Traditional Muzzleloading Association

Craftsmanship => Hawks and Knives => Topic started by: graybeard on December 29, 2009, 02:20:51 PM

Title: pipe hawks
Post by: graybeard on December 29, 2009, 02:20:51 PM: Has anyone actually smoked the pipe part of a pipe-hawk? I've been a pipe smoker for nearly 60 years. Briar, cob, meershaum, even clay are porous to some extent. Can't imagine anyone smoking a metal pipe. Especially since the tobacco of the day was pretty strong stuff. graybeard
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Post by: vthompson on December 29, 2009, 06:41:55 PM: I have 4 "pipe hawks" hanging on my living room wall and I have never smoked any of them either. I have puffed on them and only 1 has a good seal. I just keep my smoking to my deer antler pipe.
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Post by: Three Hawks on December 30, 2009, 05:28:03 AM: I have only clay pipes in my Rondy gear. At home I have a good quality briar bent pipe I've had for ten or so years. It's nicely broken in and a delight to smoke.

Over the years I've bought several twists of allegedly Period Correct tobacco. If it was all I had, I'd never smoke again. The stuff tastes like moldy goat ropes delicately seasoned in rancid yak barf, and is twice as strong as bull's p*ss with the foam farted off. Not in the good way, either.

I think I'd look with a somewhat jaundiced eye at a metal pipe bowl, be it steel, brass, silver, pewter, whatever. Clay pipes are cheap and don't impart any taste, cob pipes are inoffensive as well. My bent briar is a source of joy and relaxation. I used one clay pipe in particular until it caked to the point of not being able to load it for a smoke of more than two or three minutes. One evening after supper, I put it in the coals of my campfire and allowed it to come to a nice red glow for ten minutes or so. In the morning I fished it out of the ashes and it was like new. I learned later that this is the traditional way a clay pipe is cleaned. Who knew?

Three Hawks
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Post by: rickevans on December 30, 2009, 09:40:10 AM: "Over the years I've bought several twists of allegedly Period Correct tobacco. If it was all I had, I'd never smoke again. The stuff tastes like moldy goat ropes delicately seasoned in rancid yak barf, and is twice as strong as bull's p*ss with the foam farted off. Not in the good way, either. "

You owe me a new keyboard. Coffee all over it when I read that statement.
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Post by: vthompson on December 30, 2009, 08:49:16 PM: I enjoy smoking my antler pipe but I have never smoked a clay pipe. Where can I buy a clay pipe so that I could try it out? Any help would be appreciated. Thank's.
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Post by: graybeard on December 30, 2009, 09:49:43 PM: Three hawks, you exaggerate. I didn't think the stuff tasted nearly that good. graybeard
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Post by: Three Hawks on December 30, 2009, 11:02:17 PM: Quote from: "vthompson"
I enjoy smoking my antler pipe but I have never smoked a clay pipe. Where can I buy a clay pipe so that I could try it out? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

I got mine from Turkey Foot Traders.

Turkey Foot (http://http)<--- Click Here

Jas Townsend and Son sell them as does Dixie Gun Works. Many if not most other sutlers stock them as well. Watch prices, some sellers consider clay pipes to be both holy and precious.

One thing you will learn early on in your clay pipe smoking career is to keep your booger hooks off the bowl. That little sucker gets seriously hot.

Need you ask?

Three Hawks
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Post by: attheedgeoftheworld on January 01, 2010, 10:05:27 PM: if a pipe hawk is made correctly you can smoke it like any other pipe. it just has to be made correctly. I have a sheet metal pipe from the late Mike Ameling and it smokes great. with I had a few more of them.
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Post by: Bison Horn on January 02, 2010, 05:46:50 AM: Quote from: "Three Hawks"
At home I have a good quality briar bent pipe I've had for ten or so years. It's nicely broken in and a delight to smoke.

