Young(er) Pipe Smokers

[mrenglish]

That is another nice thing about pipe smoking. Once you have a pipe or three, buying pipe tobacco is probably the best bang for the money you spend. Even dropping $25 retail on a tin will give you a good week or two of smoking enjoyment.
While I am not in the younger crowd any more, I do see a lot of college students getting into pipe smoking at Smokers' Haven. It helps they are just north of the university campus. Anyway, it is nice to see as the younger folks will keep this hobby going.

 

[mcitinner1]

I'm happily surprised to see so many younger folks on here. I'm 61 years young.
tinner 8)

 

[cmdrmcbragg]

@reichanbach, do you try to get your old man to try different blends? My pops has never been a smoker, but I can only imagine trying to get my grandpa to smoke something other than H&H.
"You should try this?"

"What is it?"

"Escudo. It's Virginia and Perqiue."

"Per-what? Why the hell is it round?"

"You have to rub it out. Or stuff it."

"That's crazy talk, boy. Why should I do all-a that?"

 

[larrylegend]

I'm 30 and have been smoking a pipe for 3 years now. I started because I was drawn to cigars and pipes, of the two choices pipes were more appealing to me due to variety and also economically. Many of the guys I hunt with smoke pipes and cigars. It appealed more to me to spend a few hundred dollars on a pipe and some tobacco that will last much longer than a handful of $20 cigars that will be gone in a few months. I also enjoy how pipe smoke seems to not cling to your clothes and hair like cigar smoke will. My wife certainly appreciates that as well.
As far as pipes go, I think that it may be difficult for a new smoker to understand what makes a good pipe. You can certainly get good pipes that cost $100 and you can certainly get a dud that costs $400. Your chances of getting a dud at the $250+ range is lower than at the $100 range but you need to be able to differentiate between a well engineered pipe and one that may not smoke as well. This can be difficult for new smokers. I think that cobs are a great way to build up a rotation while you learn the basics of smoking and then move into better and better pipes as you go along and as you figure out what types of pipes you like.

 

[werebear]

I'm 24 and I am the only person I know, besides y'all, that smokes a pipe. I have a couple friends that flirt with it but that's it and while it gets lonely it doesn't effec me that much. Its good to know I'm not alone.

 

[jeepnewbie]

I started about 18-19 (going on 33 now so still young), I was always fascinated with a pipe. I loved the smell of them even though no one in my family that I know of smokes one, had a friend's dad who did. Most of the family I don't have communication with. I was at a friends house back then and he had a corncob pipe, not sure of the brand. I believe it was a drugstore brand. I really enjoyed the taste of it, and found my first pipe as a Dr. Grabow on sale at Walmart.
I stuck with it as I enjoy setting back filling a bowl and relaxing. Everything about filling, smoking, then cleaning is relaxing to me. Making a pipe and restoring pipes is also relaxing. I show my wife them before and after on the restoring process, she laughs but thinks they look great. I do like cigars every now and then but can't bring myself to spend 10+ for a stogy and it be gone after an hour. For 4 stogies I can get a basket pipe and 1-2 ounces of store jar tobacco and enjoy them a lot more.

 

[dhizzy]

Cmdrmcbragg....LoL!!!

 

[dryseason91]

Werebear - I'm in the same boat, know no other piper old or young. I don't really mind. For me, smoking a bowl is the best kind of solitary pursuit. Or...well...almost the best.

 

[bulldogbriar89]

I am 25 and have been pipe smoking for 2 years now. I bought a old pipe I was planing on fixing up and selling, then as I read into the art of it it intrigued me allot. I always said I wanted to quit cigarets, so I bought some tobacco and did allot more research, and as I actually got into smoking my pipe I found out how relaxing and calming it was and I bought more pipes and more tobaccos not i'm an addict to buying tobacco, and old pipes and fixing them up instead of cigarets.

 

[munday]

jmsutton - theres a lot of great advice out there - regarding selecting a pipe - do you like the look of the pipe - does it fit YOU - and most importantly is a a good

smoking pipe! I have lots of favorites - I don't like the word "cheap" - I have some inexpensive pipes that smoke great - I have a Erik Nording that I paid $160 for -

love the look and it smoke incredibly well - then theres a custom pipe with my family coat of arms carved in the front - $250 - I have one with laser etching - Eagle

and Special Forces on it - regardless - they are briar pipes and they smoke goooooood!

Age - I just turned 67 Oct 2nd - started smoking cigars and a pipe when I was in Vietnam - have smoked both (more pipe than cigar) off and on until 3-years ago -

when I stayed with it - especially my pipe and I truly enjoy it every day! Like you - my Grandfather smoked a pipe as did my other Grandfather in Australia - we have

very few photos of him since he died when my mother was 6 - however - we have one of him at a racetrack smoking his pipe. Its cool when its a generational thing.

