Pipe Dreams

I am sure I am orally fixated. Anything to do with the mouth fascinates me always has. Boobs to pipes total fascination . I a sure this has something to do with the fact I was adopted out right from the womb. Actually the adoption was a “done deal’ even before I was born but that if fodder for another day. Leave to be said I was not breast fed and I feel myself constantly searching.

Anyway, I have always been intrigued with pipes. Pipes, the kind you smoke. My best friends dad smoked a pipe. On Friday nights when my brother and I would spend the night at the Cantrell’s I would be transfixed at Mr. C’s ritual of pipe smoking. He would sit in “his chair” a big green lazy boy and next to the lazy boy recliner was Mr. C’s pipe rack four or five pipes sitting there waiting for the evening when Mr. C. would kick back for his smoke. Methodically, he would dredge the pipe into his tobacco pouch, tap the pipe the scratch the Blue Diamond kitchen Match into an explosion of smoke and flame, let the flame settle then draw the flame into the pipe’s bowel jetting out small puffs of rich blue smoke.

I have had maybe one or two pipes in my life( real pipes) not corn cob pipes, though there is nothing wrong with a corn cob pipe. A con cob pipe is functional and got me by many summer afternoons down on the Boise River. The real pipes were either found or stolen in a moment of youthful oral lust. In the past couple of years I have been interested in making my own pipe and actually fashioned a pipe a couple of years ago. This pipe was not bad for a first endeavor but I could do better. I acquired a large branch of cherry wood when a neighbor cut down their tree a few years back. Seems I have read that cherry wood is hard enough for pipe making so I why not. Having done that I have le this ideation rest for a couple of years. However, I have been bitten by the pipe bug again. I stumbled across the rest of my cherry wood the other week and finally made the commitment to carve another pipe.

Cherry wood to tough to cut by hand, my neighbor is a seasoned carpenter and has great tools in his shop. I just needed a little piece cut from the wood stock I had on hand and figured he could make the cuts easily. Al, my neighbor, did great job of cutting, although I was worried that I had asked too much of the senior. The piece was awkward, and thought I had not thought it was when I made my request, I saw cut was challenging. In fact I feared that Al was going go to injure himself, loose a finger or worse before he had completed my request. But Al came through and not only separated the designated piece of cherry from the mother load but also fashioned the stem nub. Al retained all his fingers when he had finished.

I still have lots of work in fashioning this piece of wood into a bowel and ready for smoking but should a fun project. I keep you all posted…