"My grandpa used to smoke a pipe"

Most of us have heard that before, but while the shipper was preparing some naval guns for transport, I decided to have a smoke. Mary came out and saw me smoking a pipe and she said..."I never knew you smoked a pipe, my grandpa used to." Being the smartass that I am, I said "Mary, if I walked in the warehouse smoking my pipe, I would probably be gunned down, no reason you would know."

She told me that she would be bringing grandpa's pipes in for me to see...well it was a cased pair of Longchamps, and a Beattie Jet lighter. He only smoked one of the pipes, and he was either a meticulous smoker, or he didn't smoke very often, not enough cake worth reaming, and a swab of alcohol on the rim cleaned up the soot. The Beattie jet lighter is pretty darn cool, held vertically, it would be good for a cigarette or cigar, angle it forward and the jet flame shoots out through the tube, and as you draw on the pipe with the flame near the bowl, it lights the tobacco with a lot of finesse, and presents no chance of rim charring. And looking on the net, this is mechanically in tip-top shape as far as what to look for when buying an estate Beattie. And the Beattie uses Zippo/Ronsonol lighter fluid! The overlapping collar at the top of the pipe looks like a pretty good seal to prevent evaporation...we will see.

I asked her what she wanted for both.... "I want a happy pipe smoker", she said with a wink. I will be buying her lunch though.




Trying to remember if I ever saw such an oval bowl before on the unsmoked one.