Hi gang, yup--today's the day on which I first picked up a pipe 55 years ago and began my hobby.
Herewith the details: I was headed off to college, and back in 1959, college students were noted for pipe smoking. It was the epitome of cool and cigarette smoking seemed so declassé. Before investing in a pipe and all that paraphernalia, I borrowed one of my father's--a bent bulldog, and took some of his tobacco--Edgeworth Ready Rubbed. I packed the pipe--way too tight, but I thought that's how you did it, lit it, and began to puff away. As the smoke filled my mouth with that first puff I fell head over heels in love, and knew I had found a hobby that would last me the rest of my life.
So here I am, 55 years later. My collection has grown to over 100 pipes, including a few that I've had since the 1960s. They run the gamut from the very inexpensive, some basket pipes, a dozen GBDs, six Connoisseurs, six Charatans, six Dunhills, and a few artisanal pipes that are beautiful to behold and magnificent to smoke. As to tobacco, by the early 1960s I had moved to Balkan Sobranie (the original, white label,) which I smoked until the the 80s, when they quit making it. Thereafter, I smoked a variety of English blends until fairly recently when I found myself unable to tolerate Latakia. I experimented, and now have a well-stocked cellar of Virginias, VaPers, Burleys, and yes--quite a few aromatics--a type I once disdained, but have now come to enjoy. I've even begun adding a few light English/Balkan blends to the mix and find I can enjoy them if I do them in moderation.
And today, to celebrate my 55th anniversary as a pipe smoker, I took a GBD bent Granitan bulldog, and filled it with P&C Edgeworth Ready Rubbed match, which I purchased just for this date. So here I am, as I write this, smoking the same tobacco in the same type of pipe as I did with that first bowl. And, do you know, it's just wonderful. I can visualize the chair I sat in when I smoked that first bowl, and I'm enjoying it as much or even more than I did on that first day, not so long ago because it seems like only yesterday. Life is good.
55 years of pipe smoking--and that's probably longer than most members of this forum have been alive. I'm clearly a living testament to the dangers of pipe smoking.
But here I am at 72, and I can walk, talk, blink my eyes, make love and make water. As I said before, life is good. I love my hobby, and plan on sticking with it until the very end. Projecting ahead, I have even selected my final pipe--a Comoy's Tradition straight bulldog that is one of my magic pipes--a pipe that tastes great regardless of the tobacco smoked in it. I haven't yet selected my final tobacco, but I hope it's a decision I won't have to make until quite a few more years. Paul Spaniola kept his going until he reached the age of 100, and I'd like to do the same. And then, I'd like someone to remove it from my hand as my fingers relax one final time.
Herewith the details: I was headed off to college, and back in 1959, college students were noted for pipe smoking. It was the epitome of cool and cigarette smoking seemed so declassé. Before investing in a pipe and all that paraphernalia, I borrowed one of my father's--a bent bulldog, and took some of his tobacco--Edgeworth Ready Rubbed. I packed the pipe--way too tight, but I thought that's how you did it, lit it, and began to puff away. As the smoke filled my mouth with that first puff I fell head over heels in love, and knew I had found a hobby that would last me the rest of my life.
So here I am, 55 years later. My collection has grown to over 100 pipes, including a few that I've had since the 1960s. They run the gamut from the very inexpensive, some basket pipes, a dozen GBDs, six Connoisseurs, six Charatans, six Dunhills, and a few artisanal pipes that are beautiful to behold and magnificent to smoke. As to tobacco, by the early 1960s I had moved to Balkan Sobranie (the original, white label,) which I smoked until the the 80s, when they quit making it. Thereafter, I smoked a variety of English blends until fairly recently when I found myself unable to tolerate Latakia. I experimented, and now have a well-stocked cellar of Virginias, VaPers, Burleys, and yes--quite a few aromatics--a type I once disdained, but have now come to enjoy. I've even begun adding a few light English/Balkan blends to the mix and find I can enjoy them if I do them in moderation.
And today, to celebrate my 55th anniversary as a pipe smoker, I took a GBD bent Granitan bulldog, and filled it with P&C Edgeworth Ready Rubbed match, which I purchased just for this date. So here I am, as I write this, smoking the same tobacco in the same type of pipe as I did with that first bowl. And, do you know, it's just wonderful. I can visualize the chair I sat in when I smoked that first bowl, and I'm enjoying it as much or even more than I did on that first day, not so long ago because it seems like only yesterday. Life is good.
55 years of pipe smoking--and that's probably longer than most members of this forum have been alive. I'm clearly a living testament to the dangers of pipe smoking.
But here I am at 72, and I can walk, talk, blink my eyes, make love and make water. As I said before, life is good. I love my hobby, and plan on sticking with it until the very end. Projecting ahead, I have even selected my final pipe--a Comoy's Tradition straight bulldog that is one of my magic pipes--a pipe that tastes great regardless of the tobacco smoked in it. I haven't yet selected my final tobacco, but I hope it's a decision I won't have to make until quite a few more years. Paul Spaniola kept his going until he reached the age of 100, and I'd like to do the same. And then, I'd like someone to remove it from my hand as my fingers relax one final time.
:
