BEKNOWNST

For some reason unbeknownst, I dreamed of the autobahn and lunch in Germany. A sunny day, a plate of fries and sausage. Conceivably bockwurst. Although the dream started with noodles, typical Hong Kong wonton noodles in soup. And bear in mind that the soup must have a touch of dried flounder in order to be just right (左口魚 'jo hau yü'). Proper German wursten also have a touch of something that makes them just right. Sometimes smokiness, sometimes the distant sound of vehicles going over one hundred miles an hour, and sometimes the balance between calfmeat and nutmeg.

Actually, the reason is upon reflection is very beknownst. Someone mentioned the Teutonic Titwillow and the schnitzengruben in Blazing Saddles this past weekend, and I remembered Bertie And Baldwin in Valkenswaard (Bertje, Boudewijn), plus I smoked a Peterson 312 recently.
I have three Peterson 312s in my collection: one which I acquired several years ago from Marty Pulvers on Battery Street, one which my Dad gave me the year he passed, which I had thoroughly enjoyed while he and Maryanne were in London for two weeks, and one with fabulous woodgrain and a minor ding near the top which I've tried steaming out.

So three reasons which happily combined. Although I have to wonder why would anyone want their bedchamber to be perfumed with kraut und schnitzengruben?
Truly the customs of Teutonic Titwillows are strange.

Another thing that comes into play is the light. San Francisco is experiencing unseasonably warm weather at this time, and the brightness outside is not what you would expect in mid-summer three months hence, but more like a Northern European late-spring. Early June. Memory inducing. And looking at my father's Peterson 312 what came to mind was the streets in Valkenswaard during night-time. There was a certain quality to the air.

And the glow of the street lights was different.
Because the air was more moist.

The Peterson 312 is a classic system pipe (an even airflow, catchment, decreasing widths of the channel, and a p-lip) and looks absolutely epitomous of proper smoking equipment. Nothing looks more pipish than a Peterson System pipe, shape 312.

It is the kind of pipe serious people smoke.
A beautiful yet utilitarian smoking tool.
Gravitas meets elegance.

The first pipe I bought when I was back in the States was a Peterson System Standard. Not quite the same shape. Over a period of two years I smoked the living daylights out of it, and though I no longer own that pipe I have several other Peterson System pipes which were acquired since. As everyone should.



Whether a young woman smokes Balkan blends, surreptitiously so her family doesn't notice, or old-fashioned style Virginia flakes, which being stealth tobaccos can probably be enjoyed downstairs late at night with a window open when everyone else is asleep, it strongly behooves her to have a Peterson System Pipe.
Men should too.



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