The idea was to create an ‘alert aggregator’ to pull data from various sources - including road and rail alerts, weather, crisis and flight alerts - and deliver in different channels including a web dashboard, e-mail, SMS and RSS.

In order to create a simple working prototype we used Yahoo Pipes, “a powerful composition tool to aggregate, manipulate, and mashup content from around the web. Simple commands can be combined together to create output that meets your needs.”

We have created and published a ‘Pipe’ which aggregates all required feeds. The road alerts can be seen in a map (via geoRSS) and all other alerts are displayed as a list. The list can be exported in different formats, making easy to integrate a Pipe with other applications, create widgets, customise the output or embed it into any website. Along with export formats supported, Yahoo Pipes can also deliver the results via Yahoo Alerts service via e-mail, yahoo messenger and SMS.

It’s also easy to create and customise existing Pipes using the dynamic ajax drag-and-drop interface. Alerts are just one possible use of Yahoo Pipes. Check below some other interesting examples:

google and yahoo news
Searches Google and Yahoo news, then merges them together into one feed.

craigslist Price Watch
check for products (default is road bikes :) on craigslist

New York Times thru Flickr
This Pipe takes the New York Times homepage, passes it thru Content Analysis and uses the keywords to find Photos at Flickr.

However, I heard a about a 'cause' at the recent CPCC show.  John Seiler and Bill Kotyk were sitting with us at a table in the 'fest tent'.  Bill told me he had five pipes left from the work of Steve Weiner.  As many of you know, Steve died unexpectedly in 2002 and left a family behind.  Bill had taken many of the unsold pipes and was selling them for Bonnie, Steve's widow and sending her ALL the money.  He was making nothing and taking nothing for expenses.  He said there had been no movement on the remaining five pipes over the last several shows he attended.  I found this quite compelling and towards Saturday afternoon, I went by his table to see what was there.   Of course, there were no hawkbills but I felt the need to do something for them.  Having been widowed myself in 2001, I felt my heart strings tugging at me and I bought a nice bent bulldog style pipe. It's a nice piece of wood and very well made.  Bill told me to make out the check to Bonnie but I paid in cash so he'll take care of it. 

There are four pipes left that need to go to a good home and it's for a good cause.  If you are interested, contact Bill Kotyk or John Seiler.  If you don't know how to get in touch with them, contact me and I'll get you in touch with one of them.  I'm sure you can work something out with them on one of the remaining four pipes.   I sure hope we can sell those last four pipes and help a family too. 

Happy smoking.

The problem is the long wait for it to arrive...

I really enjoyed not only listening to Char speak but also hear the audience questions and interactions. For example, when she showed tag clouds, one audience member asked, does the size and format of the tag words change when a tag is used more often than another? And I thought, wow, I've always assumed that is exactly how it works, but haven't actually asked the question, such as refresh rate or what relative sizing means. It points out to me that I take a lot for granted in the Web 2.0 world due to observing so much of it so often. But, a new fresh perspective offers me the conceptual details that people would seek when first exposed to something like a tag cloud.

As part of listening to this podcast, I found many suggestions for cool videos, popular wikis, and new uses of RSS such as RSS that I hadn't heard yet. I realize that no matter how hard I try to keep up, there are new applications of technology coming in every day. I thought I'd collect these together though as a nice collection of "have you seen this?" which may not make much sense unless you listen to the podcast, but these were enjoyable to hear about and explore on my own.

• Video - lions rescue a buffalo baby
• Video - how to use a book (Updated to the one with English subtitles, thanks Char!)
• Wiki - Swarm sketch, watch animated historical views of sketches being created
• Wiki - Pirate master from a TV show
• RSS - Yahoo pipes, later learned about the Social Media firehose pipe from Char
• Search engine - Ms Dewey
• Map mashup - housingmaps.com mashup of craigslist and Google maps
  

The show was full of surprises starting from our check in when we were greeted with the news that not only was the resort area non-smoking, recent news from the local health department required the mega-center (where the show is actually held) to be non-smoking as well.  This moved almost all smoking activity to the 'fest tent'.  After the initial shock, we decided to unpack, have a short one and see how these arrangements were going to work.  We met some friends in the 'fest tent' and the show started in earnest for us.  Inside the tent were all the amenities one could expect:  comfortable temperature, food, beverages and they even installed a hard floor with outdoor carpet.  It was really first class.  My only suggestion for improvement would be to serve coffee in the mornings there but it was available for purchase in other areas and many brought some into the tent for a morning smoke.  Mike and I spent the entire evening in the tent and ended our Thursday there.  In my estimation, this was a first class operation, well thought out and executed.

