Chapter 18: Daisy Manning

I said, “Daisy, I admit I am an immortal. Still, I am only 15 years old. You did not need to make your special intoxicating tea or even show yourself to me. At my age, all you had to do was whisper “Yes” or give me a smile and a come-hither motion with your finger.”

Daisy Manning said, “This is not going like I thought it should. What exactly do you know about me?”

I said, “You are of half Rofer’tzix and half Irish-Earth stock. The Rofer’tzix are human only in a partial sense. I think they blended your two peoples together in some way. An experiment, perhaps?”

Continuing, “I understand some of how that is done. I know you and I are physically compatible; we can make babies together. What I am not sure of is whether your children would inherit your Rofer’tzix immortality.”

“Daisy, my progeny with you may be only a very long life, not a true immortal one. They may not be true immortals. They could live around 120 to 150 years, barring any accidents.”

Ox interjected in my mind, “We postulate from the data that immortality for Daisy’s offspring is a throw of the dice. Your children would have Exo’s, so they would live at least as long as your Earth 23 humans. Her side of the equation is the complication. We Heillizdt have no way of knowing how far the Rofer’tzix genome will stretch the children’s lives as regards your Exo’s.”

“The difficulty is, the children would only have 1/4th of the Rofer’tzix genes. So, nobody can know how they would turn out. That factor makes this a crap shoot. Also, we are restrained by galactic law from delving into this matter any further. It’s all up to you two; breeding -is- permitted. Heillizdt dabbling in her genetic destiny is forbidden.”

Ox said, “Besides, do you actually want to mate with Daisy? This would be your first child or children; that’s an issue that requires sober reflection. She might hog the covers or snore loudly at night.”

“You may want to drop your seeds in her and basically run off, not see her again. Doing the latter is pretty typical of this world’s men.”

I said, “As if, Ox! I definitely want to fuck her. She’s hot-looking and quite tall. That alone makes it unique. I would seriously do her. How many hot, TALL women do you see around here? It’s like I live in the land of pixies and leprechauns. I’ll do her and really enjoy her distinctive qualities.”

Daisy and I sipped our tea and looked at each other’s faces over the rims of our cups.

She said, “There you go again; your brain went away for a few moments.”

It seemed that she was able to notice my quick sidebars with Ox.

I said, “Well, I did come here to see your clay pipe making. Can we do that? I have a personal reason other than just curiosity. My father bought Cooper-Howard, the pipe tobacco company in Petersburg.”

I said, “If you show me your shop, I will reward you by taking you to the Gold and Green Pub to eat later. How does that sound?”

She said, “It sounds nice if we can return back here later for a nightcap.”

I said, “A nightcap, yes, I understand. Can you show me how you make clay pipes now? I would like to understand more about the process of making clay pipes. I need to travel to Petersburg and meet with my people there.”

Clay Pipe Making:

Daisy took me to a large room that had been converted into a workshop. She has a big table with a sheet of slate for a top; she showed me how she made her common clay pipes.

She has two molds that are cast iron. The molds were imported from England and are expensive.

She uses the molds to make her two most popular pipes. Much of her business relies on making large quantities of these two pipe models.

A smaller mold is about 5 1/2 inches or 14 cm. It’s used to make small, cheap pipes. The other is a slightly larger mold ay 9 inches or 23 cm. The larger mold is used to make somewhat better pipes with a bit larger bowl and longer, thicker pipe stems.

To make a pipe, Daisy takes a piece of clay and works it for a minute or two until she has a long, tapered shape. It’s fat at one end and thin at the other end.

She manipulates the clay lump enough to make sure it has no air inside. The clay is barely larger than the size that will fit into the mold. This process takes about two minutes.

The clay is pressed into one side of the open two-piece mold. The mold halves are mirror images of each other.

She pushes one side of the mold down onto the other. The clay is trapped between the two halves. Steel pegs and holes in the molds align the two halves perfectly.

She puts the almost closed mold into a bench vise. She tightens the vise on the mold squeezing out any extra clay. Daisy reclaims the extra.

