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montanasky

Lurker
Mar 10, 2025
10
24
Montana
Hello pipe community. I'm a 58 year old active farmer and cattleman. Brand new to pipe smoking. Matter of fact bever smoked anything in my life lol.
Love all your recommendations for a first pipe and tobacco.
I like the Canadian or lumberman shape and tbe idea of a straight longer shank. Light weight is good also . Appreciate all your input .
 
Jun 23, 2019
2,260
15,150
Hello pipe community. I'm a 58 year old active farmer and cattleman. Brand new to pipe smoking. Matter of fact bever smoked anything in my life lol.
Love all your recommendations for a first pipe and tobacco.
I like the Canadian or lumberman shape and tbe idea of a straight longer shank. Light weight is good also . Appreciate all your input .

I'm curious, what's bringing you to pipe smoking now?
 

Puff nstuff

Can't Leave
Dec 2, 2021
372
2,889
Inland Southern California
You might check out a Rossi - they're good pipes that won't set you back too much, and you can try it with a filter or balsa insert to help with the tongue bite that novices often encounter, and/or later smoke it without a filter if you prefer. https://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/new/rossi/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=631901
As to the tobacco - probably a mild codger blend like Carter Hall or Granger to get your feet wet.
 

Sig

Lifer
Jul 18, 2023
2,064
11,706
54
Western NY
We might be related.
I am a bit younger, but also farm and have cattle....and I continue to dip. I dip Stokers though, gave up on Cope a decade ago.
Anyways, my suggestion is to buy a new pipe, not a used one as your first.
About as low price as I'd go are Rossi, Brigham, Ropp, Rattrays.....these can be had for around $50-$200. The cheaper ones are great, just a less expensive finish.
Next step up is Peterson, Vauen, and Savinelli. These are around $80 and up. Every brand I mentioned are good and well respected makers.
There is always the Missouri Meerschaum corn cob idea. Great pipes from around $15 and up. My favorite is the Diplomat, it's the perfect size and shape in my opinion. It costs $18 from the MM website.
Tobacco is tough to suggest, but there is a decent way to find what you like.
Go to an etailer like "Smoking Pipes" and look through the tin descriptions and pick a few to try. They are around $3 an ounce for bulk blends.
Take a look at Cornell & Dhiel bulk tobacco. They have over 100 blends that can be bought by the ounce. The main genres of pipe tobaccos are generally.....Virginia based blends, Burley blends, English/Latakia based blends and aromatics. Grab a couple of each to try.
If that doesn't sound good, send me a private message with your address(if you're comfortable with that) on this site, and I can send you a couple of each genre to try. But you will need your own pipe. :)
 

proteus

Lifer
May 20, 2023
1,804
2,570
55
Connecticut (shade leaf tobacco country)
Not knowing the budget I would recommend a Peterson 264. An Irish Harp style would be further my style recommendation. First tobacco would be a Straight Virginia. I would have recommended Sutliff 507c or Newminster 400 which are my stockpiled favs but in the case of availability try CD Opening Night.
 

VDL_Piper

Lifer
Jun 4, 2021
2,508
22,732
Springfield Nuclear Power Plant
Hello mate, fellow cattle farmer here in Tasmania, Australia. Given its your first time I would suggest maybe getting some sample packs of English, Virginia and Aromatic, most online vendors have these. As far as a pipe goes I would start with a cob or two, cheap and they work well and they are nice and light to clench. This should allow you to get the basics down and then you will have time to decide on what sort of briar pipe you might like. Keep it really simple to begin with.
 

Pooh-Bah

Part of the Furniture Now
Apr 21, 2023
664
6,190
33
Central Maryland
I endlessly sing the praises of a horn-stemmed Ropp to any novices that will hear me, because I'm a romantic sap and they appeal to me.
So far as physics go, bent pipes are easier to hold by mouth alone (I'm usually a straight pipe man, but the one I started with is my go-to for smokin' 'n' drivin').

Bulk Tobacco recs...
Crooner, Old Joe Krantz, and I suppose I ought to mention 1-Q since I'm pretty sure it's "the single best-selling blend in the world".
 

montanasky

Lurker
Mar 10, 2025
10
24
Montana
Hello pipe community. I'm a 58 year old active farmer and cattleman. Brand new to pipe smoking. Matter of fact bever smoked anything in my life lol.
Love all your recommendations for a first pipe and tobacco.
I like the Canadian or lumberman shape and tbe idea of a straight longer shank. Light weight is good also . Appreciate all your input .
Should have added like to be around 125$ pipe
 

NookersTheCat

Part of the Furniture Now
Sep 10, 2020
746
3,688
NEPA
Should have added like to be around 125$ pipe
I always get a kick out of people suggesting the most niche tobaccos and expensive luxury pipes as a starter (i genuinely believe people just suggest whatever random pipe they happen to be lusting after at the moment lol)

Personally I'd def suggest a cob to start. Not only are they significantly cheaper if you should not enjoy it but also generally considered more forgiving on beginner technique.

As for tobacco in my personal experience most of the OTC/codger burley heavy blends you hear people suggest are actually not the easiest to smoke without potential tongue bite esp while learning. Personally I'd suggest more cavendish heavy aromatics like Lane's bulk offerings... but that's just me.

You're gonna be getting dozens of suggestions and advice most of which are complete conflicting opposites of each other lol. Just my 2 cents tho
 

Arkansas Paul

Starting to Get Obsessed
Sep 8, 2022
244
2,316
Central Arkanss
You're gonna be getting dozens of suggestions and advice most of which are complete conflicting opposites of each other lol. Just my 2 cents tho
I agree. There are hundreds, if not thousands of different tobaccos because each person's tastes are different.
I suggest getting one or two of each different blend type and see what speaks to you. Once you figure that out, you can delve deeper into that genre of tobaccos.

I'll echo @Sig
If you're comfortable sending me your address, I'd be happy to send you some samples (a few bowl's worth) of some different kinds of tobacco. I had pipe smokers do that for me when I started and it really helped narrow down what particular kinds of tobacco I wanted to explore.
 

Sigmund

Lifer
Sep 17, 2023
4,376
45,632
France
You could just save your cash a grab a nice cob. Its not a lot of money but I would want to know I was going to use it if I bought a nice pipe. Many members here swear by cobs. Some cobs will also take a 6mm charcol or balsa fliter so you can experiment with that. Spend some time with it and decide if you want to pursue it further. They have cheaper and more expensive ones but MM cobs are about 20 bucks. Grab a couple...one for ghosting blends and another for those that dont as much. Then you have a couple of pipes to mess with and they last a long time. Additionally, if you are going to take your pipe out on the ranch for smokes in between work there is no better pipe to lose or break than a cob. You dont want that to happen with your best pipe.
 
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SmokeyJock

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 4, 2024
600
9,341
Scotland
I would emphasise what some above have said - buy a cob to start with. Buy a nice briar too if you like, but give yourself a couple of days with the cob first before you smoke it. Cobs don't need broken in and you don't need to worry about damaging them by smoking too hot the way you might with briar, they're the best way to learn how to smoke a pipe and likely to offer the best experience to a complete beginner
 
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