Friday (golf day) started out fairly nice with no rain and warm temperatures (for Chicago that is).  However, the radar was a  harbinger of things to come.  My group was the first to start at 0800 and by about the 7th tee, it began to sprinkle, by the 9th tee it began to rain and by the 11th tee, I was soaked to the bone and on the 12th tee, lightning required us to vacate the course.  After an extensive rain delay, we finished our round.  My golf certainly went downhill after the delay and we finished our round at plus 1.  Not great but we had a good time (rain notwithstanding).  While I was a drowning rat, my cohort in crime, Mike McCain was in the Pre-Show.  For those who do not know, we both collect Castello Hawkbill pipes shape #84.  Well, he runs into an old friend of ours, Mike Penix (sure are a lot of Mikes in the world!) and amazingly, he has one for sale.  McCain picks it up.  It's a nice GG sized smooth pipe and a deal is struck.  Interestingly, this pipe used to be mine and went to him in a deal a long time ago.  So a great find early on at the show.  After I dried out a bit, we go back to the Pre-Show and I take a look around.  I picked up  several tins of the new/old Squadron Leader in the limited edition green label tins.  I like the regular production Squadron Leader and hope this one turns out to be as good.  Later that day, we get word that Chuck Rio has an 84 sale that used to be McCain's pipe and  he has first shot at the pipe should he want it.  The anticipation grows as we wait till that evening to get to see the pipe. Sure enough, the deal is struck and we have two large GG pipes from 1998 that are back in our possession.  After some bartering and discussing, my old pipe is now mine again and his old pipe is his again. A win/win for us.  As I say, they all come home sooner or later! (Mike Penix, if you are reading this, you still have a nice red OA that could come home if it wanted to. ;-)  ) Mike also saw a couple other 84s on a table for sale but nothing that we needed to acquire.   Friday ended just as Thursday ended with us in the 'fest tent' smoking and enjoying the time with our friends.

Now I don't know about you but I'm always up early on show day!  Maybe it's from the days where I displayed my pipes or just the excitement a child experiences on Christmas morning, but either way, I'm always up early on show day.  This one was no exception as I woke up about 0600, four hours before we could get in the show.  After I managed to drag Mike out of the bed, we had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel and moved out briskly to the 'fest tent'.  Again, it was the gathering place for friends to smoke and exchange word about early victories while we waited for the door to open.  At 1000, the doors opened and there were long lines waiting to get in. Having already scored a victory with our prodigal son 84s come home, we decided to wait about 20 or 30 minutes before going in, trying to evade the long lines.  We were successful, and were able to pay our entry fees and walk right in.  We decided to split up, one starting on the left side and one on the right side, scout the tables and then meet somewhere in the middle.  Although there were lots of beautiful pieces to see, alas, there were no interesting 84s for us.  I was disappointed with the Castello 84 selection.  Even the Castello distributor had no 84s with him this year.  Usually, Marco brings quite a few as he did last year.  I guess they just are not in production right now.  Through out the day, we would alternate between the 'fest tent' and the mega-center, actually spending more time in the tent than we did in the show.  One of the big events of Saturday is the silent auction where folks donate items to be auctioned off and the show benefits from the proceeds.  I bid on a couple items but was outbid.  The silent auction closed about 1530.  We spent some time in the 'fest tent', retired to our room for a short break,  had supper and returned to the  tent for the remainder of  the evening.  Again, the room was filled with smoke, laughter and good friends.  Having to get up early and head home on Sunday, I called it a night relatively early.

Sunday morning came too quickly for me and after 900 or so miles on the road, I arrived home safely.  We had a goodly amount of time to think about this show and how things turned out.  I believe I had more fun at this show than I can remember in recent years.  I credit this to the 'fest tent' where we had to congregate.  Maybe it was one of those unintended consequences but either way, having a single large meeting area, where we could meet and smoke really turned out to be a great venue.  Not smoking in the show area was not good.  However for someone not chained to a table, it was manageable.  I can't speak for those who had to stay with their displays.  For me, attending the show was well worth the trip even with the issues surrounding the IL laws.  Congratulations to the CPCC show staff and all concerned at Pheasant Run for a super time.  I am already planning on next year's trip.

Here are some pictures from the show.  I hope you enjoy them. Happy smoking.

