I started in 1967 at the tender age of 17, but i had wanted to start 10 years earlier. My dad never smoked but one of his friends, who had fought with him in ww2, always had a pipe in his mouth. He smoked Blend 11 and the aroma was delicious. When I turned 17, i bought a Medico (I still have it and after many years of use, the varnish wore off, revealing 22 fills. I still have that pipe, and smoking it reminds me of my dad.) Blend 11 didn't smell like I remembered (perhaps the formula had been changed) and it smokes very HOT. Perhaps it was me.) For the next 10 rears, I smoked drugstore aromatis, such as Amphora red and Borkim Riff. Then, a friend turn me on to Balkan Sobranie white, which i smoked exclusively for about 10 years. Then I switch to a very heavy English blend of my own making: 10 oz. of 11010 English with 4 and 2 oz. of latakia and perique respectively. Smoked that exclusively for about 20 years. For the last 10 years or so, I've smoked various vaper flakes, Dnglish blends, and the occasional aromatic. Not sure what I'll be smoking over the next 50 years, but am looking forward to the continuing journey.
I started because my Dad smoked a pipe. I wanted to be just like him. When I got into my teens, he allowed me to smoke w/o sneaking around. He figured if smoking his pipes in secret was the worst thing I did (which it was), he would act like he didn't know and be thankful I wasn't a thug. (His words)
I've smoked a pipe off and on since my late teens. Dad was/is a piper and I wanted to try it. He put me off as long as he could. I was almost old enough and we were visiting Williamsburg and I naught a clay tavern pipe in the giftshop. He let me pack it with some of his Capt. Black.
I started smoking a pipe in 2007. I found it extremely relaxing and a great stress reliever. I can remember walking through the local grocery store with my mother as a young boy and seeing the pipe and tobacco aisle which I was than greeted with such a wonderful aroma every time we walked by. I remember one time I was able to sneak out one aisle to get to this aisle that held my curiosity so tightly. I remember gazing at each pipe that hung on the pegboard and smelling the pipe tobaccos that laid so freely on the shelves. That was my first tangible experience. I have other memories of seeing pipe smokers enjoying life or deep in thought or even catching a glimpse of ones pipe collection. These memories bring back the mystery of the pipe whenever I recall them. On a humorous note my daughter when four years old once pointed to the pipe I had clenched in my mouth in front of a group of people and explained "that's daddy's pacifier". She did not know how right she was.
I have always found pipes to be novel and pretty cool, to be honest. It was only just over a year ago that I took up the hobby. I had smoked cigarettes on and off for several years and had wanted to take up a healthier vice. A professor in college saw me reading a Cigar Aficionado magazine and we got to talking about tobacco. He told me about his hobby and I switched my sights from cigars to pipes and haven't looked back. I first bought a Medico pipe and Captain Black, both of which I no longer use. I am still learning, growing, and loving the pipe.
I started pipe smoking in college. Smoked pipes from 1964 until the late 80's when I quit. Just took it up again this year. I had kept three pipes (2 Carey's and a Duncan Hill Aerosphere) all these years, and bought two more Carey's, used, on eBay. BTW the pipes I smoke are four Carey's and one Duncan Hill Aerosphere. Back in the day I smoked Balkan Sobranie, Dunhill Aperitif, Cope's Escudo, and Cousin's Aromatic Blend. These days, I'm smoking Carey Classic Black Aromatic and a 50/50 mix of Sutliff's Maple Street and Molto Dolce (obviously, my tastes have changed.....)
Started when I was 15 and curious about why my father and other "older" folks seemed to love their pipes and their codger blends. I picked up a corn cob at the grocery store and snuck some prince albert to try out. Off and on I smoked a pipe through the years but was a cig smoker out of convenience more than preference (I always preferred a pipe but didn't have time I guess) Now I am 38 and smoke pipes only, I love the different varieties of smoke, one day I may have Autumn Evening and a few hours later a Latakia blend. Some days I only smoke codger tobacco and others only higher end english blends. While my pipe is always a cob I can change what shape and size pipe I am smoking on a given day. I find slowing life down and appreciating a pipe on the porch has helped life immensely
I started about a year ago after finding a jar of tobacco at work. After opening and smelling it I was hooked. I jumped on iTunes and YouTube to learn a little.The next day I brought the tobacco with me and stoped by a local cigar & pipe shop. The gentleman at the counter told me my tobacco was Cavendish,so I pick up some more tobacco that he suggested and a Cob. I now have 20 some pipes and a cellar full of tobacco.
It was back in 73 when I acquired my first pipe, a ceremonial Native American pipe, made from red pipestone with a wooden stem. My interest came from learning of my Native American heritage. Along about the same time, I had also acquired a little 20lb Lemonwood longbow, which I never learned to shoot properly. Years later, I was fortunate to meet an SCA member who went by the name of "The Welshman," who taught me how to properly match wood arrows to the bow.
