Companionship

[E.A. Fumare]

Briar pipes speak to me. Or, rather, they take on personalities once I've dedicated them to certain tobaccos and have decided in what situations I'll smoke them and at what times (yes, I'm that anal about it). They then begin to participate in my thinking processes and effect my outlook on the day. A group of small billiards dedicated to FVF and St James flake, pipes that are smoked in the wee hours of the morning upon rising for the day, convey thoughts and feelings to me that contribute to my initial orientation to the morning. The bright notes a Castello may contribute to FVF at five o'clock in the morning may put me in a certain mood or bring forth certain notions that are used in measuring the first issues of that particular day. The almost neutral baritone notes the same tobacco brings forth in an old British briar - long seasoned by generations before me - may leave me in a deeper mood in which I'll receive that same information. I can sit in the shade of a giant oak on a warm afternoon with no background noise save the songs of birds and the buzz of grasshoppers and a certain pipe will put thoughts in my head, coaxing conversations out of the numb afternoon lull.

Of particular note are pipes made by people I have known or that were gifted to me by special people, or pipes that simply have such a history as to beg the smoker to engage them in thought. A pipe acquired from a professor who has passed from this mortal coil; from an ailing friend who smoked a particular briar on a certain piece of water some 25 years prior to my own enjoyment of it on that same water; from a carver I admired and never met, but who died almost immediately after I finally acquired one of his pieces. Then there are the storied carving houses of Great Britain with their stoic histories, now gone or having had their names relegated to the brand trash can of the conglomerate factories. These call forth thoughts of times long past, of certain peoples and casts and the plights of their destinies yet unknown to them. These things fill the mind and it is impossible for a smoke to be simply a smoke.

There is much more to briar than wood and tobacco and fire, there is soul! Perhaps what I've determined to be the proper choices of tobacco for these jewels, blends created by the old British houses of Gawith and G & H or modern caring artisans like Greg Pease, are chosen as much for what they represent as for how good they are. These things fit together, they marry together, and culminate in surreal perfection. Certainly this is much more than stuffing some dried weed into a wooden bowl and setting fire to it. Do I allow myself to be haunted by smoke? Quite so, I suppose.

[kilted1]

I would agree that there is far more to “ briar than wood and tobacco and fire, there is soul” I've always felt that the use of tobacco has “spiritual” implications. Please don't think “neo-pagan” or some “newly reformed wannabe Indian” though I am serious on the subject.

My personal experience is that for me tobacco usage is very relaxing and contemplative, often affording a “centering experience”. I began to wonder why. I knew (in a common knowledge sort of way) that American Indians and some proto-American cultures had used tobacco ceremonially for centuries, however I had no specific knowledge of it. While I would not call myself an “expert” on the subject, I have done some Internet research and have found the following (some pro smoking, some not) which attempts to at least in part to get to the heart of why there is “ much more to briar than wood and tobacco and fire, there is soul”

Tobacco As a Scared Plant http://waeshael.home.att.net/sacred.htm
Ceremonial Use of Tobacco http://www.mpm.edu/wirp/ICW-166.html
The Sacred Pipe of The T'salagi http://www.snowwowl.com/swolfstorycher4.html
Early Uses of Indian Tobacco in California http://www.tobacco.org/History/indiantobcalif.html
The History of Tobacco http://www.france-tabac.com/us/histoire.htm
Historical Background on Tobacco http://www.niichro.com/Tobacco/Tobac1.html
Mapacho Sacred Tobacco http://www.biopark.org/peru/mapacho.html
Tobacco and Shamanism in South America http://www.hoboes.com/Politics/Prohibition/Notes/Shamanism/#Heading3

Many of these articles cite other sources, some of which are interesting for further reading.

I presently own a couple of pipes carved by Lannes Johnson before his “partnership” with Frenchy's Pipes. I acquired these through a friend of mine who several years ago went on to the “great smoking room”. I miss him dearly and only use those pipes when the need is great (for reasons I'll not discuss) for a “centering experience” over and above the “every day”. These two pipes have great meaning to me, and although I practice no intentional “ceremonial usage” nor follow any prescribed “ritual” I'm sure the respect with which I use them and the care I take while smoking them enhances the “implied experience” I seek.

I do find Companionship in Tobacco and Briar. I find myself haunted by smoke...