A Discussion to Change the Pace.

[JosueKnox]

EDIT: Fixed Capitalization in Title (See Rule 9) - Bob

With all the noise lately, I’d like to ask anyone who’s willing to share: What brought you to the art of pipe smoking? Who, or what influenced you to try it out? What blends do you enjoy/not enjoy and why? What have you learned in the time you’ve had with your pipe?

Hopefully looking to start a good intimate discussion.

As for me, I started smoking pipes 3 years ago just after my 18th birthday. I grew up in a very conservative Christian house where I viewed all forms of smoking as off limits. It wasn’t until I took a class on C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien that I considered pipes. I saw the way their pipes were used as a tool for contemplation, meditation, and study. I am an anxious person who needed something like that, I decided I wanted to try it out for myself. So I bought an unused vintage meerschaum pipe from a local antique store, bought some captain black from the drug store, and the rest is history. The enjoyment grows every day (along with the expense of new pipes and blends). I enjoy VaPer blends the most right now, but don’t mind the occasional aromatic or English, so long as it doesn’t have too much latakia. So far my pipes have taught me to slow down, take a breath, and stop to enjoy life as it is right now.

 

[coming to_falling too]

I switched to the pipe from cigarettes, but when I was younger my mother told me that my grandpa used to smoke a pipe. Since then I always wanted to try it but I never got around to it. I'm 28 now and I guess I'm really starting to slow down myself and appreciate the smaller things life has to offer.

I'm kinda in the same boat as you OP, as I enjoy my virginia and va/per blends and flakes. I have started to venture out into the English and Balkan realm and like them alright. But I prefer the Virginia over any other at the moment.

 

[Dallas Wynn]

With all the noise lately, I’d like to ask anyone who’s willing to share: What brought you to the art of pipe smoking? Who, or what influenced you to try it out? What blends do you enjoy/not enjoy and why? What have you learned in the time you’ve had with your pipe?

Hopefully looking to start a good intimate discussion.

As for me, I started smoking pipes 3 years ago just after my 18th birthday. I grew up in a very conservative Christian house where I viewed all forms of smoking as off limits. It wasn’t until I took a class on C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien that I considered pipes. I saw the way their pipes were used as a tool for contemplation, meditation, and study. I am an anxious person who needed something like that, I decided I wanted to try it out for myself. So I bought an unused vintage meerschaum pipe from a local antique store, bought some captain black from the drug store, and the rest is history. The enjoyment grows every day (along with the expense of new pipes and blends). I enjoy VaPer blends the most right now, but don’t mind the occasional aromatic or English, so long as it doesn’t have too much latakia. So far my pipes have taught me to slow down, take a breath, and stop to enjoy life as it is right now.

I adopted the hobby about 4 or 5 years ago during a very dark time in my life. I am a VFW of OIF/OEF and was suffering with PTSD. I didn't really know what was wrong with me but couldn't keep a job, was in and out of jail, reeling from another failed relationship and fighting to have visitation with my infant daughter, broke, suicidal, was an alcoholic, smoked 3 packs of cigarettes a day, and in a steep tailspin that was quickly threatening to take my life. I originally picked up a basket pipe and a large bag of some "pipe tobacco" in an attempt to save money. Fast forward a few months and I experienced a life changing event which resulted in me quitting cigarettes, quitting drinking, and completely renewing my life purpose. After seeking help from the VA and being diagnosed with severe PTSD, the VA declared me 100% disabled from service connected injuries and I was left with more time on my hands than I knew what to do with it. So, I started watching YouTube videos on various topics and happened upon the late Matches860 video on clay tavern pipes. I was intrigued by his videos and became interested in smoking a pipe. I bought a Peterson 03 fishtail Dracula and within short order ruined it by smoking way too hot and fast.......it literally erupted in flames and I had to throw it outside. I bought another Peterson 03 fishtail and expanded my YouTube library into every instructional pipe video I could find. My first balkan blend created a nostalgic feeling for hunting trips with my Dad sitting around a campfire; I still prefer a latakia heavy blend. I absolutely detest fresh virginia blends or fresh straight virginias but, my second favorite tobacco is a straight VA with 5+ years age or a VAPer with 5+ years age. Looking back, I have learned to slow down and enjoy each bowl, to allow myself a contemplative relaxation while enjoying the experience of each smoke. The pipe ceremony has become a meditative practice for me that invites awareness of the present moment. I have learned to experience the pipe instead of merely smoking it.
Happy piping

