Hammer has related an encounter he had once in Las Vegas with an apparent leprechaun.

I am a strange phenomena buff (in case you haven't figured that out already) and I love these kinds of stories.

It also strikes me as very funny--to meet a leprechaun on the grimy streets of Vegas, of all places.

Hammer has said that his family has a history of what I might call "sensitives" and what some other might simply call "psychics."  I am quite skeptical about these kinds of things--however, I am an actual skeptic.  That is, someone who wants proof but has an open mind.  There are lots of people these days who call themselves skeptics but are not.  They automatically disbelieve everything that's just a little bit odd and refuse to even discuss such events.  I just call them disbelievers, because they automatically and without thought disbelieve everything.

My own family has no such history of sensitives--that I know of--until my own generation.  I do not consider myself as such, but my sisters, and especially my youngest sister, seem to be.  Although once when my grandmother had been doing some genealogical research I asked her if she had uncovered any witches or anything and she said, "No, only you."  But that was probably just her idea of a joke.

So why am I posting this?  Hammer has inspired me to dig back into the vaults of memory and dredge up a few odd items, such as the disembodied voice that I posted about back around Halloween.  I have had a very quiet, normal life, but there were a few things that might be of interesting to the strange-o-philes out there.  I have tried to relate some of them before (personally, not blogging), but I always get that rolling-of-the-eyes and sidelong glances that you get when someone thinks you've lost it.

Also, I really enjoyed Hammer's leprechaun story.

One of the few ads I have that pictures a white briar (third from top).  During WWII, Kaywoodie had more than enough good briar warehoused to last for a long time, and they made a big deal out of it in their ads.  They also were sure to create the "IMPORTED BRIAR" stamp on their pipes, which others began imitating--and still do, although now it's pretty much irrelevant (as I mentioned previously).

However, Kaywoodie did not have enough meerschaum stocked.  During the war they couldn't import it, so they came up with white briar.

It was supposed to have the look of meerschaum and the feel of briar.  In my opinion, it really has neither.  White meerschaum is a soft, creamy kind of white.  The Kaywoodie white briar was just briar with a special finish applied that they invented.  It was bright and glossy and entirely unlike the appearance of meerschaum.  Also, the finish was only skin deep, and if the pipe accidentally got scuffed or scratched too hard, the natural color of the briar would of course show through the scuff.  It doesn't have the feel of briar because of that slick glossy finish.  I had one once, smoked it a little, then cleaned it up nice and sold it.

Kaywoodie continued to make and sell them, though, even after the war when meerschaum became available again.  It was something different, and it was something that people would buy.

Top to bottom in this ad, we have a Chesterfield (Kaywoodie's knock-off of the Peterson System pipe) billiard, a top-o-da-line Flame Grain apple with a completely gratuitous and unnecessary meerschaum lining (another gimmick), the aforementioned white briar billiard or possibly pot--hard to tell--with a rustic finish that you would probably never see on a real meerschaum, one of those Falcon knock-offs with an aluminum stem and a threaded bowl (change bowl shapes at your whim), a nice Super Grain bulldog, a straight Dublin with its own briar pipe rest (nice), a real meerschaum, and at the bottom another top-o-da-line Flame Grain without some silly insert.

1.  Gun Law News
2.  Alphecca
3.  Hell in a Handbasket
4.  Cowboy Blob
5.  Spank That Donkey (Carnival of Cordite)
6.  Oscar Poppa
7.  Ninth Stage
8.  The War On Guns
9.  A Keyboard and a .45
10.  Ride Fast & Shoot Straight


Thanks a lot!

A leather postcard.