First Pipe & Tobacco Combo?

Log in

SmokingPipes.com Updates

12 Fresh Dunhill Pipes
18 Fresh Rossi Pipes
3 Fresh Mike Sebastian Bay Pipes
12 Fresh Claudio Cavicchi Pipes
120 Fresh Peterson Pipes

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

Status
Not open for further replies.

mrjerke

Lifer
Jun 10, 2013
1,323
29
Midwest
I often listen to Brian on the podcast and am entertained on how various people got started smoking a pipe. I would like you to share your first pipe and tobacco combo in hopes some of the new faces around here wouldn't lose faith.
I smoked cigars for about 10 years when out of the blue I told my mother (of all people) that I wanted to smoke a pipe. She presented me next visit with a plastic pipe she bought at a local gas station. Points to Mom by the way. To make matters worse I went to the local tobacco outlet and bought a pouch of Sir Walter Raleigh. So I smoked SWR that smoked hotter than the face of Mercury and burned my tongue for a week but there was some redeeming quality I loved. I was hooked.
It took a few months but one day on a bowl of Dunhill 965 the flavor exploded on my palate. Pure bliss. I could taste all the intricacies of the blend and I understood what the veterans were taking about.
I say this for the various threads of pipe smokers that aren't happy with their first go round. Pipe smoking is like any other hobby that requires experience. Give it time and you will open up the gates of bliss. Believe me, I'm currently on a bowl of Penzance and wouldn't trade it for the world.
So all in all I started with Sir Walter on a plastic gas station pipe from Mom. Your first?

 

Perique

Lifer
Sep 20, 2011
4,098
3,884
www.tobaccoreviews.com
In college many years ago. Captain Yack and some Braylon pipe. Heat and scald. But everyone around me loved it. I played the masochist for awhile before I couldn't take it any more. That turned me off pipes for nearly twenty years.

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,427
I didn't buy a pipe until I was in my early thirties, at Tinder Box at the mall, a French-made house pipe

labeled a Tinder Box St. Ives, in which I smoked North Sea, which is Peter Stokkebye's Nougat, I believe.

It was a pretty good experience. I still have the pipe, which still smokes well and is a handsome bent

pot with a saddle stem. I had most of the moves of pipe smoking down from growing up with my dad

who chain smoked a pipe from the age of about fifteen until he quit cold at 65.

 

cobguy

Lifer
Oct 18, 2013
3,742
15
Prince Albert / Carter Hall in one of my Uncle Frank's briars at the age of 14.

 

agnosticpipe

Lifer
Nov 3, 2013
3,323
3,379
In the sticks in Mississippi
Around 1982 a buddy who smoked cigarettes wanted to know if wanted to try pipe smoking. He'd never tried and neither had I. So we went to a local B&M, which was within walking distance actually, and I bought a no name poker shape from Italy. Through many subsequent visits, I later learned from the shop owner that it was a Savinelli second. I don't remember what I smoked, we just sniffed in all the bulk jars, and picked what smelled good, which was probably an aro. The owner showed us the way to load, gave us some matches, a nail and a few pipe cleaners and we were off. I never figured I'd enjoy it as much as I would, as I had never smoked anything up till that point. My buddy stepped up though and bought a Barontini in a canadian shape! Funny thing, he didn't keep smoking the pipe, but kept on smoking his cigs. I still have that poker and fire it up from time to time. :puffy:

 

msandoval858

Part of the Furniture Now
Jun 11, 2012
954
3
Austin, TX
Peterson Flame Grain 68 and C&D Cross Eyed Cricket
Not a bad starter combo for a 19 yo newbie. 15 years later I still love that pipe and blend :)

 

sailorjeremy

Can't Leave
Feb 25, 2014
419
1
Virginia
A little over 4 years ago I bought a pouch of Captain black and some crappy $20 (cherry wood?) pipe. Surprisingly, the pipe is still in my rotation. Smokes English blends like a charm!

 

derfargin

Lifer
Mar 3, 2014
2,028
28
Kennesaw, GA
I think I was 22 when a friend of mine and I walked into a Tinderbox in a mall in Mesa, AZ. I told the guy behind the counter I wanted a cheap corn cob pipe, and a sample of a decent beginners tobacco. I can't remember the name of the blend, but it was a rum topped Aro that I for the next week, burned the ever-loving-hell out of my mouth.
Sure like others said in this thread before me, everyone else enjoyed the smell, but all I got out of it was pain.
Fast forward to last October when I made a purchase at P&C for a Country Gent, some samples of aromatics, and one non aromatic, Dunhill's EMP. (Because why not, and I read a lot on the these forums of how good it was for an intro English)
Pipe came, and i gave the aro's whirl, and with a little knowledge upfront from the forums I was better prepared, and did enjoy the aromatics much better than the last time but there was still something lacking. I then sat on a chair in my driveway one cool fall evening with a loaded bowl of EMP. The first light I knew I was in for something great. I smoked that bowl of tobacco in complete silence and sat and wondered how all this time I've missed out on tobacco that tasted this great.
Haven't looked back since, and I've tried many other blends, some I liked a lot, some were just ok. That country gent gets more of a work out than my other briar pipes in my rotation.
I always make a point of telling new pipers coming into the hobby that are always looking for good aromatics, to give EMP a try. Plus I tell them, if you want really want to enjoy that aromatic you're thinking of buying. Go ahead and get it. Then have your buddy come over, and you make sure you pack the bowl carefully with a good draw, and just before you get ready to light it. Hand it over to your friend, and have him smoke it. You can sit there as he smokes, and enjoy all of the aroma that tobacco has to offer. At the same time he'll be wondering what the big deal is.

 

condorlover1

Lifer
Dec 22, 2013
7,980
26,572
New York
Sounds great - I think I commented about how I started on a previous thread elsewhere in this forum. These reminiscences of how everyone started on the pipe are always interesting.

 

Strike Anywhere

Can't Leave
Nov 9, 2011
366
66
Captain Black and a Missouri Meerschaum...both purchased at the local RiteAid. I sort of stumbled upon the corn cobs on my own. They were there, I was there, and I was broke. Smoked that for a little while then ventured to a tobacconist about 45minutes away and purchased my first briar pipe. It was a no-name house brand, but it wasn't a basket pipe. Decent engineering, nice grain, but a ton of fills. Bought some 1Q and BCA while I was there. I still have that first briar and still smoke it. I still have my first corn cob, although I couldn't tell you which one it is. Once my cobs start tasting bitter, strong, or off, I toss them in an old box, so I've got several in there now. I'm not sure why I do that rather than just throwing them away. I figure in the back of my mind I'm holding onto them so that when I have kids and they want to build a snowman we'll have a good selection of corn cobs from which to choose.

 

Strike Anywhere

Can't Leave
Nov 9, 2011
366
66
Mike, you started out with a Pete Flame Grain and C&D tobacco? Get out of town! Did you have a close friend/family member "mentor" you and help guide you in the right direction? That's just crazy.

 
Status
Not open for further replies.