[hanzy4200]

I just recently took up pipe smoking, and utterly love it. I've enjoyed tobacco in just about every form offered at some point in time. I have been a cigarette smoker for years. In the past months I have been seeking more varieties of cigarette tobacco, and there just didn't seem to be many. Out of curiosity, I started browsing some online pipe tobacco retailers. The options were endless!

I immediately wanted to give this a try. There is only one real pipe and cigar shop in my area, aside from the usual smokers outlets. Of course this just happened to be the one day of the week that this shop was closed. Patience not being my strong suit, I went to one of the cigarette type smoke shops. I picked up a Missouri Meerscham corn cob and 3 types of pouch tobacco, totaling about $15.

After returning home, I tried them all. One I liked, Prince Albert Soft Vanilla, one was decent, Half & Half, and one was not very good, Sir Walter Raleigh. At the end of the day I felt this really could be a great new hobby.

The next day I had some errands to run, and after they were finished, I stopped at the REAL tobacco shop. It was an amazing experience unto itself. The sights, the smells, and the people were something I have never experienced before. I left the shop with five different 1 oz. bags of in-house blended tobaccos for $3 apiece. As soon as I began trying these new tobaccos, I was blown away. These were GOOD! REALLY GOOD! If those pouch varieties were decent these were heaven.

My main points of advice for someone testing the water would be these. Do not try pipe smoking with commercial pouch tobacco. Find a nice local shop. Their tobacco will be of much better quality and they will give you sound advice. The folks I met were so helpful and friendly, and it's always good to spend your money locally. Also, when you buy your first pipe, don't go drop $120. Buy a inexpensive corn cob pipe made in the USA. If you decide pipe smoking is not for you, big deal, you're out $5. Avoid cheap "fancy" looking pipes as they many times contain plastic bowl liners and just taste horrible.

If you've never given pipes a try, check them out, you may be very pleased. There's nothing like kicking back after dinner with a cup of hot coffee and a pipe full of locally blended aromatic vanilla tobacco. Cheers.

 

[tempest766]

I paid 25ish bucks for a nice italian made rosewood pipe in the late 80s but didn't smoke it much and never really got the pipe properly seasoned. A couple years ago I found it and started smoking it again, burning through the seasoning stage. I buy bagged pipe tobacco of two varieties and mix it 50/50: MUL blend (a light pipe tobacco), and Vanilla Cavendish. A bag of each mixed will last me for nearly a year.

Nonsmokers generally hate to be around smokers doing all the outdoorsy stuff that I do. However, everyone I've been around smoking my pipe likes the smell of it. One room I smoke in at my house: my office/computer room.

Actually I think it's time to pack up a bowl.

 

[hanzy4200]

I paid 25ish bucks for a nice italian made rosewood pipe in the late 80s but didn't smoke it much and never really got the pipe properly seasoned. A couple years ago I found it and started smoking it again, burning through the seasoning stage. I buy bagged pipe tobacco of two varieties and mix it 50/50: MUL blend (a light pipe tobacco), and Vanilla Cavendish. A bag of each mixed will last me for nearly a year.

Nonsmokers generally hate to be around smokers doing all the outdoorsy stuff that I do. However, everyone I've been around smoking my pipe likes the smell of it. One room I smoke in at my house: my office/computer room.

Actually I think it's time to pack up a bowl.

That is a big plus of pipe smoking, people don't mind the odor, at least with aromatics. My wife absolutely hates the smell of cigarettes and cigars, but enjoys the smell of many of my pipe tobaccos.

 

[bowman]

My tip for beginners: inhale from the small end of the pipe.

 

[carpenb94m]

I smoke a pipe. I get a lot more people complementing the smell over the cigars. If I have to do pouches, I will usually go with a vanilla cherry. But yes house blends are generally worlds nicer.

 

[HardLuck]

Been smoking pipes for about 25 years. Captain Black in the gold package is the best daily smoke I've found, for the money.

 

[SkullyWV]

My favorites are Mac Baren Navy Flake and Cornell & Diehl Bayou Morning Flake.
I spend the big money on the tobacco and then buy cheap Missouri Meerschaum to smoke it in.

I also made a couple of pipes with plum bowls and oak stems. They are OK for a first attempt, but aren't great smokers.

 

[tempest766]

My tip for beginners: inhale from the small end of the pipe.

My tip to beginners: dont inhale

 

[bjcarpetguy]

My Tip after 36 years. Don't start. I smoked one for 36 years and quit this last August.

Yeah sometimes I miss it. But like not being short of breath and the smell and nicotine on everything.

The best commercial I found was Smokers Pride. Comes in about 5 flavors. 12 oz bag for around 15.00ea. Try B n B Tabacco on line.

 

[tempest766]

My Tip after 36 years. Don't start. I smoked one for 36 years and quit this last August.

