November 7, 2017

Hospitable Heukelum 2017

Label of the 2017 forumbeer

As every year the annual meeting in Heukelum of the Dutch/Belgian pipe-smokers forum marks the beginning of dark and rainy autumn. At least, that is what the weather-forecast said. And when I looked outside the window on Sunday 29 October I believed it. Oh well.. Like always I picked up Mark at the Deventer train station and together we drove to the carpool place where Ed would be waiting or us. Normally Johnny would also be there but he had to finish some work first and came later. So the three of us rode to Heukelum and to my surprise the weather cleared up; blue skies, sunshine. Very un-Dutch-like. When we arrived at ‘T Kuipertje owner/brewer Henk had made a tent at the front of brewery with most sides closed. As the inevitable rain began to fall we were glad about Henk’s foresight.

Martin’s new self-made pipe

Inside I almost immediately walked to stone-cutting tamper-maker extraordinaire Martin, who like every year organised the meeting, to get my name-badge and drinking coupons. Yup, for the money (€27,50) you get two drinks, there is a big BBQ with all kinds of tasty fresh meat, sauces, salads and baguettes, the rent of the brewery is included and last but not least you get one bottle of special forum-beer with a label made by myself! Since this year Martin is also active in the field of pipe making. And like with stone also wood seems to have no secrets for his hands. He had brought his latest creation with him and I immediately loved it. A perfect mixture between a classic and organic shape.

Like always there was also a little business to be done. The week before I had mailed Rudi, the tobacconist who always comes to our meetings, if he could bring with him a tin of the new Danpipe Fred the Frog, which I already smoked at the Inter Tabac fair in Dortmund. €10 for 50 gr., not bad for this fine blend! Friend and mentor Klaas had offered some vintage tobaccos for sale a couple of weeks before the meeting. I mostly was interested in a couple of older Robert McConnell Pure Latakia tins with in them perhaps some Syrian dark leaf so I bought 3 of them. When I met Klaas he immediately apologised. “Hello Arno, I am sorry, I made a mistake. I thought I had more Pure Latakia but I only had 1 left for you. So you know what, I am going to give you 2 De Graaff Latakia tins.” Wowwww!!! Very generous! Once upon a time De Graaff in The Hague was one of the best tobacconists in The Netherlands and they had their own range of house-blends. They were made by a company in London but exactly which one De Graaff always kept a secret. Nowadays the blends are sadly discontinued. Klaas still has quite some tins under which the pure latakia. And that is not some regular pure latakia, no, it is the Syrian Mountain Blue dark leaf made famous by the legendary Balkan Sobranie 759. Soon I am going to do some home-blending and these tins will come in very handy!

For Frisian pipe-maker Meindert I also had something. Weeks before Heukelum I was looking on ebay when I suddenly saw a beautiful Dunhill. Most of the times it is an auction and in the end the price is way too high for this cheap Dutchman. This one had a Buy It Now price of €100. Hmm.. There must be something wrong with it, I thought. So I took a better look and to my surprise the Dunhill dated from 1943, a patent era wartime pipe, pretty rare! Only thing I could discover was that the rim was very slightly damaged but that was it. So I bought it. When I received the pipe in the mail and unwrapped the package it even looked better than on the pictures, it even still had the inner tube. But still the Dunhill needed some work with the rim and stem. So I handed over the pipe into the skilled hands of Meindert.

I had to laugh when I saw the entrance of forum member Kees (nickname Kiske). For a while he was absent from the forum due to ehm.. differences of opinion with the administrators and moderators of the forum but now he was back. For some time he had been (jokingly) saying that our usual name badges were no good and that we all should wear tiaras instead. Of course you should never say that aloud on the forum because someone made an actual tiara for him. Luckily it was no problem for Kees to actually wear it, it suited him!

Erik Stokkebye and me with the pipe I won

Thinking back the weeks before the meeting the Pipe God really was smiling upon me. On a Wednesday afternoon I had a meeting with other pipe-smokers and forum members at tobacconist Willem Schimmel in Zutphen. Erik Stokkebye, blender and son of the very well known Peter Stokkebye, was there to promote his 4th Generation tobacco range. We had a fun evening, it truly was a delight to speak to the very knowledgeable Erik, which culminated in a contest in which you could win a 4th Generation pipe made by Neerup Pipes. Several questions were asked and the one who had everything right in the end would win. I can’t remember all the questions but the last one was where the 4th Generation tobaccos were made. So I blurted out “In the Orlik factory!” Well, not entirely correct… “In the Orlik factory of the Scandinavian Tobacco Group!” Which was the right answer, I had won the pipe! Back home I quickly noticed that it was a rather large pipe, I mean, my thumb fully fitted in the bowl. Too big for my taste. So I decided to put up a lottery on the forum which was won by Frans. In Heukelum I gave him the pipe, I hope he gets many enjoyable smoking hours from it.

Ton

Last year I bought some pipes for the father of a friend of mine, Ton. At that time he was visiting The Netherlands because he lived abroad. Since a month he moved back to our wet, cold and flat country so I invited him to the meeting. Since he is living alone some company is always welcome, so he accepted my offer. Afterwards he told me he stared his eyes out. Ton is an old-fashioned smoker, preferably he smokes the same blend in the same pipe over and over. “What a pleasant gathering of people and what a lot of pipes they did bring with them! And so many bent ones!” Ton only smokes straight billiards and thinks everyone smokes those because they smoke the best. Well, ehmm.. Ehrrr… Guess I have to teach an old fox some new tricks. Later I was approached by Jos, “Arno, I have something for you, do you want it now or later?” Ehmm, now? He presented me a wrapped package, so I unwrapped it and saw a bottle of Huppelolie (hopping oil)! Yummie! Huppelolie is a tasty “kruidenbitter” (no translation), sometimes my stomach pains me and a small glass of Huppelolie does wonders. But why the bottle? I asked Jos. Because years ago I gave him some tips about buying tobacco overseas. So kind of him!

