Pipes- My Shocking Confession

Now, I'm a decent guy, I work hard for a living, nice family, grandkids, I pay my bills, and don't cheat on my taxes or my lovely wife. But alas, my indolence with regard to pipe maintenance is at times almost criminal. To say I'm a minimalist would be kind. My pipe maintenance regime is seldom more involved than running a pipe cleaner through them when I hear the gurgle or get a mouth full of foul tasting sludge. For the last couple weeks though, the neglect has begun to show. My old friends started to look like pictures you see of children working in coal mines at the turn of the century, pretty crusty, pretty nasty. So I decided a good all over cleaning was well overdue. Here's the first wave of 9 pipes. The entire bottom row and the pipe to the right of the bamboo shank, were all made prior to 1938. What they lack in asthetic glory they more than make up for in pure smoking pleasure but I must say, they clean up very nicely. I'll clean up some more tomorrow.
http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/v...I/SAM_0315.jpg

Damn nice pipes there, sir. What specially caught my eye was the one in the center of the bottom row. Whatisit? Bamboo shank ain't bad either.

In general, but not always, old pipes have thicker walls on bowls than their modern followers. It must be one reason for them being so good smokers.

http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/v...I/SAM_0318.jpg

Kaywoodie Drinkless 7706C. The four digit Kaywoodie pipes were made of very old briar. They typically rejected 150 year old cuts of it in lieu of something older. Back then their quality was reputed to be on par with Dunhill. I can neither confirm nor deny since I've never smoked a Dunhill from that era but I can say that all of my pre-1938 Kaywoodies are fantastic smokers and this one is no exception.