I live in a small town with no tobacco shops, so i asked the guy at waterloo ice house where a good one was. He directed us to the Gas Pipe which is not a tobacco shop, but a head shop. The difference is, head shops suck ass! (and sell things that make it easy to suck pot.) So I went to austin hoping to get try some new tobacco, mainly black Raspberry and 211 Black. The damn head shop had neither, so i bought golden honey, and all day long. We drove to the parish and around many many blocks until we found a parking place ($7) then walked to the show. I got to get a smiley face on my hand, instead of an X (first time) But i didn't buy any alcohol anyway. I'm not that interested in beer, especially beer at a place where the tea costs three dollars.

The first band was okay. (taks, the boy disaster). Their name reminds me of Venture Bros. their music reminds me of Keven Max (not at all a favourite.)Carrie said they were a cross between the postal service and Mum, but i just couldn't get past the guy's lame facial expressions... and the fact that we were standing up to hear this mediocre band.

When their set was over we listened to what i hope is an Icelandic pop radio station. Whatever it was, it was super fun, but Mum took a little too long to come out. Everyone packed in close to the front now waiting.

Mum comes out, WOO! They played some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard! (I am not very familiar with Mum.)

The first song was slow and beautiful! the second song was slow and beautiful, the band did not talk much, their lyrics are very repetitive, I don't know how much english they really know. Enough i think, but their knowledge in music was exceptional!

They played many instruments and ways that i have heard, but never seen. And it was beautiful!

My favourite part was watching the lead singer... sing, obviously. She had super short hair and wore a white shirt, jeans and suspenders. She also had on redish lipstick. She wasn't exceedingly "hot" But was quite attractive, as i said, i watched her the most.

She kept her body kind of stiff, and when she sang she rose up at least 2 inches, higher when she sang the really high notes.

She looked very much like a marionette/ mime. This is mostly what attracted me to her. She looked and behaved very interestingly.

The other members of the band also looked interesting. They are from. Iceland.

The encore was crazy! I don't know the name of the song, but at the end the second vocalist started mixing the music. Every one was playing faster and louder! The drums were sharp, fast, finally bleeding together to become a solid hiss. Growing steadily louder, the guitars and keyboards all playing violently, desperately. Everything was a blur! I watched all of the band members playing as fast and hard as they could but the sound was a solid mass of hopeful beauty! The music was All i could hear, to the extent that it became its own being completely separate from the desperate movements of the drummer and guitarists. I screamed into isaac's ear, "this is the end! this is when we all die!" (a conversation I had about progressive house music) And it felt like the song would end because our story would become complete. It was an amazingly surreal feeling.

http://www.tylerlanepipes.com/index.php

ST. CHARLES, Ill. - There will be no indoor smoking at a large convention for pipe smokers in Illinois.

A new Illinois law bans smoking in public places.

...The event draws 4,000 pipe collectors from more than 60 countries.

Full story here.

I think it's great. No-smoking laws de-glamorize smoking. Smoking is a disgusting habit.

For news and other feeds I started off on NewsFire, but the disadvantage of that is of course that it's a standalone application and so is only on my laptop. Enter NetVibes: salvation! All my bits and pieces in one place so I can even skive at work! But, ah - there's another element to it, and that is the option to share online.

Share? What's that all about then? I've shared photos on Flickr and other sites, but that's about as far as it's got so far, other than FaceBook and a messageboard. But this seems different. Share what exactly?

Then I realise there's a whole world of internet sharing out there. Not just blogging, no, that's in the ha'penny place really: a blog is just not enough. It seems that to share properly we have to have del.icio.us, Digg, Reddit, Stumble, LastFM, Pipes, Muxtape, Remember The Milk, Scribd, Zemanta (which I forgot to use for this), ClipMarks, OpenID... and these are only the ones I can remember without looking up. Is this what is meant by Web 2.0? And what exactly are we sharing? Other websites, interesting bits and pieces... anything original? I don't know yet. I realise this is just scratching the surface and the serious techy stuff is probably a whole new level, but for now this part is absorbing me, and holding my interest.

In the last week I have opened accounts for just about all of the above, and heaven only knows why. For example, Pipes: I've registered there too, though how I'll ever use it I have not the faintest idea. I just feel the urge to get in there and join up. 'Don't leave me out!' my inner child cries! 'New toys! New toys!'

And as for OpenID... do I really want it? Do I want everything all linked up and my whole life (such as it is) available to all? I saw this interview (from one of my RSS'd blogs) just after I had written my first blog and linked it to my Flickr, Twitter and MySpace accounts.

Then I realised that I too have different identities in different places, so I hastily unlinked my MySpace account. I'm still not sure how much of me I want online, and so a degree of separation suits me fine, for now.