These items were acquired back in the day, when a kid could climb a tree, fall out of said tree, and simply be dusted off by their parents without the need for child protective services being called. There was no need to cut down the entire tree, while simultaneously banning tree climbing in the entire county, by anyone under the age of 21.
About a month ago, my brother in law brought his pipe over so I tried it, brought back memories of my dad smoking when I was younger. So I bought a cheap estate pipe, a pouch of captain black cherry and have been enjoying every puff.
At 3:42 pm that summer's Wednesday....ha, just kidding!
Had an uncle that smoked it and thought pipes looked classy and relaxed compared to the chaos and hurry in a cigarette smoker's tempo. Then, around the 1997 summer time, I bought a cheap basket pipe from a local tobacconist, along with his in-house Wilshire blend (Tinder Box version of RLP6?) - mostly to just sit in his lounge, watch some TV and sip on his complimentary coffee. I'm the kind of guy that, when interested, need to know every detail of what I'm getting into. So the store owner and I had many a conversation regarding pipes, tobaccos, his experiences - truly enlightening for the new initiate - and many a tasting of the various blend types he carried. I knew then that this would be both a hobby and an adventure, and - 50-plus pipes and 50 different stored blends later - have been on the path of discovery ever since. Cheers!
Hello All, New here. I started in 1975. I was also on the Bering Sea on a Coast Guard Cutter. No TV or FM radio off shore back then so I turned into a serious reader. I started reading all of the Sherlock Holmes I could get. Went we stopped in port, I bought myself a pipe and some tea. When we went back out I would not read Sherlock without my pipe and tea (mood setter). Gave them both up after I got out. After retiring I took the pipe back up, but not the tea (prefer coffee). I have made myself several pipes. A pipe is still a great mood setter.
It was cold, rainy late autumn Saturday in 1976 in Moscow, Russia. I was alone in my small apartment - my kids were visiting my in laws with my wife and I desperately wanted to smoke after one week of not smoking. The weather was just terrible - rain with wet snow and a perspective of going out to buy cigarets was not a pleasant one. But I remembered that somewhere in one of the drawers of my desk should have been a pipe and a pack of pipe tobacco. It took some time to find them, I don't remember the pipe, but I do remember tobacco brand. It was a small yellow box of completely dry "Golden Runo" blend made by Russian tobacco factory "Java". Many days and years have passed, now I live in the U.S. (since 1992), smoke one of hundred or so of my pipes and my absolutely preferred blend is "Half & Half". I do not smoke any flavored blends.
I was a freshman in college, it was 1970. I went to visit my Granddad and Grammie, and lit a cigarette -- Granddad took it away from me, dug in a drawer, and brought out a Dr. Grabow Bulldog pipe (I still have it), showed me how to fill/light/tamp etc. That pipe tasted so much better than the cigarette that I never looked back. Granddad smoked a 50/50 mix of Carter Hall and Sugar Barrel; he recommended Sir Walter Raleigh or Half and Half. I tried the Sir Walter; to this day it's one of my go-to tobaccos. Somewhere along the line I acquired a taste for Latakia, so usually have something English going; but Sir Walter is still there as my fallback.
It was 64 years ago, when I was 18 and a freshman entering the University of Pennsylvania. It was understood that all Big Men On Campus, especially among the fraternities and in the Ivy League, smoked pipes. It was an essential part of academic aristocracy, to which I knew I belonged because my mother was a trustee of the university. I walked into the campus bookstore (run by the university in those days, not by Barnes & Noble) and there was a big display of bent briar pipes on the checkout counter. They had no brand name, only a notation that they were made in North Carolina, but they turned out to be excellent pipes. On the wall behind the cash register was a large display of Middleton's Walnut which was the de rigeur tobacco of upper-class Philadelphia in the Fifties. In any club, office, or cocktail lounge, anyone might see you smoking and ask to borrow a bowlful from your pouch, fully confident that it would be Walnut, certainly not a mass-market Burley or any aromatic. (Gentlemen don't smoke cough drops.) I have been a steady pipe smoker ever since, never straying into cigars, let alone cigarettes. (In my city, Richmond, the tobacco capital of the country, cigarette tobacco is known as "floor sweepin's.") I became the music director of campus radio station WXPN, and by a curious coincidence our music shows were sponsored by Middleton's Walnut. We got paid half in cash and half in grocery bags of Walnut, enabling me to supply all my pals with free tobacco. In those happy, politically incorrect days, you could smoke everywhere in the university, except in the dining halls and the science labs. You smoked all through your classes, as did the faculty. You smoked in the library. The president of the university made daily walks all over the campus, greeting every available student without taking his ubiquitous pipe out of his mouth. You smoked on the bus, in the subway, in airports and train stations, and in the lobbies of the concert halls and even in your bank. The loss of this freedom is probably a leading cause of the social conflict and crabbiness of our time. I now enjoy Hearth & Home Chestnut, which is a faithful reconstruction of the now discontinued Walnut, but most of all, what I think is Russ Ouelette's best and richest Latakia mixture, Larry's Blend. My pipe helps me work, expediting the working out of rational problems, exactly as Albert Einstein said it would. I would be lost without my dozens of pipes, particularly my calabash, ideally suited to extended contemplation.
