The camaraderie of the pipe

It's been a few days since our SEM. For the uninitiated, that's a Special Emergency Meeting. Before you get excited, no, there wasn't an actual emergency. If there had been, it would have been an Emergency Meeting, like we had back when the tobacco tax scare hit. No, this was a Special Emergency Meeting, which basically means we needed an excuse to get together and smoke. Yes, I realize it was less than 24 hours after our regular pipe club meeting, but there really was a reason this time.

Travels of a Czech tool

Consider the Czech tool, the three-part device from Heaven. Its tamper, so necessary to keep a bowl burning. It's poker, helping us stir our ash and granting the flame access to lower leaf. It's scoop, helping us remove dottle from the heel and scrape down the walls. So many uses, and each prong of the tool necessary to the enjoyment of the hobby.

Give and Take and Give Again.

I have never really been much of the religious type. I don't believe in spirits that walk the Earth. I don't believe in aliens that visit the Earth. I believe that, here on Earth, there is the most powerful, caring, and sometimes devastating force. What I believe in is the individual. Personal convictions have given us what we have and put us where we are today. There are those who raise their hands and volunteer themselves to fight in wars, spread the word of God, or simply donate their time or assets. These people are what I put my faith in. Personal conviction is a power that few understand, and that many put themselves so entirely into that they'd stop at very little to see it realized. On Earth, that personal conviction can be found in abundance. It is a truth, though, that some mans' convictions inflict negative scores on my beliefs, yet my own doctrine drives me to look for the positive. Every human has a role in his world, and I put faith in that. Semblance of society is tainted with those who have struggled to realize this; the men who murder, steal, and rape. These are the men who try my own, and many others, adherence to personal beliefs. This is where the beliefs of many align. These men will be put to justice, either in this life or the next.

I don't make it difficult for myself to recognize good, regardless of what I may see broadcast on the news or written in the papers. I see generosity and the derivatives of generosity abounding in the community that we've established around our love of tobacco. We understand how to slow down and inventory our thoughts. We understand how to give with the faith that the recipient will pay it forward. We are the most generous people, and all we ask in return is a good conversation. This generosity is not to make any personal gain. I think it's more a showing of how a man can give what he has and still have something to show for it.

As I sat to have an evening smoke in a pipe that was gifted to me all I could think about is how I'd pay this forward, and it gave me my idea for my very first piper's blog.

And now for something completely different...

It all started with Neil Patrick Harris, this little idea of mine. It started when his character, Barney Stnison, created the "Bro Code," which has since been turned into a book for sale at retailers everywhere. Then there came "Man Law," which, like the "Bro Code," is  a witty and insightful look into the relationships between men, renamed, however, to settle for accusations of copying while avoiding accusations of copy-write infringement. So today, I add only a small twist on this tried and true form of humor and introspection by introducing "Smoker Law."

So if today is the fourth Thursday...

That's right, The Ozark Pipe Smokers have a rare fifth Thursday coming up and, therefore, a Fifth Thursday Meeting.
As with most fifth Thursdays, we do not have a heavily serious agenda, but there should be some fun. On the agenda are a well-postponed discussion of our annual slow-smoking contest, and I've got another fun exercise that should elicit a laugh or two, but I'll talk more about that this weekend.
On the smoking contest, we are hoping to build a schedule of events that will span more than one day. A two- or even three-day weekend might give people more reason to trek down to lowly northwest Arkansas and see the community they have seriously misjudged. My hope is that if we can plan a multiple-day event, we can count on the cooperation of some of the city agencies, like the Chambers of Commerce or Main Street Rogers.
Right now, we have our cornerstone event, the slow smoke, but we'd like to find more reasons for people to come here. The cigar smoke ring contest was also fun, and allowed us to extend the contest briefly, but I can't help thinking there is more we can do. More events will attract more people, and more people will attract more vendors, and more vendors will again attract more sellers. And with the right events, we could possibly put ourselves in the national pipe smoking spotlight, even to be in better position to host the International Pipe Smoking Competition.
So bring your ideas next Thursday or post them here. Any suggestions will help.

Tweener shapes

On an intellectual level, it should be easy to name the shapes. You can tick most of them off on your fingers, right? We'll start with the common billiard, and then it's wild cousin, the Dublin. We'll toss in the fraternal twins, Canadian and lovat. There's the bulldog and the rhodesian, the poker and the cherrywood. We can run through the food and drink shapes, the brandy and apple and tomato and acorn. Don't forget the blowfish and the calabash, the wild shapes on the fringes. I can't think of any more off the top of my hand, so let's consult the chart.

In case you missed it ...

Our discussion at Thursday's meeting of The Ozark Pipe Smokers (after all the talk of fly fishing) revolved around the packing of pipes with tobacco. There was a wealth of information shared, and everyone marveled at the amount of research I had done. Of course I stole all the information from one well-outlined source.