On Liverpools

Comoy Blue Riband Liverpools: Shapes 133, 30, and 434Compared to its cousins, the Canadian and the Lovat, the Liverpool attracts fewer admirers. In my experience, many pipe smokers are not even sure what a Liverpool is. However, this seems to be changing. For mysterious reasons, the Liverpool’s star is rising. It is true for me, and I’ve noticed of late that more than a few of my friends are enthusing about the Liverpools I’ve seen them smoking.

Like the Canadian and the Lovat, the Liverpool is a long-shanked variant of the Billiard shape. Unlike the oval-shanked Canadian, the Liverpool’s shank is round. Unlike the saddle-stemmed Lovat, the Liverpool’s stem is tapered. Like the Lovat, the Liverpool’s billiardish bowl is slightly forward-canted. In summary, a Liverpool is a long- and round-shanked pipe with a tapered stem and a slightly forward-canted, billiard-like bowl.

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Obama Administration renders all ivory-decorated pipes worthless.

If you own any pipes with ivory decorative insets or flocs, these pipes are effectively rendered valueless within the United States. An executive order issued by the White House and the Department of the Interior bans the sale, resale, import, and export of ivory. According to “The New York Times,” the order will take effect this summer, but with its announcement, it has essentially already done its damage.

This order was created to strengthen the Endangered Species Act protection for African elephants. Ironically, it will continue to be legal to import two freshly killed elephant trophies (with ivory tusks) per year into the United States, but selling Grandma’s Steinway piano could land you in prison.

This order renders valueless teacups, knives, snuff boxes, dice, pool cues, pianos, musical instruments, pipes, tampers, guns, walking sticks, chess pieces, netsuke, boxes, jewelry, and other items too numerous to mention.

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Leafy Sea Dragon by Tonni Nielsen

While there are many notable pipe collections in our pipe community, Richard Friedman’s Sea Creature collection is unique among them. Taking its inspiration from Richard’s life at sea, his collection is populated with a vast array of ocean creatures—some so exotic and other-worldly that it boggles the mind that their essential shapes or natures could be imagined, let alone rendered, in briar.

Leafy Sea DragonWhile some shapes, like the blowfish, fugu, and whale, have made their way into the mainstream, others like the manta ray, the sea horse, the squid or the octopus will almost certainly never become commonplace. Among these rarities, one in particular stands out: a Leafy Sea Dragon by Tonni Nielsen that Richard acquired at the last Richmond Pipe Show.

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At the peak of his powers.

Lasse Skovgaard, Tonni Nielsen, and Mimmo Romeo at the Chicago Show several years ago.

Several weekends ago at the Richmond CORPS Show, I spent quite a few hours chatting with Danish-American pipemaker, Tonni Nielsen, and with my friend Richard Friedman, too, who Tonni mentored in pipemaking. Our conversation was revelatory to me, full of insights.

I was particularly struck by Tonni’s humility. How many 60-year old pipemakers will admit to feeling nervousness about staying at the top of their game? How many talk about ensuring that they stay practiced in some of the more difficult operations in pipemaking? Everything about Tonni Nielsen – from his lean and muscular profile to the penetrating gaze of his eyes, to the luminary quality of his artisan circle of colleagues, to an awesome body of work over a lifetime that began in the teen years of his apprenticeship at W.O. Larsen – evidences a master craftsman at the peak of his powers. Despite all that, I heard the voice of someone who takes nothing for granted, least of all his ability to meet his own standards while continuing to push himself beyond where he has grown to now.

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In Praise of Authors

Author (Churchill) by Rad DavisLike many of you, I have a lot of pipes. Too many, if such a thing is possible. While I love them all, some of them exert special magnetism. When I’m contemplating relaxing with a book, paper, or magazine – and I think about smoking a pipe as I read – I will inevitably reach for a particular pipe in that moment. It is in those moments of choosing that I experience that special magnetism. I will reach for a particular pipe.

Author by Premal Chheda, Aber Herbaugh, Thomas James, and Bill ShaloskyA couple of years ago, I penned a  post called “Comfort Pipes” where I wrote about how some pipes create the same psychological effect on me that comfort food does. Whereas I understand the origins of why I feel some foods are comfort foods and some aren’t – they are often related to particularly warm and vivid memories from childhood and young adulthood – I haven’t been able to put my finger on why some pipes feel more like comfort pipes than others.

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