 

[Dallas Wynn]

I switched to the pipe from cigarettes, but when I was younger my mother told me that my grandpa used to smoke a pipe. Since then I always wanted to try it but I never got around to it. I'm 28 now and I guess I'm really starting to slow down myself and appreciate the smaller things life has to offer.

I'm kinda in the same boat as you OP, as I enjoy my virginia and va/per blends and flakes. I have started to venture out into the English and Balkan realm and like them alright. But I prefer the Virginia over any other at the moment.

Have you sampled any orientals? I would classify orientals as a natural progression forward from VA. Balkans, English, and Americans are so much more robust than Virginias that I would think they are several progressions from a VA base. It may be more enlightening to embark on a gradual progression toward latakia blends rather than an extreme advancement in strength and flavor.

 

[mso489]

Didn't buy a pipe until my mid- late-thirties. As a college student, I had the occasional Hav-a-Tampa wood tip small cigars, but just from time to time. My late wife -- brilliant writer/teacher/speaker -- smoked cigarettes, packs a day. My dad had smoked a pipe, just after breakfast to bedtime, so all the ritual was imprinted on me, not much of a learning curve. When my wife wisely quit cigarettes after several valiant tries, I quit smoking my pipe in solidarity (she never requested this, nor mentioned it, I just told her I would). About two years after I lost my wife, I bought a pipe from a carver who sells annually at the state fair, a hand carved Mountain Laurel, to add to the rotation I had from before. I remarried, a woman I had met in college when we were in our teens, who'd quit cigarettes years before. We enjoyed her adopted home around NYC and Long Island, and travel to Paris and the provinces. We were good travelers, walkers, museum patrons, etc. Then she had infection after hip surgery, and I used the pipe as a way to center after being with her at rehab all day. I joked that she'd driven me to Cavendish ... just because it sounded funny; it was more like Nightcap at the time. She buys me great pipes, a pipe rack and a cabinet, and primo blends. I'm a moderate smoker with way too many pipes and enough blends to last for years.

Dallas, quite a struggle for you; keep on keeping on.

 

[Dallas Wynn]

Didn't buy a pipe until my mid- late-thirties. As a college student, I had the occasional Hav-a-Tampa wood tip small cigars, but just from time to time. My late wife -- brilliant writer/teacher/speaker -- smoked cigarettes, packs a day. My dad had smoked a pipe, just after breakfast to bedtime, so all the ritual was imprinted on me, not much of a learning curve. When my wife wisely quit cigarettes after several valiant tries, I quit smoking my pipe in solidarity (she never requested this, nor mentioned it, I just told her I would). About two years after I lost my wife, I bought a pipe from a carver who sells annually at the state fair, a hand carved Mountain Laurel, to add to the rotation I had from before. I remarried, a woman I had met in college when we were in our teens, who'd quit cigarettes years before. We enjoyed her adopted home around NYC and Long Island, and travel to Paris and the provinces. We were good travelers, walkers, museum patrons, etc. Then she had infection after hip surgery, and I used the pipe as a way to center after being with her at rehab all day. I joked that she'd driven me to Cavendish ... just because it sounded funny; it was more like Nightcap at the time. She buys me great pipes, a pipe rack and a cabinet, and primo blends. I'm a moderate smoker with way too many pipes and enough blends to last for years.

Dallas, quite a struggle for you; keep on keeping on.

