Do you still have your first pipe?

Kmhartle

Trying this again. I had a glitch loading the photo. When I went to edit the original post, it was removed with an "admin review" notice. Hmmmmmm

I'm curious how many still have the first pipe that started your pipe smoking experience? If so, do you still smoke it?

I purchased this apple from a tobacconist in Anchorage Alaska over 25 years ago. It was a basket pipe. Maybe $10 at the time. He recommended a few ounces of a tobacco blend called Point Barrow, which I'm sure was probably Q1 or relabeled Captain Black. Thus started my love affair with pipe smoking. 

I've bought and sold countless (i.e. too many) pipes since then. However, this cheap, old pipe remains one of my favorite pipes and best smokers. 

pipeman83

@Kmhartle, I don’t have my very first pipe but I have the first high-grade pipe I purchased, a Ben Wade Golden Matt Freehand from the Tinderbox, I bought it in 1983 for $150, I had to put it in layaway and make payments on it, still smoking it on special occasions.

jfreedy

My first pipe was a Medico I got from a local drug store while in college. Unfortunately, my truck was robbed (stereo stolen) and they stole that pipe too. I was heart-broken! It wasn't a great smoker but had lots of sentimental value. 

buflosab

Sad to say No I don't,actually don't remember what the pipe even looked like. Guess I was of the opinion that if it broke or was lost just buy a new one.Long list of items I wish I had more concerns about saving and never did.

motie2

My first pipe was a Kaywoodie Tricorn. I sawed of the stinger and it became a better smoker.

Londy3

I had my first pipe before I married. I don't even know what kind it was. It was given to me by a friend who had a large pipe collection and walk in humidor in his house. I smoked it for maybe two years and stopped for whatever reason. I have no idea what happened to that pipe. I have since moved away so it could be gone forever. 

AnantaAndroscoggin

Sure don't.

I suspect that I probably bought it in New York City when I was stationed on Governor's Island going to Class A school. Haven't the slightest recollection of where, or what style, etc.

Charles

I still have my first pipe.  It was my dad's and sadly, it is no longer smokable.    

Woodsman

I still have my second pipe bought at the PX in Fort Gordon Georgia, a Medico that I still smoke. My first was a Kaywoodie straight Bulldog that was destroyed in the Judo Pit while learning to fly the hard way. That's the third stem. 

Watchmaker61

I have my first pipe, it was my Grandfathers, I got it when he died. I was 4 years old. I’ve had it 53 years. It’s extra special cause the pipe has two cracks on the stumel and he mad a copper band that holds it together, he was a Blacksmith and a master machinist. I had he stem replaced years ago and the one it replaced was a replacement too. It’s marked Royal Scot.

ghostsofpompeii

I was 13 when I got my first pipe - so unfortunately no, I don't still have my first pipe. Looking back on it, the pipe was probably more of a novelty item - it was made of wood (don't know if it was briar or not) and was carved like a skull, with two pieces of broken red glass for eyes ... probably meant to look like rubies. But since the pipe was bought my a 13 year old with only a handful of coins and an odd dollar bill here and there - I'm certain those eyes were not rubies. And with the purchase of the pipe was a package of Middleton Cherry Blend.

motie2

I wonder how many of us started with Middleton's Cherry Blend?
It smelled like heaven and bit like a rabid wolverine.

ghostsofpompeii

@motie2 I was wondering that with so many of us starting with Middleton's Cherry Blend - and I imagine most of us suffered the same tongue bite experience - how much of that tongue bite was from it being our first experience as a pipe smoker. Over the years we've all become more experienced pipe smokers and have learned proper smoking techniques to avoid tongue bite. With that in mind I wonder if we should return to the blend we first started with ... might we be able to finally enjoy it when smoked properly, rather than by the novice pipe smoker? I'm not even sure if it's still offered - I'll have to check and see. But I'd be curious to see if I suffer the same effects. After all, even though I suffered the wrath of Middleton's notorious bite, all these fifty some years later I'm still smoking a pipe. So it wasn't a bad enough experience to put me completely off smoking. 

motie2

@ghostsofpompeii -- You have offered a clear-eyed observation regarding Cherry Blend.
You ask a good question: ".....how much of that tongue bite was from it being our first experience as a pipe smoker."

pwkarch

YES, and YES

A Medico Briar Apple bowl. I still have it and I smoked it several times this past week. I bought this pipe for what pocket change would be today at our town Pharmacy along with a pouch of Cherry Blend. I was still in high school, I am thinking 1965 (making him my friend for 53 years now). I remember we were off of school due to snow, and I think I bought it with snow shovelling money.

