PIPES FROM THE TEST OF TIME

KABUL07

Hello pipe and tobacco aficionados, hope all is well and everyone is being safe out there. Here is a pipe subject that most of you (P&T) loving professionals may have answered many times and in many different ways during your pipe smoking experiences, no matter how many pipes you may own. I "THINK" this may generate and stimulate some old and new responses. So here we go, how many days can you or have you smoked the "same pipe", not pipe  tobacco, but the same pipe. How did your pipe handle the constant smoking pressure from the everyday and all day use. Did the quality of the pipe smoked have anything to do with the success or failure of your pipe during that time. The very first pipe I ever owned was smoked all day, every day. I was a student at the Univ. with no money and a very cheap pipe and I still have that "Tinder Box" basket pipe today and it is still blowing smoke. :-) Remember, smoke what you like and like what you smoke. Be Safe

Balisong

In the past I smoked the same aromatic and had a few pipes but usually a favorite that wouldn't get much rest and seldom more than a pipe cleaner between smokes. Now I mainly smoke English and Virginia flakes and have many pipes. They get cleaned out after every smoke, reamed regularly, are generally dedicated to a particular tobacco or tobacco type, and, rested at least twenty four hours. Such are the quirks of growing old!

PappyJoe

My grandfather was a pipe smoker and while he had three or four different pipes, he would usually smoke the same ones all day long. I remember him smoking his pipe until he dumped the ash and then refill it and light it again. He died in 1979 and I still have one of his Yello-Bole briars and it is still smokeable. 

ghostsofpompeii

@KABUL07   When I was still working in the Steel Mill in Gary Indiana I probably smoked my pipe two hours out of each eight hour shift. The thing was constantly dangling out of my mouth no matter what job I was doing. Then when I transitioned from field work to an office job I probably smoked a good four hours out of the day. Until they passed the rule of no smoking in the offices or shanties. And during that time I usually smoked the same pipe each and every day. Unless I actually broke it ... which happened often. Sometimes it's hard to be tugging on wrenches and not unintentionally bite through your bit. I even dropped one in a screw conveyor and it was crushed into pieces.

Those pipes I used while working were never good name brand pipes ... usually some basket pipe I got at Tinder Box or a Dr. Grabow from a drug store. And actually I still have a few of those work pipes in my collection and are still part of my rotation.

So the short answer (after babbling on) is I personally smoked the same pipe for months on end with no resting period between like I do now. And back the I'd say I usually smoked either Captain Black Gold or the Tinder Box house blend "North Sea".

KABUL07

I thank you all, it appears that hard smoking along with wear and tear on a pipe will or may not hurt it, not unless it's crushed :-). So is it fair to say that you can take the theory, "You can smoke a pipe too much" and toss it, just asking. From your responses no one appears to have done that, it sounds like everyone just smoked and applied that burning pressure on the pipes you owned and the pipes brought you all the way through to home sweet home. They have seen the test of time, and they are some of your favorites still today. Funny, it sound like many of you now have a "SWEET RACK", the rack which holds all your top/high end pipes. Oh well, you deserve it and worked hard to get to that point, so relax and enjoy. Thanks family, be safe.

opipeman

KABUL07;
I usually smoke the same pipe a couple of times a day over several days. My "Sweet Rack" contains all the pipes that smoke really well. I have pipes I purchased as far back as the early to mid 60's.

KABUL07

Hello opipeman, if you don't mind sharing, the pipes in your "sweet rack" are they a particular manufacture such as Peterson's, Savenlli's, customs, etc. or are they pipes that just smoked well for you with brand having nothing to do with the quality of smoking. One day I was smoking a pipe and it smoked so well I placed it in a rack and stated to my self, "I am going to place all my great/well smoking pipes in this rack. I now have that and the brand has nothing to do with it, they are pipes that just smoke well every time I fire it up. In addition, please let me share this note, I have a "Dunhill" pipe and it is "NOT" in that rack. :-(

opipeman

KABUL07;
All but one is a Savinelli, but smoking well is the common trait they share.

KABUL07

Another question, some may find it silly but here we go. when you are smoking a bowl and for some reason(s) you had to put the pipe down and attend to whatever the task may have been and was unable to get back to your pipe until the next day or day and a half later. Do you find yourself re-lighting and continuing with that smoke/bowl or do you find yourself fresh packing and starting a new bowl ?  

mapletop

Start new bowl

RockyMountainBriar

I have never done that, but I’m thinking it would be pretty nasty to relight....I would dump it.  I imagine it would probably be like smoking saved up dottle?

RockyMountainBriar

I smoke my own handmade Liverpool and Dublin the most.  I don’t have a “special pipes” rack, they are all special🙂.  I do have a couple that are especially crappy smokers though.  I have hopes for the Peterson Killarney 80s though, the Electra is hopeless, it smokes hotter than a $2 pistol no matter what.  I like the stem logo inlay though🙂

motie2

New bowl

pipeman83

I’ve relighted after a day or two, mainly because I don’t like to waste tobacco, very rarely did I have to dump it, unless it’s really nasty I hadn’t had any problems.

KABUL07

pipeman83, I must say this was one of the reasons why I posted my question. I wanted to know if there were any other pipe smokers out there in the "This Pipe Life" community that practiced this routine once in a while. I have been interrupted and had to place my pipe smoking on hold. What I will do is let the pipe cool completely down, tap out the top layer of ash then I will place a wind cap over the bowl. When I come back and re-light I have never had any problems especially with aromatic blends. I have a habit of not wasting because as a child growing up we could never waste anything as I recall, we could not afford to do that. I have also noticed that if my smoke has been moist, when I returned to re-light the pipe smoked better, cooler and lasted a little longer. with no moisture. As of this date, I have not had any pipe issues with this practice.   

opipeman

@KABUL07;
I do the same and have noticed the same result. It happens to me quite often as well.

KA9FFJ

Not unusual for me to smoke 2 or 3 bowls a day in a meerschaum. I personally haven't found a problem in doing so.
I also, from time to time, have smoked 2 bowls from the same pipe while playing golf. However, I use a filtered cob, change the filter and run a pipe cleaner through it before reloading...
Briar... no, can't say that I have...

ghostsofpompeii

I've often found myself interrupted while smoking and had to put the pipe down with nearly a full bowl. So I usually turn the pipe upside down to empty the layer of white ash on top, then fire up the pipe and smoke the remnants. Usually the tobacco taste just as good as when I originally loaded the pipe. The main thing is removing that spend white ash on top. Like @pipeman83 I don't like wasting tobacco. Especially if it's a blend I really enjoy. And if it's something like "Wild Hare" ... a blend that's been discontinued ... I want to savor it to the last.

pipeman83

@ghostsofpompeii,

pipeman83

  

ghostsofpompeii

I think the reason I rotate my pipes and swap them daily is to justify to my wife my reason for having so many pipes. If I were to only smoke one or two pipes on a regular basis it would be hard to explain why I have so many in my collection.