Thank you my friend, I appreciate the kind words and support. As it happens, life is much better now than it was in those dark days. I want to keep the "life changing event" private to prevent mischaracterization and/or erroneous criticism, but it truly changed my life. I now enjoy joint custody with my daughter's mom 50/50, I have been sober for years (though lifelong abstinence is not my intended objective, I am a connoisseur of sorts and may someday enjoy a glass of fine wine. My experience completely erased my desire to drink however), I am no longer suicidal, no longer in and out of jail, no longer unable to cope with reality (though I continue to struggle with PTSD, I understand it and have learned skills to alleviate the negative impact it has on my mental health), I took control of my financial health and was able to finally purchase a home (which I just refinanced for a lower interest rate 3.125% from 3.999%), and I am at peace for the most part. So, even though I must remain diligent in practicing the skills necessary to mitigate PTSD, I am not what I was before. ?

 

[hauntedmyst]

When I was a young man, I fashioned myself a daredevil after my idol Evil Knievel. When a new strip mall opened, I offered my services on opening day by jumping 2 school buses for $100 and they accepted! I went by the name Blaze Jupiter!

I suppose I shouldn't have lied and said I had a motorcycle. I didn't. I couldn't afford one yet and no one would loan me theirs when they heard what I was gonna do even though I could ride well. What I did have was a souped up turbo charged riding lawn mower with a helluva extended suspension system. This was thanks to my dad, who was Tim the Tool Man Taylor before there was a Tim the Tool Man Taylor. He used to own a auto repair shop and built dune buggies, trikes and once built a thing that looked like an jet plane with no wings that had three skis that slid on the lake in winter. We called it the Snowplane. It had no brakes. But where Tim was bad at what he did my dad did it well. He was once asked to be part of an Indy pit crew.

Anyways, the big night came and I jumped those school buses. I jumped those school buses as fire cannons and fireworks went off. I soared gloriously through the air! But it turns out no matter how much suspension a lawn mower has, it's not meant to jump school buses and my glory turned to horror as I bounced off the landing ramp...and right into the front window of a brand spanking new Tinder Box. When I came to, I was covered in pipes and cigars...bleeding through my dad's leather jacket. They loaded me into the ambulance and I tried to get them to let me sign a DNR but I was 16 and they wouldn't let me. Turns out I just had some cuts and a few broken ribs but I figured it was better to die in the hospital than at home when dad found out I stole his lawn mower, helmet and jacket and crashed into a building. When they took my jacket off at the hospital, they found a couple of pipes and a tin of tobacco.

Well, mom came and picked me up. Dad went and towed home the lawn mower. Dad was less mad than I thought he was going to be since when he was my age, he once tried getting his parents 56 Chevy up on two wheels to impress the girl who would become my mom. Turns out. took out a Good Humor truck. Also, we found out when the mall tried to sue me the mall shouldn't have signed a contract with a 16 year old without checking that he was 16. So while I was convalescing, I learned to smoke those pipes.

 

[judcole]

I started in college, long, long ago, because I thought that smoking a pipe was part of being a "college man". I had some long-gone and forgotten drugstore pipe and, I think, John Rolfe. I smoked too much Borkum Riff, but also smoked Troost Special Cavendish and Sail, both Yellow and Ivory, before I went into Campbell's Smoke Shop in downtown East Lansing and beheld wonders.
I smoked all sorts of blends, there, ended up for years being primarily a latakia sort of guy, and now smoke mostly Virginias and Burleys. Have a very soft spot for all-day blends - the good ones.
Nothing very dramatic, I'm afraid. Best wishes to the folks in this thread who are struggling with various things.

 

[saltedplug]

Dallas Wynn, your story would have been heart-breaking had you not found your way out. But despite awareness of the problem and possible solutions, it is often very hard to change. Congratulations!

 

[pappymac]

So. There I was. Standing on the fantail of an old Coast Guard icebreaker in the middle of the Bering Sea between Alaska and Russia. It was 1972 and smoking aboard ship was still allowed. Anyway, I smelled an aroma similar to what I remember surrounding the only grandfather I knew (he was a pipe smoker). I looked over and there was one of the Chief Petty Officers I worked for, sitting in a folding chair, with his feet propped up on a bollard and a cup of coffee in one hand and a pipe clenched in his jaw. I went over and started talking to him and he encouraged me to visit the ship's store and buy my own pipe and a pack of tobacco. He said he would teach me how to smoke it.

