"See again?"

Xiao Qiang glanced at Old Man Qin, and suddenly seemed to taste something from his words, since he continued to ask himself to see the rest of his things after he said that there was something wrong with the painting, then Xiao Qiang could be sure with his hundreds of years of life experience that the painting was definitely a fake.

Although Xiao Qiang came today because of Li Yuan's invitation, he didn't want to become a person who was unlearned and unskilled in the eyes of others, not to mention that Li Kun was so aimed at himself today, if he looked at him in front of him, Xiao Qiang really couldn't raise his head.

However, since Old Man Qin took the initiative to ask himself to continue to identify these things, Xiao Qiang did not refuse, and he already had a little confidence in the matter of using his divine sense to identify antiques with his divine sense, and he was more comfortable doing it at this time, but he did not have the kind of restraint he had at the beginning.

There were a total of three objects in front of Old Man Qin, the first was the painting scroll that Xiao Qiang judged to be a fake, and the second was a pipe.

The pipe is a smoking prop that is presumably used when there is such an act as smoking, and the use of pipes is the earliest way to smoke. At that time, in addition to this pipe-style smoking method, there were also chewing and snuff types. Smoking spread from Europe to the rest of the world around the 16th century, and a variety of pipes appeared in various places until the 19th century, when cigarettes became popular. The pipe is constructed by choosing a long strip of wood, one end is larger, hollowed out in the middle to make a pipe, and the larger end is dug a groove for filling tobacco. It's not difficult to make, but because it burns tobacco, it's made of very particular material. Generally, materials such as briar, or sepiolite are most commonly used.

Generally, it takes about 30 minutes to 1 hour on average to smoke a cigarette with a pipe, depending on the type of tobacco leaf and the way of stuffing. Because everyone's habits are different, some people even need to spend more than two hours to smoke once.

Most pipes are handmade, mainly in two categories: fully handmade and semi-handmade. Semi-handmade pipes are first made into prototypes by machine, and then honed by hand; The pure handicraft must be carefully pondered by the craftsmen, and the efforts of the craftsmen have been completely added.

But even if it's just as handmade, the work of different masters can make a world of difference. Some of the famous pipe makers are very experienced. They are good at tailoring pipes to the texture of the wood. If a master is making a pipe and comes across a tiny hole in the wood, he may throw away the nearly finished pipe in order not to compromise the perfection of the work of art.

The reason why Xiao Qiang knows this is because the old man Qian of Mingzhu, the old man likes pipes very much, and when he has nothing to do, he talks to Xiao Qiang about his collections, and Xiao Qiang listens to them a lot. Naturally, it was recorded. Speaking of which, Xiao Qiang himself is a non-smoker.

"What's the matter, does Mr. Xiao have any hesitation?"

At this time, Li Kun spoke again, but his words didn't sound so harsh. But Xiao Qiang understands that it is not that Li Kun is kind and does not embarrass himself, it is just that he is hindered by Jiang Tianyang's face and is not so direct against himself.

Xiao Qiang smiled. didn't speak immediately, but Old Man Qin spoke: "It's normal for young people to not understand pipes. ”

said. He smiled at Xiao Qiang: "It doesn't matter if Xiaoyou can't see it, it's old and abrupt." ”

Xiao Qiang smiled, but he had a good impression of this old man, he was just interested in antiques, but he didn't mean anything about himself.

Thinking of this, Xiao Qiang smiled and said, "A pipe is a little different from a cigarette and a cigar. It is that it can be used both to enjoy tobacco and to keep it as a collector's item. The materials used to make pipes are heather, sepiolite, old corn cob and mastic, etc., and the best materials are heather and sepiolite. ”

As he spoke, he looked at Old Man Qin: "Old Qin, my words should be right, right?" ”

Old Man Qin glanced at Xiao Qiang in surprise. He didn't expect Xiao Qiang to have an understanding of such an obscure thing, this thing is not generally understood by an elderly person, and he didn't expect Xiao Qiang, a young man who was not yet a young man, to know pipes.

Smiling, Old Man Qin nodded: "That's right, if you make a pipe zuò, the selection of materials is undoubtedly very important, as you said, heather and sepiolite are the best materials." ”

After saying this, he raised his hand, pointed to the pipe he was using in his hand and said, "This pipe is made of heather, and it was my grandfather's treasure back then. ”

He said so, and others naturally no longer had doubts about Xiao Qiang's words, after all, the old man's status in Tianjing Antique Street was there, and Qin Wenju's three words were a living signboard in the eyes of many antique pedestrians.

"Little friend, do you know a lot about pipes?"

Qin Wenju looked at Xiao Qiang a little strangely, if it weren't for Xiao Qiang's previous appearance that was too surprising, he wouldn't have asked so rudely.

Xiao Qiang smiled: "I have an elder who is particularly fond of pipes, and he always pulls me to chatter." You know, this old man always likes to repeat, and I remember what he says too much. ”

As he spoke, Xiao Qiang said: "The heather pipe is a shrub root that is more than 250 years old from the ground, and after careful cleaning and screening, it is checked for cracks and defects. Cut the heather into brick-like squares and bury them in the soil for 3 months. After cutting into a broken pipe, it is boiled in water for another 12 hours and then dried in a pergola for half a year. After these processes, the loss of heather is quite high. But after cutting into pipe blanks, there is still a huge polarization. In a pile of blanks, the one with a complete and beautiful pattern and a uniform and plump texture will be used to make a very expensive pipe, while the rest will be so-so. If you look closely, you can find that there are always some faults in the average pipe. When the material defect is large, it is repaired with resin putty and sold as such. It's popular, but people who really appreciate pipes don't take it personally. The reason is simple, a faulty pipe does not provide a good smoking enjoyment. Some pipes have tiny pits or something, and some scars are hidden at the interface and are not easy to find. A top-of-the-line pipe is handmade from high-quality heather with a complete pattern and no flaws. Therefore, the manufacture of top-quality pipes is a bit like calcite in the gemstone world in terms of material selection. ”

"What about sepiolite?" Listening to what Xiao Qiang said, Jiang Tianyang couldn't help but interject and ask.

Xiao Qiang thought about it, recalled what Mr. Qian said, and then said: "Sepiolite is a kind of silicate with many water molecules in the molecular formula, which is a algae mineral, milky white, and has the characteristics of lightness, flame retardant and heat insulation. The relief motifs are mostly selected from ancient Greek and Roman mythology, and there are also animal motifs, and because of the pores of the sepiolite, the pipe will be used for a long time, and the e-liquid will evenly penetrate the surface of the pipe. If you use this sepiolite pipe for many years, you can be sure that the color of the e-liquid will always be the same. Most of the famous places where sepiolite pipes are produced are foreign, and because of the inheritance, it seems that they are about to be lost. ”

After a pause, Xiao Qiang said: "I have also heard of a pipe called corn cob, which is processed by drying and other processes from the shaft core of a specially cultivated corn. This thing has a unique fragrance. But the lifespan is generally only one week. Fortunately, the price is low, and you can always draw new ones. ”

The room was very quiet, only Xiao Qiang's flat voice echoed, everyone's eyes were focused on him, listening to him, Li Yuan looked at Xiao Qiang's back on the chair behind, but her heart was extremely shocked, she found for the first time that she really didn't know this old colleague.

As for Tong Xiaoxue, Li Kun and others, they were even more surprised, they couldn't have imagined that this seemingly ordinary young man would know so many things.

"Bang Bang!"

There was a burst of applause, Qin Wenju looked at Xiao Qiang, and praised him: "A conversation with you is better than reading a book for ten years, and today the old man finally understands the true meaning of this sentence." (To be continued......)