Thread: Pipe of the Day

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Broke down and picked up an unsmoked, signed Ismet Bekler on the bay. Probably a 1970s-'80s piece. Using a paper towel to keep finger oils from affecting the coloring of the pipe, my second time smoking it.

Seller's pic, and my pic ;

Attachment 247288Attachment 247289

I hadn't messed with Meerschaum since the 1980s. At that time I thought it was too much of a hassle, but I've slowed down a bit since my thirties. The seller was a lovely lady whose late father collected pipes. She is liquidating and I was able to get a really great deal on the pipe.

When I look at this design I will at least say that it looks like it might sit well in your left hand. But if you are afraid to touch it....

Originally Posted by 32t

When I look at this design I will at least say that it looks like it might sit well in your left hand. But if you are afraid to touch it....

I'm not afraid to touch it. I just handle it by the stem, or hold it at the bottom with a paper towel when I smoke it. The fact is, the same oils that benefit your strop when you palm rub, will give the meerschaum a mottled coloring as it is smoked. If I didn't care about that I'd handle it like a briar. It is a matter of not being able to 'have your cake, and eat it too.' You can have an evenly colored meerschaum, or you can touch it with your bare fingers, but you can't have both.

I almost PM'd you before my previous post and I don't want to start anything. Here are my thoughts....

That pipe is ugly. BUT to me a pipe is another tool. If the tool works great that is the important part and then if it looks great that is a bonus. To me if the pipe has a dissimilar color because that is how it sat in the smokers hand it is a beauty not a negative.

When I first saw your picture I thought OMG the guy just sanded the corners off a blank. Then I thought of the tool aspect and thought very functional if you hold it in your left hand.

Originally Posted by 32t

That pipe is ugly.

My good friend of 30 years Mike D, formerly of Kearny, N.J. would see a fleshy heavy set gal and say WOW, what a knockout. That is the kind he married. Me, I see one bone skinny and I'm hot to trot. Just a few more pounds than Twiggy. He wouldn't give her a second look, but that is the kind I married, and the kind I always went for.

To me that pipe is beautiful. I watched it start and end three or four times in my watch list @ $199.00 with no bids. I finally emailed the seller (through ebay) and told her to put it up as a BIN with a best offer. We agreed on $164.00 and she put it up at $400 (my suggestion) to keep any joker from the BIN, and immediately made the offer, she accepted and I bought it.

When I received it I thought the pictures didn't do it justice, it is even more beautiful in the hand. So, as the old saying goes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Here is a bit more of the same ;

My latest meerschaum PAD :: Meerschaum Pipes :: Pipe Smokers Forums

(Not my pipes at the linked website)

I agree that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

What tobacco did you smoke in it and how did that taste?

Originally Posted by 32t

I agree that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

What tobacco did you smoke in it and how did that taste?

Glad you asked, I hit the sack early so just saw your post this morning. I am dedicating this pipe to latakia blends. At present Dunhill Early Morning Pipe. It is one of my staple tobaccos, and as long as I can keep getting it in bulk, it will stay at the top of the menu.

The smoking experience, it was a cool, dry, and flavorful smoke. Somewhat 'cleaner' than that of a briar. I had first heard of Ismet Bekler through Richard Carlton Hacker's 'Ultimate Pipe Book', Even then, in the early '90s, Bekler was one of the premier carvers in Turkey.

Also through that book I learned about holding the pipe with a glove, by the stem, or whatever, to avoid mottling the finish. Aside from my admiring the workmanship in an aesthetic sense, Bekler did a great job on the internals of the pipe, the draught hole/mouthpiece, which also contributes greatly to the smoking qualities.

Speaking about beauty again, I don't care for these meers that depict a head, or an animal, a foot, hand or skull. The abstract geometric shape or this one really appealed to me. Complimenting the beauty of the smooth white material. If I were to get another meer it would be more of the same, or a traditional shape with not detail carved into it.

I have spent several days doing a restoration to a sweet very old James Upshall hand made pipe. A member here was most kind to send me a few old well used pipes from his stash, thank you. Almost everything needed for pipe restoration I have on hand for straight razor restorations. I only needed to add some oxy-clean, obsidian oil and black super glue to the tool supply. This was a great change of pace from razors and I am enjoying it. And, more pipes for the rotation.

Smoking this and drinking some Glenfiddich IPA out near Oban.



Some awesome views out here.

Geek

Sent from my LG-H850 using Tapatalk

Enjoyed some Billy Budd in a great smoking little Stanwell this afternoon.

Have not had any Billy Budd in quite a while, sounds really good. I'll have to check my cabinet to see if any is still hiding in there. Thanks for the reminder.