SHOCK FOR SMOKER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22005, 11 January 1935, Page 10

SHOCK FOR SMOKER

PIPE EXPLODES IN MOUTH CARTRIDGE UNDEfI TOBACCO TIMARU MAN'S EXPERIENCE fBV TKLKGK.vrH OWN CORRESPONDENT! TIMARU. Thursday When tlie pipe he whs smoking exploded with u'i enrsplitting report, blowing the bowl to fragments and leaving only the stem between the astonished smokPr's teeth, a Timarii resident received a severe fright and learned Ihe danger of carrying smoking material in the same pocket or container as live ammunition. t As a result of the detonation the man's face was coated with gunpowder and tobacco ash. It was at first thought that he was the victim of a harmless practical joke, but subsequent investigations proved that he had narrowly escaped severe injuries if not death. The incident happened after the smoker had returned from a shooting expedition. Many conjectures were made as to the cause of the report, but nothing threw any light on the matter until it was discovered that while the man was shooting one of the pea rifle cartridges which he was carrying loose in his pocket became lodged in the bowl of his pipe, and that later he unwittingly packed tobacco on top of it.