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Tobacciana

webmostwebmost Posts: 7,713 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited July 2017 in Non Cigar Related
Cleaned up one of several rolling blocks I scored Tuesday:






For scale, I set it on the bamboo cutting board that I have been using all along, and set an architect's rule on it. They all came with a lot of black on them. The old factory guy told me that's beeswax. You see where I cleaned some up. In this second pic you can see how they're constructed -- five slabs of maple an inch and a half thick, joined by three rods with riveted heads.I spose they pound the rods in hot and let them cool to tighten the business. Only one of these boards still has the tuck cutter. I'll have to recondition that.

Basically, when a girl graduated school in one of these little Pennsyltucky towns, her Dad gave her a block, a tuck cutter, a knife, a mold, and a rack ... and there was her livelihood. Like this kit:



This mold is a parejo; but nearly all the molds were perfectos, back then. The advantage of a fecto is, you light the tapered end with a match & the rest lights itself from that. It's way more practical than these mandingo parejos you see today. I did score a real nice mold for 5 1/4" x 44rg parejos -- sharpest old mold I have ever seen.

I'll post some other pics as I clean this stuff up.


“It has been a source of great pain to me to have met with so many among [my] opponents who had not the liberality to distinguish between political and social opposition; who transferred at once to the person, the hatred they bore to his political opinions.” —Thomas Jefferson (1808)


Comments

  • Amos_UmwhatAmos_Umwhat Posts: 8,405 ✭✭✭✭✭
    That is way too cool. 
    WARNING:  The above post may contain thoughts or ideas known to the State of Caliphornia to cause seething rage, confusion, distemper, nausea, perspiration, sphincter release, or cranial implosion to persons who implicitly trust only one news source, or find themselves at either the left or right political extreme.  Proceed at your own risk.  

    "If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed.  If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." --  Mark Twain
  • MarkwellMarkwell Posts: 1,616 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Very cool indeed, Davis. I'm trying to remember where it was in Lancaster recently that I stumbled upon a few molds. It was either the antique shops on 896 north of Strasburg, or one of the many shops up in Adamstown. I'll keep an eye out!
    “Happiness? A good cigar, a good meal, a good cigar and a good woman – or a bad woman; it depends on how much happiness you can handle.” – George Burns
  • webmostwebmost Posts: 7,713 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Gave everything away except for the ten little salesman sampler boxes. I did keep one tuck cutter and one rolling tabla. Here:


    Going minimalist here.

    Then this nifty cam operated mold press, with two molds to fit it: one 46rg parejo and a plump perfecto:




    A grad student on the BOTL forum looking to make a couple bucks made me a small salomone mold with his home made cad cam setup. I am eager to see it.

    But meanwhile, despite all these appurtenances, I am just as likely to whip out an unmolded quickie as anything else. Like this little salamone which I'm about to take to the garage:




    “It has been a source of great pain to me to have met with so many among [my] opponents who had not the liberality to distinguish between political and social opposition; who transferred at once to the person, the hatred they bore to his political opinions.” —Thomas Jefferson (1808)


  • webmostwebmost Posts: 7,713 ✭✭✭✭✭
    “It has been a source of great pain to me to have met with so many among [my] opponents who had not the liberality to distinguish between political and social opposition; who transferred at once to the person, the hatred they bore to his political opinions.” —Thomas Jefferson (1808)


  • deadmandeadman Posts: 8,804 ✭✭✭✭✭
    webmost said:
    If you want the look without the price tag; then look at the reprints and just frame them. I thought about it a few years ago and still have some in my watch list. 3-10 dollars for the print
  • 0patience0patience Posts: 10,665 ✭✭✭✭✭
    And you have to be careful that you aren't paying the price of an original and getting a reproduction or a new release and calling it vintage.

    It's amazing what they can get away with.
    In Fumo Pax
    Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy cigars and that's close enough.

    Wylaff said:
    Atmospheric pressure and crap.
  • jd50aejd50ae Posts: 7,900 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I volunteer to be an official product tester. you don't have to pay me, it's how I roll. Just helping out.

    That's the same thing I told the guys who want to build a distillery across the street. Damn, I am always trying to help.
  • webmostwebmost Posts: 7,713 ✭✭✭✭✭
    0patience said:
    And you have to be careful that you aren't paying the price of an original and getting a reproduction or a new release and calling it vintage.

    It's amazing what they can get away with.
    Yeah, well I dug them out of a dusty old attic above the FX Smith's Sons cigar factory ... so I'm fairly sure they are legit. They still make these Betsy Ross gars. Not my faves; but someone must like them. Framing is a big expense.
    “It has been a source of great pain to me to have met with so many among [my] opponents who had not the liberality to distinguish between political and social opposition; who transferred at once to the person, the hatred they bore to his political opinions.” —Thomas Jefferson (1808)


  • deadmandeadman Posts: 8,804 ✭✭✭✭✭
    webmost said:
    0patience said:
    And you have to be careful that you aren't paying the price of an original and getting a reproduction or a new release and calling it vintage.

    It's amazing what they can get away with.
    Yeah, well I dug them out of a dusty old attic above the FX Smith's Sons cigar factory ... so I'm fairly sure they are legit. They still make these Betsy Ross gars. Not my faves; but someone must like them. Framing is a big expense.
    Just because you are legit doesn't mean everyone on eBay is. I think that was a general statement and not an attack on you. 
  • 0patience0patience Posts: 10,665 ✭✭✭✭✭
    webmost said:
    0patience said:
    And you have to be careful that you aren't paying the price of an original and getting a reproduction or a new release and calling it vintage.

    It's amazing what they can get away with.
    Yeah, well I dug them out of a dusty old attic above the FX Smith's Sons cigar factory ... so I'm fairly sure they are legit. They still make these Betsy Ross gars. Not my faves; but someone must like them. Framing is a big expense.
    Sorry Davis, I didn't realize you were the seller.
    That does make a difference.
    That is an extremely good quality sign.
    If I hadn't just spent money on a box and 10 pack, I'd have to seriously consider it.

    I love old tobacco signs.
    Somewhere buried in all my stuff is an old Copenhagen snuff sign I've had since the late 70s.

    In Fumo Pax
    Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy cigars and that's close enough.

    Wylaff said:
    Atmospheric pressure and crap.
  • webmostwebmost Posts: 7,713 ✭✭✭✭✭
    deadman said:
    webmost said:
    0patience said:
    And you have to be careful that you aren't paying the price of an original and getting a reproduction or a new release and calling it vintage.

    It's amazing what they can get away with.
    Yeah, well I dug them out of a dusty old attic above the FX Smith's Sons cigar factory ... so I'm fairly sure they are legit. They still make these Betsy Ross gars. Not my faves; but someone must like them. Framing is a big expense.
    Just because you are legit doesn't mean everyone on eBay is. I think that was a general statement and not an attack on you. 
    Attack? Last thing on my mind. I don't take offense. From what I'm told it's an unpleasant experience. Which is why it baffles me why so many people seem so eager to turn over every rock and pebble in constant search of any petty offense to take. Here, I'm just talking about the item itself. I've got a variety of them I might hang round the smoking porch.

    Tho I must say I have never yet felt gypped by anyone on either E-prey or Craigslist. And keep in mind I've bought three thousand dollar motorcycles a thousand miles away. I figure it's like a flea market with a broader audience. I aver that 1) honest folk vastly outnumber thieves, and 2) common sense can find a way. Been thru enough probs w/ brand new stuff that I don't see the big deal buying used. 

    But let's stick to some pics of tobacciana. Like this ashtray:


    From the thrift store. Isn't she a beauty?

    That's the cigar I am going to spark later today, BTW. Six months age on a blend I call the Uppowoc Maks, cause I bought the Churchill mold for it from a Slovenian farmer named Maks. 
    “It has been a source of great pain to me to have met with so many among [my] opponents who had not the liberality to distinguish between political and social opposition; who transferred at once to the person, the hatred they bore to his political opinions.” —Thomas Jefferson (1808)


  • webmostwebmost Posts: 7,713 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited September 2017
    Here's an odd bit of cigar miscellany. This is how you might box press hand rolled coronas:



    Lay a row in the bottom of the box. Then lay one of those sheets of pre-plastic on top. Then another row, another sheet, until you have about fifty...
    Then swivel that bar over the front edge like so:



    I got this from Bob Frutiger in Red Lion. Comes from the last hand rolling factory in PA. Kind of gives you a scale of hand rolling production versus machine. The machine guys have hosts of rolling racks of boxes. Each box holds 500. Each rolling rack holds maybe four boxes across and five or six high. So one rolling rack might hold ten thousand. The hand roller might fill one box before lunch then go back and fill another. That's her day. Two machine operators, on the other hand, can keep Mark Twain in smokes for a year.

    What did they call that pre-plastic stuff? I forget. It's paper and phenolic glue, innit? Kind of reminds me of that cloth and glue sheet they used for sheave cheeks. Damn strong stuff. 




    Micarta?


    “It has been a source of great pain to me to have met with so many among [my] opponents who had not the liberality to distinguish between political and social opposition; who transferred at once to the person, the hatred they bore to his political opinions.” —Thomas Jefferson (1808)


  • jlmartajlmarta Posts: 7,881 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Micarta is a brand name for composites of linen, canvas, paper, fiberglass, carbon fiber or other fabric in a thermosetting plastic. It was originally used in electrical and decorative applications. Micarta was developed by George Westinghouse at least as early as 1910 using phenolic resins invented by Leo Baekeland.

    So sayeth Wikipedia (I think)...... 
    B) 
  • MartelMartel Posts: 3,306 ✭✭✭✭
    Just an FYI, around here, it's pronounced Red Line.

    Everyone knows it's Red Lion, but that diphthong is tough on the Pennsylvania Germans, I guess.

    Intelligence is knowing that a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.

    I like Oliva and Quesada (including Regius) a lot.  I will smoke anything, though.
  • webmostwebmost Posts: 7,713 ✭✭✭✭✭
    It's the wutter.
    “It has been a source of great pain to me to have met with so many among [my] opponents who had not the liberality to distinguish between political and social opposition; who transferred at once to the person, the hatred they bore to his political opinions.” —Thomas Jefferson (1808)


  • MarkwellMarkwell Posts: 1,616 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Sometimes it's worse than trying to understand the accent of Yorkshire Dellsmen.
    “Happiness? A good cigar, a good meal, a good cigar and a good woman – or a bad woman; it depends on how much happiness you can handle.” – George Burns
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