But what a learning curve there seems to be. I'm following in Twitter, and RSSing, a few techy blogs as well as some creative types, and there seems to be so much going on that's really interesting, I want a slice of it. But like a kid in a sweetshop, I really have no idea what to choose and what to leave behind, and I seem to be sampling it all in soundbites rather than sitting down properly to absorb fully what it's all about. But with Twitter links coming at me right, left and centre, and all these interesting blogs to read, how can I filter what's useful and what ain't, and have a normal life too? I don't yet know, but finding out is half the fun.

Dx

Disclaimer: This is just a theory. Not the fact.

The war between the giants, Microsoft and Yahoo continues. But none of the threats, nor the position that Yahoo is in, seems to be putting a brake on the companies they are going around acquiring, nor the services they are releasing. Life is as normal, infact on a fresh new lease - one that is quite agressive for Yahoo!.

So here's a theory that I have, and time will tell how much of this is true.

The following things seem to be happening:

1. Yahoo is very pissed off at Microsoft.

2. Yahoo has been for the longest time wanting to get into what Facebook is doing. And now it does. - the open platform shabang.

3. Yahoo is working on a whole new ad delivery platform.

4. Yahoo has an amazing advantage of close to 5 million new email signups every month in India alone - which is actually ahead of what Google has, followed by I believe either Indiatimes or Rediff.

5. Imagining combining point 4, with the fact that you can convert each of these email users into identities using Yahoo OpenID

6. As if all of this wasnt enough, imagine being able to put a geo-tagging perspective to all things using the Fire Eagle Platform.

7. If the Search Monkey is a sample of things to come, oi vey, Google is going to get a run for its money!

8. Realize the fact that YUI has been one of the most useful web UI toolkits, Yahoo! Pipes, one of the most easiest and simplest, yet powerful tools built.

9. Yahoo for small businesses, essentially means that not just consumers and individuals, but also businesses will be part of this strategy.

10. Yahoo has a proven track record for being able to support developers build mashups using their toolkits - compared to Google's case where I hear nightmare stories for Android support (maybe, and hopefully things have changed now)

11. Google is slowly turning evil. Microsoft has an unfair advantage over Yahoo, and Yahoo is the damsel in distress having the sympathy of a lot of web users and its support. Someone smart will factor that into the power play equation.

If you put all of this together, it puts together one hell of an ammunition power on the hands of Yahoo. Imagine if they could put all those social and community tools that they had acquired over the years to good use, and let uses mash them as will. This is what I see happening.

Yahoo's OpenID will challenge OpenSocial openly. The only missing link in all these puzzle pieces are the ways and means to do the relations between identities, and with projects such as Dataportability, that shouldnt be too hard to fix.

So imagine the possibility of not having to worry about customers. Yep, not at all having to worry about customers. Yahoo has the brand, the power and the muscle to go far and wide to do the campaigning it needs to drive users into their site and create new accounts AKA Profiles Also known as identities. Once that is done, all they have to do is, push different services developed by third party developers, and just as Facebook showcases "applications", they will showcase Services, and provide all the toolkits they can to create a unparalleled world of new services - obviously, all of this will be powered by Yahoo Ads.

The CTO of Yahoo, Ari Balogh, is to be in India tomorrow talking about the future of the Web, in Bangalore. I really wanted to be there, but unfortunately wouldnt be able to. I wonder how much of my guess would be right - if they do choose to talk about it openly tomorrow.

PS: From What Ari Balogh spoke at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco, this might not be a far off theory.

Classic shapes still speckle the pipe world today, and many people would instantly point to this maker or that maker when defining the true classic Billiard, or Dublin or even Bulldog. With as many classics as you can find though, there are just as many variations of them. For example, Castello has their own interpretation of the classic Dublin, that for many is not really classic at all. That is not to say that it is not a beautifully well crafted pipe, but people might argue that it is in fact, not definable as the classic Dublin.

I think of all classic shapes, the Billiard takes the forefront as the most traditional, and likely the most popular shape of pipe smokers. Every company and every carver has crafted this shape. Some with disastrous results in my opinion, but an attempt none the less. It is said that carving freehand, the Billiard is one of the most difficult shapes, both to maintain evenness, and proportion. This is where I have run into a problem. With so many examples of the Billiard, where do I begin when looking for the "proper" model from which to carve the shape. Subtle features like shank to bowl transition can make or break a pipe, but often, no two Billiards will share this feature exactly. I could further delve into this issue on the more technical side, but I will simply settle on voicing my frustration with the process. Part of the problem is that a pencil sketch on the side of a piece of briar just does not tell you how the shape will turn out. The process, the transitions and proportions that develop during the process are the ultimate decider on whether the shape is truly classic or a variation thereof.