I also was glad Shaun was there all the way from Belgium and of course all the others of the Fuming Four. For months they have been pestering me that I should go with hem next year to Scotland again. Not only to the beginning of the Highlands this time but all the way to the utmost North point at Kearvaig, where the home-bothy stands of the Kearvaig Pipe Club. An almost spiritual journey. But I still don’t know if I want to go.. I mean, beautiful country, Scotland, but a big chance of bad weather, cold, midgets ehrrr.. midges, mediocre food (although Matron’s curry was excellent!) and the worst of all, no comfort! The bothy has no shower, no soft bed and no toilet which means digging a hole outside if you have to take a dump.. I admit that throughout the years I turned somewhat into a sissy boy, I just like a little bit of luxury mmkay? But who knows, I like organizing such trips so perhaps while doing that I fully decide to go. The other guys of the Fuming Four had a request for me. I am a bit different from them as I don’t have a beard and I don’t have tattoos. Now they wanted me to design the latter. And I also should get it. Ehmm.. I have a virgin skin and I like to keep it that way. But in Shaun’s eyes I already could see his evil plan: Get Arno piss-drunk and then…… *evil laugh*

The rest of the afternoon and evening in Heukelum was very pleasant as usual. So many people, so many conversations, so little time. Around 5 o’clock Henk told us that the BBQ was ready and we could eat. I don’t know what it is but when someone says something like that no one wants to be the first one. But when Arno is hungry Arno is hungry you know? So I began putting tasty meat on my plate and the rest soon followed. A bit earlier then expected the majority of the forum members began to pack and went home. So not long after that Ed, Mark and I also decided to leave. When I got home Ellen was snoring on the couch and woke up when I entered the room. “Did you have a good meeting?” “Yes darling, it was another great day.”

I would like to thank Martin for organizing the meeting! All pictures were made by Klaas, Dirk, Martin and myself.

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November 13, 2016

Hospitable Heukelum 2016

Label of the 2016 forumbeer

I really hate autumn. There, I said it. Yeah I know, lots of people like it, the falling leaves, the smells, the colours etc. Well, for me autumn is made out of dark, grey, rainy and cold days which suck the joy out of my life.. Blagh… I prefer summer with the warmth and comfort of the sun. Luckily not all is bad in these dark days, there is even some light. Light coming from a small brewery located in the tiny Dutch village of Heukelum. There one of the annual meetings of the Dutch/Belgian pipe-smokers forum is held. People from all layers of society sitting together, chatting away, drinking, eating, in general just having a good time. As it is supposed to be. Like the previous years stone-cutting tamper-maker extraordinaire Martin organised it. The price remained the same as last year so we all got excellent value for money. I mean, you get two drinks, there is a big BBQ with all kinds of tasty fresh meat, sauces, salads and baguettes, the rent of the brewery is included and last but not least you get one bottle of special forum-beer with a label made by myself!

Dre and some of his wares

Like always I picked up Mark at the Deventer train station and together we drove to the carpool place where Johnny and Ed would be waiting or us. When we got there it turned out to be quite busy with cars so I had to park mine beside the road. Suddenly a pissed-off guy approached me that I had to park my car elsewhere. It turned out to be the owner of the ice-cream van who stood there, he was afraid his clients did not have space to manoeuvre with my car there. Bullshit of course but since the guy is a total nut-case (he was in the news because he conned customers) I opted to park elsewhere. To my amazement and joy the weather actually was nice when we arrived at ‘T Kuipertje. A bit of sunshine, hardly any wind and a decent temperature made it feel like a very late summers day. One of the first things I did was fetch my ordered PRF shirts and sweaters. Peter did an excellent job ordering, handling and packing all the fine quality PRF textiles. Thanks mate, now I have some decent clothes to wear this winter and coming summer. Second I approached Dre, who refurbishes estate pipes as a hobby. I mailed him earlier that week with a request.

The father of a good friend of mine

As I told in my Humble Beginnings part 1 blogpost one of my influences to start pipe-smoking is the father of a long time friend of mine. Well, he is in The Netherlands right now because of his bad health. Ok, bad health is a bit too exaggerated, he has some physical issues which are better addressed here (better hospitals) than in Brazil, where he lives. He brought some pipes with him and when I took a good look at them tears welled up in my eyes.. He is an old fashioned smoker, and by that I mean he likes to smoke the same blend over and over again (he took a liking to my Phoenix Graveyard Mixture (basically all my natural tobacco leftovers mixed together) in just a couple of pipes which are hardly cleaned. One of his pipes has the mouthpiece of some other pipe which is duct-taped more or less to the shank and the underside of another one bubbles up because it is almost burned through. Time for some “new” pipes I thought, so I approached Dre and asked him if he had any straight pipes (preferably billiards) for sale. “Just wait, I will bring some pipes with me”, he mailed back. And indeed, Dre showed me a billiard and some canadians which looked just fine. “I’ll take them all!” I happily said. Dre asked a very friendly price and even threw in another pipe for free! Thanks very much Dre! The father of my friend is a happy man now.

Me, Robbin and Ed

Time for a drink! The previous years the beers of ‘T Kuipertje were good although sometimes a bit on the watery side. However, this year I was surprised by full, round tasting brew! With a smile I walked to Robbin, some weeks before the meeting I bought a straight Dunhill patent era prince from him for a very good price. He once bought the pipe from a man who turned out to be a swindler and that turned him off so much that he never smoked it. I have no such problem with that pipe so Robbin brought it with him. Happily I filled my new acquisition with some tobacco and went outside. I put the pipe in my mouth, brought the flame from the lighter to the bowl and *crack!* bit through the mouthpiece.. While silently cursing I took the pipe out of my mouth and inspected the damage, a piece of the lip had broken off. The mouthpiece was already very thin by decades of buffing and my strong teeth did the rest. Just bad luck, not any one’s fault. Frisian pipe maker Meindert saw me inspecting the damage and carefully took the pipe from my hands. “Just give it to me, I will make a new mouthpiece for it, everything will be ok.” So to be continued..

Jeujjjj!!!

Then it was time for me to ask for everyone’s attention. For some time I am busy with a new PRF forum tobacco called “Flatlander Flake” made by Samuel Gawith and imported by (Elbert) Gubbels. Just a couple of days before the meeting I received 2 sample tins from Elbert so the forum members could try the blend. I wanted to give a longer speech in which I explained and told about the new forum tobacco journey but sadly my throat (I still was having a nasty cold..) protested heavily. So I decided to give a shorter version and let the tobacco speak for itself. During the rest of the day I (luckily) got nothing but positive response about Flatlander Flake, mission accomplished!

