Still Have Your First Pipe? Why or Why Not?

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mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
Do you still have the first pipe you ever owned? What was it? Was it new? Was it a hand-me-down? If you bought it, where? Do you still have it? If you don't, what happened to it? I bought my first pipe some time in the 1970's at the Tinder Box chain in the nearby mall. It was a somewhat distinctive house pipe, a Tinder Box St. Ives, a bent pot with a vertical saddle stem, in a light bright brown stain. And yes, I still have it. Out of curiosity, I wrote Tinder Box customer service about eight years ago and asked if they could identify the source, and they said they thought it was probably a Chacom. It has always been a good smoker, and still looks good. A little char on the rim and a little chatter on the bit, but not bad at all. Still appetizing after all the years.

 

npod

Lifer
Jun 11, 2017
2,942
1,024
Yes sir. My first pipe is still happily in the rotation frequently.

 

ashdigger

Lifer
Jul 30, 2016
11,378
70,056
60
Vegas Baby!!!
My first pipe was a cob that was purchased on September 13, 2011. It was destroyed within 2 weeks because I freight trained the damn thing and burned up the hardwood shank.
But I persevered. I still own pipes numbers 2 and 3. Both Dr. Grabows. The Omega still gets smoked occasionally, but the prince suffered a catastrophic burn out.....I've since learned how to smoke.

 

milehighpiper

Can't Leave
Sep 10, 2018
418
309
Denver, CO
I bought my first pipe a few months ago from my local shop and yes I still have it. It was a new “Paykoc Briar” 3/4 bend and smokes well enough for a beginner pipe. Sounds like a bong whenever I smoke anything out of it and I have to run a pipe cleaner after every few puffs. I use it mostly to try new blends now. I completed a 6 day Peterson pipe rotation/collection and have not smoked my first pipe as much. I plan on making it my on the road pipe to smoke during work breaks or when I find myself hiking or fishing.

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
...another nice feature of my St. Ives first pipe was that it is a sitter, which for a beginner is great, before you have figured out all the various places to stow your pipe between puffs or relights. I like that my first was kind of distinctive in looks, very durable, and quite affordable without looking too basic.

 

seanv

Lifer
Mar 22, 2018
2,958
10,405
Canada
First pipe was a MM cob. I still smoke it. Second pipe was a Silvano Decimo estate for $50. I still smoke it frequently, it is a dedicated burley blend pipe.

 

scloyd

Lifer
May 23, 2018
5,940
12,031
I purchased my very first pipe in the early 80's and smoked it on occasion. Quit smoking a pipe when we started a family. No, I do not still have it. Fast forward 35 years, March 2018, my second "first" pipe was Tinder Box basket pipe. I still have it and rarely smoke it.

 

mikefu

Lifer
Mar 28, 2018
1,976
10,506
Green Bay
I don’t have my first pipe. It was a Yello-Bole Brylon bent billiard, and it smoked terribly. I purchased it when I was in high school, and didn’t know anything about pipes, aside from thinking that they smelled good. I fried (or steamed) my mouth many times before throwing it away. I purchased a Czech made Briar basket pipe a couple years later, a nice big 1/4 bent brandy, and I do still have it, and it smokes well and is in my rotation.

 

pepesdad1

Lifer
Feb 28, 2013
1,023
675
First pipe was a Comoy Golden Grain Canadian in 1961...still have it in daily rotation. Still smokes wonderfully.

 

philobeddoe

Lifer
Oct 31, 2011
7,404
11,575
East Indiana
My first pipe was a Dr. Grabow bent billiard and I have no idea what happened to it. I bought an estate Big Ben bent apple from my local B&M after smoking the Grabow for about a year or so and never looked back, the idea of a “rotation” didn’t cross my mind until I had been smoking a pipe for about ten years. I figured that I had a good pipe, who needs more than one? I smoked Tinder Box Anniversary exclusively in my one pipe, then for some reason after about ten years, I decided to try other blends and I then decided that I needed more pipes because everything I was trying was tasting like cherry.

 
May 3, 2010
6,423
1,461
Las Vegas, NV
I still have the bowl. The stem cracked a while back. I may bring it to the West Coast Show and see if a carver can make a new stem for it. It's a no name Italian made Dublin shaped bowl and was a churchwarden.

 
Mar 29, 2016
1,006
5,540
Yes I still have it. A merger GBD London Billiard 135, a gift from my mom for my 18th birthday. It ran the gamut of Aromatics, Virginia flakes and Latakia mixtures. Professionally cleaned and waxed, it's now retired and displayed on the mantelpiece.

 

skydog

Part of the Furniture Now
Jun 27, 2017
580
1,535
My first few pipes were corn cobs I bought to enjoy the OTC blends I was buying in college. Those are all long gone but I do have my first briar pipes. I inherited my grandpa's small collection and still cherish them.

 

tavol

Starting to Get Obsessed
Mar 23, 2018
175
172
I bought a pair of 5th Ave cobs as my first pipe(s) and I smoked the heck out of them. I still have them somewhere, I know they're in my fishing tackle room but I'm just not sure where, one is heavily ghosted in gawith sauce and the other was reserved for Virginia blends.
My first briar pipe was a Peterson Kapruff 80s that I bought unsmoked off ebay for $25. I still smoke it to this day and it also remains the only bent pipe I own.

 

jensen

Can't Leave
Apr 10, 2016
440
143
My first good pipe a new Orlik given to me by my father in 1964. I still have it.

 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,248
108,348
A smooth Grabow Omega purchased new at Rite Aid back in '91. Still around and still smoked.

 

mortonbriar

Lifer
Oct 25, 2013
2,651
5,658
New Zealand
A Ukrainian pear wood pipe ordered online, I think 2009. It had a little extra section of shank that broke, and once I got my first briar it was retired. It smoked ok but the pear wood was not neutral in flavour, thinking back I imagine it only bugged me after I got briar. I still have it in a drawer somewhere, it will probably always kick around in a drawer because I find it hard to throw it out, being the first.
And I just remembered my actual first I carved out of a single piece of Churchill soapstone on a Sunday afternoon, using a very primitive set up and a wobbly bench! That one actually smoked quite well but would make a horrible clencher. I will keep that one too, although never smoke it again probably.
Isaac.

 

ray47

Lifer
Jul 10, 2015
2,451
5,610
Dalzell, South Carolina
I still have my first pipe, a Dr. Grabow Viking, but the bowl no longer fits the stem. I guess the threads on the bowl are worn down. I keep it for memory sake.

 
My first was a Savinelli Piuma, a small chambered rusticated dublin. I still use it as a morning aromatic pipe.

It is the one in the front.

piumas.jpg


 
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