Three Hawks
Yes & they don't hang like a 10# weight.
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Post by: Longhunter on January 02, 2010, 01:59:15 PM: I've got a brass pipe hawk that I've smoked some....not my best smoker. My favorite pipe was one made from pipe stone by my friend Norm Blaker. It was small with a reed stem and had a drop piece with a hole from which hung a single trade bead. When the stem wore out I replaced it with a turkey wing bone. It got dropped and broke years ago but I've still got the pieces. Maybe I'll get Norm to make me another someday.

(http://www.shrewbows.com/rons_linkpics/Voyageur.JPG)
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Post by: sse on January 02, 2010, 02:06:53 PM: What's the name of that red stone that was used by plains indians for their pipe bowls? Read about it a number of times, but can't remember what its called.
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Post by: Longhunter on January 02, 2010, 04:15:40 PM: Catlinite or Calumet

Go here then click on the highlighted Calumet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calumet_(pipe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calumet_(pipe))
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Post by: sse on January 02, 2010, 07:25:48 PM: Thanks!
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Post by: Three Hawks on January 02, 2010, 08:20:47 PM: Another excellent stone to make pipes from is steatite or soapstone.

Of course this presumes you can actually find some.

If you want a PC lookin' pipe without mortgaging the old home place your best bet is still a clay pipe.

Three Hawks.
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Post by: Longhunter on January 02, 2010, 09:09:44 PM: This is an original clay pipe bowl that I've had for 35 years.

(http://www.shrewbows.com/rons_linkpics/smokin_stuff.JPG)
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Post by: wwpete52 on March 11, 2010, 08:14:44 AM: I like the Rocky Mountain Pride twist tobacco that Crazy Crow sells. It's the "natural" one. Their "sweet" twist is unsmokable. Warning: If you don't like a super strong tobacco stay far away from Rocky Mountain Pride twist.
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Post by: Captchee on March 11, 2010, 09:58:14 AM: Quote
The stuff tastes like moldy goat ropes delicately seasoned in rancid yak barf, and is twice as strong as bull's p*ss with the foam farted off. Not in the good way, either. "

Many years back I had a chance to smoke real Good twist tobacco right from the drying shed .
One of my men’s family grew tobacco and was kind enough to take me to their plantation .
After a very long inspection of their collection of pipes , we went out to the sheds .
The smell , I will never forget . Such a sweat aroma .
After being ask if I would like to sample their product , I made the mistake of taking out my Briar which got an instantaneous frown .
. We walked down the rows of hanging tobacco. His father carefully smelling and feeling each mass of leaves .
Finding just the right one , he took it down and we went to main house .
Out on the back porch was a rolling table that I was told had been in their family since colonial times .
We sat down and a glass of fine whisky was poured while his father masterfully removed the stems and centers of the leaves . Then rolled the leaves into a rope . Within just a few minutes he made me a dozen twists .

Eh then took a knife from his pocket and cut a ¼ inch section from the end of one of the twists and handed it to me . I again pulled my Briar . But was told that it wasn’t proper and would not give the proper flavor of the tobacco, unless it was very clean .
A drawer was opened in the table , which was of short stemmed clays .
First thing I noticed was that the bowls were rather small . But they held the amount that I was given perfectly
I can tell you the flavor of the tobacco mixed with the whiskey was Very pleasing and simply wonderful . It was not hot like many of the specialty pipe tobaccos. But it was much stronger then I was used to .
I sure wish i had some of that now .

I also had a chance to sample Cuban tobacco while in South America.
that’s a completely different flavor and also very pleasing .

IMO the twists you get from traders is of very low quality . It is also many times old and dry. Not good for anything other then past needing a tooth brush and some mouth wash . .

as to pipe hawks . IMO these probably were not smoked all that much . basically just for special occasions where enjoyment of the tobacco was not any real concern
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Post by: Longhunter on March 12, 2010, 10:48:52 PM: Quote
The stuff tastes like moldy goat ropes delicately seasoned in rancid yak barf, and is twice as strong as bull's p*ss with the foam farted off. Not in the good way, either. "

Some years back...32 to be exact, I went on a trek with a half dozen fellas for several days. It was a pretty strict event. Besides having to hunt and forage for most of our food we had to use only clay and stone pipes and smoke twist tobacco.

