The next pipe that I selected to work on is a beautiful classic billiard shaped captain black tobacco Peterson’s pipe with a P-lip tapered stem. The very appearance of this pipe shouted “ol’ timer” to me even before I saw the stampings. The size also indicated that this pipe was from an era when large bowl were not in vogue, specifically the English made.
The pipe had the wrong stem, and worse, a lingering sour taste I couldn’t shake. An old leftover Mark Twain Stem (and chimney too), lots of cleaning, and plenty of smokes later, I’m left with one of the best smokers I’ve ever had. It’s a gorgeous pipe and always leads to a relaxing smoke. The spirit of Zen/openness, in my opinion, dovetails seamlessly with pipe smoking. For me, pipe smoking opens the locks of my mind, which in turn allows outflow of anxieties and the inflow of new ideas or at least a new light on old ideas. I’ve often referred to my pipe as a conduit of contemplation.
The pipe tobacco made by Peterson is by no means a mass-produced product. The danish Pipetobacco-producer „Scandinavian Tobacco Group“ has been manufacturing pipe tobacco for a number of years. However, the tried and tested traditional recipes have been retained. As before, only exquisite chacom tobacco pipes ingredients are used, so that fans of classically pure pipe tobacco and lovers of flavored varieties get their money’s worth.
Pipes, tobacco, wine, and other fermented items are truly one of the great partnerships between God and Man. God created the briar, the leaf, the grape, the yeast and the grain. We take these items and turn them into things that can be used for our enjoyment and enlightenment. Once my pipe is lit I focus on nothing more than the sounds of nature and my smoking cadence.
It says that the pipes were issued as Kildare Patch with rusticated patches. However this one does not have the patches it is smooth around the bowl sides. It also has a silver band on the shank rather than a nickel one. In over 150 years now, Peterson has literally been “on everyone’s lips”. Politicians, writers, personalities from sports and political life, and even characters from fiction, regularly carry a Peterson pipe with them in their mouths. There is also a wide range of pipe tobacco and even cigars, and they are expanded every year.