I bought my first pipe when I moved to Alaska in 1991. Even at the age of 22, a pipe and Alaska life seemed to go hand in hand. My first pipe was an Italian no name from a basket of seconds at a tobacconist shop in Anchorage. I don't think I paid $15 dollars for it. Decades later and after acquiring countless expensive pipes, this first pipe is still my favorite and my "go to" pipe. Perhaps it's because of its sentimental value to me, but it's a great smoker. It started my love affair with pipe smoking.
I hate to admit this but I actually started smoking a pipe when I was around 13 years old and in the 8th grade. But there's more to this story.
I attended a very strict Catholic school where the nuns ruled the roost. And unlike the privacy policies of today, where a female teacher would not dare enter the boys bathroom even if a cloud of cigarette smoke billowed out from under the door - back in the early 60s' when I attended school - the nuns had no compunction about preemptive routine spot checks. Occasionally catching a student in the act: which would result in some form of corporal punishment (usually a ruler to the back of the hand), a call to the parents, and sometimes much worse - expulsion. Which was usually restricted to the repeat offending problematic hard-ass. (Yea ... believe it or not Catholic schools did have the occasional 'slicked-back hair greaser thug' - and I have the scars to prove it)
Well I was neither a greaser thug nor one of the cool kids - but I was devious enough to hatch a plot whereby I might ingratiate myself into that popular brood by drawing cover for them with a little diversion we'll call 'the phantom janitor'.
The plan started with my purchase of a cheap basket pipe from a local drugstore that was carved to resemble a skull, studded with two glowing red 'fake ruby' eyes. Naturally I told the cashier the pipe was a birthday present for my Dad ... and back then they seldom asked questions. On numerous occasions my Grandfather would send me to the local neighborhood store for a pack of Camels and never had a problem. 'No Sale To Minors' was still years away.
And along with the skull pipe I bought a package of Middleton's Cherry Blend Pipe Tobacco.
You see ... the school janitor was a pipe smoker with a preference for Middleton's Cherry Blend, and I knew that if the nuns were to walk into the restroom for a spot check and smell the pipe tobacco, they would assume the janitor had come and gone.
So with phase one of the plan completed - the purchase of the pipe and tobacco - I worked up the courage to present my scheme to the schoolyard bullies for their approval - and they loved it - making me an honorary member of the pack. Well ... I wouldn't go so far as suggest acceptance - let's just say that I was graciously accepted as the 'pack decoy'. And when-ever they felt the urge to catch a quick smoke I'd be sent in just before they arrived ... cloud up the place with the fragrant aroma of Middleton's Cherry Blend smoke ... then disappear like a ghost leaving only my trace scent behind. And believe it or not - it actually worked.
Of course being a somewhat skinny geek of a boy I was never made an official member of the 'cool kid clique' - but happily moved up the food chain from 'playground punching bag' to the less painful category "leave him alone - he's okay". Which made the remainder of the school year quite pleasant.
When I was a child in the early 50s my grandmother had some friends who visited often to play pinochle The man, Earl, always carried two old straight stemmed pipes and a can of Velvet tobacco with him, He alternated between the two pipes the entire time the played cards.. The smell fo the tobacco was welcomed as it masked the smell of the Camel Cigarettes my parents favored. As an early teen, my-father desired to cut back on his two pack a day smoking habit. He bought a pipe and a box of tobacco, i think Cookie ar. After frying his tongue, the pipe and tobacco sat forgotten on a shelf for months. One day, about the age of fourteen, I decided to try my hand at pipe smoking. My favorite movies at the time were the old Sherllock Holmes starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. They both puffed away on pipes throughout the movie. To make a long story short, I initially burnt my tongue also. Undaunted, I continued sneaking the ripe with its increasingly dry tobacco for the next coupe of weeks. My father finally caught me. While he didn't want me to smoke, he begrudgingly bought me my own pipe, a no name straight shank pipe that came with two pouches of Half & Half. From then on I was a pipe smoker. In college I gave up my Cherry Blend for Flying Dutchman. i currently own about one hundred pipes, almost all half or full bent and pretty much stay with Lane products. For me, they give the best bang for the money.
I started smoking pipes about 6 months ago after smoking cigars for a while a before, I tried pipes because frankly its cheaper than cigars and after doing it for i while i started enjoying it more than cigars. I'm more into the tobacco side of the hobby i like trying different types of tobacco i still eventually want to expand my pipe collection but for now I'm content with my MM corn cobs.
I've had a love affair with tobacco for about the last twenty years. Unfortunately most of that time I was smoking cigarettes. I was a part of the cigar boom in the late 90s. I picked smoked a pipe a couple years with coworkers while living in Huntsville, AL in the mid 2000s. I was mostly smoking black Cavendish with a sprinkling of Virginias thrown in. Last year I started smoking cigars again and really enjoyed it. A couple months ago after a little research I decided to pick up the pipe again. I've gone from smoking a pack and a half of cigarettes a day to smoking one or two cigarettes and a few bowls. I've got three estate briar pipes, three cobs and a falcon. I'm exploring the wide variety of bulk and tin tobaccos. I'm really enjoying Virginia flake, VaPers, Kentucky dark fired blends, Scottish blends and the occasional aromatic. The world of pipe tobacco is way more vast than I ever imagined and can't wait to explore it more.
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After opening and smelling it I was hooked. I jumped on iTunes and YouTube to learn a little.The next day I brought the tobacco with me and stoped by a local cigar & pipe shop.
The gentleman at the counter told me my tobacco was Cavendish,so I pick up some more tobacco that he suggested and a Cob. I now have 20 some pipes and a cellar full of tobacco.
It was back in 73 when I acquired my first pipe, a ceremonial Native American pipe, made from red pipestone with a wooden stem. My interest came from learning of my Native American heritage. Along about the same time, I had also acquired a little 20lb Lemonwood longbow, which I never learned to shoot properly. Years later, I was fortunate to meet an SCA member who went by the name of "The Welshman," who taught me how to properly match wood arrows to the bow.
These items were acquired back in the day, when a kid could climb a tree, fall out of said tree, and simply be dusted off by their parents without the need for child protective services being called. There was no need to cut down the entire tree, while simultaneously banning tree climbing in the entire county, by anyone under the age of 21.
I hate to admit this but I actually started smoking a pipe when I was around 13 years old and in the 8th grade. But there's more to this story.
I attended a very strict Catholic school where the nuns ruled the roost. And unlike the privacy policies of today, where a female teacher would not dare enter the boys bathroom even if a cloud of cigarette smoke billowed out from under the door - back in the early 60s' when I attended school - the nuns had no compunction about preemptive routine spot checks. Occasionally catching a student in the act: which would result in some form of corporal punishment (usually a ruler to the back of the hand), a call to the parents, and sometimes much worse - expulsion. Which was usually restricted to the repeat offending problematic hard-ass. (Yea ... believe it or not Catholic schools did have the occasional 'slicked-back hair greaser thug' - and I have the scars to prove it)
Well I was neither a greaser thug nor one of the cool kids - but I was devious enough to hatch a plot whereby I might ingratiate myself into that popular brood by drawing cover for them with a little diversion we'll call 'the phantom janitor'.
The plan started with my purchase of a cheap basket pipe from a local drugstore that was carved to resemble a skull, studded with two glowing red 'fake ruby' eyes. Naturally I told the cashier the pipe was a birthday present for my Dad ... and back then they seldom asked questions. On numerous occasions my Grandfather would send me to the local neighborhood store for a pack of Camels and never had a problem. 'No Sale To Minors' was still years away.
And along with the skull pipe I bought a package of Middleton's Cherry Blend Pipe Tobacco.
You see ... the school janitor was a pipe smoker with a preference for Middleton's Cherry Blend, and I knew that if the nuns were to walk into the restroom for a spot check and smell the pipe tobacco, they would assume the janitor had come and gone.
So with phase one of the plan completed - the purchase of the pipe and tobacco - I worked up the courage to present my scheme to the schoolyard bullies for their approval - and they loved it - making me an honorary member of the pack. Well ... I wouldn't go so far as suggest acceptance - let's just say that I was graciously accepted as the 'pack decoy'. And when-ever they felt the urge to catch a quick smoke I'd be sent in just before they arrived ... cloud up the place with the fragrant aroma of Middleton's Cherry Blend smoke ... then disappear like a ghost leaving only my trace scent behind. And believe it or not - it actually worked.
Of course being a somewhat skinny geek of a boy I was never made an official member of the 'cool kid clique' - but happily moved up the food chain from 'playground punching bag' to the less painful category "leave him alone - he's okay". Which made the remainder of the school year quite pleasant.
What a strange introduction to pipe smoking.