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brian64

Lifer
Jan 31, 2011
9,649
14,816
If I remember correctly I think it was @didimauw once posted a story with pics of a guy he met in the wild who was a genuine codger with only I pipe that had a big crack in it...a Grabow I believe it was.

I remember the look on his face in the pic gave the impression he would consider all of us to be batshit crazy.
 

jaytex1969

Lifer
Jun 6, 2017
9,522
50,628
Here
I have plenty of pipes, maybe 20 in active rotation.

I have 3 less pipes and one less nice lighter since my move... ?

Still hoping they show up.

I could get by on one pipe, but the experience would be diminished.

How do you enjoy the subtleties of a Virginia flake after a few latakia or Lakeland smokes in the bowl?


1651874814321.png
 

pipestud

Lifer
Dec 6, 2012
2,012
1,763
Robinson, TX.
Would like to read that ??
Back in the 1970's Texas A&M had a head football coach by the name of Emory Bellard. He was, in fact, the inventor of the famous wishbone formation back when he was an assistant coach under legendary Head Coach Darrell Royal at the University of Texas. In my former career as a television sports broadcaster, I would always attend the Southwest Conference Football press tour prior to the start of each season and interview players and coaches for each team in the league. Bellard was the head coach at Texas A&M during those years and he always came out for his interview with the media smoking a pipe.

Fast forward to 2010 when Bellard was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame (I was CEO of the museum at that time). Prior to the ceremony I asked Bellard if he still smoked his pipes. He said that he actually only smoked one pipe and quit smoking it back in the mid 1990's. He said that he had a GBD pipe that he loved and smoked at least 10-15 bowls out of every day for 19-years, and smoked Sir Walter Raleigh exclusively. He said that for some reason, the pipe quit tasting good to him, so he threw it in a trash can and never smoked again. I was thinking to myself as he told the story that if I ran 10-15 bowls a day of Sir Walter Raleigh for 19-years through even a Bo Nordh pipe, I'd probably quit, too!
 

dctune

Part of the Furniture Now
No, can't say I have. I 've seen some old timers come in to the local shop and you could tell they only had one pipe. They wanted to get the owner to drill the carbon cake out so they could get tobacco in the pipe.
I was in the local shop just this morning buying an el cheapo reamer. The owner told me about this old guy, long-time customer who started complaining about their blends and how they’ve changed them and this place ain’t what it used be, etc. Owner assured him they haven’t changed in a thing and asked him to bring his pipe in. He said the cake was so thick the guy was having to use toothpicks to stuff the tobacco down in it. He was a one pipe guy, and basically never cleaned his stuff. After it was cleaned up, the guy was happy again with the blends he’d been smoking for 40 years.
 

ofafeather

Lifer
Apr 26, 2020
2,769
9,051
50
Where NY, CT & MA meet
Back in the 1970's Texas A&M had a head football coach by the name of Emory Bellard. He was, in fact, the inventor of the famous wishbone formation back when he was an assistant coach under legendary Head Coach Darrell Royal at the University of Texas. In my former career as a television sports broadcaster, I would always attend the Southwest Conference Football press tour prior to the start of each season and interview players and coaches for each team in the league. Bellard was the head coach at Texas A&M during those years and he always came out for his interview with the media smoking a pipe.

Fast forward to 2010 when Bellard was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame (I was CEO of the museum at that time). Prior to the ceremony I asked Bellard if he still smoked his pipes. He said that he actually only smoked one pipe and quit smoking it back in the mid 1990's. He said that he had a GBD pipe that he loved and smoked at least 10-15 bowls out of every day for 19-years, and smoked Sir Walter Raleigh exclusively. He said that for some reason, the pipe quit tasting good to him, so he threw it in a trash can and never smoked again. I was thinking to myself as he told the story that if I ran 10-15 bowls a day of Sir Walter Raleigh for 19-years through even a Bo Nordh pipe, I'd probably quit, too!
Thanks Steve! I knew I wouldn’t have gotten any of the details and killed the punch line!
 

dctune

Part of the Furniture Now
I use corn pipes for a few aromatics that I smoke. For example I use MM General pipes, for Condor, Amphora Full, St. Bruno, one aromatics for each pipe. Mixing everything in one pipe, I would make a salad of aromas, and I think I would be very angry.
I have a Savinelli I’ve dedicated to just aromatics. But after Lakelands, Cult Blood Red Moon, Vanillas, etc., literally everything tastes the same in it. Makes me sad. Mainly bc I spent a grip on that pipe.
 

Searock Fan

Lifer
Oct 22, 2021
1,953
5,404
U.S.A.
If I remember correctly I think it was @didimauw once posted a story with pics of a guy he met in the wild who was a genuine codger with only I pipe that had a big crack in it...a Grabow I believe it was.

