Options
Resources for new pipe smokers
motie2
Master
Recommended Resources-1p
All about pipe tobacco-7p
Buying Pipes on eBay - 2p
Casing vs topping-2p
All the above are attached as downloadable .pdf files
All about pipe tobacco-7p
Buying Pipes on eBay - 2p
Casing vs topping-2p
All the above are attached as downloadable .pdf files
Comments
Pipeman's Handbook-161p
Tongue Bite-5p
Weber Art of Pipe Smoking - 60p
All the above are attached as downloadable .pdf files
Some other resources:
TobaccoReviews - For helpful reviews of nearly any blend (even those that were discontinued ages ago), this is the place to go.
PipeSmokerForum - From tobacco reviews, to advice for beginner smokers, to tips on growing tobacco, Pipe Smoker's Forum is a pretty reliable source on a variety of pipe smoking topics.
PipesMagazine - A great source for pipe and tobacco related news.
Pipedia - Pipedia is a user-friendly wiki for all things pipe related.
Pipephil - A comprehensive study of logos, stamps, helping to identify pipe makers. It's user-friendly setup allows you to search for brands by country, name, or logo.
✔︎A Beginner’s Guide to Pipe Smoking (Written by a nine month beginner)
https://medium.com/@Tedmanutham/beginner-s-guide-to-pipe-smoking-main-page-with-the-links-at-the-bottom-fcc0e3fb9fb8
✔︎8 Advanced Pipe Smoking Techniques
https://www.smokingpipes.com/smokingpipesblog/single.cfm/post/advanced-pipe-smoking-techniques-have-you-learned-everything
✔︎Pipe Smoking Tips
https://pipesmagazine.com/blog/pipe-smoking-lifestyle/pipe-smoking-tips-2/
✔︎Top Resources For Pipe Smokers
https://www.smokingpipes.com/smokingpipesblog/single.cfm/post/top-resources-for-pipe-smokers
Pack Light Clean Store-7p.pdf
Lighter maintenance-5p.pdf
All the above are attached as downloadable .pdf files
I'd say you just about got it all covered. Nice work, Brother.
Much appreciated...
What is the best selling pipe tobacco in the US? Best English blend? Best aromatic blend?
https://pipesmagazine.com/blog/pipe-smoking-lifestyle/pipe-smoking-tips-2/
When I first started smoking a pipe, I had no mentor to talk to and nobody to show me tips on how to make pipe smoking more enjoyable. I had to learn a lot on my own from reading, online message boards, asking questions at B&Ms, and experimenting. I thought that I would share some of the tips that I have acquired with all of you. Most of these tips are more for the beginners, but maybe a few of them will help out some of the more seasoned pipe smokers as well.
First let’s start at the beginning.
•Make sure that your pipe is cleaned from your previous smoke before loading and packing fresh tobacco. Make sure that there is no old dottle (un-burnt tobacco and ash) blocking the draft hole that would prevent a good draw.
•Use Less Tobacco Than You Think You Need Here is one that most people might not think about and took me awhile to learn. It sounds pretty simple, but sometimes the simple things are overlooked.
I had a tendency to use too much tobacco when I was a beginner and tried to cram it all into the bowl. Using too much tobacco will cause for a tight pack making the tobacco hard to draw and will cause an un-pleasurable smoking experience. Use less tobacco when packing, you can always smoke another bowl if you want more.
•Pack Looser Than You Think You Need To The rule of the thumb for packing is; when the draw feels like you are drinking liquid through a straw, it is about right. When I fill my pipe, I like to pack it a tad bit looser than that. It is easier to tighten the tobacco during smoking than it is to loosen it up.
•Always Check the Draw of the Pipe Before Lighting If the draw is too tight, dump the bowl and start over. That way you won’t be wasting any tobacco. If you light the tobacco and then the draw is too tight, you will end up having to dump the bowl and wasting the tobacco because it has already started burning.
