Chapter 18: Daisy Manning

I said, “I admit I am an immortal. Still, I am only 15 years old. You did not need to make your special intoxicant tea or show me peeks of yourself. At my age, all you had to do was whisper “Yes” or give me a come-here motion with a forefinger.”

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

I said, “You are of half Rofer’tzix and half Irish stock from Earth. The Rofer’tzix are human only in a partial sense. I think they blended your two peoples 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.”

Ox intruded, “Bill, we speculate from the data that immortality for Daisy’s offspring is a maybe. Your children would have Exos so that they would live at least as long as your normal children. The difficulty is that the children would only have 1/4th of the Rofer’tzix genes. So, nobody can know how they would turn out.”

“Furthermore, Heillizdt dabbling in her genetic destiny is forbidden.”

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

Ox said, “Besides, do you actually want to mate with Daisy? This would be your first child or children. That’s an issue that might require 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 her unique and worth my effort. 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 screw 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 appeared she was able to notice my quick sidebar conversations with Ox. Nobody else picked up on that. I had timed it once, and it was less than a second, but she knew somehow.

I said, “Well, I did come here to see your clay pipe making. Can we do that? I have a personal reason beyond mere 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 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.”

To skip the pipe-making section, skip to Time to Eat

Clay Pipe Making:

Daisy took me to a large room that had been converted into a workshop. She has a large table with a sheet of slate as 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 measures approximately 5 1/2 inches (14 cm) in internal diameter. It’s used to make small, cheap pipes. The other is a slightly larger mold at 9 inches (23 cm). The larger mold is used to make better pipes with a 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 two or three minutes.

The clay is pressed into one side of the open two-piece mold. The mold halves are mirror images of each other. She manipulates the clay so it fits roughly, with some excess clay showing.

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 ensure that the two halves align perfectly.

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

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 bit, Daisy dips a wet finger into the hole a few times to ensure it’s smooth inside. Then she runs a knife carefully across the top. This slices the excess clay from the top.

She opens the mold and carefully removes the pipe. She then uses a wood scraper to remove the remaining clay flashing.

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 maintain its shape. It has to dry long enough that she can use a sharp knife and a fine scraper to smooth it again. For the small pipes, that’s a day or two, depending on the weather.

When it comes to larger-sized pipes, they are mostly the same, except that they have a larger bowl and a longer stem. It does require more clay. This pipe has two racks, a straight one and a curved one. The curved rack features a stem that curves gently back to a level with the top of the bowl.

Fatties

Fatties are short, fat pipes suitable for carrying in a vest pocket. She uses a hand-carved wooden mold to make these. These Fatties are usually glazed gray-white or a mottled red-brown color. They must be glazed to add strength and protect pockets.

Artistic Pipes:

For better pipes, Daisy starts 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 square-ish bowl, or a six-sided one she chooses, depending on her fancy.

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 still soft.

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 tobacco leaf pattern.

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) thick appliqué to stick to the side of the bowl.

She attaches the appliqué using a wetter version of clay, known as ‘slip.’

Slip’s purpose is to glue two clay things together. Daisy then uses small tools to shape better and work the leaf appliqué until it is perfect.

Many of the tools are made of wood. They have handles with wires of varying sizes and shapes.

Tree Trunk:

A common pipe design involves using 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 pipe will slump in the kiln, ruining it; a damp one will sag.

Large pipes take a long time to pre-dry, sometimes weeks or even months for very large ones.

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 constructed from ceramic bricks and features a separate firebox located 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 dry the pipes fully. She tends the kiln for two days. It takes a lot of fuel, so she only runs the kiln when it’s 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 they are cool enough, she gathers the finished pipes, and they are placed on shelves to be finished.

Final Finishing:

The better pipes get glazed; she adds glazing to the pipes as needed. The inexpensive pipes are typically sold in a relatively unfinished state. 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 typically reused multiple times.

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. Different glazes provide different colors or mottled patterns.

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 types of wood. Each type of wood produces a distinct shade or color of glaze. A glazed pipe lasts much longer than a bare, unglazed 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 very 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, more time-consuming, and, therefore, 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 significantly 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, such as Rebecca’s.

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 final point is that clay pipes are thinner than those made of wood or corncob. For this reason, they get much hotter and quicker 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 ones. 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 brief message that I was eating out and might or might 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 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 affect ordinary human females. Your hormones do not bother her, other than making her slightly nervous. We will collect a small sample from her later for research.”

Daisy said, “I’m sorry, I really need to change clothes before we go. You can leave the room if this embarrasses you. I don’t mind if you stay.”

I had not had a chance to move. She had her corset off already, and her tits were suddenly out on display. They are quite fine-looking tits too. Actually, they are phenomenal looking tits.