In case you need another reason to quit smoking...
Someone just sent me a beautiful Thin Weasel D which had been clogging badly to the point where the owner couldn't play it for more than a few minutes. I looked into the windway and saw some "stuff" which I couldn't dislodge with a scrap of cardboard, so I disassembled the head ferrule and fipple. They were both BLACK and crusted with what appeared to be congealed tobacco residue. It took alcohol and steel wool to remove this, plus a goodly application of elbow grease. Now, the whistle plays just fine.
Imagine that same stuff in your lungs...
brewerpaul wrote:In case you need another reason to quit smoking...
Someone just sent me a beautiful Thin Weasel D which had been clogging badly to the point where the owner couldn't play it for more than a few minutes. I looked into the windway and saw some "stuff" which I couldn't dislodge with a scrap of cardboard, so I disassembled the head ferrule and fipple. They were both BLACK and crusted with what appeared to be congealed tobacco residue. It took alcohol and steel wool to remove this, plus a goodly application of elbow grease. Now, the whistle plays just fine.
Imagine that same stuff in your lungs...
I used to be a smoker...taking up the whistle really helped me decide to quit in 1998.
I have bought a wooden whistle secondhand before that smelled strongly of smoke. Luckily, it wasn't as bad as the one you describe above, and within a month, you couldn't tell it had been owned by a smoker.
Actually, I've always wondered if cigarette smoke could be used to look at how the air stream behaves for whistle making purposes. No, not planning to take up the habit (WhoA was enough).
Tobacco residue INSIDE the windway? Wouldn't that imply that the person was actually smoking whilst playing? I'm a smoker...probably always will be...but I could never think of of blowing smoke down my beloved whistles!! In fact, I make sure my lungs are completely free of smoke before playing.
Guinness wrote:Actually, I've always wondered if cigarette smoke could be used to look at how the air stream behaves for whistle making purposes. No, not planning to take up the habit (WhoA was enough).
I've actually tried that in my early testing..heh
The smoke isn't really dense enough to see what's happening, not to mention you're not at a very angle to see it either.
I smoked for decades, and like Wanderer the whistlling helped me quit. And, anan cara...yes, smoking is nasty. Some humans NEED nasty. Without getting clinical...some folks require a certain element of toxicity and/or self-destruction in their lives. Why do you suppose some wail away on a high G????
A-Musing wrote:I smoked for decades, and like Wanderer the whistlling helped me quit. And, anan cara...yes, smoking is nasty. Some humans NEED nasty. Without getting clinical...some folks require a certain element of toxicity and/or self-destruction in their lives. Why do you suppose some wail away on a high G????
I don't consider my high G "self-destructive" but it does have an adverse effect on those around me....especially my kitties.
But yes....toxicity and self destruction are a must. I smoke cigarettes, drink booze, chase women(if I were single), and I have lots of tattoos. If I had a lisence I'd probably own a motorcycle...lol!
Yo, Flog...
Sounds like your high G is your one concession to health and sanity. Truly remarkable, as I think.......wait a sec.......yes, I can actually HEAR the d**n thing from here...
(anam cara...avert your gaze...you could get smudged in a rough-hewn post like this.)
A-Musing wrote:. Without getting clinical...some folks require a certain element of toxicity and/or self-destruction in their lives. Why do you suppose some wail away on a high G????
YOu haven't heard a Thin Weasel high G. No pain involved there at all-- just sweet, birdlike whistling.
well, I quit smoking my pipe about 6 weeks ago, and so far, I can't taste anything nasty in my whistles.
I can feel a big change in my breathing though, which means that as I learn to breathe differently, I'm re-learning the subtleties of a lot of old tunes I've been playing for years.
I've made it to college without even trying it, and I don't ever plan to.
