Tinsky X-mas 2000

(6am) Deacon's Downfall in Tinsky X-mas2000
(8am) LNF in Cavicchi 4C Slug
(1pm) Deacon's Downfall in Stanwell Nordic
(9pm) Decon's Downfall in GRC Volcano

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A commemorative pipe, but 'twas not Christmas

Considering yesterday's anti-commemoration note, today's first smoke comes with a dollop of irony. This is the one pipe I have that has a strong association with an event in my life, though there is no moment in memory to which I attach it. It's more a long process that I went through that became complete at some point (that point seems so blurry, folds into some larger, amorphously and emotionally defined part of remembrance) rather than a commemorating event. When I pick up this pipe, I am reminded of a struggle and an accomplishment that entails no single moment in my history but rather a state of being that is important to the way I understand my past and identity. So along came a day, on an actually recordable hour and minute, that I celebrated my BA by firing up this pipe and forever linked it with a memory, but not the memory of that particular moment (I have long since forgotten). Though it was meant to coincide with graduation, it signifies what led up to it instead.
 

It's a beauty of a pipe. Tight grain all around with stunning birdseye heal. The ball shape sits comfortably in the hand and is a well-balanced clench. Though it's drilled a little high, it usually smokes dry to fine ash. I can't seem to find the perfect tobacco for it though. Don't get me wrong, it smokes everything well, but I have a feeling there's a tobacco it really makes sing. I wanted it to be a Va/per but think its going to be a latakia instead. I like my Va/per pipes to bring out a certain bright edge, and this seems to bring out the deeper tones that I like in my latakia blends. It doesn't look it, but this pipe is a bass-baritone without the extreme high or low registers of either.