•Always leave at least 1/8 of an inch (I prefer closer to 1/4 of an inch) of space from the top of the tobacco to the rim. This will allow for some rising of the tobacco when you light it without the burning tobacco touching the rim of the bowl. It will also allow you to focus the flame into the bowl onto the tobacco. Doing this will protect the rim of your pipe and keep it looking good for years to come.
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•Perform a Charring Light This one is kind of debatable, some people do it and some don’t. I have tried it both ways and I have always had better results by doing a charring light. A charring light is when you char the tobacco first before lighting it. To do this you place the flame onto the tobacco and take a couple of light puffs and stop. This will char the tobacco and allow for an even light across the surface of the tobacco. Then lightly tamp down the ashes, and I do mean lightly. Do not use any pressure. Let the weight of the tamper do the work, all you want to do is crush the ash and level off the surface of tobacco. I often get the best results when I perform 3 to 5 charring lights. I do this to get the whole surface of the tobacco charred. I then proceed to fully light the tobacco.
•Fully Light the Tobacco To fully light the tobacco, take about 3 slow long puffs while the flame above the tobacco. You want to draw the flame down into the tobacco. Remove the flame and take about a 3 second break. Repeat this procedure until the entire surface of the tobacco is glowing red. I do it this way to avoid the tobacco from becoming too hot. Remember that overheating the pipe is the major cause of pipe damage. Don’t be in a rush to light it, take your time and keep it cool. You will enjoy the smoke much more. If the smoke is becoming hot, set the pipe down to cool and then re-light it.
•Tamp Less Frequently and With Less Pressure When you tamp too often and with too much pressure, you are tightening the tobacco. This will cause the draw to get tighter and is one of the major causes for a less enjoyable smoke. If I have to re-light the pipe during smoking, I always try to light it without tamping. If it won’t light then I use the tamper and using no pressure, just the weight of the tamper, crush the ashes down and then re-light.
The only time that I use any pressure when tamping is if I have to tighten up the draw, and then I only use very light pressure.
Every so often you will have to level off the surface of the tobacco. When you do this, it will require a little pressure. Just make sure to use just enough pressure to get the job done. Always start light and apply more if needed.
I would like to talk a little about the information that novice pipers will come across. The reason that I named this article “Reading Between the Lines”, is because I want to impress upon the readers that you should read between the lines and take all information about pipe smoking with a grain of salt. This even includes anything that I have written. Everything that I read or hear, I always take with a grain of salt. This includes the so called ‘Professionals’ that work at B&M’s, but I will talk a little more about that later.
There is very little in pipe smoking that I consider hard set ‘rules’. Yes, there are some ‘rules’ that should be followed very closely. Such as cleaning your pipes after every smoke and having a good rotation, but even that is debatable. Does cleaning your pipes after every smoke and having a good rotation help the enjoyment of pipe smoking? In my opinion, yes it does. But back before pipe smoking became a hobby and there were a lot more people smoking pipes, a lot of them smoked the same pipe every day and did not clean them after every smoke. They certainly seemed like they enjoyed their pipes just as much as I do. Am I right and they were wrong? Or were they right and I am wrong? The answer is neither. Pipe smoking is all about enjoying YOUR pipes, tobacco, and smoking.
I do not put much value into those who consider themselves ‘Expert Pipe Smokers’. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not including pipe makers and tobacco blenders in this discussion of being an expert. They are obviously some form of an expert because they have studied the art of pipe making or tobacco blending and they apply their knowledge in their trade and make a living from it. So they have to know quite a bit about what they are doing are they wouldn’t be able to make a living doing what they do.
The ‘Expert Pipe Smokers’ I am referring to is, the people who say; “I have been smoking a pipe for so many amount of years and I have all of this knowledge and this is how you are supposed to smoke a pipe”. In my opinion, the individual person finds their own way to smoke a pipe. If you enjoy smoking a pipe the way that you smoke it, you are doing it correctly. Once again, that does not mean the so called ‘experts’ are wrong, because they are not. They are enjoying their pipe smoking as well.
