Cadence and dry tobacco, no relights needed and cool smoke.
Your Most Important Discoveries in Pipe Smoking
- Thread starter makhorkasmoker
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My first English blend which was Stokkebeye's English Oriental Supreme. Complete game changer and opened my pipe smoking world beyond OTC aromatics many years ago. Still a daily standard for me.
Coupling an hour of smoking with an hour of reading / audiobooking deletes whatever stress gathered up until then over the day.
Just because you are newer to pipe smoking didn’t mean you can’t “teach the old dogs some new tricks” I had a mentor who was in the business for 30 plus years tell me that he will never know everything and to always keep an open mind to other people who don’t do things the same way you do, and that has stuck with me in everything I do in life.
My biggest discovery with regards to pipe smoking has been this incredible forum and some of the guys in it.
I learned that I' m a fast to very fast puffer and that only Latakia mixtures, Kentucky and European brown tobaccos help me with slowing the cadence. It must be a temperament thing, in fact I think I' m just a poseur pipe smoker that after 30+ years of pipe smoking can't get it right. Don't get me wrong, I know how to pack, light and enjoy a pipe with minimum relights but I envy all the pipe smokers that can smoke one bowl of Virginia for hours.
So true for some blends. The fabled Penzance is best fresh and a disappointment when aged for more than a couple of years. Most latakia blends don't get better with age for me.
I'm in the "we make pipe smoking waaaaaay to difficult" camp. The ppl who say "cigar smoking is for noobs, pipe smoking is hard" are clueless IMHO. I F'ed up more cigars than I have pipe tobacco, that's for sure.
My most important discovery is that Pipes by Lee, Briarlee, and Pipe Maker pipes had some different process used to cure the briar, probably an oil cure, that made them all exemplary good smoking pipes. The grain on Lee’s production was invariably tight and evident, but really not flashy, even in the top grade Five Star Lee.
When Im first smoked Dark Flake I was about two years in and thought, "Damn! is that strong." It got my attention and I added it to my rotation, while I still had one. Over the years I smoked it more and more, and for the last 2-3 years 80% of the time,. Finally I'd smoke it exclusively for weeks at a time. Nothing else in my smoking had its importance.
Yes.
To add to this; some blends taste much better several days after the tin/bag/pouch has been opened.
My most important discoveries was when I found the internet and U.S. tobacconists.
Not only is choice of blends here in Nanny State Australia extremely limited, at that time a 50g tin/pouch was around $75.
The price is now around $125.
No way will I pay such contemptible prices. Had I not found a source of reasonably priced tobacco before the laws were changed making the import of tobacco illegal, I would have switched to vaping.
The 2nd most important discovery was when I found pipe smokers forums. [This one in-particular]
I had a lot to learn.
Not only is choice of blends here in Nanny State Australia extremely limited, at that time a 50g tin/pouch was around $75.
The price is now around $125.
No way will I pay such contemptible prices. Had I not found a source of reasonably priced tobacco before the laws were changed making the import of tobacco illegal, I would have switched to vaping.
The 2nd most important discovery was when I found pipe smokers forums. [This one in-particular]
I had a lot to learn.
My grandfather [who lived through the Great Depression] once advised "There's no such thing as bad beer son. There's good beer and then there's better beer."
I thought that also applied to tobacco blends until I tried Firedance [which no doubt started off as good tobacco until some idiot with tastebuds up his bum decided to douse it with blackcurrant cough mixture]
The difference between those of us who are fast puffers and those who "can smoke a bowl for hours", is that the latter tend to be those who smoke one bowl a day while fast puffers smoke several, generally speaking of course. [And I suspect that most 'fast puffers' also inhale]
Speaking for myself, I've treated stress and depression with cigarettes from a very young age [before I switched to a pipe over 11 years ago]
It's an ingrained habit. The ritual of smoking calms me so a pipe is very much like an adult pacifier.
An unlit pipe gives me something to do with my hands.
I've not got the temperament to sit quietly sipping on a pipe for hours. [Which I'm sure is quite meditative and relaxing] Maybe when I'm really old and highly medicated but until then, I'll enjoy doing it my way.
As long as one gains positive benefit from and enjoys the experience, there's no such thing as right or wrong.
Opening a tin of Presbyterian, thinking this smells like horseshit burned in a campfire and then having the balls to smoke it...Been an English/Latakia lover ever since...
You don't have to be older or 70 or 90 to enjoy good tobacco. Either you like it or you don't like it. You can doubt when you start the first months. You can't doubt one year after anotherThe difference between those of us who are fast puffers and those who "can smoke a bowl for hours", is that the latter tend to be those who smoke one bowl a day while fast puffers smoke several, generally speaking of course. [And I suspect that most 'fast puffers' also inhale]
Speaking for myself, I've treated stress and depression with cigarettes from a very young age [before I switched to a pipe over 11 years ago]
It's an ingrained habit. The ritual of smoking calms me so a pipe is very much like an adult pacifier.
An unlit pipe gives me something to do with my hands.
I've not got the temperament to sit quietly sipping on a pipe for hours. [Which I'm sure is quite meditative and relaxing] Maybe when I'm really old and highly medicated but until then, I'll enjoy doing it my way.
As long as one gains positive benefit from and enjoys the experience, there's no such thing as right or wrong.
Ha ha, well, I am one who says this. But not because "I" think pipe smoking is hard, but because after being on here for almost a decade it is obvious that with the hundre3ds of questions posted a week that either... most new members are morons (which I do not believe at all) or it is far more difficult than cigars. How many questions are required to fire up a pre-rolled stick? And, in comparison look at how many people ask about; packing, lighting, burning their tongue, burning their pipes, relighting, cleaning and care of the pipe... then we go into pipe styles, chamber dimensions, lengths, weights, and then add in the thousands of questions about types of tobaccos.
Honestly, I grew up around pipe smokers and there are many pipe lounges in my area, so I could have enjoyed my pipes without a forum. But, just take a look at the questions that hit the forum feed.
No, it is not rocket science. No, it is not the most difficult thing a human has ever done, but with as many men come and go asking questions to help them better enjoy their pipes, it is blatantly obvious that it is not the easiest form of tobacco use. None of us makes this more difficult. None of us preferred members are going out into the world and doing anything to make this complicated. They come to us with questions, and we respond thoughtfully as best we can to make an obviously difficult experience for people less complicated. Sure, there is always more than one way to do things, and all are valid... but giving a smoker choices is not making it more difficult.
I'm not denying anything you say @cosmicfolklore and ppl are free to ask questions (or not), but I don't think that I have to remind you there is more to cigars than just clipping, lighting and puffing. At least to me is.
In this day and age (I sound old, my soul maybe is, my body hasn't past 40 yet) in fast information people forget to search first before asking. Again, ppl can ask all they want and I think most here are very patient with answering questions instead of shouting "Google", "RTFM" or any other snarky comments for which I tip my hat.
I think it's more a matter of not wanting to dive in but first slowly put your toe in the water to check the temperature. Read a little more before asking, I have red a awefull lot before even buying a pipe and tobacco.
In this day and age (I sound old, my soul maybe is, my body hasn't past 40 yet) in fast information people forget to search first before asking. Again, ppl can ask all they want and I think most here are very patient with answering questions instead of shouting "Google", "RTFM" or any other snarky comments for which I tip my hat.
I think it's more a matter of not wanting to dive in but first slowly put your toe in the water to check the temperature. Read a little more before asking, I have red a awefull lot before even buying a pipe and tobacco.