Finger tapping the sh*t out of that ukelele like Van Halen. NOT!

Finger tapping the sh*t out of that ukelele Van Halen style. NOT!

Suddenly when I was talking to some folks I heard a strange monotone noise coming from outside. It turned out to be Sander who was gearing up his hurdy-gurdy. Such a strange instrument but Sander proved to be surprisingly skilful in playing it. The folk melodies coming from it brought me visions of merry drinking and eating people. Hmm, pretty much the group I was looking at! Rob (one of the many Robs on the forum) also brought instruments with him; his self made (from used cigar- and pipe tobacco boxes) ukeleles. They look really great! He also brought a regular ukelele which I could not resist playing. I painfully discovered that having experience in playing guitar and bass does not mean one can play an ukelele..

Yummie meat!

I was saved by the announcement of brewery-owner Henk that the BBQ’s were ready. Time to eat! Henk gets his meat from a local butcher and you really can taste that, premium quality! Normally I would not notice that so much, but because I am more or less on a diet I took no (fat and sugar-rich) sauces with my meat. Some weeks ago I had a BBQ with my brother-in-law and he had meat from the supermarket. Well, it was not nearly as good as what Henk had to offer. So I sinned and filled up my plate 3 times before I contently sat down with a full belly. Needless to say the gym awaited me the next day..

Sander

The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent chatting away with all the present folks. Because of the heat coming from the BBQ’s we could sit outside for a long time. Talking about heat, on a table stood a small bottle with some red sauce in it. It belonged to hurdy-gurdy player Sander and on the label was an ominous name that indicated the contents were very hot. But according to Sander that was not really the case, he used large amounts of it on his meat. Curiosity got the better of me, I put some sauce on the top of my finger and licked it off. At first nothing happened. I proclaimed “Hah, this stuff is not as ho….” when suddenly my mouth started to burn, my eyes began to water and I got hiccups. Holy damned sh*t, this stuff is HOT! The whole table laughed at my attempts to control the effects of the hellish sauce. In the end I fled inside and asked Henk for a glass of milk, the best liquid you can get if you have eaten something hot. Unfortunately he did not have that but the glass of water he offered disappeared in my mouth within the blink of an eye.

Poor Mark…

Around 8 o’clock it was time to go home. We said goodbye to each other and stepped in the car. The ride home was pretty quiet, obviously everyone still had the fantastic day in their minds. Until Mark asked if Ed could stop the car, he needed to take a shit badly. Not so funny because he suffers from IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrom). So we halted at a gas-station where Mark quickly went to the toilet. Which took him quite a while. At one point some men where waiting in front of the toilet. Funny were the faces of disgust they pulled at the sounds and smells so to say. But I felt pity for poor Mark, luckily he was feeling pretty relieved when he joined us again in the car.

I want to thank Henk and Martin for organizing yet another great meeting and all who attended for the interesting conversations, the laughter and camaraderie. All pictures were made by Jan(neman), Klaas, Nick and Roelof.

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November 19, 2015

Hospitable Heukelum 2015

“Smoking Blonde” 2015 PRF-beer

Luckily in these dark days there is also some light. Light coming from a small brewery located in the tiny Dutch village of Heukelum. There one of the annual meetings of the Dutch/Belgian pipe-smokers forum is held. People from all layers of society sitting together, chatting away, drinking, eating, in general just having a good time. As it is supposed to be. Like the previous years stone-cutting tamper-maker extraordinaire Martin organised it. Unfortunately the entrance price went up a little bit, but eejj, everything is getting more expensive. Despite that it still is excellent value for money. I mean, you get two drinks, there is a big BBQ with all kinds of tasty fresh meat, sauces, salads and baguettes, the rent of the brewery is included and last but not least you get one bottle of special forum-beer with a label designed by myself!

Louis looking at the wares

With every meeting there is a lively trade going on between the forum members. Pipes and tobaccos are being sold or exchanged to such an extent that the members have to write down whole lists on the forum in order to keep track. I also had to do that.. To start with I had a pouch of the dreaded Clan (by Theodorus Niemeyer) for Louis. The good man must have taste-buds of solid steel! And how did you get that damned pouch huh? One might think. Well, it was given to me by a friend, for my birthday. Needless to say he is no longer a friend. For some hilarious reviews of Clan please go the blog of the Demented Dutchman. For Freek I had some Jurewicz Neumarkt Special Mixture No. 99, Peter Heinrichs Dark Strong and Boswell Northwoods. All blends I did not really enjoy so I only asked a couple of drinks in return for them. Freek came up with something better, a bottle of one of the best beers in the world: Westvleteren blond. Woww!! That stuff is even harder to get than the new Balkan Sobranie! Normally I am not really a lover of blond beers but this one.. Whoah.. Something special!

On the left 2 loudmouths: Jorg and Kees

Loud-mouth Jorg had a 2004 tin of the divine Abingdon by GL Pease for me. In exchange he only asked for 100 gram of Peter Heinrichs Curly Block plus a sample of the delicious Motzek Strang. A fair trade in my opinion, Curly block is ok but no more than that. The Motzek Strang is way better. Because my pipe-cabinet is getting a bit crowded I decided to sell off some pipes for a friendly price: a Talbert Ligne Bretagne and an olive-wood mix between a prince and a bulldog made by Meindert. Reason? Both fine smoking pipes but I did not have a connection with the Talbert and the Meindert was too little for my taste. Just a few minutes after I put them on the forum I got a message from Willem, he wanted to buy them both! Talking about Meindert, the poor man got loads of defunct pipes at the meeting for him to repair. I also had one, a Dunhill with a broken shank from another Rob (we have loads of Robs at the forum). Last but not least I had some snuff tobaccos from the Kralingse Snuifmolens for organiser Martin. I hope he liked them.

