The Briar Files

The Bookworm's Table

2015-04-08T19:19:00.003-05:00

Painting by Claude Raguet Hirst (1855-1942). Painted 1890s. Click to enlarge.

Pipe Smoker Quick Fix: Walter Cronkite

2015-02-21T13:44:00.002-06:00

Walter Cronkite as a student at the University of Texas in Austin.

World War I pipe

2015-01-12T18:34:00.002-06:00

World War I soldier’s room untouched for almost 100 years

Pipe cleaners

2014-12-24T17:12:00.004-06:00

The only Christmas presents William Faulkner would accept from his family were pipe cleaners.

Faulkner's stepson, Malcolm Franklin, wrote in his book Bitterweeds: Life with William Faulkner at Rowan Oak that his gifts "consisted of little bundles of pipe cleaners, some in assorted colors, others snow-white. There were all kinds of pipe cleaners in various bundles clinging precariously to the branches of the tree, each with its little tag. There was one package of Dill pipe cleaners, which Faulkner liked particularly... If he received any other gift he would carefully take it to his office and there it would remain unopened." Why the great writer would only accept these presents remains a mystery.

via Huffington Post

"True Temperance"

2014-12-15T18:56:00.001-06:00

From Puck magazine, 1888.

via the Appendix

Unpublished Raymond Chandler work discovered in Library of Congress

2014-12-04T19:08:00.002-06:00

Unpublished Raymond Chandler work discovered in Library of Congress

An early, never-before-published work by crime novelist Raymond Chandler has been discovered in the Library of Congress in Washington.

The 48-page libretto to the comic opera The Princess and the Pedlar, with music by Julian Pascal, has hidden in plain sight at the library since its copyright was first registered on 29 August 1917.

The work, a copy of which was obtained by the Guardian, was found in March by Kim Cooper, shortly after she published her debut novel, The Kept Girl, featuring a fictionalised Chandler in 1929 Los Angeles.

Click for all the info and another great photo of Raymond Chandler with pipe.

Just a couple of comments on tobacco

2014-12-03T19:02:00.000-06:00

A few days ago I remembered that I still had that sample of C&D's Briar Fox that I had received from smokingpipes.com a while back when I placed an order for a couple of pounds of bulk. It had dried out a little, but it was still okay, and I went ahead and gave it a moistening treatment anyway.

Briar Fox is a Virginia/burley blend that is pressed into blocks. I have to be careful with certain burley blends because some of them give me Half & Half flashbacks. There are a few burley blends that I still like on occasion, such as C&D's Haunted Bookshop, which I still order by the pound now and then--although I like it better with more Perique.

I liked Briar Fox. I don't normally do any very eloquent tobacco reviews, so I'll just say that I liked it and the burley was not overpowering. So if you're looking for a decent smoke without any "spice" tobaccos in it (for some reason), you could try Briar Fox.

Comment number 2: Today I went by the local cigar shop/tobacconist to get a few ounces of bulk to hold me over until I can make another big online order. I've requested this mix before, so I knew I would like it: 2 ounces Virginia, 1.5 ounces Perique, 0.5 ounce Latakia.

The guy said, "a half ounce each of Perique and Latakia?"

"No," I repeated, "an ounce and a half of Perique."

He raised his eyebrows, and as he poured it into the bowl with the Virginia, remarked, "That's a lot of Perique!"

I only replied, "Yeah."

It still amuses me how it seems that everyone who works there has this thing about Perique.

It's a decent blend, very simple and nothing fancy, but it works and I like it a lot. But if you have some kind of scary-thing going on about Perique, maybe you'd want to avoid it.

Reviving old tobacco

2014-11-28T13:38:00.000-06:00

This is one of those things that your mileage is definitely going to vary on, but I thought I would pass this on. I cleaned out the back of my Jeep today and found a small Mason jar with maybe 3 or 4 bowls worth of tobacco in it. I couldn't remember what it was--it smelled like latakia--but it had been back there for a long time. It was really dry. Just crackling dry. So I thought I'd go ahead and see if I could revive it enough to smoke.

This is what I do to moisten tobacco: I put fairly small quantities of it in a small Mason jar in a sort of ring so I can put a small medicine cup upside down in the center. I fold some tissue paper (take your pick, although I'd suggest not using anything that's been scented or lotioned) into a small square and wet it, then squeeze out pretty much all the excess water so that it's quite wet but not dripping. I put that little square on top of the medicine cup and put the lid back on the jar. Let it sit overnight or longer, depending on how much you want to moisten the tobacco. Don't let it go too long or it will start forming mold. Where I live, the one time this happened to me it took several days (one of my experiments).

It turns out that after a night of my moistening treatment, the tobacco is quite smokeable again and turns out to be some of C&D's Mountain Camp.

