In my first year at varsity, my room mate smoked. I did not. In fact, I hated the smell of smoke. There was a constant moaning and groaning from my side regarding his smoking in the room.
One afternoon, we were chatting along, when I told him that I will never smoke cigarettes (ha!), because it stinks. The only smoking I might do, I declared, might be a pipe, because it least that smells nice!
So off my enterprising friend Andreas went and he got himself a pipe, thinking that he will then be able to smoke in the room without any complaints. It wasn't long before I tried a couple of puffs and the infatuation started!
It is a no name basket pipe, of course stamped "real briar" (and that only) with crackled and pitted varnish finish. The bowl looks like crap, the tenon have paper turned around it to keep it in the mortise and the stem has been superglued where it broke in two.
Does it have any monetary value? No way! But that little crappy pipe is worth much more to me than my whole collection, I'll give 10 Goussard Pipes for that pipe to keep ownership of either me or my friend.
And the best of all?
It was exactly 21 years ago we met and started smoking that pipe together, we're still doing it and we probably will be doing it still in another 21 years time!