From that point, he more or less took me under his wing and taught me much about working in an engine room, being in the Coast Guard and even some aspects of life. My pipe smoking began with a Dr. Grabow and Borkum Riff Whiskey.

 

[hauntedmyst]

So Pappy, you were one of those guys on an ice cold ship, on an ice cold sea who had to jump into said ice cold sea to rescue people? Thank you for your service! I love winter. I love winter in the mountains. The thought of having to jump into Bering Sea during winter is enough to give me the heebee jeebees. You have my respect.

 

[Dallas Wynn]

Dallas Wynn, your story would have been heart-breaking had you not found your way out. But despite awareness of the problem and possible solutions, it is often very hard to change. Congratulations!

Very true and is why Sadhguru says the moment of enlightenment and moment of death are the same moment for most people. Thank you for the kind words buddy!

 

[pappymac]

So Pappy, you were one of those guys on an ice cold ship, on an ice cold sea who had to jump into said ice cold sea to rescue people? Thank you for your service! I love winter. I love winter in the mountains. The thought of having to jump into Bering Sea during winter is enough to give me the heebee jeebees. You have my respect.

I am smarter than that. The best place to work on an icebreaker is down in the engine room which is where I worked the first two cruises. We mainly supported scientific research missions like ice floe studies. This was back before we had the rescue swimmers trained to jump out of helicopters. If we had to retrieve someone from the water, we would launch our 36-foot arctic survey boat. One trip we did make it about 150 miles north of Alaska though.

 

[adui]

For me, well I suppose we have to go back to my childhood in the late 70's into the early 80's. We lived for some time I don't recall the length at 415 Sheldon Ave in Vallejo California. My father was a Chief in the US navy, and was stationed there as a salvage diver.

Our home had the garage converted to a family room. Fully insulated and all (for the time). In said family room was among other things a coffee table, with a little round pipe rack that held a handful of pipes. It looked something like this:

I remember the smell of Bourkum Ruff that Dad liked.

Fast forward to the mid 90's. I've done my stint in the navy, and am out living in South Salem, working in a printed circuit board shop in Dallas Oregon. One of my shipmates from my second ship, the USS Long Beach CGN-9, was getting out and needed a job. I told him to come to Oregon and I'd see if I could get him in at my work. He got in.

He smoked a pipe. I liked the smell and remembered with fondness my fathers pipe, so after making sure my wife wouldn't skin me alive for it I bought a dime store pipe for around $20. My friend and I went to the local B&M, T Whitaker Tobaccos in Lancaster Mall. He helped me pick some tobacco to try, and off I went.

A couple of months later, while out walking one eve with my buddy, he accidentally broke my pipe trying to clear the chamber (Tapped too hard in his palm.) So he proclaimed he would buy me another, at the B&M. That was an $80+ Savinelli that I enjoyed for a couple years after he went home to his home state.

In the late 90's I put the pipe down. After we moved to AZ in 2010, I lent it to a friend, figuring I would never use it again. He put the tobacco from cigarette buts into it, thus ruining it for me, so I let him keep it. (Again, I didn't think I'd ever smoke again).

Fast forward to the early summer of 2019. I'm in a pool at a good friend and fellow gamers home, enjoying chatting and good Scotch. He offers me a cigar, to which I say no thanks never liked em, but I did smoke a pipe once. He smiled and said I have one of those too, why don't you see if you like any of the tobacco we have?

Loved it. Asked the better half if she'd mind if I took the pipe up again, she said go for it. The rest is history.

 

[saltedplug]

In the late 90s I smoked a few cigars with a friend, and when he switched to the pipe I came along. He took me to JR and I spent $80.00 that I shouldn't have spent on a bent red Grabow and tins of MB Mixture, Erinmore flake and Escudo. And that was that. I was off to the races.