I remember the look on his face in the pic gave the impression he would consider all of us to be batshit crazy.
So, he only smoked a Grabow with a crack in it and we're the ones who are crazy!!! cray
 

didimauw

Moderator
Staff member
Jul 28, 2013
10,015
32,237
34
Burlington WI
If I remember correctly I think it was @didimauw once posted a story with pics of a guy he met in the wild who was a genuine codger with only I pipe that had a big crack in it...a Grabow I believe it was.

I remember the look on his face in the pic gave the impression he would consider all of us to be batshit crazy.
Can't take the credit, but I reposted that story. I'll have to find that thread! It was an opera pipe I believe.
 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,524
109,861
Can't take the credit, but I reposted that story. I'll have to find that thread! It was an opera pipe I believe.
 

hawky454

Lifer
Feb 11, 2016
5,338
10,221
Austin, TX
I think everyone started out with one pipe at some time.
I was lucky, my father in law gave me some of his pipes, he gave up the pipe after getting cancer, so he wasn’t using them anymore but he really perked up when I showed interest in his pipes and after some time he was buying tobacco again and we smoked together on many occasions (his cancer wasn’t related to his smoking, he was free and clear of it for years by this time). He gave me 5 or 6 pipes from his collection, I smoked those for about 6 months before I started buying my own, I just wanted to be sure I was going to stick with it before spending $80 on a pipe, which seemed ridiculously high priced at the time, haha. I knew I was going to stick with it the moment I lit up a Latakia blend. I don’t consider myself a pipe collector, I’m way more interested in tobacco, that being said, I started with 6, I now I have over 100 pipes and that is just too many for me. Eventually, I plan to whittle them down to just 40 pipes that I absolutely love.
 

JOHN72

Lifer
Sep 12, 2020
5,207
52,247
51
Spain - Europe
In the end, I buy a quantity of pipes, according to the variety and quantity in kilos of tobaccos that I have, or will have. And of course, you end up putting together a good collection. But as I said before, only for the exclusive use of smoking the tobaccos in the best possible conditions. Of course the pipes in their shapes and colors drive me crazy, I love them. But not to see them in a showcase, and show them to the neighbor, new, without smoking them. I like how they get older as the years go by, the countless smokes, and the anecdotes that this entails. I am not a pipe collector, and neither am I a tobacco collector. I buy pipes and tobacco to smoke and enjoy their variety. I am very grateful to this forum, where I have learned a lot from you. I used to spit tobacco out of my pipe, and now I smoke a pipe, hahahahahahaah. I am very serious about it.
 

JOHN72

Lifer
Sep 12, 2020
5,207
52,247
51
Spain - Europe
I have a Savinelli I’ve dedicated to just aromatics. But after Lakelands, Cult Blood Red Moon, Vanillas, etc., literally everything tastes the same in it. Makes me sad. Mainly bc I spent a grip on that pipe.
I understand, my friend. And it's frustrating, having a rich variety of tobaccos, to end up in a pipe that is going to offer you a horrible smell, due to the amount of stewed and re-burned oils.
 

lvacgar

Lurker
Feb 27, 2015
13
32
Sarasota, Florida
Having only one would make my life easier…

I did sell off a lot, cut back from 70+ briars to about 15. Somehow crept back closer to 25 and trying hard not to acquiesce to PAD again.

Smoking only one, even if wiped out frequently, diminishes the experience for me. They get wet and stay that way. I don’t mind smoking 1-2 pipes throughout the day but like to rest them several days. I rotate. A clean dry pipe is a more enjoyable vessel for me.
 

Merton

Part of the Furniture Now
Jul 8, 2020
954
2,526
Boston, Massachusetts
I once knew a man who had one of the world's greatest collections of Castellos, more than 500 pipes. He had spent the majority of his life pursuing this collection and, of course, had spent tens of thousands of dollars in the pursuit. As he grew older he was filled with regret over both the money, the time expended and the impact it had on his relationship with his family. Clearly it was an obsession. He was a good guy and now is gone. I think of him, as I now classify as a senior citizen, whenever my PAD gets out of control. I could not have but one pipe, but certainly don't really need the 45 or so i have in regular rotation along with another 40 or so boxed away. My steely resolve, however, regarding acquisition is tested almost every month and, most months, gives way to a new pipe..
 

RobNYC

Lifer
Dec 10, 2021
2,351
35,387
55
Queens, N.Y.
I’m going to test this theory one day by selecting three separate but complimentary blends in three completely different size, shape, style and brands of pipes - I might even go crazy and further differentiate by smooth, blast and rusticated, British, Danish and Italian, bent, straight and churchwarden, briar, meerschaum and cob (or maybe clay?), and choose a VaPer, English and an aromatic, and sit there rotating from one to the next until all three are smoked, my brain and palate are smoked, or the piping police come to arrest me and cart me away to some gulag for unspeakable crimes against tobacco.

Hmmm, this has serious potential. ?

Please advise.
Or this...

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