Martin and Henry

Then I finally could grab a beer, one of the few that day. With earlier editions I had the advantage that my good friend Ed picked me up and drove all the way and back. Only, due to some private stuff he moved away from his old town near me to a location pretty far away. So now I had to first pick Mark up at the train station in Deventer and drive to a parking lot somewhere beside the highway. There Ed waited for us together with Johnny and we all got into his car. I really would not miss these rides, they are fun! At the meeting I was talking to Henry who just got into the wondrous world of latakia. He was raving about Samuel Gawith’s Squadron Leader and I suddenly remembered that I brought a tin with me of the excellent, spicy Charing Cross by GL Pease. I let him smell it and, the dick that I am, I totally forgot to offer him a sample.. I made it up later by sending him some through the mail.

Peter receives the forum-pipe

Suddenly we were all asked to be quiet and we gathered around one of the forum moderators: Peter, forum name”Eliminator”. A tough name for a tough looking man, big and lots of tattoos, but with a heart of pure gold. Peter does a lot of work for the forum, he keeps it organized, keeps discussions in check with reason and sensibility and in general makes everyone feel welcome and at home. It was time to put him in the limelight and thank him for his continuing effort. This was done by giving him 2 tins of tobacco: his favourite Peter Heinrichs Dark Strong and Peter Heinrichs Golden Sliced. On top of that he was gifted the new forum-pipe made by Briarworks with an inscription of his forum-name and a tamper made by Martin. Neat and well deserved!

Around the BBQ, the one with the chef’s hat is Jos

Around 5 o’clock Henk, the brewer, said that we could begin with the BBQ. He already prepared the coals so that we could instantly scorch the excellent meat, which comes from an actual butcher! Well, a lot of folks eat supermarket flesh.. But you can taste the difference! There even were some vegan products to roast for our veggie-man Robbin. During dinner I accidentally thought that the beer glass of Jos was my glass. So when he asked for it I said it was mine. But when I turned around I saw my own glass standing on another table.. Doh! Rapidly I brought Jos’ glass to him but he already had ordered a new one. Fortunately Jos made no fuzz about it and even gave me the beer he just ordered! So Jos, you are going to get a beer from me at the next meeting in Wuustwezel!

When everyone had their dinner darkness had almost fallen outside and inside everyone was sitting content smoking and chatting away at the tables in the atmospheric, dimly lighted room. I stood at the side with Ed and overlooked the whole. I am not an emotional man but that perfect moment got to me, seeing all the forum members peacefully and content together. I was so glad that we after all these years still were a part of it. Ed saw it and said with a smile, “Want a hug?” So we hugged. When I stood at the bar drinking a non-alcoholic beverage (boohh…) I got into a conversation with Philip. He is a doctor and he even gave a round of drinks to all. Earlier he got a patient with tuberculosis and he feared he was infected. If that was not the case, drinks for everyone! So you can guess the outcome. Philip also writes an excellent blog: The Tall Tales of an Urban Beardsman. He (amongst others) loves Castello and Peterson pipes so I asked if he could make an article about the latter for my blog as a guest-writer. And he was willing, so stay tuned!

At 8 o’clock the fun was over, Henk called it a day. He was surprised everyone politely thanked him personally for his good care. Not more than normal! The way home was fun! Ed had some radio-station playing in the car with all kinds of rock-classics. So I sang along with Deep Purple’s Child in Time and Metallica’s Nothing Else Matters. Even Johnny had tears in his (strangely panic-stricken) eyes, probably from the sound of my beautiful voice.. Anyway, I want to thank Martin for once again organising a wonderful meeting, the men in the car for all the fun on the road and all the forum members for the great day! All pictures were made by Martin, Klaas, Stanley and Dirk.

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January 18, 2015

The McLardy bulldog

My restored Samuel McLardy bulldog

As a lover of history I browse through e-bay searching for antique pipes once in a while. I very much like the thrill of owning and smoking a 100+ year old pipe, I see it as some sort of time machine. While enjoying such a smoke my mind drifts off and I think about how the world looked like when the pipe was made, who the previous owners were and what stories it could tell if it could speak. So on one of my searches I stumbled upon a gorgeous antique bulldog shaped pipe with a beautifully decorated silver rim and ring in almost pristine condition. Unfortunately the mouthpiece was missing. Probably it was made from amber and had broken a long time ago. Despite that I decided to bid on the pipe and to my delight I won! I asked Frisian pipe-maker Meindert if he could clean up the antique bulldog and make a new mouthpiece for it. He rose up to the challenge.

In the meanwhile I looked up the silver-marks because I wanted to be sure of the production year and the company who made it. Dating the pipe proved to be simple, Birmingham marks from the year 1890! Holy crap, 125 years old! 1890.. The Sleeping Beauty ballet with music by Tchaikovsky was premièred, the second Sherlock Holmes novel (The Sign of the Four) was published, famous Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh died, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde was published, American writer H.P. Lovecraft was born and the folding carton box we all know today was invented by Robert Gair. However, the maker of the antique bulldog was a bit more difficult to discover. Luckily the triangle logo on the shank with the letters “S Mc L” inside set me on the correct path and soon I found its creator: the Samuel McLardy company from Manchester.

McLardy advertisement

The McLardy company thanks its existence to the entrepreneurial spirit of 1 person: Samuel McLardy, born in Glasgow in 1842. He was the son of a tobacconist who also produced his own clay pipes. In the paternal shop he must have learned the profession of pipe-maker. Shortly after his 20th birthday he decided to move to Manchester to start his own company. There is remarkably little known about the history of the factory. On an old advertisement it says “established 1865” so since then there must have been a steady growth. Within a couple of decades there was a massive production of clay pipes. Around 1895 the factory owned over 500 moulds which meant yearly production was around 5 million pipes! Similar to that of Dutch factory P. Goedewaagen & Zoon in that period.

McLardy catalogue cover

Over time we find Samuel McLardy at different locations. Before 1880 that was Miller Street number 16 in Manchester and it is there where the shop grew to the size of a factory. In 1890 the company moved to Shudehill number 67 where it remained active until after 1910. At the new address they occupied an imposing factory building that you can see on the cover of an old catalogue beside this text. Such factory-illustrations have to be taken with a grain of salt, because often they are grossly exaggerated. The building had a high façade that could accommodate show rooms and an office and there were 4 floors for production and storage. After WWI we find McLardy headquarters in Swan Buildings at number 20 of the Swan Street but they also had several workshops at other addresses and that was certainly true for the pipe-making shops. It should be noted that these changes of address meant no large migration because they were close to each other.