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I do always listen to and read every bit of information that becomes available to me because I am always learning. There is almost always some bit of information that I was not previously aware of. Sometimes the new info or tip helps me to enjoy my pipe journey better and sometimes it does not. I keep using the things that work for me and do not use the things that don’t work. I do not discard any info whether it works for me or not because it might help out a fellow piper even though it did not work for me. A prime example is the fold and stuff method with flake tobacco. I know that a lot of people use that method with much success, but I can not use that method. I do not get satisfactory results from it although others do.
This applies even more to tobacco reviews. Remember that every one has different tastes and what tastes good to me, might not taste good to you and vice versa. When I write a review, I keep that in mind and try to remain objective. I really hate when I read a review and the reviewer tears apart a blend that he doesn’t like just because he doesn’t like it without any explanation of why he doesn’t like it. I have seen reviews of aromatic blends and the reviewer starts his review with, “Let me start by saying that I hate aromatics.” And then proceeds to bash the tobacco. Well if they hate aromatics and can not be objective, then why are they reviewing an aromatic?
When I read reviews of a tobacco that I have not had before, I look for certain things in the review. I tend to disregard the reviewers personal taste as far as the blend goes, unless I know the reviewer and know what their tastes tend to be. Here are some of the things that I look for when reading a review; what type of tobaccos make up the blend, what type of blend it is, does it sound similar to a blend that I have smoked and if so did I like it or dislike it, if it had a lot of bite to it, etc.
Now back to when I mentioned B&M’s. Just because someone works in one, does not mean that they know what they are talking about. There are two B&M’s that I used to go to frequently. I still occasionally go to one, but I do not go to the other one at all. The first one, the one which I do not go to at all anymore, the clerk was a little knowledgeable about pipes, tobacco, and cigars; but they used to lie all the time instead of telling the truth or simply saying “I don’t know”. Anything that they didn’t carry, they would claim was inferior, was overpriced, was discontinued, or another of many other excuses.
One time I went in and asked if they had any Cornell & Diehl tobaccos. They told me that C&D tobaccos were not very good and people would not buy them so they stopped carrying their products. Needless to say, this was bull. I have become a fan of C&D tobaccos and they make great blends using top notch tobacco. Another time I went in there and asked if they had any Peterson University Flake. They told me that Peterson discontinued that blend, another lie. The last time that I went in, I asked if they had any Opus X cigars and they told me that Fuente didn’t allow the state of Maryland to sell any Opus X cigars, another lie. That was the last time that I went there. This happened when I was relatively new to pipes, about 4 years or so ago. Except for the lie about Opus X, that was about 1 year ago. So you see, with me being new to pipes, I assumed that they knew what they were talking about and telling the truth. I found out a few weeks after each incident that they were in fact, not being truthful.
The second B&M has a clerk that is just totally ignorant to anything pipe, cigar and tobacco related in general. One time I went in there and was looking at Meerschaum pipes. I asked him who the manufacturer of a particular pipe was and he said Meerschaum. I said I know it is Meerschaum, but who makes it. He said that Meerschaum WAS the manufacturer. I had to explain to him that there were in fact many manufacturers of Meerschaum pipes. He got angry and walked away. I left shaking my head.
Another time I went in there and the same clerk was working. He was showing some people some nasal snuff and obviously didn’t know what it was nor did the customers. He told them to put a pinch of it in their mouth and that is how you are supposed to use it. After the people put it in their mouth and said that they didn’t taste anything, I had to laugh and I explained to them that it is nasal snuff and is supposed to be used in the nose. I have also had to explain to other customers that his info on pipe smoking was incorrect and explain to them why his information was wrong and what they could do to fix the problem that they were having. I still go there occasionally because they have a great selection of stuff, but I do not deal with that particular clerk.
So like I said at the start; read between the lines and take everything with a grain of salt. Keep building your knowledge and try many different things. You will come across things that don’t work for you. But when you find something that does, it will make your pipe smoking a little more enjoyable. Find out what works for YOU and smoke your pipes the way that YOU enjoy them, not the way that someone else said you should because they are a supposed ‘expert’.
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Smoke King UK Tobacconist Beginner’s Guide to Pipe Smoking
https://www.zazzle.co.uk/store/pipegifts