Did You Start with a Pipe or Something Else?

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sparrowhawk

Lifer
Jul 24, 2013
2,941
219
Cigs for far too long. Finally quit them over three years ago with the help of Chantix (which I gather doesn't work well with most people) then started pipes. (There were a few abortive attempts with pipes on and off a couple of times over the years, but didn't realize there was a special way to smoke a pipe.) Cursed myself for depriving myself of the joys of the pipe for so many years. Thought I would be able to stop collecting pipes after three or four--what a laugh! Not counting cobs (perhaps not justifiably) I have about 20 pipes now, mostly Petersons. And of course, one very special Dunhill gifted to me by iamn8. My big mistake with pipes was smoking Captain Black Gold, which will bite the tongue like a rabid rattlesnake, and wondering, do all pipe smoker go through this? Then I discovered the forum and learned about how some aeros can do that to you. Nowadays, my standards are Trout Steam and 5100 Red Cake. Never really got into cigars; they remind me too much of certain individuals and they don't fit the persona of a writer.

 
Aug 14, 2012
2,872
123
I started smoking cigarillos. They were a little expensive for a 12 year old at 25 cents for five. So I tried a pipe to save money. Preferred it.

 

rcstan

Lifer
Mar 7, 2012
1,466
8
Sunset Beach NC
Cigarettes in the early 90s in Eastern Europe. When on this shore, I noticed a change in taste starting in the late 90s, and very few choices unfiltered. Picked up cigars for a while, then back to cigarettes which by this time became more disgusting and burned way too quickly. Actually quit smoking all together for a couple years. Started rolling premium quality ( American Spirit, Drum ) then had a short vape stint. Picked up the pipe little over 4 years ago, and full-time piping a few months afterwards. I still enjoy a good cigar on occasion, and I've been known to roll the bottom scraps of a good VA tin. Love VA , hate Burley ( reminds me of cheap sticks, taste and room note wise ). For a special treat, I'll roll some EMP in a paper and feel like I'm 15 again......

 

brudnod

Part of the Furniture Now
Aug 26, 2013
938
6
Great Falls, VA
You could have 1 pipe and thousands of tobacco blends and be happy for the rest of your life. Or you could have multiple pipes and smoke just 1 blend. Either way you have a wonderful experience. I have been a pipe guy for just that reason...

 

dustmite

Starting to Get Obsessed
Mar 5, 2015
262
0
Unfortunately, I too started with cigarettes, smoking an occasional cigar. Pipes have fascinated me since childhood. I remember my dad and two of his brothers dabbling with pipes back then. I decided to give them a whirl to get away from the cigs.

 

geo3rge

Might Stick Around
Oct 28, 2013
79
0
Cigarettes (unfiltered, back in the early seventies), because my family smoked them and they were, then, cheap. But I graduated pretty quickly to small cigars and my first pipe when I was about nineteen. Remained in love with the pipe ever since, though cigars figured strongly for a while in my mid twenties. Much too expensive now to smoke these regularly anyway. The pipe has remained, like a member has stated above, a great friend and comfort over the years. I can't imagine myself without one, though no doubt in time the separation will have to take place at some point.

 

brass

Lifer
Jun 4, 2014
1,840
7
United States
It was in the mid 1960's. I was less than 10 years old when my cousin Shan and I collected some cigarette buts from our parent's ash trays. We graduated to pilfering smokes. We didn't inhale but we enjoyed the "grownups" stature it gave us in front of our friends. My Dad caught me smoking and as punishment, he made me eat two or three of his Pall Malls. The punishment worked. I never smoked Pall Malls again. I switched to Winstons.
By the time I was about 16, my parents relented, threw up their hands, and gave me permission to smoke. That same year I bought a Doctor Grabow and began smoking Palladin Black Cherry. Even then I liked variety, so I also dabbled in Carter Hall, Half and Half, and Prince Albert. I still smoke Carter Hall and PA on occasion and sometimes, nothing will do but a bowl of one of the old codger blends.
Half&Half was very distinctive. I understand that the blend sold under the Half&Half label is not the blend I smoked in my youth.
In the 1970's, I purchased my first serious pipe, a Ben Wade Freehand. I'm still not sure what happened to that pipe. I loved the hand feel and the exotic shape.
In the 1980's I also took up hand made cigars. I smoked up to five or six daily. I quit cigars the month I spent more on tobacco than I did on my rent. My favorite stick at the time was Royal Jamaicans. The factory was destroyed by a hurricane. The label has been resurrected but Royal Jamaicans today are now made in the Dominican Republic.
In the 90's, I left behind pouch blends in favor of house blends from local tobacconists. I eventually began mixing my own blends and made the acquaintance of Perique, Latakia and other constituent ingredients. I also began purchasing some upper end pipes. I didn't buy tins during this period, on the theory that I could create my own blends to taste for far less. And really, I wasn't completely wrong. I still get satisfaction from mixing my own blends. They tend to be very simple but will hold up against many house blends.
Sometimes in the 90's, local B&M's started to close. Those that remained open catered almost exclusively to the cigar crowd. It became difficult to find mixing tobacco and the few stores left that offered house blends were usually just re-branded Lane bulks.
I smoked cigarettes as well until about 8 years ago but was finally able to shake them off after dozens of attempts, using every available crutch I could find: Chantix, nicotine nasal spray (which I enjoyed way to much) and patches.
I avoided all nicotine delivery devices for the first several years being cigarette free. I just couldn't light a pipe without triggering a cigarette craving. But after a few years, I would permit myself the occasional special cigar.
I began exploring the world of tin tobacco when I picked up a can of Sutliff Balkan Blend 957 from a B&M in Tyson's Corner Virginia. Eventually, this purchase led me to discover PipesMagazine and the forums. I've learned more about pipes and tobacco from the members here in the last year than I did in the previous 30.

 

michail

Starting to Get Obsessed
May 7, 2015
114
337
Paros, Greece
I was an ocassionaly cigar smoker -like 3-5 cigars per month- untill I got into pipesmoking 5years ago.
I still smoke a good cigar every 2-3 months.

 

prairiedruid

Lifer
Jun 30, 2015
1,998
1,116
Dad was a 2 pack a day Old Gold smoker so I tried cigarettes but never really took to it. Would smoke the occasional cigar.....maybe 2-3 a year. In June just tried a pipe for the first time and have been hooked ever since....smoke about 3 bowls a day probably soon to be more

 
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