ATTENTION: CB Pipe Tobacco Review Bombing Run Version 2.0

[Branzig]

OK, here is my submission. Sorry if this goes a bit long... Grab a pipe and read up boys and girls

Story No. 2: A Hobby Becomes A Passion

For as long as I have been using tobacco, I have had an infatuation with these silly smoking vessels that we all know as pipes. I don't know what is about it. I mean, it is just a hunk of wood with some holes drilled into it and some rubber added to the end. You have a bowl, an airway, and a stem to smoke with. So simple. But still...something about them.

I started smoking cigarettes at 13, like most kids, to look cool. Eventually, cigarettes became more of a friend than a fashion trend for me. When I was upset, they settled me. When I was happy, they escalated my being. When I was stressed, they relieved me. Before I knew it, my 1-4 cigarettes a day habit became a pack or so a day instead. I was in school to be a writer, and started to work for some media and music publications, mainly writing reviews. I was going through 1-2 packs a day writing for these guys, so I wanted to take up the pipe because of the room note and to cut back on my cigarette habit. It was around this time I picked up my first Dr. Grabow. A Golden Duke. It was a junk pipe that gurgled, smoked wet, and burned hot. I don't know why or how many bowls I smoked through that pipe, but I loved it. I loved everything about it. I have always wanted a pipe. I wanted to be a writer. Twain, Hemingway, Lewis, Dr. Seuss, Hunter S. Thompson...all amazing writers, all pipe smokers. I was living my dream. Smoking a pipe and writing. I smoked the hell out of that little Grabow, all the way up until one of my idiot "friends" defiled her with some contraband...then the Duke was retired.

Years went by and my path in life changed dramatically. My dreams and aspirations of becoming a professional writer went on the back burner (they are still simmering back there) and I started my current career. Kids were born, rings were exchanged, vows were made. Time dried up and so did my tobacco use. Cigarettes were a thing of the past now and I had gone through a pretty intense cigar phase that was quickly vanishing as well. However, the pipe always stuck around. At this point I had maybe 3 little Grabows and a LHS that my friend had found and given me. The LHS was disgusting, so I never smoked it. I figured it was a lost cause. I did some research about it and found out a lot about LHS pipes...and their age. I am a history buff, so the thought of smoking and having an old pipe really fascinated me. Who smoked it? Where had the pipe been? What happened while that pipe was clinched in someone's mouth...All these things just fascinated me. I began searching vociferously for ways to make this LHS smoke worthy again. Along the way, I found a lot of awful information, but I struggled through it and got the pipe to where it at least was smoke worthy...and what a sweet smoker she is.

That little junker LHS started something that I haven't been able to get away from since. I have become somewhat obsessed with restoring and bringing new life to these old relics. I spend countless hours of my own free time (which I have little of I mind you) researching pipes, their makers, their construction, where they were primarily sold and of course buying them up. My idea of "me time" is sitting down with some OxiClean, Magic erasers, and Micro sanding pads to hand clean stems for a couple hours. Sanding down a pipe to bare briar and re-staining it. The first smoke. Probably the most rewarding part of my hobby now is being able to pass the knowledge I have acquired on to others. Nothing makes me happier than knowing I helped out a fellow enthusiast with their own personal project. The thanks from others is all I need to keep on trucking. Preserving history and helping out others is what is all about to me, and of course, having a nice smoker at the end of it all is a plus as well