That's a very good point to make actually because frankly I (and I'm sure many others) would happily do all those things without the existence of a "pipe community", and indeed I've never felt an overwhelming desire to seek out any extra "community" or "family" beyond the ones I already enjoy. I don't need to attend the local pipe club to get something out of my pipe collection. But I do enjoy talking tobacco and showing off pipes, so I eventually ended up here. Having worked many years in construction I'm used to older fellas grumpily telling me I'm doing and saying everything wrong, so I feel right at home already. Maybe we should call it the "pipe family"!
Before I joined the World Wide Web and found pipe and tobacco forums, I seriously had little clue. It's a touch embarrassing to admit some of my practices, like smoking the one pipe day in day out [A Peterson Sherlock Holmes] It was a massive bowl so I was in the habit of just 'topping up' until the baccy at the bottom became a stinking mess that had to be cleaned out. [Before I found that I could buy tobacco from 4noggins at reasonable price, I was then paying $70aud for a 50g tin
When I joined pipe forums no one laughed at my ignorance nor mocked my dumb questions [though I'm sure that many chuckled at some of my comments, like when I described the bag note of Latakia after getting a sample of my first ever English blend, Becks ol' Limey Bastard; 'asphalt, rubber with a hint of butt'
Though I did not get to meet anyone in person, it felt like a community of folks from all walks of life, from all over the planet, who all shared a fondness for and an appreciation of pipes and fine tobacco.
I'll always be grateful to our online community for the generosity of spirit, the sharing of knowledge and for the warm acceptance of a newbie who didn't know shit from clay on the subject.






