A Few Personal Thoughts

 I won't say I am a religious person.  I am my own kind of Spiritual person.  I don't need an authority telling me what to believe and I interpret the Bible and other Scriptures my own way.  However, I might touch on religious themes here and there, but my concern is for all human life and I leave it at that.

Because I smoke a pipe, I always tie-in pipe smoking in some way.  My wife says I find really different off-beat things to write about.  I try hard not to overlap what my son does.  But a lot of themes always relate to pipe smoking in some way, or there is a segue to smoking a pipe.  I have given thought to my next pipe, which will be a new Churchwarden pipe.

I have one Churchwarden pipe that I fear is on the verge of burning through.  I tend to smoke my pipes hot and I have a few that are close to burning through.  I don't really need a new pipe as I have plenty but I have two Churchwarden pipes in my one wish list.  One is a Peterson and the other is a Savinelli.  I've given thought to buying a Dr. Grabow pipe, but I have since ditched that idea.  

I gave thought to a clay Churchwarden pipe, but again, I'm not sure I want one.  I found one in the $70 range, which means at that price point it would be a very good one.  And were I to buy a Churchwarcen now, there is no reason not to own another one later on.  I get a 5% discount from Smoking Pipes on both Savinelli and Peterson pipes for being a good customer from Smoking Pipes.  They sometimes have 15% sales throughout the year and I could wait until their next sale.  

I liked my only Chrchwarden pipe as my use of it will attest.  These pipes smoke cool and they look attractive.  Even if my wife is the only one to see my pipes, I still buy for style and looks.  I prefer smooth pipes over sandblasted, but those pipes usually are more expensive.  I smoke my Sherlock Holmes pipe more because it looks good and it is sandblasted,a ND most importantly it is one of my favorites now for smoking.  I could have paid more for the smooth finish, but I like this style better in the sandblasted finish.  

I have only a few pipes that are handcrafted as most pipes are machine made.  But a stylish pipe doesn't have to be handcrafted.  Most handcrafted pipes selling for $500 or more are mostly for serious collectors, but many collectors have Dr. Grabow and clay pipes.  A serious collector will have many pipes at different price points smoking the less expensive more and maybe not smoking the more expensive ones.  

One might go on eBay and see a pipe that is advertised as unsmoked.  Another collector might buy such a pipe and keep it in unsmoked condition.  Smoking such a pipe might decrease the value by half.  It just depends.  I smoke all my pipes, as I have none that are unsmoked.  Some pipe smokers have pipes just for English tobacco and use other pipes for just Aromatic tobaccos.  But I use all my pipes with different tobaccos.  

Well, today it is my Nording special pipe with the last of my Early Morning Pipe which is a light English tobacco, and I am quite content with my collection as it is.  All my pipes have meaning to them, but the purpose of any pipe is the pleasure it gives to the owner.  Thank you for your time and Peace to each one of you.

Dave