McLardy clay pipe

The successful growth led the company to expansion, initially for the sale of products of their own. But shortly after 1900 a rapid decrease of the interest in the clay pipe as a smoking device in Western Europe brought many traditional pipe factories in financial problems. The widening to trading house was an option to overcome this problem and the Samuel McLardy company successfully implemented this. These trading activities were supported by the then new communication means such as telephone and telegram, both stated on the cover of the catalogue. There you can also see: “Importer of Tobacconists Fancy Goods”. So initially they became importer of all kinds of items sold in the tobacco industry.

McLardy briar pipe

With those items, for example beautiful briar pipes with silver mounting and buffalo horn mouthpieces, access was gained to the best specialist stores. With this activities the company increased its market share. A process that also was not strange for other firms. The production of such wooden pipes took place both in England and in the French Saint-Claude, once the global centre of the pipe production. By the way, the English briar industry and that of Saint-Claude was closely intertwined because the same families acted as an investor. About the export of the company not much data is known. Although finds of McLardy pipes in Canada, Australia and most of the West African coast proved that there was a substantial trade overseas.

McLardy briar pipe

During and after WWI the trade function at McLardy was widened further. The latest catalogue from the 1920’s mentioned this expansion. The activities of the company had been changed beyond recognition: they handled leather goods and fancy articles such as bags, handbags and purses in crocodile leather and calfskin. This assortment was soon expanded with collar–boxes, writing–boxes, school bags and baskets. But also with photo-frames, fire–screens, postcards albums and cigarettes albums. Other articles were clocks, framed paintings or engravings, lithographs, all kinds of mirrors and toys (including dolls and mechanical toys like trains). In short, the wholesale business of all conceivable industrial products without any limitation. Initially that seemed successful until the curtain quite suddenly fell for the McLardy company in 1929. The precise reason is not known, though the year points towards the Great Depression.

Polished bowl

Back to Meindert. When he received the pipe he marvelled at its beauty and went to work. Before I knew it he had carefully removed the thin silverwork from the bowl and shank and slightly polished the ancient briar. I also asked if he could drill the smoking channel a little wider for a better draft. With steps of 0.1 mm he slowly broadened the channel until it had a diameter of 3.8 mm. Trusting his eye and experience he stopped there, fearing he would take to much “flesh” of the pipe. But the most intricate part of the restoration was drilling out the screw-thread from the mortise. Back in the days one screwed the mouthpiece onto the pipe. This may sound as blasphemy to some but I wanted a “modern” push/pull stem.

Pipe with aluminium tube inside

One evening I got a phone call, it was Meindert. I heard his slightly timid voice and knew something had gone wrong.. Earlier he was drilling away the screw-thread from the mortise and despite him being very careful his worst nightmare came true. The shank cracked. Luckily he was able to fix it with 2-component glue but he did not trust it completely. So he glued an aluminium tube inside the mortise to extra strengthen the fragile briar walls. The good news was that the crack would not be visible because the silver ring would cover it.

Making the stem

Another tricky job was the creation of the stem. The bulldog shape is pretty because of its flawless lines that go from the shank through the stem onto the end of the mouthpiece. Meindert had to re-create that but lacked the necessary tools that pipe-factories and professional pipe-workshops have to make the sharp angles, which made him somewhat nervous. “Round I can do, but those sharp angles.. Difficult..” I told him I trusted him and that he would surely pull it off. I send several pictures how the stem should look like so he had some reference examples and crossed my fingers. Some time later my patience was rewarded. Meindert succeeded in making the angles by placing the stem in the bank-screw and meticulously filing away the acrylic material. Yes, acrylic, not ebonite. It is Meindert’s favourite stem-material to work with and his acrylic (that he gets from Janzen Pfeifen) is of the highest quality.

McLardy tobacco-cutter

I already knew I wanted to write a blogpost about the McLardy bulldog so while Meindert was slaving away I was doing some research about the brand on internet. There I came across a English antique-site which had a very interesting item: an old tobacco cutter for plugs, cakes and ropes made by… Samuel McLardy! The price was ok so I immediately bought it. When I was with Fred on the Inter Tabac fair in Dortmund this year they had such a cutter at the stand of DTM. It was used for the slicing of samples for their Salty Dogs plug. We both admired the tool and I silently vowed to buy one if I ever got the chance and the price was right.

When the restoration of the McLardy bulldog neared its completion I mailed Meindert that I would pick up the pipe at his place together with my good friend Ed. Ed loves handworks and all the machinery and tools that comes with it. So I asked if Meindert was willing to show some of his skills when Ed and I were there and being a proud Frisian he said “sure”! In the car on the way there I was pretty nervous because I did not saw the finished result. Luckily I was not disappointed when we arrived. Meindert succeeded in placing back the beautifully decorated silverwork and given it an extra polish to make it shiny like a new pipe. Also the stem turned out to be very well made and I breathed a sigh of relief. Meindert had measured up the bowl and found a similar pipe on the internet so he had a clue of the dimensions of the stem. Briefly worded: I was a happy man!

The rest of the pleasant afternoon we spent talking and Meindert showed Ed how he did things. As a former metal worker he even was able to simply sharpen the edge of the tobacco cutter I had brought with me. Back home I tried it out on some Fayyum Kake and it worked like a charm. Meindert had put some of his biological smoking-paste on the inside of the bulldog bowl and I don’t know it was because of that, but I had a very satisfying smoke. I am just glad the pipe is “alive” again and hope it survives for another 125 years.

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May 22, 2014

Lohmar pipe-show 2014

Last year when all the business with the forum tobaccos had been taken care off German master-blender Hans Wiedemann of HU Tobacco asked if I was coming to the next Lohmar Pfeifenmesse (Lohmar pipe-show). We then finally would be able to shake hands after the loads of mail-contact we had. Hans lives in the South of Germany which is far away from where I live in The Netherlands and according to him the Lohmar pipe-show was the closest to my home. I looked it up and indeed Hans was correct, it was a 230 km. ride for me. He also asked me if I could promote the pipe-show a bit on the Dutch/Belgian pipe-smokers forum, which I of course did. At first there was not much response so I decided to ask if fellow forum-member Robbie-San (real name Rob but there are more Robs in this story) was willing to go to Lohmar with me. We had met before at several meetings and I knew he was a good guy and pleasant company. In the end another forum-member, Smoking-Rob (behold, the other Rob), asked if he could join us. Of course, the more the merrier! Also a couple of other forum-members said they would come.

