1st pipe, need to know pros/cons of types

[palehorse]

If you want a clay pipe made in the traditional manner, check out the pipeshoppe's site. Also check out virginiacobs' site for traditionally made corncobs.

I'm very interested in accurate historical representations, so thank you for that.

How much more sulfur is he going to ingest while striking matches? Not to mention the petrochemicals found in lighter fluid and/or butane...

I like how we're not talking to each other directly any more. Very classy, and just to let you know, I am aware of the presence of sulphur in matches and avoid breathing it in when I light one.

Your very first post in this thread featured a link to an herbal mixture and asked for opinions about that.

OK, but that first post was ages ago and I've since accepted that nobody here is interested in talking about that, in spite of the fact that many people who smoke tobacco also blend it with other such herbs.

You also made it clear that you weren't interested in smoking tobacco. Yet that's entirely why this site exists, why pipe/tobacco retailers support it with advertising, and why so many of us are so passionately devoted to it.

Now I believe we're getting somewhere - the sponsors. I can see them tossing and turning at night thinking about all the non nicotine-containing alternatives people might turn to while they sleep. Only unsavoury folk of the business would dare mention, even in hush tones, any such product, and it better lead to a conversation about a dastardly plan to curtail such things from leaching into the system. Maybe you can point me to a forum where people aren't afraid of venturing off the Kansas-straight asphalt road for fear the industry will poach them for their scalps.

I think you got off on the wrong foot by stating that you wanted a pipe free of virtually everything that makes a tobacco pipe a tobacco pipe.

I don't think that's it, because a pipe (regardless of what's in it) is a bowl with a stick coming out its side from which you suck smoke, and that's what I'm looking for. You're telling me that NOBODY ever smokes tobacco out of a pipe that doesn't wear a plastic mouthpiece? I find that a very narrow and likely unrealistic view of the smoking world.

Again, given your very limiting criteria, your only option is a clay.

My first post included one alternative to clay, and I've seen a few other options knocking about on eBay, so this is also a very short-sighted remark.

 

[yaddy306]

I really didn't want to have a discussion over what is a natural material

Buddy, you stated in your original post that your primary criteria (sic) was that the pipe be made of all natural material. After being told in this thread that briar, cob, sulfur, rubber, clay, bamboo and horn are natural materials, you say you don't want to define your terms.

What the heck do you want?

 

[fadingdaylight]

Perhaps glass? That seems to be popular amongst "herb" smokers

 

[jazz]

Now I believe we're getting somewhere - the sponsors. I can see them tossing and turning at night thinking about all the non nicotine-containing alternatives people might turn to while they sleep. Only unsavoury folk of the business would dare mention, even in hush tones, any such product, and it better lead to a conversation about a dastardly plan to curtail such things from leaching into the system. Maybe you can point me to a forum where people aren't afraid of venturing off the Kansas-straight asphalt road for fear the industry will poach them for their scalps.

I feel compelled to say this as I for one resent the implication of the last line of that reply. I don't believe anyone is "afraid" friend. Most, at least I, are just not interested in discussing such things.
I am pretty new here, at least new to posting. And tobacco pipes and pipe tobacco is all that is on the menu here. At least that is my understanding of the place. It is also the reason I come back here. If people started to talk about non tobacco smoking products often I would not frequent here.
I would not read any more into it than that.
I honestly am unsure at what you are looking for. Perhaps you like the idea of smoking but none of the realities of it. If that is the case then as said. Maybe it's not for you.

 

[sablebrush52]

The OP isn't looking for a hookah to smoke marijuana. He's made that clear. He's looking for alternatives to traditional pipes for smoking tobacco and he's doing alternatives to tobacco in the expectation that it's safer.
Reminds me of college, when mint bidi cigarettes became the rage as a "safe" alternative. Turned out that they were far more damaging to the lungs than tobacco. As for boo? It's far more damaging than tobacco as well, so no soap there. Any smoke sucked into your lungs isn't healthy, and pretty much any smoking isn't healthy. But a lot of pleasures in life aren't exactly healthy either.
So if the OP is looking for a safe alternative, the safe alternative is to not smoke, period.
Time for me to move on to something more productive.

 

[palehorse]

I am well aware that inhaling any kind of smoke can be hazardous, and that once again isn't the point.

After being told in this thread that briar, cob, sulfur, rubber, clay, bamboo and horn are natural materials, you say you don't want to define your terms.

Of course all of those are natural, but would you burn rubber or sulphur and inhale the smoke from them? I merely hoped a little common sense be applied when I stated "all-natural". I've also thanked the people who've given me information multiple times, but the majority of posts seem to be centered around the fact I won't conform to an extremely narrow niche or cannot be swayed to believe in plastic and its safety.
For those of you who already gave me leads for finding what I'm looking for, thank you again. I am however in the process of seeking out other avenues of research because the streets here are crowded and winding, and I keep ending up at the same intersection.

 

[ssjones]

This seems like a good time to end this thread.