A New Lease on... Pipe Smoking?

[captainsousie]

I can't fault a guy for wanting to start over. However, I have rarely seen it work. This is experience in music, pipes, cars, brewing and my job. If you're bored, that often means that the pastime or job is not right for you. Give it a try and I hope it works for you but getting rid of your Miata and M3 for a new Boxter usually doesn't do the trick.

 

[Chasing Embers]

If you're bored, that often means that the pastime or job is not right for you.

It could just mean he's a smoker and not a hobbyist too though.

 

[captainsousie]

It could just mean he's a smoker and not a hobbyist too though.

If he was a smoker, he'd smoke what he got and not fret about it.

 

[Chasing Embers]

If he was a smoker, he'd smoke what he got and not fret about it.

Maybe, but I've seen lifetime smokers of a single brand of cigarette switch to another. Cigarette hobbyists are even worse than the pipe ones.

 

[captainsousie]

Maybe, but I've seen lifetime smokers of a single brand of cigarette switch to another. Cigarette hobbyists are even worse than the pipe ones.

Smokers smoke, hobbyists fret. If you care so much about the fact that your pipe was used and not new, if you look at your pipe selection and say you're sad, you're not a smoker, you're hobbyist. If you say, (with apologies to pikotaro) "I have a pipe, I have tobacco...I smoke it." You are a smoker.

 

[Chasing Embers]

"I have a pipe, I have tobacco...I smoke it." You are a smoker.

I smoke therefore I am.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Would it be crazy to send them away for a trade in - even if it amounts to fewer pipes but ones that will make me happy?

Not at all. We've had a few members do the same.

 

[Country Bladesmith]

So, Meerschaum is best for smoking VAs or non-latakia blends? ?

What ‘embers said. I think it works well for anything. It just took a little smoking before mine really let Latakia taste “full.” And I’d say more so for cobs. Not sure why, but I’d guess it’s because a new surface is very porous and absorbent, and tends to wick some of the flavorful oils away. As it fills with tar and oils, more stays in the smoke. Again, just my guess, but the taste of Lat in my meer when it was freshly carved had much less depth than now.

 

[Chasing Embers]

It just took a little smoking before mine really let Latakia taste “full.” And I’d say more so for cobs. Not sure why, but I’d guess it’s because a new surface is very porous and absorbent, and tends to wick some of the flavorful oils away. As it fills with tar and oils, more stays in the smoke

I get the same effect. More so with a gourd calabash.

 

[solideogloria86]

At one point I had as many as 20 briars. I realized many were collecting dust, so I sold off a handful and bought one I really liked. After I did that I began to realize the new pipe I'd bought was exactly to my specifications and I wouldn't change a single thing about it. This sparked a desire to only have pipes like that. One's that I wouldn't change a single thing about. So, I sold off the rest, minus one, and bought another and was gifted another. I now have 4 briars and a cob. All 5 of them are exactly what I want them to be. Nothing more nothing less.

 

[OzPiper]

Whether your current pipes are associated with bad memories or you're just plain sick of them - just box them up and get a few new ones.
In time, take a look at them, and if you still feel the same way, gift them to someone who will use and enjoy them. There are also people who take in old pipes, clean them up and re-sell with the proceeds going to a worthwhile charity. You'll feel a lot better doing that than junking them.
With time you may feel differently and look at those pipes as "lost" friends and be glad you didn't discard them

 

[telescopes]

No

you know what it is - you can all play my shrink-
when I began smoking a pipe after 10 years of cigars and a stint in camel/winston cigarettes
I bought a meer and it was new from P&C and it was MINE and I loved the damn thing- that opened the door to some meer lined briars and briars
some were estates and unsmoked and some were smoked and refurbished
But as the years went on I became set in the ways of pipe smoking becoming nothing special(granted I still treasure the flavor the pipe gives over cigars personally) but it just became smoking just like cigars was smoking
I never thought much into it and never bought a pipe over $75 - just factory made premium quality estates
I'd personally love to be the guy with the $400-1000 well maintained pipes that were bought new - especially since lately I've had personal issues - health(docs say I'm fine) etc...(non financial)

No, you wouldn’t. Time to make memories. Most of my pipes are just that. Make some good ones. Go on an adventure. The price isn’t the joy. Do me, the memories are.

 

[telescopes]

Whether your current pipes are associated with bad memories or you're just plain sick of them - just box them up and get a few new ones.
In time, take a look at them, and if you still feel the same way, gift them to someone who will use and enjoy them. There are also people who take in old pipes, clean them up and re-sell with the proceeds going to a worthwhile charity. You'll feel a lot better doing that than junking them.
With time you may feel differently and look at those pipes as "lost" friends and be glad you didn't discard them

Yes

 

[telescopes]

Eh, yeh it would for me.

I can't fault a guy for wanting to start over. However, I have rarely seen it work. This is experience in music, pipes, cars, brewing and my job. If you're bored, that often means that the pastime or job is not right for you. Give it a try and I hope it works for you but getting rid of your Miata and M3 for a new Boxter usually doesn't do the trick.

 

[Jim Sobie]

At one point I had as many as 20 briars. I realized many were collecting dust, so I sold off a handful and bought one I really liked. After I did that I began to realize the new pipe I'd bought was exactly to my specifications and I wouldn't change a single thing about it. This sparked a desire to only have pipes like that. One's that I wouldn't change a single thing about. So, I sold off the rest, minus one, and bought another and was gifted another. I now have 4 briars and a cob. All 5 of them are exactly what I want them to be. Nothing more nothing less.

My old man split 25 years ago and left an old box full of pipes. I've no fond memories of him so there's no sentimental attachment to them. What I do have is 4 decent briars that would probably be worth cleaning and sweetening and restoring the grodilated vulcanite stems, and then there are about half a dozen oddball pipes I'll never use. If I knew some fellow pipefolk locally I'd barter them, but I don't, and I'm too new a guy here to parley on the swap pages. Might go up to Paul's in Flint just to get more info on them or possibly trade, but since the Spaniola family has over 1M estates on hand I doubt they'd want any of em. In the meantime I have 4 cobs as my daily drivers.

 

[Jim Sobie]

I will confess I harbor a certain yen for something black and slinky like a Peterson bent with a silver ring, just to look suave in polite company, but since I don't get invited to those kinds of parties and tobacco smoking is now about as tolerated as bringing a sick dingo to a carpet store, reckon I'll stick with my cobs. They're cheap, they smoke well and they fit my utilitarian oeuvre.

 

[tobefrank]

There is a certain joy in owning something you really like. That doesn't always mean the most expensive thing, just things that give you joy just to pick them up and use.

On paper I have about 22 pipes, but only 9 of them bring me joy and get used on a semi regular basis. I'm intending to sell the other ones on the forum here at some point, but for now they are just packed away for when I'm ready to do that. I doubt that I will change my mind on them though, so away they will go at some point.

 

[Chasing Embers]

But as the years went on I became set in the ways of pipe smoking becoming nothing special

That's how it's always been for me, and I do have the well maintained artisan commission pieces.

 

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Some live to smoke and some smoke to live, I suppose. Apparently Tolkien greeted the morning by saying it was another opportunity to smoke, perhaps a sign of addiction.

To the OP, I've tried, but I cannot discern how selling all your pipes will change your life. And, I do not understand having an obcession with stuff. I mean, I enjoy my stuff, but at the end of the day, it is not where I get my passion for life.

 

[LikeDadDid]

you might just be projecting your current emotions onto your pipes

I used to do this until....hang on a minute....DAMMIT LORENZO SHUDDUP I'M BUSY YOU STUPID WASTE OF PHYSICAL SPACE...anyway, where was I?