430. Reclaiming an Around the World 107 Chubby Billiard
PSAs The New Era 39THIRTY caps all shipped out yesterday! Hooray, and thanks to all who participated and waited ever so patiently for this project to reach completion. I still have 9 caps that need homes, if you missed out and are wanting one: six in the Irish Tricolor style (2 S/M, 2 M/L, 2 X/L) and two in the Ebony (L/XL). Don't forget that a Merit badge awaits (or your CPG if you don't have one) if you'll send a photo of the cap when you get it. You don't even have to be wearing the cap. To order drop me a line at petegeek1896@gmail.com. Zippo is shipping the lighters out this Thursday, so they should be in the mail to all who ordered by the end of the next week. Fun fact from Zippo: "because of the high value of the sterling base model our engineers run a test sample on our high polish chrome model to make sure that the imprint will pass our quality standards before we run them on the sterling model." Merit badge / CPG for all who send a photo. We'll hold off on running those pix until you get your PPN pipes, just in case you want to snap a photo of the pipe & lighter together. Reclaiming an Around the World 107 Chubby Billiard by D. H. Billings In Steven King’s The Shining, Jack Torrence is an occasional pipe smoker. Considering his murderous tendencies, though, we're guessing that he abused his pipes like this one had been. Like pretty much every pipe smoker in the digital age, I peruse eBay on a regular basis. Generally, I strike out. Everything is either retailers selling what I already own, rare finds that are $400.00 above my budget, or pipes that are absolutely junk. This time, however, I couldn't believe my eyes: a Peterson 107 (Germany) from the Around the World collection for less than $40.00.* It was in pretty rough shape - the stem didn't fully push in, the rim was coated in carbon build up, the band was both pushed up too far, and misaligned - but the bones of the pipe looked good. Maybe it was the condition, maybe it was messed-up search terms, maybe it was the fact that the auction was ending at an odd time on a Wednesday night, but the price never went up - allowing me to swoop in with a last-minute bid to buy the pipe. The only question was if the charring was only on top of the rim or if the wood itself had been burned. The first order of business upon arrival of the pipe was to see about getting the band off the stummel. It had been turned so that the engraving of the Brandenburg Gate was upside down, shoved up on the shank, and had about 1 mm of briar showing between it and the stem. Thinking that the band had been reglued, I tried heating it up in…