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  • motie2motie2 Master
    @ich4759

    Welcome to the forum!
  • ZouaveZouave Master
    Welcome to the group to all the new folks! Great gang on here to help with any questions
  • Welcome @shoshani and @ich4759 !

    @ich4759 , try looking at some burley C&D blends such as Old Joe Krantz and Haunted Bookshop for strength. MacBaren Dark Fired Kentucky is another full blend that might catch your interest.
  • @ich4759
    Welcome to the forum. 
    You should visit tobaccoreviews.com for information on pipe tobacco. You can use the advanced search fields to find different blends you may enjoy. 
  • Wow! I haven't been to this page in quite a while and had no idea how many new members have arrived. I'd like to welcome you all, and invite you to join me in a bowl.
  • ich4759
    Welcome and enjoy the brotherhood and their wealth of knowledge. Great fellowship as well!
  • Yes, thanks and i will need your guidance.
  • Gentlemen,  Woodysr here.
    It is indeed a great pleasure to join you.  As introduction, let me start by saying I'm 71 years young as of this past February 21st.  I've been a pipe smoker since age 17.  (My father was a cigar and pipe smoker.  I could never handle cigars or cigar smoke so in my efforts to emulate Dad, I chose the pipe.) 
    I reside in Kansas City, MO.  I'm retired military with 26 years in uniform.  I served from June 1967 until Oct 1994. 

    My first hitch was in the Navy.  I was trained as an aircraft engine mechanic, recipricating (propeller), but spent most of my time flying aircrew.  My first assignment was to VC-4, a service squadron out of Quonset Point, RI.  We served the fleet by towing targets for ship's to calibrate (and adjust) their radar controlled surface to air gunnery.  My second assignment was VS-31 (out of Oceana Naval Air Station), part of the air group attached to the USS Intrepid.  There I served as an anti submarine warfare aircrewman. 

    I left the Navy in '71 to go back to school.  I became a police officer in '72 and served in that uniform until '76.  I thoroughly enjoy my time as a cop, (earning the coveted gold badge of Criminal Investigator Sgt in just under 3yrs).  That is to say, I enjoyed it until family and friends lovingly pointed out to me that I had become "a real prick".   Now my father had taught me that "you can be whatever kind of person you want to be, it's up to you."  I had no desire to be a "prick".  (I'd already met a few of those).  It was then, in 1976, that I reluctantly turned in my badge and enlisted in the Army for Helicoptor Pilot training. 

    Unfortunately, during flight school, after several weeks of a routine of running 10 miles a day in combat boots, I found myself hobbling along on crutches for a couple months.  The flight surgeons explained to me that the cause of my football sized knees were the result of a heretofore undiagnosed deformation in my knee joints (for which at that time there was no treatment).  I could either be discharged or choose another skill path. 

    Now of the 300 some odd job skills I could choose from, being "prior service", there were exactly 11 open to me.  Among them was POW Interrogator.  Now, as you might guess, interrogating was something I had some experience with.  Besides, language school was included in the training.  And that's how I came to be a Us Army interrogator. 

    Now as I stated earlier, I started smoking a pipe back when I was a young "blue jacket".  I've tried more kinds and blends of pipe tobacco than i care to remember.  Everything from commercial blends like "Flying Dutchman", to "Sir Walter Raliegh", or "Cherry Blend" (Dad's favorites), even Captain Black blends. 
    I've tried the tobacconists specialty blends...from "chocolate chip cookie" to room-freshener "Eringold". 

    What I found disconcerting was the inevitable interruption that never failed to occur when trying to enjoy the simple pleasure of smoking my pipe.  By the time the interruption was resolved, the 1/2-3/4 partially smoked bowl had gone out, and grown cold.  Any effort to relight it only returned harshness. 

    Then I stumbled upon Captain Black GOLD.  (I'd tried their other blends, as I could find them.)  For me, I found that with the GOLD blend it doesn't seem to make a difference how long it's been out, or how much of the bowl I've smoked.  I can gently scrape away the burnt ash, relight it, and it's still retained the bulk of it's gentle, smokable freshness and aroma.. 

    Back in the day, when eateries still allowed smoking, I've experienced people entering saying it was the aroma of my pipe that drew them in.

