Options
Things I Dislike About Pipe Smoking
To read this forum, one might easily conclude that pipe smoking is all fun and games. I find this not to be the case. For example, I get absolutely no enjoyment out of cleaning a pipe. Although I have all the tools I need to complete the job, for me it’s just one huge PIA.
At the moment, I’ve got at least three pipes sitting around, all of which are in need of cleaning. It’s so much easier to put it off and simply take a fresh pipe out of the rack. I realize this is self-defeating, as the task of cleaning will be that much bigger once I finally get around to it. It’s a good thing I only have about a half dozen pipes. If I had as many as some folks, I’d probably only get around to cleaning them once or twice a year.
At the moment, I’ve got at least three pipes sitting around, all of which are in need of cleaning. It’s so much easier to put it off and simply take a fresh pipe out of the rack. I realize this is self-defeating, as the task of cleaning will be that much bigger once I finally get around to it. It’s a good thing I only have about a half dozen pipes. If I had as many as some folks, I’d probably only get around to cleaning them once or twice a year.
Comments
I run a pipe cleaner through my pipe as soon as I finish smoking it. This removes any moisture from the stem and shank and keeps the pipe fresher. I also wipe out the bowl with a tissue after each smoke. To me that is cleaning.
To other people cleaning is doing a salt treatment and scrubbing out the stem and shank with a bristle cleaner and 190 proof alcohol.
...this is not the case.
For things I dislike about pipe smoking, I'll second some of the suggestions others have mentioned. I hate when tobacco juice runs up from the stem into my mouth. I also don't like the smell of a stinky pipe on my rack, but that's when I know I need to do a deep cleaning.
Other things I dislike? I'm not a fan of tongue bite. As a fan of spicy food, if I've had a pipe the night before, it increases the heat in an unenjoyable way. I hate knocking over a filled pipe and spilling the tobacco on the table (or worse, the floor). I wish I could enjoy my pipe at more places, but that can't be helped.
But most of all, I hate reaching the end of a bowl after a good pipe. There's just some things you don't want to end.
Taking a second and third shot at "What I dislike about..... " is that -- and yes, I know about how good a cob can be..... -- I don't have the financial wherewithal to buy the pipes I covet. I mean, there are Carey pipes for well under $100.00 that I would walk on glass for, but SWMBO has me on a very short leash (which, were it real -- as opposed to metaphorical -- would be..... interesting. I imagine.)
The third thing: SWMBO won't let me smoke in the house. I used to, back it the day, when pipe smoking was kinda cool and hip. but in a polished way; sophisticated. (Hippies wouldn't smoke our pipes, unless they had no imagination and went all Medico/Grabow/cob, cheap and available in every drugstore. We smoked GBD's, Savinelli's, Comoy's, etc. and I started with a Kaywoodie, and soon stumbled into a magazine ad for Carey pipes. (I could never talk any of my classmates into sending away $15.00 for one. For me, it became an addiction, and because I had given up pipes altogether in the mid/late 1980's, I didn't know Carey made anything other than an Apple, a Billiard, and a volcano, until Summer of 2016, when I took up the pipe again. Boy have my eyes been opened. But, as usual, I digress. To resume: I used to smoke indoors, but I quit for so long, and then THE LAW banned smoking indoors in public accommodations/places, and thus, when I started pipe smoking again, she said, "No frickin' way." Begging and pleading wasn't going to work so I initially argued that I was smoking delightful aromatics, not the Latakia blends of old. No dice. I love her dearly, but my days of pipe smoking, until Spring, are rushing to a conclusion. I whine well, don't I?
2. Liquid tar backwash
3. The tooth brushing after smoking too much