Did You Start with a Pipe or Something Else?

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Smoking a Pipe Right Now
Staff member
Nov 16, 2008
8,764
4,932
St. Petersburg, FL
pipesmagazine.com
I actually started smoking cigars first. When I get into something, I really get into it, so I bought a book to learn about cigars. The book was The Complete Idiot's Guide to Cigars by Tad Gage.
There was a chapter about pipes that basically said, if you like cigars, you should try pipes ... so I did. (Unfortunately, the current edition of the book does not have that chapter.)
How about you? Did you start with pipes, or something else?

 

maxpeters

Can't Leave
Jan 4, 2010
439
20
I started with pipes. I quit cigarretts cold turkey in 1981. Three years latter I bought my first pipe, and have been a pipe smoker since. I gave cigars a good try in the '90's. Still smoke an occasional one, but they got too damn expensive. Besides, quality went down hill on the affordable ones. But pipes are what I've stuck with.

 

ray47

Lifer
Jul 10, 2015
2,451
5,610
Dalzell, South Carolina
Like many kids in my generation it was cigarettes that got us started smoking. Mainly due to peer pressure for us weak ones. I started at age 13 and didn't take up pipe smoking until I was age 36.

 

fmgee

Part of the Furniture Now
Sep 26, 2014
922
4
I started with pipes a year ago. Never smoked anything before that.

 

lochinvar

Lifer
Oct 22, 2013
1,687
1,632
I started with cigars. It was the beginning of the cigar boom, and a guy who worked for my Dad had just had just been somewhere that had a cigar course after dinner and he loved it. He let me try some of his (mostly Upmanns and Fuentes) and by the time I graduated high school I was spending about $75 a week on cigars. About that time, I discovered the Gatlinburlier Tobacconist in town and after I I got one smell of GatlinBurley I got a pouch of it and a cheap etched bulldog (made of really good Algerian briar) and never looked back.

 

jiujitsubowl

Can't Leave
May 19, 2015
434
0
Muskegon Michigan
I am a younger member (25) and just a few months ago started up with a pipe. No cigs, or cigars. But i do want to try a cigar or 2. My thought was the respectable gentlemen in my life smoked pipes. I wanted to emulate them!

 

cortezattic

Lifer
Nov 19, 2009
15,147
7,637
Chicago, IL
Growing up in Chicago in the early 1950's, every corner had a tavern and a candy store -- all Mom & Pop operations.

Kay's Confectioner was my doom.
CandyStitched-04.jpg


 

rblood

Starting to Get Obsessed
Mar 2, 2015
250
0
Growing up on a farm, my step father dipped snuff. Had my first dip of Copenhagen at age 14 and have dipped ever since.
Picked up the pipe quite by accident - bought an old Kaywoodie in a junk shop in the mid 1980's because it looked "cool" and was cheep - no idea why, just a whim. Dabbled with smoking cheep aromatics in it on and off over the years and was finally given a sample of Nightcap by a B&M guy - it was love at first smoke and as they say, down hill from there.

 

robwoodall

Can't Leave
Apr 29, 2015
422
5
Snuff and chewing tobacco in my teens, transitioned to cigarettes in my 30's quit cigarettes at 49. Started pipe a few months later.
I've tried to smoke a pipe several times from college onward but, frankly, I'm not very good at it, so I typically got discouraged with the tongue burn and quit. This time I've stuck with it, and am FINALLY able to smoke most blends without discomfort.
Cigars are nice, but never "grabbed me."

 

phred

Lifer
Dec 11, 2012
1,754
4
I was raised by fairly straight-edge parents - no drinking or smoking in our household, and I once got my mouth washed out for saying "fartface"... :D
Never cared for cigarette smoke (either first- or second-hand), and never cared much for cigar smoke, either. I'd heard folks say that pipe smoke was much less 'offensive', and I'd smelled some a time or two, but never thought much about it.
A couple of years ago, some friends joined us for a long weekend writing retreat in the mountains, and one of the friends purchased a pipe at a local tobacconist's shop on a whim. We sat out on the back porch several times, and sure enough, the smoke was actually rather pleasant. My wife didn't mind it either, and I started considering picking up a pipe of my own. I started doing research, found this place, and a month or so later purchased my first pipe. I've been enjoying it ever since.

 

eibhir

Can't Leave
Jan 16, 2013
305
0
United States
I started with cigs, but took up the pipe because it's less expensive, tastes better, smells better, and only leaves ash and smoke when I'm done. Plus my husband likes the smell way more than cigs and he thinks it's hot! :wink:

 

seacaptain

Lifer
Apr 24, 2015
1,829
7
I smoked cigars for about 10 years then took a 5 year break. Just didn't have the time. Decided to take up pipe smoking earlier this year.

 

cpjeffrey11

Might Stick Around
Feb 24, 2015
78
1
I started with cigars. Living in Tampa, there are plenty of them to be had. I was really into them for about 2 years before trying pipe smoking. I'm a bit of an old soul, and the old-school nature of pipes appealed to me. I bought a corncob and some tobacco. After putzing around for a few months, a friend and former pipe smoker showed me how to properly smoke a bowl. Fast-forward 3 years later and I am shamelessly addicted to the hobby.

 

newbroom

Lifer
Jul 11, 2014
6,087
6,394
Florida
I started my tobacco habit at the age of 9 or 10 with a shared pilfered Pall Mall by the RR tracks over the hill across from my house with my contemporary neighbor. His dad smoked those coffin nails....after that it was whatever my parents were smoking/and then also pilfered by moi....Dad favored Camels and Luckys. Mom smoked for several years too...and switched from filter to filter.... I remember when Parliments came out..Mom didn't smoke those but some of the guys at school had them.

My paper routes began at the corner stand downtown where they sold every brand known to man. I remember that you could get a pack for a quarter.

I sure wish Dad had been a pipe smoker. The last brand of cigarette I gave any loyalty to was Drum RYO..but before then my most frequent purchase was original Lucky Strikes...Camels seemed to dry my nasal passages and throat more.

Bottom line was I became a nicotine addict by the time I was in H.S.

I have quit smoking so many times it's painful to think about it...who knows? I may decide that even pipe tobacco isn't what I should be doing, eventually.

For now though...I'm really happy I've learned to enjoy tobacco w/o inhaling it, and I do enjoy the varieties of both pipes and blends.

 

aldecaker

Lifer
Feb 13, 2015
4,407
42
I wish I had started with a pipe instead of the nasty ol' Luckies I pilfered from my Dad! Hung pretty close to the FFA crowd in high school, so wound up addicted to cigarettes AND Copenhagen. Never had any interest in cigars, except the Middleton's pipe tobacco cigars. Took me years to kick the Copenhagen, and I'm still not completely free of the cigs. One day, hopefully, I will be content with enjoying the pipe as my only form of nicotine use. Unlike the other stuff, my pipe smoking is a pleasure, not merely scratching a nicotine itch.

 
Mar 1, 2014
3,646
4,916
I've had a fascination with pipes going way back, I even bought a Meerschaum pipe while in Turkey about ten years ago. But just recently, after about a week of intensive research to learn how to go about things without hurting myself or having any negative long term effect, I built up the courage to buck some cultural trends and take a serious shot at becoming familiar with both tobacco and the pipe.

I can still hardly believe the variety of flavour you get from burning a leaf, the attraction is not hard to understand.

 
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