Pipe Smokers?

[beowulf67]

BTW, here's the method I learned for packing. I never got it right until I started doing it this way.

-Sprinkle tobacco loosely into the bowl, until full. Loose is the key here.
-Pack with the flat-head tool to half the depth of the bowl, sprinke loose tobacco to the top once again.
-pack to half the depth of the first pack, or roughly to 1/4th the depth of the bowl. Fill to the top again to level with the top.
-Char with one match. Pack to about 1/4" below the rim, then light with the second match.
-Enjoy.

I gently puff constantly. Too fast and it gets hot, to slow and it doesn't taste right for me.

T.

That's pretty much the way I pack it. I think I just need more practice to get the tobacco so it's not too loose or packed too tightly. Sometimes I get it just right and can smoke it all without relighting. Other times I swear the pipe gremlins keep putting it out every time I blink.

I have always loved the smell of a good tobacco burning in a pipe and have yearned to try it but as a broke college student, its just another habit that i cant afford. I do smoke cigars on special occasions. Last time I had a cigar was when we started up my bosses dragster for the first time. Hmmm, I'm hankering for a swisher right now. (I know, I'm cheap). Any good entry-level pipes you all recommend? I have been told to pick up a Peterson second but that is still more than I can justify spending.

Bishop

I don't know pipe name brands too well, in fact I don't remember the brand I own. I went to my local cigar/pipe shop and talked to the guy that owns it. I'd been buying cigars there for a while already, plus he's in a (bag)pipe band so we always have good conversations.
Anyway, he recommended a good starter pipe and explained why-bowl size and shape, stem length, shape etc. It was around $25-$30 and he threw in a nice pipe tool, pipe cleaners, matches and small bag of tobacco. They blend their own at this shop so I'm slowly working my way through them trying to decide what I like best.

[Hachiman]

Hey folks

I've got two pipes: a cheap falcon bent-stem (my first pipe, which inevitably smokes wet - probably why I don't use it much), and a churchwarden (made in czechoslavakia, bought in Florida). The churchwarden smokes pretty well, although I took the metal 'filter' out of the stem, which improved the issue of condensation forming in the bowl.

I intend to buy another soon, to commemorate my immigration to the USA (my churchwarden was purchased to commemorate my first visit to the US), and have my eye on a merschaum pipe from a vendor in a small town in NC.

As for tobacco, I prefer mild aromatics (not artificially flavoured) that have a 'fruity' smell to them. Currently I'm smoking the "blue ridge blend" from the aforementioned vendor. I'll admit to a) not knowing the specifics of the tobaccos in that blend and b) frequently committing the 'crime' of putting different tobacco types into the same pipe.

Like several others here, I only smoke occasionally - maybe once or twice a month. It's an indulgence, more than an addiction. A pipe, a drink (coffee, tea, or something "stronger") and a few minutes to myself. Since both my pipes have relatively small bowls, my pipes only burn for 10 mins or so before I've gone thru the lot...but that's fine with me.

When I eventually find full-time employment, I'll have to indulge in my vices a bit more: another pipe, and another kilt!

cheers

Hachiman

[Clockwork John]

I have always loved the smell of a good tobacco burning in a pipe and have yearned to try it but as a broke college student, its just another habit that i cant afford. I do smoke cigars on special occasions. Last time I had a cigar was when we started up my bosses dragster for the first time. Hmmm, I'm hankering for a swisher right now. (I know, I'm cheap). Any good entry-level pipes you all recommend? I have been told to pick up a Peterson second but that is still more than I can justify spending.

Bishop

I've also been told you can't go wrong with a Peterson, but they are out of my price range as well. You could get a corn cob for under $10, just to try it out, but they tend to be kind of fragile and my experience is that they tend to get kind of soggy and mucky if smoked regularly. You can get a Dr. Grabow for around $20. I believe CVS pharmacies carries them.

Estate pipes can be a great deal. I picked up two at a junk shop in Santa Barbara, Ca for $10 each. They were well used but well cared for, and one of them is now my favorite pipe. I did some research and both of them would retail for over $30 new.

I would advise against an inexpensive "starter" or "budget" pipe from your local shop. I've owned two. I picked the highest quality I could find... straightest bore, best alignment of bowl and stem hole, etc. One of them smoked pretty well until my friend broke it, and the other one needed some extensive modification to correct the fact that the bowl was drilled too deep. I like that pipe, it looks and feels good, but I haven't smoked it since I picked up my two estate pipes.