Now that twist was stout enough to put a mule to his knees. So to make it more palatable we gathered wild berry leaves, wintergreen leaves and shaved some cherry bark to mix with the tobacco. Then we unrolled the twist and dried it on a flat rock by the fire along with all the other fixins. Then we chopped it up real fine, mixed it together and stuffed our pipes. Now I'm hear to tell ya it was a mighty fine smoke. If fact I took some home to smoke when I got back to the modern world.
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Post by: Shawnee Mike on March 13, 2010, 10:10:44 AM: Quote from: rickevans
"Over the years I've bought several twists of allegedly Period Correct tobacco. If it was all I had, I'd never smoke again. The stuff tastes like moldy goat ropes delicately seasoned in rancid yak barf, and is twice as strong as bull's p*ss with the foam farted off. Not in the good way, either. "

Rick,
That was extreamly funny. :lol: Thank you. Good to get my day started with a smile. Ill have to remember that description.
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Post by: Pichou on March 17, 2010, 01:13:30 PM: http://www.historysociety.ca/media/pdf/ ... p36-39.pdf (http://www.historysociety.ca/media/pdf/23-4-944-Mar-p36-39.pdf)

Tobacco for the Fur Trade
Barbeau, Marius & Clifford Wilson
Beaver, March 1944, Vol. 23, No. 4, Out. 274, p36-39

A really good read.

That American style pigtail twist actually fell out of a goat's butt, and I don't mean gunstock. ;)

Pipe hawks have a long stem that cools down the smoke a bit, but they also have a big hole in the wood and metal. I think those leaks are built in as a health/safety feature. :lol:
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Post by: Gordon H.Kemp on March 17, 2010, 03:35:26 PM: I used to smoke a pipe for many years , I tried most materials they commonly use as pipes , and overall I'd have to say that a good cob can't be beat . Now I only smoke a cermonial (peace pipe) now and again , I have a chunl of pipestone from the quarry at Pipestone Mn. I'm working on at this time. The calimite ( pipestone) gives a good cool smoke but I'd still have to say the cob is king !
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Post by: chad1043 on December 10, 2010, 06:14:46 PM: Captchee,
Do they sell their tobacco online? Does anyone have a GOOD source for twist tobacco?
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Post by: Captchee on December 10, 2010, 07:47:58 PM: Quote from: "chad1043"
Captchee,
Do they sell their tobacco online? Does anyone have a GOOD source for twist tobacco?

saddly no they dont . that was many years ago .
most of what you find today is from blenders . not the pure leaf of a single plant .
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Post by: chad1043 on December 10, 2010, 07:51:05 PM: Thanks.
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Post by: Osprey on March 14, 2011, 07:23:50 PM: Since I'm just finishing a pipe hawk, and do lots of farming/gardening, too, have any of you tried growing and drying tobacco? Just googled some seed companies that offere many types, may order some seed and try it.
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Post by: Longhunter on March 14, 2011, 07:54:18 PM: It it grows to have long skinny, and pointy leaves it outta be a pretty good smoke...
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Post by: Gordon H.Kemp on March 14, 2011, 08:35:06 PM: Osprey , I have never grown it myself , but when in my early teens . An old fella next door ( in his late 70s early 80s ) used to grow two rows of Conn. burley about 100 foot long each year .
He always had some hanging in his barn and we would get a leaf and put some in a cob pipe along with a little mint leaves , and smoke up a storm . I never thought it would grow in our area , but it sure did . Up-State N.Y. I don"t recall him doing anything special in taking care of the crop?