Villa Friedlinde

It was going to be the 9th edition of the Lohmar pipe-show organized by pipe-maker Volker Bier and his friend Jürgen Hofer. The location is the same every time: Villa Friedlinde in the heart of Lohmar. This year a large section of the surrounding park also was part of the show. To my delight I read in the announcements on a German forum that Volker closely works together with the local authorities who are proud to host the event. Even the site of Lohmar-town promotes the pipe-show. I mean, these days here in The Netherlands you won’t easily see towns supporting a smoking-event. In fact, we don’t have smoking-events any more..

Yess, the Force was with us!

After a few messages back and forth Robbie-San and I decided that he would drive to Germany. He has a car that runs on diesel and that is cheaper. We’re Dutch remember? But that meant I had to come to Brabant first because Robbie-San lives there. No problem, I work there every last half of the week and have an address where I can spend the night. Saturday 10 May at 08.30 sharp Robbie-San rang the doorbell. I grabbed my belongings including some cheese-sandwiches that I made for the road. I had to laugh when I stepped into the car because on the corner of the dashboard stood a miniature Yoda. So the Force was going to be with us! We drove to somewhere along the edge of the city of Nijmegen where Smoking-Rob was waiting for us. After the handshakes he presented a tin of MacBaren HH Old Dark Fired to Robbie-San as a thank-you for driving. For me he had a tin of vintage (1980’s) Capstan Medium Navy Cut that I traded with him for some Janneman Flake.

The Force let us down a bit, Stau! (traffic-jam)

On the way to Lohmar it seemed the Force let us down a bit. In The Netherlands it already was raining a bit but the roads in Germany were a gigantic water-ballet so we were forced to drive slowly. On top of that we encountered some “Stau”, which translates as “traffic jam”. Oh well, Robbie-San and me were enjoying the cheese-sandwiches and Smoking-Rob his pipe while we all chatted away. So a bit later than expected we arrived at the site in Lohmar. It was pretty busy with cars but we saw a place where we could park. Behind us stood another Dutch car and it turned out that it belonged to a fellow Dutchman, André. He already had been inside and was just going to put some new acquisitions in his vehicle when he spotted us

My “new” Dunhill shell cherrywood shape

“Arno, quickly come with me” he said “I have seen a gorgeous estate Dunhill!” So he literally dragged me through the masses in Villa Friedlinde to an outside tent in which a vendor had displayed numerous estate pipes. First my eye fell upon a good looking Dunhill shell prince but that was not the one André meant. “No no, here, this cherrywood shape, look at this one! See the blast and how crisp it still looks?” I could not argue with him and felt the Force was with me! Although it was not a patent-era Dunhill the pipe (birth-year 1976) was stunning and the price was ok. My godfather had given me some money for my birthday so I was able to buy it. Sadly I did not have enough cash to also buy the Dunhill prince, other things also had to be purchased.

Robbie-San looking at some pipes in the busy tent

Before going back inside we went to the farthest tent where Hans Wiedemann should be. Should, yes, he was just taking a smoke outside the narrowness of the tent. We politely waited until he got back and in the meanwhile admired his tobacco-range on the table. He had three new blends: Red Sparkle, White Dog and an unique blend, Fayyum Kake. The first cake to come from German soil as far as I know. Hans has invested in a tobacco press at his home and this is the first creation to come from it. He had a bar of the blend laying on the table so I decided to slice off a piece and put it in my new Meindert prince. I looked around and decided to walk around the tent. I noticed it was BUSY, people stood shoulder to shoulder but no pushing or things like that. Everybody was really polite. I admired several pipes and snapped pictures of them and their makers. Germany is a big country but it still surprises me how many pipe-makers it has. And also female pipe-makers! Behind one of the tables sat a shy looking short haired woman: Maike from Maike pipes. When I asked if I could pick up and admire a couple of her pipes she even shrank back more behind her table. No need because what she makes is beautiful. To my delight, when I came back later, I saw that she had sold some of her pipes.

Peace man! Thank you brother! (Robbie-San and Hans)

When Hans came back we were finally able to shake hands. It was a real pleasure to talk to him in person after all our mutual correspondence. Unfortunately it was busy so we we had to keep the conversation short. I also wanted to buy a couple of tobaccos including his excellent Sunset flake. When I pulled my wallet he asked a lower price for the tins, “because it is you”. Well, thanks Hans! “Come back later when it is more quiet, we talk more then” he said. Check! So Robbie-San, Smoking-Rob and myself walked back towards the villa. Just behind the villa was a tent which included a beer-stand from a local brewery. We were all feeling like having a nice cold German beer so we asked the voluptuous woman behind the bar what our choices were. Dark beer and bright beer was the answer. The two Robs took the bright beer and I the dark one ( I love dark beer). De-licious! We had to laugh with the friendly lady because for some reason she thought we were from England and spoke German so well. Robbie-San played his English gentleman role perfectly.

The metal-rod system of Gigliucci

After the beer we went inside the villa and almost immediately bumped into fellow forum-member Robert Jan who was anxious to see the displayed wares. Loads of pipe-makers were lined up beside each other and we shuffled from table to table admiring the handicrafts. We stopped at the table of a man who made the shanks of a lot of his pipes very thin. That is not possible I thought, the shank would be very delicate and prone to breakage. It turned out that the carver, Andrea Gigliucci from Italy, made a system with an metal rod inside the shank to give it strength. I saw a pot-shaped pipe of him which with a little tweaking would make a formidable prince. In English with a thick Italian accent he told me that he had never tried to make a prince-shaped pipe. I hope I can give him the order someday!

Holger Gunia pipe

We also passed the table of a pipe-maker who seemed to have specialized himself in the making of short stubby pipes: Holger Gunia. I immediately had to think of another fellow forum member, Huub, who has a vast collection of this type of pipe. I myself am not a fan of these shapes but I surely could appreciate the handicraft and especially the rustication of some pipes which almost seemed to sparkle, very strange but very nicely done. Inside the villa there also was a kitchen which served food and beverages for little money. We all were a bit hungry so decided to go for some typical German food, Bockwurst, which tasted delicious. A must-try when you visit Germany.

