Still Have Your First Pipe? Why or Why Not?

[5star]

I came to pipes as a cigar smoker. I wanted something I could smoke inside during the coldest times in winter without the family complaining. For some strange reason they don’t always appreciate the aroma of a fine cigar. I still have my first pipe, a MM cob. I don’t smoke it now since I find the bowl a little too small. I do smoke larger cobs often. I got it at one of the few good pipe shops in the region.

 

[terry292]

My parents gave me a bent Grabow Duke for Christmas, 1966. Sadly, it disappeared in 1973 somewhere in the jungles of a small Southeast Asian nation which no longer exists. I like to think one of Uncle Ho's myrmidons is still getting some use from it, but it's more likely to have moldered away by now.

 

[mso489]

Great post terry'. I seem to remember that erstwhile nation that's gone. Over time, my boot camp is long gone; my home port is a commercial port; Midway Island where I was stationed was a bird sanctuary and now is a plastic waste vortex usually uninhabited; and my ship was sold to Taiwan and renamed in Chinese during the nineties. Welcome aboard. Ah, but the Dr. Grabow lives.

 

[timt]

I have practically no memory of my first pipe. Just that I smoked Velvet bowl after bowl (among other things in various forms) in the dorm room playing poker in the mid '80s. A blurry haze but I'm sure my technique was spot on.

 

[terry292]

"Great post terry'. I seem to remember that erstwhile nation that's gone. Over time, my boot camp is long gone; my home port is a commercial port; Midway Island where I was stationed was a bird sanctuary and now is a plastic waste vortex usually uninhabited; and my ship was sold to Taiwan and renamed in Chinese during the nineties. Welcome aboard. Ah, but the Dr. Grabow lives."
Yes, the story of my life also: nearly every post closed and every unit deactivated. Fortunately, I still have the memories and most of the comrades.

 

[bnichols23]

Know what you mean, terry. Thanks for the BRACs, Uncle Sugar. And you're right -- memories & brothers/sisters stick!
Bill

 

[glassjapan]

Yes and no. I came to pipe smoking from the world of cigars. I picked up a MM Legend and thought if I stayed with it a few months, I'd commission my first pipe. I found out that I loved the pipe a whole lot more than cigars. About twelve years later, the cob ended up getting destroyed and the commission is one of my favorites. A Rad Davis smooth bent egg.

 

[georgebmcclelland]

My first pipe was definitely a drugstore MM Legend, but that's long since lost, somewhere along the railroad tracks of time. My first briar is an old, old french-made billiard (with a neat swivel-top wind cap, also made from briar) marked only with "GALEPROOF" and in my hand, full to the brim with Jackknife, as I type this.

 

[odobenus]

I've still got my first -- a Comoy Rover 350 (a straight brandy billiard, pre-Chacom, English made) that Dick Silverman (aka Chief Catoonah) sold me in about '96, when my friend and I wandered into his B&M in CT. We were wholly ignorant teenagers and he just befriended us in the most welcoming way and gave us the full tour, as well as an off-the-cuff primer on briars, aromatics vs. non-aromatics, and a bunch of other important things I never forgot. He shipped me my favorite blend for years.

The pipe is 'eh,' mostly because it's not my style and I think the chamber is too big, but I'll always keep it for the fond memories of the Chief. I do think it's well-made.

 

[wyfbane]

I have my first pipe, a Grabow that my mom sent me in Afghanistan. I treasure that pipe.
I also have the first pipes I bought. A Pete 03 Zippo edition, a Sav autograph prince with Cumberland stem, and a Stanwell bent Dublin. All smoke fantastically well and are not on the chopping block of my current downsizing.

 

[carolinachurchwarden]

Here she is, finally got around to taking pictures of her:

And this is how bad I chewed the end up:

Tried to find a plastic bit that would fit, but neither the MM filter or unfiltered stems seem to fit the size of the hole in the shank.

 

[tkcolo]

Soren Freehand purchased 1992 in Hico, Texas for $30. I love it, but I'll only smoke 1Q in it, because it's smell takes me back. So, it doesn't get smoked much anymore.

 

[daddydale52]

Yup! The smallest size Pioneer gourde calabashe, bought fall of 1971 from David Windsor at Fred Diebel’s Metcalf shop. For me a truly memorable baptism!

 

[luigi]

Positive. It's some italian pipe, named Toscana, not sure about the actual producer. It has been abused badly to find a reason to get a new one but it's still going and smokes very good. At the very beginning it was smoked so hot that a part of the stem literally melted, there's a tiny crack on the shank too. It was gifted to me 14 years ago, the same model is still available today for 17€ in many shops. I'm not attached to it in any way (except to my lips during smokes) and as long as it will be functional I don't plan to get rid of it.

 

[olkofri]

Mine's a Vincenzo churchwarden that was just $10 over a basket pipe:


Dublin Churchwarden
I don't really smoke it as it gurgles, but I don't intend to get rid of it. It also takes me back.

 

[rdavid]

Dr Grabow Grand Duke bought at a Rite Aid back in 2006. CB White.
Smoked it so hot, the varnish blistered up in a few places, then the stem split at the big end right behind the tenon. Almost trashed it several times but just couldn't bring myself to get rid of it. I sent it back to the Grabow factory and they replaced the stem for $12. It's now my dedicated Crooner pipe. Going to refinish it one of these days soon. Hope she lives longer than I do!

 

[Chasing Embers]

Wipe it down with acetone to remove the varnish. You'll be surprised how good it looks.

 

[mtwaller]

I still have my first pipe, a Peterson System Standard 313 bought from a brick and mortar in Columbus, GA. I’ve grown to love (lust after) straight pipes so I don’t smoke that as much as my other Peterson’s. Ironically, my 313 is the best smoking pipe of the bunch, and yet I smoke it the least. I’m a sucker for my straight sterling silver pipes of late. But I will never sell it, it’s quite the good little smoker. It’s now my knock around travel pipe, if I want to go on a hike and fancy a good nature smoke.

 

[seldom]

My first pipe was a corncob bought at a gas station when I was still a kid. I don't know what happened to it. I used to hide it out in the woods with tobacco and smoke it while wading streams barefoot in cut off jeans and fishing. Probably at some point in my teenage years it was simply abandoned at my hiding spot.

 

[mikethompson]

First off, I can't believe I never posted in this thread. My first pipe was a hardwood cob my then girlfriend/now wife bought for me as a joke something like 20 years ago. I still have it, I wouldn't get rid of it.
Secondly, Matt that is one chewed up stem!