“2024: A Year of My Pipe Smoking Journey”
Greetings Pipe Smokers! I want to share my experience over the last year of beginning pipe smoking. It has been an eventful year and I have learned a ton thanks to this fine forum and several YouTube channels, and also from a decent amount of experimentation and actual experience.
I started humbly with a Savinelli 606 Alligator Blue Bent Billiard and 2 oz of Tinder Box’s Sherlock’s Choice (a medium English). I thought the pipe ‘looked cool’ and was intrigued by the balsa filter system. From the very first smoke I was hooked. Pipe smoking ticks a lot of boxes for me: it is relaxing, enables me to tune out the digital noise for a while and escape all the screens, usually gets me outdoors — even if just on my patio, is a feast for the senses with all the beautiful and varied pipes and plethora of wildly differing blends, and offers an array of bits and bobs to fiddle with.
I love the whole process of smoking a pipe. The anticipation of another wonderful smoke, selecting which pipe and blend I am in the mood for, carefully packing the bowl, lighting, smoking of course, tamping, occasionally fussing, and even the cleaning part afterward. It is an intentional, slow, relaxing, analog ritual in an otherwise fast-paced life.
Expansion
I have benefitted greatly from all the advice out there, but at heart I am an experiential learner. Over the course of the year I smoked nearly 350 bowls, sampling 66 blends from 27 brands, and in 26 different briar pipes (one was a clay). I loved some blends immediately, like Northwoods, Aged Burley Flake, Balkan Sasieni, Plum Pudding, and Quiet Nights. Some I warmed to after a few attempts like Escudo and Haddo’s Delight. And some were fine, but didn’t offer me anything I wasn’t getting elsewhere like Bob’s Chocolate Flake and Mixture 79.
I slowly built up a cellar starting with a few extra tins of my faves (the blends above, plus Old Dark Fired, Blood Red Moon, Boswell’s Best, Mississippi River, Westminster, Saint Espresso, WhiteKnight, and Star of the East). It has now grown to nearly 30 pounds of stored tobacco across 93 blends.
I discovered some exceptional new/limited releases including Steamworks, Cringle Flake, and the amazing Sun Bear Black Locust. I also learned the benefits of jumping on those blends quickly as they sell out! I even found tins of Penzance and Frog Morton’s Cellar at less-than-horrific prices and was able to see what all the fuss was about. Great experiences, but mostly taught me that I don’t have to worry about unicorns.
My 'open' Cellar:
With regard to pipes, I bought factory pipes from Savinelli, Peterson, Stanwell, Vauen, Falcon, Rattray’s, and Missouri Meerschaum. I bought ‘artisan’ pipes from Boswell, Mark Tinsky, and LCS Briars. I bought a couple Pipes of the Year, some System Pipes, filtered pipes both 6mm and 9mm, unfiltered pipes, a couple Churchwardens, an estate briar, a travel pipe, and even a commissioned pipe. Most of these were purchased during sales and special deals, and two of them were gifts from my thoughtful wife. I learned that there are great-smoking pipes at every price point, and even the most well-established company can occasionally produce a dud.
Contraction
All of that varied experience taught me what aspects of pipes and pipe tobacco are appealing to me and what works for my palette/aesthetic. As the year drew to a close, I found myself starting to offload pipes and blends that just weren’t doing it for me — gradually distilling my collection to the best bits. I sent seven of my briars to smokingpipes.com’s estate division (and ended up with just over $500 in store credit), and I have sold or given away several blends (more to come).
I also realized that I generally prefer 9mm filtered pipes. I don’t have a problem smoking unfiltered pipes, or 6mm balsa, or Falcon, but most of the time I have been reaching for my various 9mm’s. One of my favorite pipes was a Savinelli 673KS Oceano (6mm balsa), and I let it go in favor of getting a Savinelli Siena 673KS (9mm). I also traded in my Peterson 80s Irish Harp (unfiltered) in favor of a Peterson Dublin 150 Bulldog (9mm). I love both of those new pipes more than I did their predecessors.
So while I also still have a churchwarden, demi-warden, travel pipe, cob, clay, an estate Parker, and that original 606 bent billiard (among others), my daily smokers have been reduced to what I call my “Magnificent Seven”:
From left-to-right: Peterson Dublin 150 bulldog, LCS Briars bent Rhodesian (commissioned), Vauen Topas 150, LCS Briars bent Billiard, Savinelli Siena 673KS bent Rhodesian, Rattray's Beltane's Fire smooth light bent Rhodesian (most-recently acquired pipe), Ashton Pipe Club of London Pipe of the Year '24 bent Poker.
Recordkeeping
I have logged my smokes since the beginning. Initially it was to keep track of blends I was trying and what I liked/didn’t like. I kept the smoking log pretty simple: date, blend, pipe, and any comments in the moment. The result of this is the accurate review of the year above. I’ll be the first to admit that opening a spreadsheet and typing a few datapoints into various cells is the opposite of what I smoke a pipe for. Most of the time I find myself logging either right before I smoke (so I can then unplug and just enjoy the smoke unfettered), or more often the morning after. But it has proven to be useful to me in keeping track of my pipe and tobacco purchases, and my burgeoning cellar.
Community
All of the above notwithstanding I have to say that the biggest highlight of the year for me was participating in PMF’s Secret Santa. It was a fun (and often silly) experience, and I was really blown away by the generosity shown by so many. I can’t wait for the next one. Som Besths! Another highlight has been getting together with forum member @telescopes in person, and visiting a few local pipe shops who have pipe-smoking regulars. Camaraderie for the win!
So wraps it up for 2024. I expect to continue my pipe/blend distillation process over time and slowing my purchase of new pipes. And I look forward to continued camaraderie in these forums!