My advice would be to learn everything you can about how pipes are made (The different parts, how they should fit together, what a properly drilled bowl looks like, etc.)so that you'll know a well-made pipe when you see one. That way, you'll know what to look for when you go huntin, and maybe you'll get lucky like I did and score a deal or two.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

I have always loved the smell of a good tobacco burning in a pipe and have yearned to try it but as a broke college student, its just another habit that i cant afford. I do smoke cigars on special occasions. Last time I had a cigar was when we started up my bosses dragster for the first time. Hmmm, I'm hankering for a swisher right now. (I know, I'm cheap). Any good entry-level pipes you all recommend? I have been told to pick up a Peterson second but that is still more than I can justify spending.

Bishop

Let me do some more rummaging around in the attic. I was never really into smoking a pipe in the same way I savor a cigar so I'll happily pass on my smudge pots if I can find them.

[cacunn]

When I was in college I started smoking a pipe. Now this was some 40 years ago so thing have changed.
After being drafted into the Army I was sent to artillery school and then to Vietnam. Since we could not get to the rear area and the Post Exchange (store) often we were issued sundry packs. These boxes contained, cigarettes, shaving supplies, soap etc. One of the items was Cherry Blend pipe tobacco. I didn't smoke cigarettes and no one else smoked a pipe I got all of the pipe tobacco in the battery.
Looking at most of the items in the sundry pack we believed that they were originally packed for the Korean war. The pipe tobacco was so old and dry that it would burn almost as fast as the artillery powder. It would take a large slice of apple (when available) and about 3 days before it would become moist enough to smoke.
When I got back for the service I went back to school and was living a my parents and working for them in a ceramic shop they had. At the time I was smoking a chocolate flavored tobacco. It was very smooth with a mild taste. I could never taste the chocolate. The funny part of it was that I would take a break and light up a bowl when there was a class being given. I would smoke watch the class and talk to the students. It was not long into the bowl that the students would all start looking for and talking about chocolate candy. It finally dawned on me that there was just enough chocolate aroma in my tobacco smoke to register in the subconscious but not enough to truly smell.
I could have made a fortune if I had purchased some Hershey bars and sold them during class as I enjoyed a bowl of fine tobacco.

[Clockwork John]

I found a tobacco kind of like that... it was sold as "black raspberry." I was a very heavy tobacco with an alost cigar-like flavour to is. The raspberry taste and aroma was quite clear, but there was... something else that I couldn't quite put my finger on. After sharing it with a few other pipe smokers I know, and asking around as I was smoking it, I figured out that the "something else" was chocolate. Barely enough chocolate to register, but man it went well with the raspberry flavour.

[Verlyn]

I've been smoking my pipes for 31 years now. I have about 50. I've found it you go to the pipe shops and look in the bargain basket, you can get a great second for about $25 or $30 and they smoke really well. While I was in college, I worked part time in a tobacco shop and the owner decided that since I wouldn't quite smoking my smelly English/Scottish blends, he was going to teach me how to blend tobaccos. Now, the local shop knows that I request my own blends and they have one that's close and I just add latakia to it. Nothing beats a fire in the fireplace, a good book, good drink and a pleasant partner. Fortunately, my good wife enjoys the smell of my pipes.

[Uncle Al]

To the begining pipe smoker,

Someone suggested the 'Corn-Cob pipe'. I've had a few, but will not
have any more - EVER!. If you smoke the tobacco to quickly or to 'hot',
the 'Cob' pipe will burn through the bottom VERY FAST! I've had a few
lighted pipe-fulls, fall into my lap--Not a pleasant thing to have happen!
A Dr. Grabo for $10-$15.00 is a good starter pipe. Be sure to take out
the metal 'filter' in the stem.

And remember-----Enjoy it, savor it, but don't over do it.
Smoke it Slow and Steady. You will be well pleased!

Uncle Al
Duncanville, TX

[Pleater]

OK -I confess - I used to smoke a pipe, occasionally - I did find it relaxing, but the reaction of the menfolk was quite amusing, I must say.

Part of my misspent youth.

[Riverkilt]

Messed with pipes in college. Had no clue what I was doing and couldn't master the art of keeping them lit. Tobacco's killed most of my parent's generation of my family. I took to it too. Went from 2-3 pacs of cigarettes to chain smoking and inhaling cigars. Once thought I'd been food poisoned. Went to the doc. He smelled me, drew blood, and told me I had nicotine poisoning. Quit.

Today, smoke a chanupa (peace pipe) loaded with kanikanik (herbs, no tobacco) after sweatlodge. Funny, as the pipe is passed around the circle we always have trouble keeping it lit. Maybe the long stem is the problem.

Ron