The bracelet Robbie-San bought

Outside in one of tents there was a table on which all kinds of leather goods were for sale. All 100% handmade in Germany and unique. Robbie-San saw a stunning bracelet which he had to have. Very un-Dutchlike he did not haggle when he heard the price. “I know all the handicraft in the bracelet is worth the money” he said. I wanted to buy something for my girlfriend Ellen so I opted for a dark blue bracelet. You know, I believe that a man has to keep his woman content. If I come home with an expensive (in her eyes) pipe her mood will be much better when she is given a nice present.

The German gentlemen

Robbie-San and I wanted to drink something hot (all the rain did not exactly make us feel any warmer) so I got a coffee and he a cup of tea. We sat down at a large table where some Germans already had taken place. I looked at the pipes of one the men, nothing special, but then saw a tobacco I did not know yet, Exclusiv Royal. I asked if I may have a look and the tin was given to me. I looked at it and smelled it, yummie! A granulated cut, interesting. Robbie-San was given permission to fill a pipe with the blend so I pulled out a tin of McClelland Pebblecut and asked if the German gentlemen knew it. They had never seen an American tobacco before and happily filled up a sample bag with it. I wonder what they thought of it when they eventually smoked it.

Fltr: Smoking-Rob, myself, Hans and Robbie-San

After the hot beverages we went back to Hans because Robbie-San had to get some tobacco samples for another forum member. Smoking-Rob was sitting outside the tent and talking to Rainer, the “little finger” (helper) of Hans. Inside Robbie-San could fill up his sample-bags the blends of Hans while I further talked to the master-blender. I asked him if he had any new projects and he told me he was, amongst other things, working on an oriental-heavy mixture. Interesting! I hope I get a sample of it before it comes out. He also complimented me with this blog and was a bit shocked at how much viewers I had so far, about 90.000. Hell, I am also shocked at how many people read my humble writings. Hans then got momentarily busy with a client who ended up with a gigantic bag full of tobacco tins. He told me that he only buys tobacco once a year, at the Lohmar pipe-show and all blends of HU Tobacco. Impressive! To my utter delight I also saw a tin of Brullende Leeuw in his bag. The forum tobaccos were selling well, Hans told me. When Smoking-Rob once again joined us we did make a group picture with Hans. Smile! And after that it was time to go home. We comprehensively thanked Hans for the time he took for us and walked to the car.

At the restaurant in Kleve

On the way home we decided that we would have dinner in Kleve, near the Dutch border. Unfortunately before we got there Robbie-San was flashed by a speed-trap camera, I hope for him that the fine is not too high.. When we arrived in Kleve it was raining cats and dogs. We got out of the car, went looking for a place to eat, could not find one, got soaking wet and went back inside the vehicle. We drove to another part of the centre and passed a decent looking restaurant. There we all opted for another typical German (ok, typical Austrian..) dish, a Wiener Schnitzel. When, after a looong wait, the waiter finally brought the plates my Schnitzel was clearly smaller than the others to the amusement of the Robs. What, did I get less because of my fat looking head?? Hmzzzgrumble.. After dinner we drove back through the beautiful region of Nijmegen where I was born and said goodbye to Smoking-Rob. Robbie-San then dropped me at my sleeping address in Brabant, we shook hands and we thanked each other for the wonderful day. Once home I kissed Ellen, said I got her a beautiful, handmade and expensive present and gave the bracelet before pulling out the Dunhill. She shook her head while smiling at me.

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May 6, 2014

The Frisian prince

Typical town in Friesland

In the Northwest of the Netherlands the province of Friesland is situated (“Fryslân” in the Frisian language, yes they do have their own language). A lot of Dutch people go there on vacation because of the beautiful nature (lots of lakes and canals) and peace and quiet. Friesland is one of the less-densely populated provinces in the Netherlands. It is also well-known for ice-skating, a lot of champions come from Friesland and if there is a very cold winter the famous Elfstedentocht is organized. And it is in a small village in the heart of “Fryslân” where pipe-maker Meindert lives.

Meindert

Meindert is 64 years old, a long time pipe-smoker, retired and a Frisian man in heart and soul. That means he is proud, honest, righteous, loves to be on the water, works hard and takes no bullshit from no-one. Working with his hands is also something that is in his blood. His father was a professional carpenter who could make anything out of wood and was not afraid of showing the tricks of the trade to his son. Also for years Meindert was a maintenance mechanic at a local factory and one of his hobbies was being a radio amateur so for that he build small and big antennas. Unfortunately he got problems with his heart and after having seen the gates of Saint Peter twice he was forced to slow things down. But Meindert is not the man to take it easy and do nothing. So through Fred, a member of the Dutch/Belgian pipe smokers forum and Dutch importer of Mr. Brog and Country Pipes he got into pipe making about 8 months ago. That was something which required little physical effort and was perfectly suited for the still recovering Meindert.

One of the early Meindert pipes

On the forum he posted several of his finished pipes and although some of them lacked a certain finesse I could clearly see that Meindert had talent and skills. After making a couple of prince-shaped pipes (my favourite shape) I decided to ask if he could create one of those for me. But I wanted to test the man. I did this by asking if he could make one of the most challenging shapes in my eyes: the 8-side panelled prince. This because it is a combination of symmetry (all corners must be 45 degrees from each other) and flowing elegance. Gracefully Meindert accepted the challenge and got busy.

Corrections from my side

One of the best things about him is that he can accept constructive criticism. Some pipe-makers are headstrong, have a sort of impenetrable ego which holds them back from getting better. I know sh*t about wood-working and all the machinery (I was born with 2 left hands) but I do know something about flowing lines, symmetry and cohesion in a design. And Meindert is very handy but could learn a bit more about flowing pipe shapes and the little details that comes with such. So he was ready to accept criticism from my side when he send the first pictures of the prince-making process. I would look at them, make corrections in Photoshop and tell him why I did that. For example he mailed me a photograph of the unfinished bowl and by putting lines, arrows and digitally reducing excess wood I could let him know what to do. Of course he was not able to always precisely do what I asked but with every correction he made the pipe got better. The devil is in the details and boy, I sometimes was a real demon. But Meindert never did bulge under my pressure, kept eager to learn and continued delivering the goods. And how good he was was proven when Fred made a visit. Meindert showed him my prince and told him that getting every panel to look exactly the same was a tough job. Fred looked amazed at the pipe and told that such pipes normally are made in machines in pipe-factories where the angle of cutting can be programmed. Something I did not know. So in fact I asked Meindert to be as precise as a machine. And he came damn close!