Funny thing, from day 1 I never really got tongue bite from Cherry Blend because my Dad taught me to sip instead of trying to take hard drags. He smoked Mixture 79, and that too is not the abomination it is claimed to be if you treat it right. Not my favorite by any stretch (too floral or "lakeland" for me), but I have a little jarred for nostalgic reasons along with some Cherry Blend.

Back to the pipes: Due to my experience and appreciation of my first pipe, this past year I bought 2 more Medico Briars which are in my pipe rotation. I just bought a Dr. Grabow Briar (due today in the mail), and this past week I bought a nice Kaywoodie Briar for my collection. Nothing wrong with pipes costing less than $50.00 at all (after spending just over $100.00 2 weeks ago for a Savinelli Dolomitie).

I hope one of my Grandsons will get my collection after I have gone to the "Big Tobacco Shop" in the sky someday. Meanwhile I will enjoy the pipe I bought as a first so long ago, and all of his friends.

xDutchx

I can't find a pic of mine for some reason, but I do still have it, and it looks just like this one, a L'Anatra sitter. I made up my mind that I would stand my ground, and not spend any more than $100 on a pipe. The owner of the local brick and mortar had this one marked $150, but told me he would let me have it for $125.

It's been a slippery slope ever since, and when I look back on that first pipe purchase I chuckle.

ghostsofpompeii

Can you imagine what our Grandfather's would think of us spending anywhere from $150.00 to $500.00 for a smoking pipe?

HerbVa

My first was a "Tom Thumb" which I bought at a Sears in 1968.  Looked like a dope pipe.  No, I don't still have it.

thebadgerpiper

I sure do.

I picked out a Peterson 408 Author pipe as my first pipe on smokingpipes.com. I knew I wanted a Peterson, and the 408 appealed to me. I always liked pipes, even at a young age, and I knew that even if pipe smoking wasn't for me, I wanted a great pipe I could keep on my bookshelf if it didn't work out. Luckily for me, I loved it, and I've been a happy pipe smoker ever since.

qmechanics

Yes I bought two pipes as I was starting out in this new adventure at the now closed Edwards tobacco shop in Miami. Both pipes were Edwards pipes Algerian briar. One pipe was a bulldog the other  a freehand billiard.....

mfresa

Yes still have the Mitchell Thomas churchwarden I bought from Country Squire three years ago.

TeCarp

My first pipe was a Dr Grabow Duke my parents gave me for Christmas in 1966.  No, I don't still have it.  It disappeared on one of my deployments around 1972.

@Kmhartle , was that shop The Tobacco Cache in Anchorage?  I have a billiard from that shop which somehow ended up in an antique store in Kingsport, TN.  I've always wondered what type of life it had before I got it.

Kmhartle

@TeCarp. Yes, the Tobacco Cache is where I bought my first pipe. It was located in the Northern Lights Mall in Anchorage at the time. They have since moved and are called G&P Tobacco Shop now, but have been in continual business for over 40 years. I'm sure the pipe you found at the antique store could tell some interesting stories if it could talk! I know my pipe from the Tobacco Cache has traveled through almost all 50 states over the years. 

Londy3

Hmm 18+ years and three moves ago... No idea.

Wolf41035

Very first pipe? Dr. Grabow  Silver Duke and yes I still have it.  Still in good shape, might have to hand it down to a newbie....

Scampi

I wish I did, i inherited 10 pipes from my great-grandfather. Unfortunately some sorry sob broke into my home in Bowlinggreen and stole my pipes. I miss Paw and his pipes.

motie2

Nope. Lost it at camp, summer of 1969. It was my first EA Carey, a billiard.
So, I ordered another, an apple, from Carey and, not only do I still have it, but it's still my favorite pipe.

RockyMountainBriar

My first pipe was a spot carved churchwarden basket pipe.  Nope sold that sucker awhile back.  I have my first non-basket pipe though, a Peterson Killarney 80s.  Not really that impressive, since it was only about 7 years ago.

rumrum4me

Yeah, I still have and smoke my first pipe. I was a late starter compared to some of you. I bought it at a small tobacco shop in Long Beach CA in 1982. A Poker shaped basket pipe made in Italy. Nothing special, but it has sentimental value for sure.

Ron191

Sadly no. I bought my first pipe at FT Ft Dix PX in December '74. It was a Dr Grabow in a package deal with a pouch of Prince Albert and a pamphlet of instructions.  It disappeared  on one move or another across the Atlantic. (two tours in Germany)

KA9FFJ

My first pipe along with a few others were stolen from my dorm while at college back in '67 I think.  
Anyway, while home my girlfriend/fiance (now wife) went with me to Jost's, a long-since-gone tobacconist store in downtown St. Louis, and she picked out this pipe for me that I purchased and has been with me since '67... It's a Knute freehand...