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20 Things I've Learned Since I Started Smoking a Pipe 7 Months Ago
These are my own personal observations in my own life and are not necessarily in any particular order except for #1.
- Slow down. Enjoy the moment.
- Don't pack the bowl too tightly, don't pack the bowl too loosely.
- Different pipe shapes and sizes do affect the tobacco blend enjoyment in most cases.
- It is essential to have several pipes for proper pipe resting and rotation.
- Cheap pipes are not necessarily bad pipes and expensive pipes are not necessarily good pipes. This can be quite subjective.
- The tobacco blend you fell in love with 7 months ago and wrote gushing reviews about may not even be in your current tobacco rotation today.
- Cellaring tobacco is possible...with a little discipline.
- Not all online tobacco sellers are equal but each has it's own merits and it's own liabilities.
- The time between when you order tobacco online and when it arrives is only predictable to a certain extent and it seems like an eternity. Plan accordingly.
- A good pipe lighter, be it cheap or expensive, is a vital part of the pipe smoker's tool kit.
- Don't use your finger to tamp ashes unless you don't mind a burn on your finger. Buy a tamper or scrounge one up.
- Nicotine is your best friend and your worst enemy if you don't know what you're doing.
- Room note matters most to the ones around you.
- Listen closely when your significant other says they like or don't like a particular tobacco blend's room note.
- Beards collect a LOT of the tobacco smell when smoked.
- Having your car window too low when smoking while driving can be a painful and dangerous experience.
- There are too many tobacco blends that you want to try and too little time (and too little money at times).
- Smoking alone is fine but smoking with friends is enjoyable in a whole other way.
- Wind is not your friend when smoking a pipe.
- Love smoking a pipe, not because it is a fad or hip but simply because it is a tradition that is worth carrying on.
Comments
Thanks all. I've been musing on this for some time so I needed to get it out of my brain so it will leave me alone.
The one that I should have included is that the pipe smoking community here on TPL is priceless. A wealth of information and support can be found. I posed a difficult question (for me anyways) some time ago here on TPL and @ghostsofpompeii gave me a thoughtful response that meant a lot to me. Can't tell you enough how much that meant to me. So, thanks ghosts...
@philosopiper = backstory on #16.
My work commute is approximately 75 miles (+/-) round-trip and most of it is back-roads with no traffic through orchards, rice fields and ranch land. Lovely drive really and a perfect time to enjoy a bowl (or two!) of my current favorite, HH Old Dark Fired Kentucky.
In the infancy of my pipe smoking days, I was smoking a nice (loosely packed <see #2 above>) bowl in a rather shallow pipe (cake buildup really <see #4 above>) and the ash started to drift around in the car a bit too much. I lowered the window to try to clear the air and I lowered it too much. A gust whooshed in the open window and kicked the contents of the bowl out... onto my hand, on my work clothes and into my eyes. Feeling the sting of the coals on my hand and partially blinded, I raised the window back up and frantically rubbed my eyes trying to get most of it out and I slightly ran off the road. I recovered (slightly) and continued on my merry way. To my horror, a small coal had flown, unnoticed, into my beard which I only discovered because of that peculiar burning hair smell that wafted into my nose. Patting that small danger out, I, once again, continued on my way. But the danger had not subsided. Unbeknownst to me, another wayward coal (the majority of the contents of my pipe I think) had flown into the backseat of the car which contained several old newspapers, some construction paper for the grandkids and a ratty old seat cover. As I traveled down the road, still smarting from the incident and stroking my poor injured beard, I noticed my bowl was completely empty. About a mile further down the road, as I was reloading my pipe, I began to smell another distinct odor... burning paper. I panicked. I punched the brakes and stopped the car and jumped out. I opened the back door to find that a coal must have lodged nicely between the construction paper and a newspaper. Most of the front page of the folded newspaper was charred and a hole had burned through the top few layers of the construction paper. I began to frantically pull smoking paper out and toss it into the road. It must have been a sight to see but thankfully no one was around. Eventually, with all the smoldering paper in the middle of the road, I was able to assess the situation. No fire (thank God), but a small hole had also been burnt into the seat cushion. I patted around a bit to ensure that the danger had completely passed, loaded up the charred paper and got back in the car, said a prayer of thanks and moved on towards home, a little wiser.
@pappyjoe, absolutely true. No doubt that list will continue to grow. Love to hear the input of other's wisdom.
That's one of those instances when you liked to have a dash cam pointed in your direction. Of course you wouldn't want anyone other than yourself to see it.