Birthday Haul 2023

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Dec 3, 2021
5,014
42,548
Pennsylvania & New York
I’ll start this off with three pipes I acquired with the plan of smoking them today, on my birthday. In the Chinese Zodiac, it’s a Golden Rabbit year (there are twelve animals in the cycle). At 11:27 a.m. this morning I started my sixth cycle.

The first is a birth year Dunhill Shell Briar Driway. The bowl screws onto the lower portion of the pipe. The ceramic filters turn up occasionally, but, have been increasingly difficult to come by at a reasonable cost.

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@AJL67 was kind enough to send me some Meerschaum filters (and a lovely Cuban H. Upmann Year of the Tiger cigar). Thank you! Two of these filters placed back to back fit perfectly in the pipe when fully screwed down, so I won’t have to worry about getting the original ceramic Dunhill discs.

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Next up is a birth year Dunhill Bruyere 256 Apple/Prince.

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The next pipe was from the collection of pipemaker, Thomas Cristiano (who made Kaywoodies at one time). I love how much of the original briar root is intact and not carved away—I’m fascinated by it. It’s certainly unique.

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@Servant King sent me a nice assortment of blends for my birthday. Thank you!

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My friends Paul and Juliet sent this amazing assortment of meats and cheeses.

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My friend, Bob Fingerman, sent me this too cool for words Patrick McGoohan The Prisoner action figure that I had no idea existed (it was a Kickstarter offering).

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My buddy John is visiting and gave me a neat antelope pipe tamper he found in Chinatown, and a very heavy metal cigar smoking Bulldog bank (it takes nickels). You pull on its tail and the head rears back and his mouth opens.

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Just after midnight, I opened the first of my gifts from Susan. A bottle of Machrie Moor Peated Scotch (not from Islay) and a Japanese whisky that there’s been a lot of buzz about, Asaka.

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Dec 3, 2021
5,014
42,548
Pennsylvania & New York
Today, I opened the rest of my gifts from Susan. She got me two books on tobacco blending:

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A signed copy of All about Tobacco by Milton M. Sherman:

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And a coffee table book, The Pipe: A Functional Work of Art:

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I will be posting about a very special birthday pipe, probably later in the month, once I have it in hand. More to come in its own thread in a few weeks.
 

brian64

Lifer
Jan 31, 2011
9,669
14,859
Happy Birthday my friend...from a fellow Water Rabbit. I too just started my sixth cycle less than a month ago.
Wait...slight correction...I am a fellow Water Rabbit, but my sixth cycle doesn't start until next January. I get confused sometimes on how these things are calculated. I'm stuck in the stupid Gregorian calendar.

I was almost a Dragon but decided I'd rather be a Rabbit so just made it at the tail end of the year.