When the halves are tight together, she uses a tapered wood dowel to ream out the inside of the pipe’s bowl. The tapered hole is where the tobacco will go. She does this step while the clay is still inside the pipe mold.

To clean it up a little, Daisy dips a wet finger into the hole a few times to make sure it’s smooth inside. Then she runs a knife carefully across the top. This slices the excess clay from above.

She opens the mold and removes the pipe carefully. She then uses a wood scraper to remove much of the flashing from where the two molds had forced the clay into its proper shape.

As the final step, she runs a wire slowly and carefully up the long stem. She goes far enough that it just pokes out into the bottom of the pipe bowl. That hole is for the smoke passage.

She sets the completed molded pipe aside to dry for two days. It goes in a rack to hold its shape. It has to dry long enough that she can use a sharp knife and a fine scraper to smooth it. For the small pipes, that’s a day or two, depending on the weather.

When it comes to the larger size pipe, it’s mostly the same except that it is larger with a larger bowl and longer stem. It does require more clay.

A third popular style of pipe she makes is a short, fat, thick pipe. She uses a hand-carved wooden mold to make these. The short, fat pipe is suitable for carrying in a vest pocket. These ‘Stubbies’ are usually glazed gray-white or a mottled red-brown color.

Artistic Pipes: For better pipes, Daisy starts out similarly, but no mold is used on her more artistic pipes.

She works for an hour or more to shape a larger pipe. It may have a round bowl, a squarish bowl, or a six-sided one, she chooses.

The bowl size and height are totally at her discretion. The bigger the bowl, the cooler the smoking experience. The bigger the bowl, the more she can charge.

Appliqués: She then showed me how she makes clay appliqués. Appliqués are made and applied to the pipe bowl while the clay is soft and malleable.

She has a small box with many pre-made appliqué patterns. They are fired clay, so they are hard and reusable. They are used as patterns to trace new appliqué outlines. She chose an appliqué of a tobacco leaf.

The new appliqué is made by rolling a small bit of clay until it is flat. Once ready, she uses a tool with a sharp point to trace around the outside of the appliqué pattern piece.

Then, she uses a small knife to cut around the traced outline. Wood tools are used to add veins, dots, lines, and other features to the new tobacco leaf appliqué. She now has a 1/8” (or three.mm) appliqué to stick to the side of the bowl.

She attaches the appliqué using a wet version of clay; this is called ‘slip.’ Slip’s purpose is to glue two clay things together. Daisy then uses small tools to shape better and work the leaf appliqué.

Many of the tools are wood, and some are different wood handles with large or small wires.

A common pipe design is to use a knife to shape a bowl into a tree trunk shape. To create a bark look, Daisy adds vertical lines using a tool that ends with a bent wire.

Alternatively, you can use two or more appliqués to create animal scenes or to sculpt faces onto a larger pipe bowl.

If the bowl is to be of someone’s face, she may add a protruding nose, ears, or lips as appliqués to the face.

She may add a flat, thin appliqué to shape into hair. It is sculpted using long, thin lines drawn with wire.

Firing Pipes: The next step is drying. That begins with the pre-drying. Each pipe must be thoroughly dry before it can be fired. A wet or damp pipe will simply slump in the kiln, ruining it.

Large pipes take a long time to pre-dry, weeks or months even. Some checking or cracking may occur during the pre-drying. Those pipes will be tended to and repaired as they continue to dry out.

She then gave me a brief on how she fires the pre-dried pipes.

She has a large kiln out back. The kiln is made of ceramic bricks and has a separate firebox underneath.

The kiln is loaded from the top. Daisy removes the top.

She has ceramic trays that she places the pipes on.

You load the kiln one tray at a time from the bottom. Daisy adds pipes to the tray. Then, she adds standoffs. The standoffs are used between each tray. Standoffs support the next higher tray of pipes.

One layer at a time, she adds a tray, pipes, and standoffs. She does this all the way up until the kiln is full.