I have heard the guys at my local B&M comment on how so many classic shapes have seemingly disappeared, and such makers as Charatan were the masters of these shapes. I have looked at old shape charts and seen the variety that existed, but it seems to me it is not so much that these shapes have disappeared, but the execution of these shapes has changed. The subtle classic lines and transitions have somehow become blurred over time, and what once was the definition of the shape no longer exists. I suppose this is one of the great challenges as a new carver, when venturing out into the great sea of shapes. It seems that for every Billiard I might carve that I think is classic in styling, there will be a handful of people that may disagree. I suppose that it is just one of those subjects that will never have consensus, and we may all just have to agree that the world of pipe shapes is simply "Out of Shape".

~Justin

Raiding my tobacco cellar, and among all of my latakia and english blends were two tins of danish tobacco! I haven't had aromatic tobacco for a long, long time, perhaps today would be an apt time to marry the aroma with the scent of rain and wet grass...so after much deliberation, out comes an irish pipe, a Peterson's military spigot in the 999 shape. I wish I have a danish pipe to go with this tobacco....much to my surprise, a lovely flavourful blend from W O Larsen....Old Tradition...a beautiful tin, excellent presentation.

The usual trepidation in the unwrapping of the packaging, breaking the seal and a whiff of the aroma. Yummy! What is this? I have not remembered enjoying an aromatic this much....I was expecting disappointment, having read the damning reviews from tobaccoreviews.com regarding this blend. Did I have an exceptional batch? A mis-labeled tin? I am almost ashamed to admit that yes...I truly enjoy this....was this the beginning of a new adventure into the world of aromatic tobacco?

I puff slowly, concentrated and controlled....allowing the thin smoke to fold after itself in layers, before rising to the gods. I close my eyes to savour the flavours, dissecting in my mind the flavouring....placing a finger on this and that....I give up. I am just going to enjoy this, without judgment or reservation.

Now I turn to my pipe....a trusty Peterson...not a high grade but a solid performer. I have taken this pipe to places that may be inconvenient to smoke a pipe (pubs...the bush), and it always delivered a cool flavourful smoke each time. I clean it painstakingly after every smoke, careful not to leave any dottle, hell, even any residue if I can help it...as much as two or three pipe cleaners soaked in vodka will alow. I appreciate how it can be dismantled without a care and chucked into a pipe bag...a pipe worthy of the battlefield indeed.

But having smoked this offering from W.O. Larsen makes me want to marry the same tobacco to a danish pipe. I am sure that there are far better tobaccos out there....but today, this tobacco sings! I have started to wonder what danish pipes are all about....not having one in my mini cache of tobaccania.

Looking at the myriad of pipes out there, I chanced upon an image of one by S. Bang....a beautiful bent freehand with a double band and ivory shank...a beautiful piece. At the price, I can only dream. I hope the person who owns one of these appreciates it as much as I would...sigh.

Now youtube starts to introduce high quality/resolution video, now state television broadcasters use bittorrent to multicast episodes of popular shows (Norway, Canada, ...) and some deploy their own player (BBC's iPlayer), the strain on ISPs raises. Not only is BBC eating their (IPTV-)lunch this way, also it burdens their networks with half a nation watching telly from their PC. And the thing is the IPSs have little leverage to revert to their normal scare tactics.

Case in point: the debacle between Comcast and the Canadian broadcast service. CBS launches a bittorrent version of a popular show, viewers complain because Comcast throttles their bandwith when using peer to peer (like bitttorrent) applications, resulting in degraded viewing experience while their non-Comcats using neighbours enjoy full viewing experience.
Now imagine the outrage would British ISPs trying to throttle or ban all together the iPlayer traffic (which they are technically perfectly capable off). So they are stuck between a rock and a hard place. They will have ot endure the bandwith, but don't expect them to be albe to raise their prices in a market where internet prices still go down albeit slowly.

Let's see where this goes ...

This weekend's tool-to-play-with is Yahoo! Pipes. Chances are you've heard of Yahoo! Pipes (it's been around for over a year and I've blogged about it before) but if you've not played with it yet, now is the time to have a go.

Pipes is essentially a mashup tool, particularly useful for doing things with RSS feeds. And at its basic levels it doesn't require any knowledge of programming language.

