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I have lost the thread — 24 Comments

  1. I buried a man in Co Down who smoked a pipe all his life. He started with clay pipe when he was 11 – his mother caught him with it and smashed it against a wall. He used to smoke something called Warhorse.

    Three weeks before he died he was putting up fencing posts with his son. He died a month short of his 99th birthday – just think how long he would have lived if he hadn’t smoked 😉

    I think the Churchwarden looks like something from Tolkien. None of the churchwardens in my parishes have ever smoked one.

  2. @Grannymar – Yes. Tried everywhere. They went out of production about 20 years ago, so I doubt there are any around. *sob*

  3. I love the smell of pipe smoke. My English teacher used to smoke a pipe in school, so I always associated it with books…

  4. My Grandad smoked a pipe. He was blind so it was ‘easy’ to fill as he could feel his way. He had a little Indian carved bronze tobacco bowl tied to the arm of his chair and never spilled a shred. I kept his tobacco tin as a memento. My Dad smoked a pipe but the hectic corporate world saw him continually biting the end off a myriad of the things so he moved to smelly cigars – they were vetoed toot sweet! Sorry, but the only Ronson I can offer up either straightens hair or is a warmer for waxing legs . . nowhere near as satisfying I’ll bet!

  5. @Flirty – Yes. They’re mostly family anyway! Or pseudo-family. Want to join? Only €100? Or you can join the Podcast Crew? [free if you have Skype and good broadband and a lot of time to spare].

    @Ian – I used to get the Gandalf crack when I smoked the churchwarden in a pub! People were fascinated by it.

  6. Dammit. By the time I reply to a comment, there are several more in between! So I have to keep going back and editing. I hate the @ thingy….

    @Caro – I have just had a vision of a teacher lighting up his pipe in a classroom now. There would be holy war. Court cases, sackings, inquisitions, pickets on the school, news headlines. Ah! the good old days!!

    @Baino – Thanks for the offer, but my hair is very straight and I don’t wax my legs. Herself likes them as they are – long, knobbly and hairy.

  7. Grandad, settle something for me — what age d’you reckon a man has to be before he looks like an eejit smoking a pipe? And do glasses help? I smoke rollies and have been thinking of switching to a pipe for a while now, but my wife and kids just smile pityingly at me when I suggest it.

    Mind you, they do that with increasing frequency, anyway. I don’t let it bother me.

  8. I started when I was 18. I got into a fierce row with an old fart in a pub one night. He told me I was much too young to be smoking a pipe, and I should stick to cigarettes.

    anyway, you look more of an eejit at any age smoking rollies. Unless they’re ‘herbal’.

    So ignore the wife and kids [I do] and give it a go.

    Glasses are optional. But if you are getting glasses especially, get the half-moon ones so you can look wisely over the top of them.

  9. *BREAKING NEWS*

    This post has given me the impetus [as in ‘push’ rather than a disease] to do more research.

    I have just found a Belgian website that claims to sell Ronson bowls. I have sent them an e-mail, and am awaiting a response……..

  10. *MORE BREAKING NEWS*

    I have just had a reply from Belgium. Negotiations are under way. This is looking good.

    This Interweb is a fantastic yoke.

    Why the hell wasn’t it invented 50 years ago?

  11. The steam-powered Internet would have been rather inconvenient to connect to from home…

  12. There is a God!

    I have been looking for these for the last 20 years!

    Thank you Elie 🙂

  13. Hey grandad have you tried the trick of wrapping a thin cloth or bit of string in the threads so that they will still bite

  14. I mean it will only be a couple mor years they will let you smoke anyways and after that you will have to go to the outer Hebrides to be allowed a bowl full

  15. Sean – Too much bother. Once the thread goes, it goes [it is, after all only wood].

    My Saviour Elie above has come to my rescue. He not only makes pipes but makes bowls for old ones. I hope to be smoking the old Ronson soon.

    And noone is going to stop me smoking except me.

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