Yeah sometimes I miss it. But like not being short of breath and the smell and nicotine on everything.

Those are thoughts I have often. I jog 4+ miles several times a week and have gotten in much better shape in recent years but I do know that the cumulative effect of the tobacco works to negate the benefits of exercise. I'm just trying to keep it in check and do maybe one bowl a day.

I do know guys who are lighting up or religthing every 15 minutes. Someone please shoot me if I get like that.

 

[tempest766]

The best commercial I found was Smokers Pride. Comes in about 5 flavors. 12 oz bag for around 15.00ea.

That is the brand I buy my vanilla cavenish in at the local smoke shop.

 

[strider72]

Tobacco was originally use for rituals and such. Funny thing is that if we actually smoked unflavored, sugarless tobacco it would probably make us dizzy as hell. The stuff you buy is processed, flavored, sugared and soon. I used to enjoy a pipe and cigars. The working environments and house I live in have caused me to have asthma. Though I enjoy a pipe or cigar on occasion. The best way to do both a pipe or cigar is to slow your ass down. Get the pipe/cigar too hot and it ain't good. Just relax, puff, let it ease out(the smoke you pervs), savor it, repeat. Oh yeah. Breath. When you have become able to make a pipe last an hr. You are getting close. Heard of a pipe smoking contest somewhere, all the youngsters thought they had. An old man made a pipe last for two hours without relighting it. That is THE MAN, dude.

 

[Pangea]

I smoke a pipe a couple of times a month, Sometimes there are long stretches in between. I'm not hooked and I'm not a snob about it either.

I do have a self imposed rule that I follow. I never use a pipe for more than one tobacco. I buy inexpensive pipes and that pipe is dedicated to that blend.

my .02

 

[oldiron_79]

I used to be a pipe and cigar smoker till I quit. I liked the blends at the local pipe and cigar shop better than commercial pouch stuff.

 

[WaywardOak]

I smoke cigars and would like to smoke a pipe. I started three years ago with a cheap grabow and then bought a nice 200 dollar I forget what it was but I just cant seem to make it work. I have tried cheap captain black and some homemade vermont blends but I cant seen to make it work. I either smoke it so hot it is not enjoyable or I smoke it and have to relight the bowl every two minutes.

I have the pipe tool and everything...even patience, but I have not yet found a way to master this art. Maybe I will try to pick it up someday and find that I can smoke it like a normal person...for now I will stick to my humidor.:

 

[Alpha-Zombie]

Been a pipe and cigar smoker longer than I care to admit, but then I've always enjoyed the smell and taste of tobacco. Like drinking wine, the more you do it the more "dry" your taste becomes--you'll eventually want to taste the true tobacco and not a bunch of sweet flavorings. English Market pipe tobacco like Dunhill's Mixture 965, EMP (Early Morning Pipe) and Nitecap are medium bodied blended tobaccos that taste and smell wonderful on just about any occasion. On a lighter note, Frog Morton, made by McClelland Tobacco Company of Kansas City is a lighter bodied pleasurable smoke along with several others from that blender. Spend some time at TobaccoReviews.com and read the reviews. You can learn a lot there before diving in.

This pipe is similar to my latest acquisition from eBay--a French Ropp made in cherrywood I got for a song and a dance. Very smooth smoking and just feels right when taking a casual stroll through the woods in the winter.

Good luck on your latest venture.

 

[Tone23]

I just started smoking a pipe in the last couple months. I only smoke once or twice a week, I use it as a time to kick back listen to some music and do some thinking. I can count on one hand how many cigarettes I have smoked and I never inhale cigars. I don't typically inhale when I smoke my pipe, I enjoy the smell and the fact that it slows me down and allows me some time to think.

 

[petergunn]

I've been a puffer since the mid eighties, it was a struggle at times and I quit more than once. It all really got enjoyable for me was when I made the step up in price and quality both in tobacco and pipes.

A Dunhill at $500. may seem exorbitant but amortized over 30 years or so it's cheaper than buying cobs and don't skimp on tobacco either good blends are made with quality ingredients.

My advice to a new smoker would be buy high quality tobacco and smoke it in a cob until you decide what you want shape wise, then be willing to spend a $100. on a briar.

Smoke slow and learn how to pack and light so you can smoke a bowl with one light and two tamps and most of all enjoy, pipe smoking is about pleasure and relaxation not about a nic fix.

 

[tpinpaisley]

Anyone grow their own tobacco?

I'm 58 and smoked cigs for many years, quit and went back. I've smoked cigars, good and bad. I really like to smoke when I drink which is about once a week and recently started smoking black & mild's. Have always liked the smell of pipes and thinking of getting one. Lots of good tips here.

Hope to one day be able to distill my own fruit into drink and grow my own smoke. If I could do that, it would be a good day!!

 

[Radio]

Oh, sorry. Wrong thread. The title is very misleading. lol. .