416. Reclaiming a 1972 “Pachyderm” XL90 Donegal Rocky

SYSTEM DAY IS TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 3rd Become a Certified Pete Geek or get your 2024 System Day Merit Badge! This year’s theme is Zen Mind.  In Zen art, an ensō (円相, “circular form”) is a circle hand-drawn in one or two uninhibited brushstrokes to express the Zen mind--or your pipe's chamber--which is associated with enlightenment, emptiness, freedom. In keeping with thoughts in my philosophical novel X Pipe: Mystagogic Tales for the Pipe Smoker , it is my conviction that Pete Geeks for the most part are "Thinking Men"...and yes, Thinking Women, Shannon, Chris & others among us! Celebrate System Day with Pete Geeks all over the world by sending in a few sentences or paragraphs or a drawing (Ralle, I'm thinking of you) relating the way your System pipe has been a vehicle for your own enlightenment, peace, or freedom. It's not necessary to be a Free Thinker (although Charles Peterson was, in fact, so-registered by the 1911 Irish Census), nor a Buddhist, nor even have training in Zen.  In fact, no previous religious or spiritual affiliation is required--just a photo of a favorite System pipe and a word or two of explanation. Send your photo and text to petegeek1896@gmail.com no later than Monday, September 2nd, 12pm noon CDT. (Prohibited in the states of Unenlightenment, Querulousness and Vapidity.)   THE HATS ARE BACK! Yes, the New Era ball caps are back.  It's a long story which I'll summarize at the end of this already novel-length post, but we've got a new vendor, an updated design (thanks to everyone's input) with pipe smoke in excelsis coming out of the pipe on a classic 39THIRTY stretch-fit which makes ordering the right size much easier.  Send the end of post to order your cap (and of course, receive the coveted Merit Badge).     Reclaiming a 1972 "Pachyderm" XL90 Donegal Rocky It’s been a minute since I went through a DIY reclamation with you, so I pulled out all the stops to offer a tutorial for those who'd like to do more with estates and to solicit advice from those much further along the path than I.  If you fall into the latter class--and there's lots of Pete Geeks who do--please, please comment where you see something that could have been done better or faster or easier! So not long ago I stumbled across my idea of a perfect project, the beater XL90 Donegal Sterling seen above.  You know I love the Old 9BC, the chubby bent billiard based on the Patent 9, and I also adore the "Fat 9" that first saw light of day in the Éire era and has been with us to the present day as the standard shape 9 /307. You know as well that I’ve got nothing but praise for the POY2020, seen more recently in the 9B DeLuxe System special release, which are splendid replicas (actually, the same bowl) of the Patent era 9 by K&P’s Pipe Specialist, Giacomo Penzo. As the prophet Jeremiah once said, “Ask…

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