Here's some examples of things I've done with it:

• Aggregated a number of RSS feeds into one
• Translated RSS feeds from other languages into English
• Filtered an RSS feed so that only entries with links come through (a custom search)

They were pretty easy, to be honest. More impressive are:

• Robin Hamman's "UGC Finder" that aggregates and filters "the results of keyword searches for tagged content and conversations in social networks and media sharing sites"
• Joanna Geary's Pipe of West Midlands news from The Birmingham Post
• The Open University Pipe that converts Twitter tweets into audio.
• Various pipes that use mapping

One of the great features of Pipes is that you can 'clone' any other pipe. So if I like the look of Hamman's UGC finder, I can clone it and tweak it to my own requirements, or add features on top. Hamman can see that and clone my improvements back.

It's also searchable. See this search for 'Birmingham' to see some of the possibilities for local newsgathering and publishing.

A thorough explanation has been on my to-do list for far too long and now I'm looking for a virtual support group. So let me know: have you used Pipes? Do you know of other journalistic examples?

Or have a play and let me know how it goes.

Read other Something For The Weekend posts

Webpages about Yahoo! Pipes I've bookmarked

How to Smoke a Tobacco Pipe

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit
The art of pipe smoking is a fully underestimated task of complete enjoyment for all! Here is how to smoke your pipe to enjoy it the most!

Steps

1. Find a pipe that fits you. There are many tobacconists around the world who would be more than happy to help you find the perfect pipe. Prices range from six dollars to several thousand.
2. Find the right tobacco for you. There are many varieties: aromatics, American blends, English blends, Virginias, Burleys, and many more. A tobacconist will be able to help there, as well. People completely new to smoking may enjoy an aromatic or lighter strength tobacco, while someone coming from cigarettes or cigars might prefer a heavier type of blend. Buy small amounts representing several different genres.
3. Fill your bowl. Fill loosely with tobacco and compress it lightly (using a "child's touch"). Compressed halfway from the bottom of the bowl to the top. Fill again to the top and compress with a little more force (a "woman's touch"). This time halfway from the top of the previous packing to the top. Now top it off and compress a bit harder (a "man's touch"). Again half way from the last point to the top. Should leave roughly a 1/8th of an inch gap from the tobacco to the top of the bowl. You need to make sure it is not so tight that you cannot draw through it; you should be able to draw air though with little or no resistance. The tobacco should be springy to the touch. It's best to have your tobacconist or an experienced pipe smoker show you. Correct packing takes a little practice, and has a lot of impact on how enjoyable your experience will be.
4. Light the pipe with a wooden match or a pipe lighter. Let the match burn off the sulfur a few seconds. Move the flame around the surface of the tobacco while drawing gently until evenly lit, then tamp gently with a tamper. Let it go out, then relight the same way.
5. Puff slowly and rhythmically. Patience is rewarded. Puffing too fast will result in tongue bite - a burning sensation on the tongue.
6. Tamp the tobacco gently periodically throughout the smoke to ensure the bowl remains correctly packed while smoking. Don't worry if the pipe goes out from time to time - it will. Simply relight.
7. Make sure you smoke your pipe to the end to create a nice "cake" at the bottom and side of your pipe bowl.
8. Relax and enjoy. Pipe smoking is the quintessential art of smoking.

Tips

• Above all, be patient, and take things slow. For most, the pipe smoking experience isn't pleasant until skills in packing, lighting, tamping, and smoking cadence are mastered, and you've found some tobacco blends and a pipe that suit you. Tongue bite means you're doing something wrong. If you don't like it at first, keep experimenting, and discuss your new hobby with experienced smokers.
• Keep a pipe cleaner handy. At the first sign of moisture coming through the stem of the pipe, stick the pipe cleaner into the stem and let it absorb any condensation.
• If the pipe gets hot, let it go out and cool down. Smoking a pipe too hot won't taste good, and it may damage your pipe and/or your tongue. A good guide as to whether your pipe is too hot is if you can't hold the bowl against your cheek comfortably then let it cool down.
• Allow briar pipes time to rest between smokes - the consensus is at least a day. Consider adding some corn cob pipes to your rotation while you build your collection of briar pipes. A meerschaum pipe is a great investment due to their smoking quality and the fact that they don't need to rest between smokes.
• Avoid buying the cheap "basket" or department store briar pipes. A corn cob pipe will smoke much better than a cheap briar, and cost much less if finances are a problem.
• Never buy a metal (brass or silver) pipe. They look very unusual and striking but remember - metal conducts heat. These are for show. You will seriously burn yourself with these.
• Allow a nice cake to grow in the bowl of the pipe. This protects the bowl from cracking. After a while, it will become necessary to scrape some of the cake off, but you may want to consult your tobacconist about that.
• Whenever you are finished with a pipe, allow it to cool and then polish it using pipe polish and a clean, lint free cloth. This helps to preserve the shine and appearance, as well as protecting the bowl from heat, dirt, and corrosion.

