Kleipijpen/bruyere
Geplaatst: 12 feb 2013 17:04
Mij houdt de volgende vraag al een tijdje bezig: wanneer deed de bruyerepijp zijn intrede om de kleipijp af te lossen?? En welk merk, met welk model was de eerste??
"... during the first days of October 1858, a salesman with exuberant manners and also a pronounced southern accent, presented himself one morning at the offices of Mr. Gay. He had come to offer blocks of boxwood, commonly called broussins that the firm purchased in large quantities to make snuff boxes. After having taken an order for ten thousand kilos of these for delivery in mid-November, and passed the time of day, Mr. Taffanel (that was his name) brought out of his pocket a small piece of wood; this had six saw-cut panels, in the shape of a candle snuffer, the larger part being roughly bored out and the smaller part fitted with a bamboo stem. 'This is,' he said, 'the pipe in which a shepherd friend of mine has assured me he has smoked tobacco for over a year and, as you can see, it is neither burnt nor damaged. It is made out of a briar block, similar to boxwood, that one finds in plenty in our district.' By the end of October, Mr. Gay had assessed the incomparable qualities of briar and had some pipes made in his factory, which were sold in Paris, northern France and Belgium."
Aldus de getuigenis van een tijdgenoot, Jules Ligier, eerst opgetekend door de beroemde pijpoloog Andre Bastien en overgenomen door Alain Maya en Alexis Liebaert in het onvolprezen standaardwerk "The Pipe". Er zijn andere verhalen, maar dit is wel de meest gedetailleerde en overtuigende.