I can remember only one hiccup in my otherwise famished partaking of pipes and tobaccos. Like alcohol the word governing my continual intake was always "more." I saw a smooth pipe on Synjeco that was only $300.00; the price took me aback, so I called that friend and asked him what he thought. He thought nothing good and in no way agreed with "more,"

Sometime in the next year I dropped the shock and spent every dime I had after paying my bills on lots of pipes and tobaccos. I could have smoked cheap and got most of the pipe's good times, but I was bedazzled by the joys of the culture's consumerism. It didn't help that I joined a forum in the first year, replete with posts and ads for the goods. I learned a great deal there. It took me years to get the experience that separated the lore from the myths, the biggest of which that justified the cost of high-end pipes; those certain pipes that cost 100s of dollars that are said to offer superb smokes. Dunhill pipes through the patients are said to so perform. I had a patent that was no better a smoker than any other pipe. All hail to the Dunhill cachet that is seemingly impervious to death!

Along the way I developed a preference for very strong tobacco, and I had many fine smokes from the highest banner of that liking, Dark Flake, as it not only kicked me in the head but kept on kicking. To a certain extent such liking restricted my enjoyment of nominally potent tobacco.

Mostly I bought tobacco as at this point, a point to which I returned later, as above, a pipe was just a pipe. Although it was of little consequence, I enjoyed collecting tobacco, all 300 lbs of it.

I became a regular and to some extent an expert on that forum. I studied it and read it to the extent that I was current with all the posts, waiting for someone else to post something new.

In 2012, 11 years in, I had to notice the effect smoking had had on my respiration, and I quit, selling everything. On some items I recouped 80% of what I had paid, but on half I only got 50%. But in a year I was back at it, and I bought everything back.

I quit for good in 2018 sensing that if I didn't I would soon be in-hospital. It's my belief that addiction can only be controlled by abstinence, so no pipe tobacco, cigars, cigarettes, vape, snuff or chew since. Old/older guys content themselves with a few bowls a month, but I feel that tobacco in my life is exactly where it needs to be. But I keep in touch with those memories by coming here. I love the forums. Pipe smoking was very important to me.

 

[bullet08]

One day I got up and decided to smoke pipe. That's it.

 

[cigrmaster]

Hoosierpipeguy was a good cigar buddy. One day he calls and tells me I have to try a pipe. I said why the hell would I do that and on to another subject. 2 weeks day after day he wouldn't ,let up. I tiunk he even threatened to shoot me int he leg if I didn't do what he said.

I finally relented bought a great Savinelli from my buddy who is a tobacconist and 20 years later I am still smoking my pipes and hooseir stopped threatening to shoot me.

I will be forever grateful as I really love my pipes and tobacco more than my cigars and he saved me probably 50=75k

Thanks my friend.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

And wouldn't you know it, Harris has never properly repaid me for the huge favor I provided him by converting him to pipes. LOL

I smoked cigarettes and cigars up to 2008. Quit both but started cigars again 6 months later. I had serious ventures into pipe smoking at different times before that but was always too much on the move to make it convenient enough. I smoked my first pipe when I was 15, a corn cob with Borkhum Riff Whiskey. That should have been enough to have me swear off the pipe forever. Smoked pipe for 3 or 4 years in my mid twenties and then picked it up again in the early 2,000's for 5 or 6 years. Started again not quite 3 years ago and wondered why I ever smoked anything else. I now smoke cigars when playing golf and an occasional stogie when with cigar smoking friends. Still enjoy cigars but nowhere near as much as smoking my pipes.

 

[Chasing Embers]

What brought you to the art of pipe smoking?

Smoking did. Never saw it as an art or a hobby, I'm just a smoker.

 

[petes03]

My Great Uncle smoked one when I was a kid, and I still remember the way his house always smelled. I loved going over there and looking through his pipe collection and taking in the aroma.
I smoked a pipe on off and on as a teenager, mostly with Captain Black, but always went back to the cigs.
Nostalgia, and the want for something different, got me back into it in my 20’s. I may occasionally take a break from the pipe for as long as a couple months, but I don’t see myself ever giving them up. I’ve quit the nails, several years and counting, and still dip on a regular basis, but pipe tobacco is my source of relaxation. Well, that and time on the shooting range....