Clays

[Whalehead King]

So, my first clay arrived this morning, and I've already taken it for a test drive. First thing I noticed is how fragile it feels...I find myself holding it by the stem very gingerly. Second thing is how small the bowl is. Then, how my lips stick to the stem unless they're completely dry. But I love how it smokes! It's very cool and dry, and I think I'm getting more flavor out of the tobacco. Overall, it's great! I'm just wondering if my anxiety is gonna flare up out of fear of snapping the stem, dropping it, or otherwise damaging it in any of the myriad ways I can imagine.

It takes some getting used to a clay because it's not like other pipes. Don't overthink it and get all Nervous Nellie over it----that's a recipe for disaster.

"Overall, it's great!" It's a different animal and a different experience, one that I enjoy and I trust you'll grow to enjoy it more and more as time goes on. A clay pipe is a fascinating creature, like holding a starfish or a sea urchin in your hand.

Before there were briars, or cobs, or meers, there were clays. Clays are still around. They are not as popular as they used to be, but they are still around for good reasons. They're good smokers.

[MikeDennison]

So, my first clay arrived this morning, and I've already taken it for a test drive. First thing I noticed is how fragile it feels...I find myself holding it by the stem very gingerly. Second thing is how small the bowl is. Then, how my lips stick to the stem unless they're completely dry. But I love how it smokes! It's very cool and dry, and I think I'm getting more flavor out of the tobacco. Overall, it's great! I'm just wondering if my anxiety is gonna flare up out of fear of snapping the stem, dropping it, or otherwise damaging it in any of the myriad ways I can imagine.

It takes some getting used to a clay because it's not like other pipes. Don't overthink it and get all Nervous Nellie over it----that's a recipe for disaster.

"Overall, it's great!" It's a different animal and a different experience, one that I enjoy and I trust you'll grow to enjoy it more and more as time goes on. A clay pipe is a fascinating creature, like holding a starfish or a sea urchin in your hand.

Before there were briars, or cobs, or meers, there were clays. Clays are still around. They are not as popular as they used to be, but they are still around for good reasons. They're good smokers.

I'm trying to relax with it, but I am enjoying it. I've ordered a pipe stand for it, too.

[Whalehead King]

So, my first clay arrived this morning, and I've already taken it for a test drive. First thing I noticed is how fragile it feels...I find myself holding it by the stem very gingerly. Second thing is how small the bowl is. Then, how my lips stick to the stem unless they're completely dry. But I love how it smokes! It's very cool and dry, and I think I'm getting more flavor out of the tobacco. Overall, it's great! I'm just wondering if my anxiety is gonna flare up out of fear of snapping the stem, dropping it, or otherwise damaging it in any of the myriad ways I can imagine.

It takes some getting used to a clay because it's not like other pipes. Don't overthink it and get all Nervous Nellie over it----that's a recipe for disaster.

"Overall, it's great!" It's a different animal and a different experience, one that I enjoy and I trust you'll grow to enjoy it more and more as time goes on. A clay pipe is a fascinating creature, like holding a starfish or a sea urchin in your hand.

Before there were briars, or cobs, or meers, there were clays. Clays are still around. They are not as popular as they used to be, but they are still around for good reasons. They're good smokers.

I'm trying to relax with it, but I am enjoying it. I've ordered a pipe stand for it, too.

You can't hold it by the bowl and clenching it is a whole rigamarole that it isn't worth figuring out how to make it work. You don't see any old paintings of someone clenching a clay pipe. He are always holding it by its stem. You know why. Who wants to hold a pipe by its stem for 25-35 minutes? Not me. Not anyone else, either.

I don't recall any old paintings of pipe stands. They must have had them, or, they jerry-rigged something: three things arranged in a triangle so that the pipe wouldn't fall over and its stem would stay upright. Actually, there is no reason for the stem to remain upright----that's modern pipe thinking, that there is drool and grool that will leak down the stem condensed in the bowl. That doesn't happen in a clay. The stem will absorb every bit of moisture and gunk that the bowl doesn't. I sincerely doubt that I can ever turn my clay pipe stem side down and expect something will drip out. It won't. The whole pipe is an integrated maximum absorption machine.

[Whalehead King]

[mention]MikeDennison[/mention] , you and I are smoking the same model of pipe. Can you describe what the imagery on the sides are? A clay has details, but they're not like the usual naked lady straddling a skull, the way a craved meer is, at least this model isn't.

I think one side of the bowl features a pharaoh in his throne with a bishop's crook. He doesn't look like a bishop to me, though he probably is supposed to be. The other side is a knight on a horse with a blanket piled high and hanging off the back of his horse. The stem is stamped with feathers on either side, and, I think there is a star in the middle of the stem. It's all hard to see unless you study the pipe. What do you see?

BTW, I was clenching when I wrote this and I dropped my pipe out of my mouth onto the floor. It didn't break. I picked it up and I'm still puffing away. Super Value Peach in my clay.

[MikeDennison]

Yep, [mention]Whalehead King[/mention] , my pipe has those same figures on it. I've been sipping it... haven't tried clenching. I've tried 4 different tobaccos in it, and it's been great with all of them.

[Try Cob]

Smokingpipes.com

thanks

Eight bucks.

Your dern $8 pipe's gonna cost me a c-note for free shipping.

[MikeDennison]

thanks

Eight bucks.

Your dern $8 pipe's gonna cost me a c-note for free shipping.

Well yeah... there's that. That's a dangerous site for me to visit.

[Whalehead King]

Eight bucks.

Your dern $8 pipe's gonna cost me a c-note for free shipping.

Well yeah... there's that. That's a dangerous site for me to visit.

Or, you just buy a clay and a pound of Super-Value tobacco and pay the S&H. You won't be set back a C-note and it will be a bargain of flavor.

[Bamarick]

So, my first clay arrived this morning, and I've already taken it for a test drive. First thing I noticed is how fragile it feels...I find myself holding it by the stem very gingerly. Second thing is how small the bowl is. Then, how my lips stick to the stem unless they're completely dry. But I love how it smokes! It's very cool and dry, and I think I'm getting more flavor out of the tobacco. Overall, it's great! I'm just wondering if my anxiety is gonna flare up out of fear of snapping the stem, dropping it, or otherwise damaging it in any of the myriad ways I can imagine.

MikeDennison how long is the stem on your pipe? When I look on P&C the cheap clays all have stems under 5 inches long.

[MikeDennison]

So, my first clay arrived this morning, and I've already taken it for a test drive. First thing I noticed is how fragile it feels...I find myself holding it by the stem very gingerly. Second thing is how small the bowl is. Then, how my lips stick to the stem unless they're completely dry. But I love how it smokes! It's very cool and dry, and I think I'm getting more flavor out of the tobacco. Overall, it's great! I'm just wondering if my anxiety is gonna flare up out of fear of snapping the stem, dropping it, or otherwise damaging it in any of the myriad ways I can imagine.

MikeDennison how long is the stem on your pipe? When I look on P&C the cheap clays all have stems under 5 inches long.

This one's a good six inches long, just by eyeballin' it. It's from SmokingPipes.com