Warnings

• Smoking can cause cancer and has been linked to heart disease.
• Don't smoke if it is illegal to do so in your area.
• Pipe smoking is only marginally safer than cigarette smoking.

Things You'll Need

• A good pipe
• Pipe tamper/tool
• Reamer (you won't need this right away for cleaning)
• Pipe cleaners
• Tobacco
• A knowledgeable tobacconist!
• Pipe polish
• Clean, lint free cloth

Related wikiHows

• How to Smoke a Cigarette
• How to Meditate
• How to Do Nothing
• How to Clean a Pipe Screen

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Then I start to create my Christmas....errr Chicago wish list. A really fine tamper is first on my list. I've used some nicely made and very functional tampers crafted in brass by Glenn Bethel but recently I read or re-read Fred Hanna's article "The Hidden Benefits of the Expensive Pipe Tamper". It has inspired me. So I am on the look out for a really nice tamper. I was going for two at the show but I was so lucky to see a really neat Castello Tamper on Ebay and picked it up. This is a very stylish and functional silver and briar tamper that they offered quite a few years ago. I snoozed and thought I had lost but lo and behold, I got lucky. so I am already way ahead on my tamper search. A really nice ivory one would be neat too. I've seen some on line but none that excite me. Maybe I'll get lucky at the show.

Next on the list is some good tobacco. I've already got a big order in with PCCA and will get that sometime in early May. But I'm still going to try and get some of my other favorites at good show prices such as Samuel Gawith's Squadron Leader. Also, I've got a friend who can't make it to the show so I'm on a mission to score as many good tobacco samples as is humanly possible. As many vendors will let you have a free bowl of tobacco, I considered buying one of those huge Castello pipes Bob Hamlin has on Ebay. I can just see their eyes if I showed up with one of those and emptied half a tin in that monster. So good tobacco is on my list.

Finally, I come to pipes. Having such a focused collection, I am never optimistic about finding my pipes at a show. But when I do, it's usually amazing. Last year it was the new FLAME pipe. A few years before I got a Castello 84 sitter. I don't know what possibly could show up but I'm always surprised. Sometimes Castello has a new one and I get lucky. Sometimes I find one on a table but more often than not, someone will come out of nowhere and say, 'hey, are you interested in this pipe?' and then I'm in trouble. Yeah, hopefully I'll get a big surprise this year.

I don't think I've forgotten anything.. accessories, tobacco and pipes. But you know the truth, if I don't buy a single thing, just seeing my friends makes this trip all worth while. We'll miss you this year Bob!

It is all really very serious. I'm not used to being serious, as you can probably tell from the fact that I have now used the word "serious" four times in this three-sentence post.

I am rather keen to write a book on the subject, not because I'm vain, or desperate for money, but because the stuff I have seen out there in dead-tree format has been of rather low quality. Also because of all the emails I've received over the years, they have all been positive, and none has said anything along the lines of "I didn't need any of that because I bought Book[X]", or indeed any book. People have emailed me, asking for advice as to what book to buy, and I have been unable to recommend any book that I have seen.

So:

What would you like to see in your ideal book about UNIX / Linux shell scripting, be it Bourne, Bash, ksh, tcsh, zsh, whatever?

Please don't be timid; if you want to know how to work out how many nose-flutes can be fitted into the area of a Boeing 757, you won't be anything like as strange as some of the correspondants I've had over the years, so please, tell me what is bugging you, what has bugged you, or even what you think might be likely to bug you in days / months / years to come.

I'm likely to answer any specific questions here and now, whether or not they end up in the book, but anything you'd like to see in a book, too... post that here, and I'll have a stab at it.

Also, I would of course be interested to know if you have found any useful books on or around the subject, and what they did particularly well.

Steve

Your Humble Narrator made the tactical error of saying the following, with all the bravado a young idiot teenage boy can muster: "Man, the news here is so boring. No fires, no shootings, nothing!" Immediately the family function descended on me en masse: "You're right it's boring! We like it boring! Boring news means nothing bad is happening! You should want your news boring!" I was sufficiently browbeaten down to feeling like nothing, and mostly rightfully so. Stupid kid.

Well, the 13-year-old in me can rejoice upon the news this weekend. 30-some-odd shootings over the course of a weekend? Multiple fatalities? It's enough to make me check the TV listings - are we back in the mid 1990s or am I just missing something here? Are we live on the scene from Cabrini Green? (Note - I don't ever remember anyone "live at Cabrini." I get the feeling everyone was scared shitless of that place. I could be wrong, though.)

