First Ultimate Bowl

[the85boro]

When was your first ULTIMATE bowl? The moment you knew this hobby would last and not just a passing trial or fad? For me, it was on my friend's porch on a very bitter cold, snowy evening in January. Tucked up into a corner out of the cutting wind with a 2003 Nording filled with Frog Morton Cellar.
What is your first ULTIMATE bowl memory?

 

[bluegrassbrian]

It was Orlik Golden Slices in a Mark Tinsky lovat.

I had been starting to doubt my pipe love. I was about 6 weeks in to it and had only smoked aromatics and a few English blends.

That first (arguably) straight Virginia reinvigorated my motivation to keep going. It's been tragically all-encompassing since then.

 

[the85boro]

Orlik is the tobacco that made me learn to slow down and to dry the tobacco a bit. I learned the hard way by having a numb tongue for a week. Orlik is great stuff

 

[burleyboy]

It had my first pleasing smoke with a bowl of Dunhill Night Cap. At that time I had only tried MacBaren Navy Flake, which gave me horrible tongue bite, without me knowing, that there is even a term for that feeling.
It was my second bowl of night cap, that I really enjoyed - the first one was terrible and I had put the tin away for about two weeks before I came back to it, because Navy Flake started to seriously annoy me. At that moment I found out, that it's better with some blends, to let them diy a bit before smoking.

 

[p40warhawk]

W.O. Larsen Signature in a Savinelli on the back porch with a good cup of coffee...

 

[lawdawg]

Same here Boro - I think it was probably Frog Morton Cellar that really hooked me on pipe smoking for good. I remember picking up a tin of FMC at a local brick and mortar store on a cool afternoon in the middle of Fall, and then popping the tin and packing a pipeful in my truck to smoke on the way home. I remember thinking "This is it! This is the blend I've been looking for."
I've also gotta hand it to codger burleys for helping me kick cigarettes for good.

 

[sablebrush52]

It was 48 years ago, and was probably a mild English blend, hand blended by Copley's, a wonderful old pipe shop that first introduced me to the arcane mysteries of the pipe.

 

[mso489]

I've had a few hiatus with pipes, but one such moment was Nightcap on the front porch relaxing after a day at rehab with my wife after one of a number of her hip surgeries. It was a nicotine buzz and then to bed. But referring to the original post on this thread, Frog Morton Cellar with its block of barrel stave in the tin would have been wonderful, or Nat Sherman 536 in a rocking chair at their mother church store in Manhattan.

 

[shanez]

The word ultimate is such a subjective term.
That being said it is Dunhill 3yr VA that made me first take notice. The subtle yet nuanced flavors of a VA is a beautiful thing. A sentiment that has been confirmed by many subsequent bowls of various VAs from various producers since that first VA.
I have been wowed by many other blends such as SPC Plum Pudding SR, Dreams of Kaddath, GH&C dark flake unscented, etc. but it's a good VA that always makes me think to myself "this is what I enjoy most about a pipe".

 

[jpmcwjr]

Haven't yet, but I've had 743 penultimate bowls, all English blends.

 

[danimalia]

- I think it was probably Frog Morton Cellar that really hooked me on pipe smoking for good. I remember picking up a tin of FMC at a local brick and mortar store on a cool afternoon in the middle of Fall, and then popping the tin and packing a pipeful in my truck to smoke on the way home. I remember thinking "This is it! This is the blend I've been looking for."

Same here. I'd had a few bowls of Sutliff Medium English, and a few aromatics and wasn't really feeling pipe smoking. Then, based on tin description and reviews, I bought a tin of FMC and I loved it. From there, a co-worker gave me a bowl of McC Bombay Court and I remember thinking OK, maybe I DO like this more than I thought. Then a tin of Maltese Falcon and I was off from there.

 

[peregrinus]

It was an early evening in May . About 3-4 months into pipes and I was sitting back on my (then) deck with my latest pipe purchase (3rd pipe) and some how I had finally managed to pack it just right, for the first time, with a great McClelland Virginia flake. It was a transcendental 1.5 hours. Didn’t want it to end. That is when I was convinced.

 

[the85boro]

These are some great stories and memories.

 

[cortezattic]

Since my earliest days with the pipe I've always enjoyed it immensely. But one evening in the mid '70s, while smoking a folded flake of Iwan Ries Full British Blend in a Preben Holm freehand, the clouds parted and I saw the face of God. Best experience I've ever had while my pants were on. puf

 

[Chasing Embers]

Fall '92 McClelland Christmas Cheer.

 

[lawdawg]

Fall '92 McClelland Christmas Cheer.

Christmas Cheer got me on to Virginia Flakes. I'm already looking forward to the Christmas Season where I'll smoke some more of my (2015?) Christmas Cheer. I'm glad I put a few tins in the cellar in anticipation of FDA deeming issues before McC's closed up shop.

 

[alaskanpiper]

Dunhill Nightcap in a Peterson Churchwarden on my back deck. It was the first real english blend I tried and the lights turned on.

 

[hauntedmyst]

I don't remember the pipe but it would be back around 1980 in Sir Timothy's tobacco shop in Woodfield and I had some 1Q. After trying drug store tobaccos, the 1Q was a revelation. I ended up getting a job there and could smoke it all I wanted.

 

[bullet08]

first english blend in peterson sh squire fishtail. the blend was no name dunhill nightcap match. didn't know pipe smoke was that good.

 

[didimauw]

It wasn't my first but today I truly had a memorable smoke. We went driving to try to find a trail to walk our dogs on. The wife has a new vehicle, that she smokes in but I hadn't smoked my pipe in it yet.

We got to the trail, got the dogs out of the car, and I lit my pipe. Well the trail did not allow dogs, so we turned around and put the dogs back in the car. I reluctantly kept my pipe going while I sat in, waiting for the wife to say something. I tried my best to make it smoke as little as possible, hoping she would not complain. ( I know, cigs smell worse etc etc, but you never know)

During our ten minute ride to the next trail, puffing very lightly (very unlike me) the smoke was amazing. Flavors of a blend I smoke daily, came out, that I never witnessed before. It was so sweet and I didn't want it to end. The pipe took me almost 45 minutes, which is long for me. Nothing but Ash left. Best smoke to date.

I always hear about smoking slow, and I always tell the new guys to do it too, but never do it myself.

And now I truly understand. Ha!
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