Daisy lights a low wood fire to fully dry the pipes. She tends the kiln for two days. It takes a lot of fuel, so she only runs the kiln when it’s completely full.

After two days or more of drying, she brings up the temperature to a higher level. She uses charcoal this time. Daisy gets the charcoal from a man she knows. He especially makes charcoal for her.

She brings the kiln up to a higher firing temperature. When the pipes are done, she steps down the heat slowly. She leaves the kiln until it’s fully cooled, plus an extra day.

When cool enough, she gathers the finished pipes, and they are put on shelves to be finished.

Final Finishing: The better pipes get glazed, she adds glazing to the pipes as needed. The cheap pipes are normally sold completely unfinished. They are intended for temporary use or as a house pipe.

A House Pipe is a pipe provided by a tavern or an inn. A guest uses it to smoke while they are there. They pay for the tobacco they use and not the pipe. House pipes are reused over and over again.

The bigger, better pipes are all glazed. One purpose of glazing is to make them more durable and another is to be more distinctive. Many middle class people have several glazed pipes they use in rotation.

Once a pipe has been smoked a few times, it needs to rest. That allows the moisture to dry out. Moisture affects the taste of the tobacco. This is true of any pipe, whether clay, wood, or stone.

Daisy uses simple ash glazes and a few earth glazes. Ash glazes are each made from different woods. Each wood produces a different color. A glazed pipe lasts much longer than a bare clay pipe.

After glazing, a second session in the kiln is required to affix the glaze to the clay permanently. During the firing process, the glaze color changes, too. Now, it’s a tougher pipe and more distinctive to boot.

As the final step, the glazed parts are hand-buffed using wool and beeswax.

Sometimes, Daisy sculpts the clay into a large pipe. She may carve a forest scene onto the bowl. Maybe something like a stag or boar head hunting scene. She may add a clay pipe stem to the bowl later using ‘slip’ while the clay is soft.

Sometimes, she leaves only a short stub at the bottom as a mount for a wooden pipe stem. To the stub, she may mount a long wooden stem. She gets her wood stems from a woodworker who makes them as a small side business.

Wood stems are usually straight. Sometimes, her woodworker steams them for a time. This allows him to bend them.

Artistic pipes are larger and more expensive. Daisy typically uses one glaze to add a finish. Then, she may use one or more glazes later to add colors as needed.

These are her most premium clay pipes and are quite a bit more expensive. The extra work and several sessions in the kiln for glazing require a premium price. Add a bent wooden stem and that adds appreciably to the price. These are heirloom quality pipes sold only in the finest stores.

Each added layer of glazing requires another session in the kiln. The kiln work is the boring, tedious part of making pipes.

I suspect that Daisy’s most artistic clay pipes are of higher artistic quality than his own.

Daisy has a sewing lady who provides pipe socks in cloth, soft-lined rawhide, or felt. Pipe socks are meant to protect pipes. They are also used to keep pipe dirt out of your pocket.

One last point is that clay pipes are thinner than wood or corncob. For this reason, they get much hotter than a wood or corncob pipe. That can easily burn your fingers.

Clay pipes being thin they are understandably fragile. This fragility keeps Daisy in business.

For this reason the clay stems are often longer except on the stubby. You ordinarily hold a clay pipe by the stem as you smoke it, not the bowl. You won’t hold it by the bowl for very long; the bowls get incredibly hot.

Time to Eat?

It was time to leave for the restaurant. I mentally sent Pippa a short message that I was eating out and that I may or may not be back tonight.

I was really ready for dinner, but Daisy was soon preoccupied with getting ready to go out. Daisy had me follow her right into her bedroom so we could talk. She needed to disrobe so she could wipe herself down partially. Things didn’t go as I had planned.

I sent. “Ox. Her smell drives me ‘fricken’ nuts. I want to pounce on her right now.”

He said, “I was wondering if her scent bothered you. Daisy’s hormones affect you as yours does ordinary human females. Your hormones do not bother her other than make her slightly nervous. We will collect a small sample from her later for research.”