box elder: Paris: The (pipe) dream of reason brings forth monsters...

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Paris: The (pipe) dream of reason brings forth monsters...

7 comments:

Roderick Robinson said...: Off the beaten track - that'll do. I withdraw my earlier comment. Some of those look like meerschaums; my dad used to smoke one.; 5:13 pm
Lucy said...: Just finished answering your last! Actually not of the track at all, but in the arcades around the Palais Royale gardens again, a weird old junk shop that clearly pre-dated the designer boutiques and rarefied galleries and retro toy shops. It seemed to sell almost nothing but pipes! The piles of disembodied heads were endlessly fascinating, I think I can see Lenin and JFK there as well as all kinds of other historical personages real or fictional. I tried to find a quote from Schama about the Revolutionaries' obsession with heads, whether severed or neo-classical, but failed, so the Goya had to do.

In fact I do have a few other less trite images from less obvious places, but am having to motor to get them all sorted and posted, hence I'm not a very sociable blogger just now.; 5:45 pm
Catalyst said...: Looks like sort of a classic head shop. ;^/; 10:26 pm
Lucy said...: Cat - damn, why didn't I think of that?!; 10:39 pm
Stella said...: Just think of the industry that smoking generated and supported! Having recently discarded a couple of gorgeous crystal ashtrays made me think of all the jobs lost when we gave up tobacco. My grandfather had one pipe which, after his passing, I was gicen to blow bubbles from. It tasted vile. Was the old pipe shop aromatic?; 2:35 pm
Lucy said...: Hi Stella,

Indeed it did, as well as all the health care workers employed to look after those with smoking related diseases... Our much loved town of Morlaix was sustained through much of the late 19th and 20th centuries by the state-owned tobacco factory, 'la manu' as it was known. It employed huge numbers of people, and their co-operative childcare, healthcare and pensions schemes were exemplary and much valued and envied. Morlaix has never recovered from its loss; attempts to turn it into an arts centre haven't really made up for it. Many of these pipes, though, looked to have been home-made, perhaps not used very much anyway, more like souvenirs and craft items. As a former smoker (not of pipes but rolling tobacco etc), I know the accessories of the habit were always fun, a source of minor creativity, gift-giving ideas, and yes, a certain beauty. I don't miss smoking one bit. I didn't go into the shop and didn't notice its odeur, it probably did smell quite interesting!; 6:29 pm
Avus said...: "the habit were always fun, a source of minor creativity, gift-giving ideas, and yes, a certain beauty"

I one smoked a pipe and mentioned it in a recent blog. RR was somewhat scathing about the habit.

I loved your images, Lucy and endorse your comment, above; 1:12 pm