Pipe smoker: Roy Hardesty

2014-11-18T15:01:00.000-06:00

Joe Gillan and Roy Hardesty (with pipe) of the Texas Rangers, photographed in Mexia, Texas in 1923. Thanks to Traces of Texas (Facebook link).

Vintage ad (date unknown): Smoking jacket

2014-11-07T20:13:00.005-06:00

click to enlarge

Buy a jacket, get a free pipe!

Thanks to Bill Crider's Pop Culture Blog.

Ghostly Gourds by Normal Rockwell

2014-10-30T15:38:00.003-05:00

Pipe smoker: Nick Merfelder

2014-10-23T19:50:00.002-05:00

click to enlarge

Nick Merfelder petting his dog in Fort Davis in 1896. Mr. Merfelder was born in Bavaria, immigrated to the United States as a young man, and eventually ended up in Fort Davis, Texas. He was the post's musician, barber, photographer, and justice of the peace.

Thanks to Traces of Texas (Facebook link).

Decisions...

2014-10-20T16:09:00.002-05:00

From Miskatonic U.

A picturesque but unnamed pipe smoker

2014-10-11T21:01:00.003-05:00

A man of the Svan people with traditional dagger and long pipe in the village of Mestia in the mountains of Georgia, Russian Empire, circa 1888-1900.

via My Ear-Trumpet Has Been Struck By Lightning

Pipe, not pipe...wait a minute--pipe!

2014-10-07T16:49:00.000-05:00

The Chokwe peoples occupy the broad expanse of open savanna in present-day Angola and Democratic Republic of Congo. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Chokwe chiefs became increasingly involved in trade with Europeans who sought rubber, wax, and ivory as well as African slaves for their colonies in the New World. Slaves were often exchanged for firearms, and these were employed in raids on neighboring peoples that produced more captives to sell to European traders. Local leaders who prospered from this exchange frequently commissioned prestige items from local artisans to indicate their wealth and power. This tobacco pipe is one such item that demonstrates the degree to which warfare, the slave trade, and elite arts were intertwined at this time. The pipe itself was the prerogative of individuals who could afford expensive imported tobacco, generally by trading slaves, while the rifle refers to the means by which such slaves were acquired.

From the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. Click to read full article.

The pretentious pipe

2014-10-05T20:39:00.002-05:00

From jimbenton.com.

Many years ago I mentioned to someone that I preferred bent pipes to straight, and was told that bents are too pretentious for a young man. "Well, I guess I'm pretentious, then" was my answer. Now I guess I'm too old for that to be an issue, anyway.

Lost Sherlock Holmes film found

2014-10-04T19:54:00.002-05:00

Readers of this blog know that I have previously written about both William Gillette and Sherlock Holmes on more than one occasion, so I think this news is worthy of reporting although it has nothing to do with pipes.

Long Lost William Gillette Sherlock Holmes Film Found

There is one Sherlock Holmes film that legendary in its heritage: the 1916 Sherlock Holmes starring none other than William Gillette (1853 - 1937). This film is significant because it has long been lost.

Gillette asked for and received permission from Arthur Conan Doyle to adapt material and use the character for a play in 1899. And from that time until the early 1930s, he played the role some 1,300 times. And yet the 1916 film is the only record that was made of Gillette's performance in the title role that dominated so much of his career.

Today the Cinémathèque Française announced that the original negative of the film has been located!

Click the link to read the whole story.

English and Scotch Soldiers

2014-09-19T21:15:00.001-05:00

click to enlarge

English and Scotch Soldiers/Soldats Anglais et Escosais.
Private Men of the 95th Rifles, 71st Highlanders, and a corporal of the 42nd Highlanders, c. 1815. Artist Unknown.

via the Ear-Trumpet

That thou still believe

2014-09-18T19:43:00.000-05:00

From Pop Sonnets.

Bottled History

2014-09-09T18:33:00.001-05:00

Bottled History from Smith Journal on Vimeo.

A short film about pipe-smoking ship-in-a-bottle artist Ray Gascoigne.

Shot pipe

2014-09-09T15:12:00.001-05:00

click to enlarge

From The Hole Book (Peter Newell, 1908) at The Public Domain Review.

Pipe smokers not welcome

2014-08-15T18:38:00.001-05:00

Sign outside Zion, Illinois, ca. 1915.

via In Medias Res

Willis Carrier invented air conditioning and possibly smoked a pipe

2014-08-08T18:23:00.002-05:00

click to enlarge

On the anniversary of air conditioning at OUPblog.

Pipe-smoking sculpture

2014-08-08T17:35:00.000-05:00

all photos click to enlarge

Some photos of a sculpture of a pipe-smoking man playing fetch with his dogs. At an animal hospital in Broomfield, Colorado. Sent to me by a reader. Thanks, Ken!

30 Jean-Paul Sartre Quotes For Your Next Existential Crisis

2014-07-31T20:21:00.002-05:00

30 Jean-Paul Sartre Quotes For Your Next Existential Crisis