    I remember once, back when I was smoking a specialty blend, the aroma of which smelled uncannily like a batch of mom's chocolate chip cookies just out of the oven.  I was at a small eatery north of Monterey.  It was summer and the place had a screen door entry.  I had a table near the door.  A couple came in off the sidewalk.  They walked up to the clerk at the counter and asked for "some of those chocolate chip cookies we smelled as we past the door".  The fellow said, "Lady, this is a shrimp shack, we don't sell no chocolate chip cookies.  It's that fellow over there's pipe you're smellin."

    On several occasions I've experienced people (mostly women) that, upon smelling the aroma, have teared up, saying they'd just had a flashback of their father, or late husband when he used to smoked his pipe. 
     
    I even had an old flame of my own who admitted that once, while i'd been on leave, and when leave was up I'd forgotten to take my pipe with me.  She'd kept it on her bedside night table, saying the smell had made her feel as though I were still there.

    I wonder how many women have saved a cigarette or cigar butt because it held a romantic memory.

  • motie2motie2 Master
    @Woodysr

    Welcome to our forum. We look forward to your participation and contribution to our discussions.
  • @Woodysr;
    First, thank you for your service in the military and in law enforcement. Welcome and enjoy the brotherhood and their wealth of knowledge. Great fellowship as well!
  • SgtDannerSgtDanner Enthusiast
    edited July 2020
    Haven’t been on this in a while, welcome all new members, there are good people and good info here!
  • SgtDannerSgtDanner Enthusiast
    edited July 2020
    Never mind fixed the above post, stupid auto correct!
  • nelliefoxnelliefox Enthusiast
    A straight VA would be a nice start.  Have you ever smoked anything prior to this (ha ha) I'm not a narc!!  I mean cigarettes or cigars?????  Personally I like VA's, VAPERS (VA w/ Perique), and English as long as it's not too strong.  I go for a Navy Flake one in a while.  We have got to find out what you like.  I'd ask a tobacconist for the most mild or slightly mild straight VA blend that they recommend.  I wouldn't go with an aromatic if I were you.  And mind you that these dog days of summer are sometimes even tough sledding for the experienced pipes smokers to find blends that they will enjoy regularly.
    And Ian, I'd like to welcome you to the forum.  There are a lot of very nice people in this fraternity. 

    Nellie Fox
  • @nelliefox @ich4759

    My first question is, "What do you mean by "strong but mild?"
    Do you mean strong flavor but mild nicotine strength or strong nicotine but mild flavor? 
    If you haven't checked it out yet, do visit tobaccoreviews.com and do a search for Virginia blend type tobaccos. You will find just about every tobacco which has been produced on the website.

    Two blends you might like are D&R Athey (mild to medium strength and flavor), C&D Opening Night (medium strength & taste) or Samuel Gawith Scottish Autumn Flake (mild to medium strength, extremely mild flavor & medium taste). All three of those are usually easy to find at the major online retailers. 
  • Ordering an Oom Paul tonight... super pumped 
  • @Cootieflab
    Welcome aboard........,.,
  • Hey guys how's it going? Fairly new pipe smoker here and I'm looking for some good recommendations. thanks
    And look forward to talking to everyone soon.
  • Welcome pipe friends....or is that fiends😬
  • Welcome @Angrygamer87 , glad to have you here! What kind of recommendations are you looking for?

    Also, you might find this piece I wrote helpful with starting out.

    https://thebadgerpiper.wordpress.com/2020/06/07/so-you-started-smoking-a-pipe-now-what/
  • @Angrygamer87

    Welcome!  What do you smoke? Aromatics? English (Latakia)? VaPers (Virginia/Perique)?


  • Angrygamer87

    Welcome aboard sir...........
  • @Angrygamer87
    Glad to meet you. 
    You have questions, we have answers. 
  • Greetings! Just joining the group. I live in a suburb outside the St. Louis, MO, area. I have been smoking pipes for about 4-5 years and cigars a lot longer. I enjoy a good pipe and fine tobacco each week. Typically, I like Maple Walnut, Rum and Maple, and some new blends now and then. 
  • @skelly2468
    Welcome aboard Sir...........
  • Angrygamer87, @skelly2468 ;
    Welcome. You will enjoy your contact with the Extraordinary Gentlemen & Ladies of THIS PIPE LIFE. Lots of good information shared and remember you get out what you put in. No questions are considered dumb and you won't be put down on this site.
  • Welcome new members!!
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