Aqueduct

At the beginning of last week Meindert informed me that he had almost finished the pipe. The only thing left to be done was the bending of the cumberland stem but I thought it was a good idea to do that when I was with him. Of course I was going to pick up the pipe myself. I am a bit ashamed to say this, but I have never been in Friesland before. I grew up in Brabant in the South of the Netherlands so for a long time Friesland was almost like an exotic country to me. However, now I live in the province of Overijssel and that is quite a bit closer to the North of my country. Last Friday I took a day off and drove to the heart of “Fryslân”. An enjoyable ride if I may say so. When I drive to Brabant where the head-office of my work is located the roads are always busy and often I get caught up in a traffic jam. The journey North was deliciously quiet with nice far stretched views of the countryside. Suddenly I saw in the distance something that looked like a train slowly passing over a viaduct. When I came closer I noticed to my amazement that it was not a train, but a large river boat which gradually floated above the highway. What I had seen was an aqueduct, something which exists for a long time but was new to my eyes in this form. So strange to see a big ship above you.

At exactly 2 o’clock I arrived at a petrol station in the village where Meindert lives and phoned him up. This because he lives at the waterside where no car can come. Soon he came walking out of a small side-street and gestured me to follow him. We arrived at the back of his home and shook hands. So nice to see him after all our e-mails. He guided me into the renovated shed of his house which was divided in 2 parts: his working room and the computer room. We sat down in the working room and lit up a pipe. *Pheww* “You are smoking latakia right?” Meindert asked. “I like aromatics myself, I never understood why people like the smell of burned rubber.” “Well, the taste is vastly different than the smell, believe me” I said. Luckily we don’t all have the same tobacco preferences. But I knew Meindert liked a sweet smoked so I brought a couple of aromatic tins that he could keep. In return he had some tobaccos for me which included the Mellow Mallard made by DTM. A blend I did not know but after smoking a couple of bowls I now really like!

Remember the 3 golden rules: light, space and warmth

Soon the lovely wife of Meindert boldly defied my latakia fumes and brought a cup of coffee which gave me the opportunity to look around the working space. What really struck me was how tidy and organized it was. All the machines were clean and every hand-tool had a logical place and was neatly attached to a wall or placed in a tray. I complimented him with this because I know that some other pipe makers have pretty chaotic working rooms. “One of the first things I learned when I had a working space were the 3 golden rules: light, space and warmth.” Meindert said. “Light because you have to able to clearly see what you are doing. Space as in not having a big room but having the space to be able to properly do your job. Warmth because you can’t work well with cold muscles.” What I also liked were all the old hand tools that Meindert inherited from his father. Where for example a lot of pipe makers use machinery to make their stems Meindert uses his father’s tools. All handwork.

Heating up the stem for bending

After the second cup of coffee it was time to see what I have came for, my panelled prince. It was smaller than I thought but nonetheless I was pleasantly surprised. It looked better than on the pictures! The acrylic cumberland stem still was straight so Meindert got to work by lighting a candle. Huh? Is he praying for good luck this way or…? I know that pipe-maker Vandaahl uses some kind of industrial blow dryer to heat up the stem for bending. It turned out that Meindert was warming up the stem the old fashioned way. Very tricky and when I nervously looked at him he had to laugh, relax! At bit above the candle-flame he slowly rolled the stem of the pipe around and around with a steady hand. Suddenly I saw that a part of the stem became flexible and Meindert carefully bended it following my directions. I made a comment before that he had a tendency to bend his prince-stems too close to the shank so while I looked over his shoulder he asked if it was ok. Ehhrrr.. Yes?

Checking the bend

When the stem had cooled down I was able to properly examine the pipe. Damn! The bend could be a bit more but worse, the stem was crooked, it had a deviation to the left. So Meindert heated it all up again and made the correction. Hmm, better but there was a tiny bump on top. No problemo, some fine sanding paper took care of that. But still the bend could be more. Heating, bending, arghh! A good bend but once again crooked! Really, if I were Meindert I would have kicked myself out of the door. But he stayed ice-cold and once again bended the stem. Perfect! I breathed a sign of relief while Meindert buffed the pipe to a shiny whole.

Oh wait! I almost forgot, I still had to perform my pipe-cleaner test. That means that when I fold one of my pipe-cleaners it has to pass the smoking channel pretty easy. And it didn’t.. I asked which drilling diameter was used. “The one Peterson uses (Meindert is a huge Peterson fan), 3.0 mm.” Ahh.. That explains.. Fortunately making the drilling wider was no problem. 3.1 mm, 3.2 mm.. “Meindert” I said “please make it 3.5 mm, that should do the trick.” And indeed with 3.5 mm my pipe-cleaner went through the smoking channel effortlessly. I told him that you also get a better draft with 3.5 mm and thus a better smoking experience. Meindert thought that was very interesting and he is going to experiment with it.

The finished prince

The rest of the afternoon went by too fast. Before I knew it it was 6 o’clock and I had to go home. We shook hands again and I hit the road. The next day I smoked the panelled prince for the first time and I was delighted! The bit felt very comfortable between my teeth, not too thick and also not too thin, just perfect. Of course smoking a pipe for the first couple of times is not really fun because a layer of cake still has to form inside the bowl. But nonetheless I was impressed about the smoking qualities. I also kept looking at the pipe form every angle. I am sure almost every pipe-smoker sometimes takes the pipe out of his mouth and admires it. I sure did that with Meindert’s pipe and am still doing it.

Meindert has to take things slowly because of his health. So if you are interested in him making a pipe for you (he makes about 1 pipe per week) please contact me and I will connect you through.

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Dutch Pipe Smoker

Tag Archives: Meindert

Hospitable Heukelum 2017

Hospitable Heukelum 2016

Hospitable Heukelum 2015

The McLardy bulldog

Lohmar pipe-show 2014

The Frisian prince