying Triad

I continue to read up on pipes and have noticed two major controversies. The effects of finish on the pipe and the effects of the size of the airway. It is these two hotly debated topics that the Trying Triad tobacco pipes are comparing. All three pipes are within a half inch in length with each other, with similar bowl sizes and exterior thicknesses. All three are Italian Briar with german Vulcanite stems. 

This first pipe has the airway that I normally use and a carnauba wax finish which is also my most typical finish.

The next pipe has an enlarged airway but than has a Buffed Oil finish which I have heard causes the pipe to stop breathing. 

This last pipe also has the enlarged airway but the finish is a Spray Lacquer. 

So this is by no means a scientific test but I am smoking the same tobacco out of these there pipes to see if I can detect a difference in the way they perform. I will keep you up to date on the results. 

Simplicity

This pipe is another briar. It is a fairly simple design but the continuos curves and the taper make it rather elegant. The rim of the bowl is a step stain with black underlaying a Red Mahogany stain, and the rest of the body is stained with just Red Mahogany. It also has a vulcanite stem and is finished with carnauba wax.

This is one of my favorite shapes that I have tried so far.

Sherlock Holmes

Just as I was finishing the first two pipes I discovered that a friend of mine from the St. John Vianney Seminary was cast to play the character of Sherlock Holmes in the spring seminary production of Sherlock Holmes. When I heard that, I jumped for the chance to make a pipe for him. Sherlock Holmes is probably the best known pipe smoker in the world (although the hobbits also have their place quite near to him, probably coming in second, third, fourth, and fifth). I remember as a kid pretending to be Sherlock Holmes. I was much more concerned with wandering around with the cheap plastic bubble pipe clinched between my teeth than with becoming more intelligent, or solving mysteries or anything like that. I don't even think I had read any of the Sherlock Holmes stories at that point.

This pipe is modeled off of a meerschaum bowl in a gourd. It has been made from briar. The stem is vulcanite. This pipe was my first try at a two step stain. First I used a black stain, sanded it down a little and than put a brown stain over that. It is amazing the different colors you can get by layering the stains. The lip around the bowl I did not stain at all. The pipe has a buffed carnauba wax finish

Kemble's Gospel

I would like to bring my own experience in connection with the martyrdom of St. John Kemble in order to draw out something about tobacco. The first time I smoked a cigarette was while walking across the country spreading the gospel of life with Crossroads (http://www.crossroadswalk.org/). It was while walking this pilgramage that I saw smoking used as a means to spread the gospel. I remember one occasion specifically. 

We were praying outside of an abortion clinic. Our two sidewalk counselors were having difficult time getting people to stop and talk to them. We all had the blah feeling that you get in your stomach while you're out there. At one point a woman came out to smoke a cigarette. One of the guys who was with us went over and also lit up. She started talking to him just because he was smoking. She had brought her friend in to have an abortion that day. He talked with her for quite a while and by the end she was trying to talk her friend out of the abortion. Although her friend continued on and had the abortion, we were able to give her friend information about post-abortion counseling. 

I find it remarkable that smoking can bring together people with very different ideas. I love the image of St. John Kemble, not just forgiving his enemies (defined as those who were going to kill him), but even enjoying their company over a pipe in his last minutes. Most people would rather curse those who had come to hang them. 

This pipe was my second briar, it was a fun pipe to make. the lip is natural color,  and the body a one step red mahogany stain. 

The stems on all of these pipes have started out as unfinished, preformed vulcanite stems. I take the stem sand it, modify any of the form I want to change, and then I polish them with a compound called tripoli.