It's hard to imagine that a simple rise of temperature, the difference between a slightly chilly low-50s and a temperate 73 degree day, could result in enough people getting out, getting in trouble, getting dead. Are we really that fragile as people, and as a society, that nothing more than a minor change in heat results in so much crime? I can't wait til' July.

And the usual flurry of media and press has hit the ground running. All the guns. All the poverty. Why won't someone do something? What can the police do? What can the community do? Oh, the horror! The humanity! To be honest, I don't think there's much any one person can do. It's a lot easier to cover a story when it's just one person that wanders into a classroom and starts shooting. It's a lot quicker to wander into the aftermath, cover the news conferences and ask the same questions, and then wander away. This isn't criticism - it's just how it is.

It's another thing entirely to try to fathom why thirty or so different people decided, nearly simultaneously, to leave their homes with a piece of steel on their person, packed with chemicals mixed together to produce an explosive result, which will in turn propel another piece of metal (or god knows what they're doing with ammo these days) into a person's arm, their leg, their back, their head.

Some church-affiliated individual will bring out the occasional "guns for _______" campaign, and the news will show up to see people hand over AK-47s for puppies, or whatever they're giving away this week. Various politicians and police officials will be trotted out in front of the cameras to either place blame or express regret. And the world will go on. Then something Olympic will happen, and the Short Attention Span Theater will be bedazzled by another shiny object. Off we go again.

The collective conversation always turns to at least one thing in the wake of these waves of idiocy and rage. People start clamoring for or against the guns. I used to understand the appeal of the firearm. Any American male has it bred into them from the time they've gotten old enough to watch G.I. Joe or any other various form of firearm pornography. I used to understand the desire to have in ones possession any number of things that can kill in milliseconds. It's a guy thing. Red meat, handguns, bonfires, fishing, fireworks, so on. It's just what you do.

But after a while, it leaves some of us. Usually it's somewhere around the time when we realize that they can do far more damage than they can do good. That the potential for disaster is almost always present, but the possibility for them to protect you only spans a few minutes in the entire lifetime of the weapon. Maybe. And for a lot of us, that makes having them not worth it. Why keep something around that's ready to splatter your wife's brain matter all over the wall with no remorse, just so you can tell yourself you're "safe?" Maybe I'd feel different if I lived in Englewood. Maybe I'd be different if I had to be in that different world every day. Or maybe not. Maybe if I'd ever been a victim of a violent crime I'd be willing to take that risk. Right now, I'm not.

Another point of view. We, as a society, have decided that it's okay for the powers that be to imprison some of us that make horrible, life-threatening, world-ending things like...bongs. And pipes. And other various paraphernalia created to use a substance that is - whether anyone really likes it or not - illegal. Federally unlawful to own, use, or create. So, to review: Using weed = breaking the law. Making things used to break the law - illegal.

And yet, we have no problem rationalizing the sale of tools that are used solely for the killing of other human beings. Last time I checked, killing people is illegal. And I'm no ethicist, but killing people trumps getting high in terms of "stuff that's bad" in my book. And yet, handguns sell like hotcakes, gun shows are doing just fine, no one would ever think to license the specific guns to owners or get the rifling profiles of weapons because that would be against that hallowed 2nd Amendment, and people continue to get shot.

I'm no raving anti-gun nut. Nor am I a flag-waving firearm protector hero guy. There's plenty of both, on either side. And they're all loud. Far louder than I could ever hope to be. For every person that wants to outlaw ever gun that's ever been put into existence and live in a happy dream world of clouds and rainbows, there's another wanna-be SWAT team member that wouldn't dream of leaving the house without his anti-tank weapon and his bandolier of grenades. That's life.

And they're so rabid on both sides of the fence that no sane person can walk through the middle and say to them, "Hey - you've both got some valid points here. Let's work together to make sure that legal gun owners can follow the laws and keep their guns - but hey gun owners, you do have to realize that a lot of these things are causing some real bad shit to happen. If you give a little here, you'll get them to back off a bit there. Then we're all a bit safer, and everyone's a lot happier." But that'll never happen. Collectively, we're too stupid and rabid.

One more tiny point of perspective regarding demographics in this whole explosion of violence in our fair city - if you're tired of hearing about it on the news yet, imagine this. Just imagine if 30 middle-class white girls had gotten raped in the streets in Lakeview over the weekend, with 8 fatalities. Think it'd be any different?

That was before condition of the pipe:

The biggest problem was with stem.
I decided to bring back live in to old stem, I have made a wooden extension from oak tree.

with extension: