Intro: This is a golden age of pipe smoking! Today there are hundreds of companies and independent artisan pipemakers producing pipes each year with more cropping up regularly. There are thousands of tobacco blends of every variety available along with a steady influx of new blends being introduced. One is no longer limited to the stock of one's local tobacconist's shop because the internet has provided access to unlimited resources for pipes and tobacco. In this age where brick-and-mortar shops are becoming scarce, online retailers (or "e-tailers" as they are sometimes called) are flourishing. Without a doubt, the internet has been a key factor in the evolution of pipe smoking.
Pre-Internet Years ago pipe smokers purchased their pipes and tobaccos at a local shop or through a mail-order catalog. Choices were usually very limited according to what was being carried at that time by the shops. There was not a large variety of brands, shapes and sizes of pipes. Tobacco choices consisted of some premium brands like Dunhill, "drugstore" brands and house blends of local shops. Some of these local shops made some wonderful blends but were virtually unknown outside of the local area.
Information about pipes was not easy to find. New pipe smokers wishing to learn the basics of the gentle art usually had to find a mentor to teach them how to properly pack, light, smoke and care for the pipe. More than a few tobacconists gave crash courses to new customers making their first purchase. Most new pipe smokers were taught the standard "three-level" packing technique, given a bag of aromatic tobacco and sent along their way.
Early Internet Age With the implementation of the internet into the public mainstream came the Usenet group "alt.smokers.pipes". This newsgroup hosted a virtual community sharing a plethora of knowledge and experience in pipe smoking. New smokers could ask questions to seasoned veterans from the comfort of their own sofas. Information about various brands of pipes and tobaccos were shared between people all over the world. Some members traded pipes and tobaccos, discovered new blends and brands, learned new ways to pack a pipe and invented better ways to maintain a pipe. Eventually, the old myths were exposed as just that...myths.
As a result of having access to such a large pool of pipe lore, smokers began to enjoy the gentle art more than they had prior to joining the newsgroup. Several commercial web sites were created as "virtual smoke shops" and soon one could purchase those pipes and blends discussed online. Imagine the feeling of discovering that no-name pipe you thought was a high quality briar was just mediocre once experiencing a true high-grade! The gentle art of pipe smoking was virtually re-invented and re-discovered much to the delight of new smokers and veterans alike.
Present Day Today the internet hosts hundreds, if not thousands, of pipe-related sites. Online retailers have vast inventories and diverse selections. New artisan pipemakers create works of art in their homes and sell them on their own web sites. Some pipemakers and tobacco blenders have participated in the online pipe community giving smokers direct interaction with the creators of their favorite blends and pipes. It is a tight-knit community, a "Brotherhood of the Briar", that continues to support the gentle art and keeps it alive.
Through the internet we have a much better understanding of our pipes. Pipemakers teach us how pipes work and what makes them great and what makes them firewood. We know more about tobacco and how blends come together because we have master blenders sharing their expertise about the Leaf. Having a better understanding of the intricities allows us to appreciate that much more all of the work that is put into our beloved tools of tranquility.
Future Despite the smoking bans and other attempts to reduce tobacco consumption, pipe-related commerce shows no signs of slowing down. People are still buying new pipes, tobaccos and accessories. New blends are still being produced with more to come. In this golden age of pipe smoking we are keeping the art alive and growing. Many new pipe smokers are picking up their first briars each day. There is much available for everyone and it is our duty to enjoy it all.
Have any of you heard of Jim Amash? The man appears to be a walking/talking pipe smoking savant, and goes by the name JIMINKS, a blogger at http://www.Pipesmagazine.com
He's also well known in the comic book world through DC and Marvel. I'm guessing @ghostsofpompeii has heard of him in that context.....
@motie2 was talking about the ready availability and acquisition of pipes on the internet. Ran into this name on ebay that I feel is worth checking out. Go to ebay, plug in benandci in the search and check out these pipes. He has some pipes there that I would love to add to my collection...
I used to eat hot dogs plain. The thought repulses me now, but 10-year-old me once placed mustard alongside pickles and sauerkraut on my list of least favorite foods. Imagine my surprise, then, when I learned of a recipe my mother had long referenced for her famous cocktail wieners, which called for the unlikely pairing of grape jelly and yellow mustard. It was then I realized that the condiment I avoided all those years was something I actually enjoyed, and even craved.
In the realm of tobacco, there are myriad reasons one could fail to enjoy a particular blend or leaf component, and it might not be as overt an aversion as my former relationship to the hot dog's best friend. Often, it's a little more nuanced than that. Maybe the blend isn't exciting enough on the first try, and second attempts are foregone. It can also be easier to reach for that familiar VA/Per flake, for example, than it is to explore the complexities of a smokey Balkan mixture. And so into the cellar it goes for the future.
Proper attention paid to a tobacco can be difficult to attain, and even more so to keep, especially as it relates to what you enjoy smoking, but also for new tobacco experiences. Tobaccos should be given a reasonable opportunity (and often that means two or three) of making it into your smoking rotation, and the first light, as G.L. Pease himself says, can "only give you a glimpse of what the blend has to offer." So, what gives?
Well, time actually. We know that on the macro scale, cellaring a blend that fails to really hold your interest can, depending on its components, promote positive change in a blend. Many can mature and assume different qualities over time. But every blend deserves a fair shake, so to speak, so this principle is important to observe on the micro scale as well. For example, if you tried the tobacco in question as a morning smoke, maybe try firing it up at the end of the day, or vice-versa. If it's a flake you've rubbed out, try folding and stuffing, or maybe try drying it out a little more or less. You may be surprised at the results.
And finally, if you've decided to cellar the blend in question, returning to it later may reveal your Holy Grail of tobaccos. When that excellent situation arises, it would behoove us all to ask ourselves, "Why?" Did the tobacco itself change, or did your tastes? One way to figure this out is to try a fresh tin of the same blend, or perhaps something similar just to see if you like it. Don't be afraid to try new things, but make sure you really try them. Leverage your proclivity for distraction, and you might find your next go-to blend.
I just discovered that a few copies of the near legendary book, OUR PIPE-SMOKING FOREBEARS written by Ferenc Levardy, are on eBay for 79,00 Euros or around $94.00
@motie2@PappyJoe Just watched the video on the Briar Patch home page. Most of it was filmed at Princeton and Cadiz, KY. My grandpas tobacco farm was located in Cadiz. Boy, was that video interesting...
<<Nice thing about pipes, unlike cigars, you don't burn the whole thing up each time you wanna smoke, so you got this neat little thing about which you can tell smoking stories. Dees guys that do anything will tell stories about what they do, usually the same one over and over again. That's why you just as well be smoking while you patiently humor them.>>
Comments
Intro: This is a golden age of pipe smoking! Today there are hundreds of companies and independent artisan pipemakers producing pipes each year with more cropping up regularly. There are thousands of tobacco blends of every variety available along with a steady influx of new blends being introduced. One is no longer limited to the stock of one's local tobacconist's shop because the internet has provided access to unlimited resources for pipes and tobacco. In this age where brick-and-mortar shops are becoming scarce, online retailers (or "e-tailers" as they are sometimes called) are flourishing. Without a doubt, the internet has been a key factor in the evolution of pipe smoking.
Pre-Internet Years ago pipe smokers purchased their pipes and tobaccos at a local shop or through a mail-order catalog. Choices were usually very limited according to what was being carried at that time by the shops. There was not a large variety of brands, shapes and sizes of pipes. Tobacco choices consisted of some premium brands like Dunhill, "drugstore" brands and house blends of local shops. Some of these local shops made some wonderful blends but were virtually unknown outside of the local area.
Information about pipes was not easy to find. New pipe smokers wishing to learn the basics of the gentle art usually had to find a mentor to teach them how to properly pack, light, smoke and care for the pipe. More than a few tobacconists gave crash courses to new customers making their first purchase. Most new pipe smokers were taught the standard "three-level" packing technique, given a bag of aromatic tobacco and sent along their way.
Early Internet Age With the implementation of the internet into the public mainstream came the Usenet group "alt.smokers.pipes". This newsgroup hosted a virtual community sharing a plethora of knowledge and experience in pipe smoking. New smokers could ask questions to seasoned veterans from the comfort of their own sofas. Information about various brands of pipes and tobaccos were shared between people all over the world. Some members traded pipes and tobaccos, discovered new blends and brands, learned new ways to pack a pipe and invented better ways to maintain a pipe. Eventually, the old myths were exposed as just that...myths.
As a result of having access to such a large pool of pipe lore, smokers began to enjoy the gentle art more than they had prior to joining the newsgroup. Several commercial web sites were created as "virtual smoke shops" and soon one could purchase those pipes and blends discussed online. Imagine the feeling of discovering that no-name pipe you thought was a high quality briar was just mediocre once experiencing a true high-grade! The gentle art of pipe smoking was virtually re-invented and re-discovered much to the delight of new smokers and veterans alike.
Present Day Today the internet hosts hundreds, if not thousands, of pipe-related sites. Online retailers have vast inventories and diverse selections. New artisan pipemakers create works of art in their homes and sell them on their own web sites. Some pipemakers and tobacco blenders have participated in the online pipe community giving smokers direct interaction with the creators of their favorite blends and pipes. It is a tight-knit community, a "Brotherhood of the Briar", that continues to support the gentle art and keeps it alive.
Through the internet we have a much better understanding of our pipes. Pipemakers teach us how pipes work and what makes them great and what makes them firewood. We know more about tobacco and how blends come together because we have master blenders sharing their expertise about the Leaf. Having a better understanding of the intricities allows us to appreciate that much more all of the work that is put into our beloved tools of tranquility.
Future Despite the smoking bans and other attempts to reduce tobacco consumption, pipe-related commerce shows no signs of slowing down. People are still buying new pipes, tobaccos and accessories. New blends are still being produced with more to come. In this golden age of pipe smoking we are keeping the art alive and growing. Many new pipe smokers are picking up their first briars each day. There is much available for everyone and it is our duty to enjoy it all.
And then came the Deeming Regulations, 8/2016:
http://www.fda.gov/TobaccoProducts/Labeling/RulesRegulationsGuidance/ucm394909.htm
He's also well known in the comic book world through DC and Marvel. I'm guessing @ghostsofpompeii has heard of him in that context.....
Interview at http://pipesmagazine.com/blog/tag/jim-amash-interview/
Blog entries at http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/profile/jiminks
Hey, @ghostsofpompeii, take a look at http://stores.ebay.com/benandci
I'll message you in a minute.
https://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/story.php?title=pipe-tobacco-quiz
This is possibly a repost. I'm getting old.
<<Nice thing about pipes, unlike cigars, you don't burn the whole thing up each time you wanna smoke, so you got this neat little thing about which you can tell smoking stories. Dees guys that do anything will tell stories about what they do, usually the same one over and over again. That's why you just as well be smoking while you patiently humor them.>>
Pictures of Native pipes. Nice.
Pipe philosophies by HolySmokeNPipePadre
[This was a system glitch, so I removed the double post of the Padre.....]
Why I'm getting this large boldface type I have no clue......
Worth a look. Includes a lot of photos and esp. those of churchwardens.