Greetings Pipe Smokers! I want to share my experience over the last year of beginning pipe smoking. It has been an eventful year and I have learned a ton thanks to this fine forum and several YouTube channels, and also from a decent amount of experimentation and actual experience.
I started humbly with a Savinelli 606 Alligator Blue Bent Billiard and 2 oz of Tinder Box’s Sherlock’s Choice (a medium English). I thought the pipe ‘looked cool’ and was intrigued by the balsa filter system. From the very first smoke I was hooked. Pipe smoking ticks a lot of boxes for me: it is relaxing, enables me to tune out the digital noise for a while and escape all the screens, usually gets me outdoors — even if just on my patio, is a feast for the senses with all the beautiful and varied pipes and plethora of wildly differing blends, and offers an array of bits and bobs to fiddle with.
I love the whole process of smoking a pipe. The anticipation of another wonderful smoke, selecting which pipe and blend I am in the mood for, carefully packing the bowl, lighting, smoking of course, tamping, occasionally fussing, and even the cleaning part afterward. It is an intentional, slow, relaxing, analog ritual in an otherwise fast-paced life.
Expansion
I have benefitted greatly from all the advice out there, but at heart I am an experiential learner. Over the course of the year I smoked nearly 350 bowls, sampling 66 blends from 27 brands, and in 26 different briar pipes (one was a clay). I loved some blends immediately, like Northwoods, Aged Burley Flake, Balkan Sasieni, Plum Pudding, and Quiet Nights. Some I warmed to after a few attempts like Escudo and Haddo’s Delight. And some were fine, but didn’t offer me anything I wasn’t getting elsewhere like Bob’s Chocolate Flake and Mixture 79.
I slowly built up a cellar starting with a few extra tins of my faves (the blends above, plus Old Dark Fired, Blood Red Moon, Boswell’s Best, Mississippi River, Westminster, Saint Espresso, WhiteKnight, and Star of the East). It has now grown to nearly 30 pounds of stored tobacco across 93 blends.
I discovered some exceptional new/limited releases including Steamworks, Cringle Flake, and the amazing Sun Bear Black Locust. I also learned the benefits of jumping on those blends quickly as they sell out! I even found tins of Penzance and Frog Morton’s Cellar at less-than-horrific prices and was able to see what all the fuss was about. Great experiences, but mostly taught me that I don’t have to worry about unicorns.
My 'open' Cellar:
With regard to pipes, I bought factory pipes from Savinelli, Peterson, Stanwell, Vauen, Falcon, Rattray’s, and Missouri Meerschaum. I bought ‘artisan’ pipes from Boswell, Mark Tinsky, and LCS Briars. I bought a couple Pipes of the Year, some System Pipes, filtered pipes both 6mm and 9mm, unfiltered pipes, a couple Churchwardens, an estate briar, a travel pipe, and even a commissioned pipe. Most of these were purchased during sales and special deals, and two of them were gifts from my thoughtful wife. I learned that there are great-smoking pipes at every price point, and even the most well-established company can occasionally produce a dud.
Contraction
All of that varied experience taught me what aspects of pipes and pipe tobacco are appealing to me and what works for my palette/aesthetic. As the year drew to a close, I found myself starting to offload pipes and blends that just weren’t doing it for me — gradually distilling my collection to the best bits. I sent seven of my briars to smokingpipes.com’s estate division (and ended up with just over $500 in store credit), and I have sold or given away several blends (more to come).
I also realized that I generally prefer 9mm filtered pipes. I don’t have a problem smoking unfiltered pipes, or 6mm balsa, or Falcon, but most of the time I have been reaching for my various 9mm’s. One of my favorite pipes was a Savinelli 673KS Oceano (6mm balsa), and I let it go in favor of getting a Savinelli Siena 673KS (9mm). I also traded in my Peterson 80s Irish Harp (unfiltered) in favor of a Peterson Dublin 150 Bulldog (9mm). I love both of those new pipes more than I did their predecessors.
So while I also still have a churchwarden, demi-warden, travel pipe, cob, clay, an estate Parker, and that original 606 bent billiard (among others), my daily smokers have been reduced to what I call my “Magnificent Seven”:
From left-to-right: Peterson Dublin 150 bulldog, LCS Briars bent Rhodesian (commissioned), Vauen Topas 150, LCS Briars bent Billiard, Savinelli Siena 673KS bent Rhodesian, Rattray's Beltane's Fire smooth light bent Rhodesian (most-recently acquired pipe), Ashton Pipe Club of London Pipe of the Year '24 bent Poker.
Recordkeeping
I have logged my smokes since the beginning. Initially it was to keep track of blends I was trying and what I liked/didn’t like. I kept the smoking log pretty simple: date, blend, pipe, and any comments in the moment. The result of this is the accurate review of the year above. I’ll be the first to admit that opening a spreadsheet and typing a few datapoints into various cells is the opposite of what I smoke a pipe for. Most of the time I find myself logging either right before I smoke (so I can then unplug and just enjoy the smoke unfettered), or more often the morning after. But it has proven to be useful to me in keeping track of my pipe and tobacco purchases, and my burgeoning cellar.
Community
All of the above notwithstanding I have to say that the biggest highlight of the year for me was participating in PMF’s Secret Santa. It was a fun (and often silly) experience, and I was really blown away by the generosity shown by so many. I can’t wait for the next one. Som Besths! Another highlight has been getting together with forum member @telescopes in person, and visiting a few local pipe shops who have pipe-smoking regulars. Camaraderie for the win!
So wraps it up for 2024. I expect to continue my pipe/blend distillation process over time and slowing my purchase of new pipes. And I look forward to continued camaraderie in these forums!
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