Semper Fi

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I'm certainly not young, relatively speaking. I had one of those moments not long ago that I was usually the oldest guy in the room, wherever I went, ha ha. But, it is good to see so many younger pipe folk. Our pipe club is almost all younger guys. The major difference I see is that I never know who the hell the bands are that ya'll are talking about, ha ha.

 

[thekiltedone]

I'm 25 now but have been smoking a pipe for three and half years. I don't really know what got me interested in pipes but I ha always had a bit of an interest. I do smoke in public without worrying what other people think, I think I'm the only pipe smoker in my area, when I smoke at work I quite often get comments on how dad/grandad used to smoke a pipe but haven't seen someone with a pipe in years.

 

[echie]

I found this thread fascinating, because just the other day I told my wife how pleasantly surprised I was to realise, first at the Dutch forum and then here, how many "younger" pipe smokers like me there were around.
Now, the fascinating bit is that I'm 36 (started smoking pipes about 2 years ago), so my concept of "younger" might need some adjustment

 

[mso489]

Forums members tend to be pipe devotees, so high end prices are really pretty high. If you looked at the

overall price of pipes worldwide, I think anything over $100 or another currency equivalent would be

high grade on the bell curve of what people can and do pay for pipes. When you get over $400, you are

into the stratosphere although some of the pipes in Forums make that seem like a fairly ordinary price.

Just to keep it perspective.

 

[iamn8]

Reading this thread it strikes me how the youngest of us are very quick to pay homage and try not to upset those of us more "advanced" in years. I'll be damned if I can't think of another interest where this holds true. The addon of "not to upset those not my age" type comment. Anyways, it just struck me as I've seen it quite a bit here. I'm not making a judgement, just an observation

 

[youngsterpuffer]

I'm 20, soon to be 21. I started smoking a pipe, not because I have relatives who smoked, or knew people who smoked them (because I didnt), but because I had learned from a doctor one day I was in a tobacco shop that it was his way to relax. I ended up working at that tobacco shop for about a year, and he would come in and buy the same thing. Two tubs of paladin blackcherry. He told me I should try it and see what I thought. So I did. And I fell in love with it. When I became a nurse aid, I couldn't smoke much because of time constraints. I am now an emergency medical technician working for an ambulance service that covers an entire county, and I have found that after a day of rough calls, all I need to do is sit down and smoke, and I am completely relaxed and all my troubles fade away. My roomate asked me what smoking a pipe is like, and when he tried, he fell in love with it. We both actually quit smoking cigarettes. I still chew snuff when I'm working, nowhere near patients, but it's a rare occasion. I am finding now when I go outside to get the mail, and people see me smoking, nobody bats an eye, even though I have a baby face that makes me look like I'm 16. It's just beginning to get more popular for my age group.

 

[youngsterpuffer]

And I still keep a pouch of paladin around, it was my favorite for a long time.

 

[jorgesoler]

I am a young fella of 46 years old of age and I had my first pipe before I was 18. I am glad to see this hobby is not dying out in the end.

 

[boilermakerandy]

I'm 49 and started smoking a pipe when I was 27. It's probably not the healthiest of pursuits but no one gets out of this life alive and I figure one might as well enjoy the journey. I'm glad to see younger folks getting into it.

 

[wlrountree]

I'm 29 and started when I was 24. Had never been around a pipe smoker but my best friends dad had decided he was going to start smoking and bought a pipe and cheap Apple flavored tobacco. My bestfriend and I ended up riding around in his dad's truck one night and found his dad's pipe in the door. After some persuasion, my buddy packed it up, and I mean packed it. Your face would turn red when you pulled on it for a smidge of smoke. I had smoked cigars a fair amount, but they were mostly flavored drew estates java waffes. I couldn't believe how much better the pipe tasted and went out and bought me a pipe and 4 kinds of tobaccos that very next weekend. Though looking back, it was not tasty nor enjoyable, I had no idea what it should be like. I chewed that plastic stem to a nub and ended up breaking the bowl on that cheap, lacquer coated thing they sold as a pipe(I still have it though it is unsmokable) it's been a journey and I won't lie and say it's always been enjoyable but there are times that everything lines up and it's perfect. Those are the times I smoke for. Recently found out that my great-grandfather smoked a pipe. I knew he smoked hav-a-Tampa cigars but never a pipe. That's added a little nostalgia to it for me, but when people ask me, and the younger guys around me ask me a lot, why would I smoke a pipe, I don't know what to tell them. I'm not trying to standout or impress, I just enjoy it. So there's my reason, I smoke because I enjoy it and no other reason.