Best Advice/Tips

[ashman]

There is a huge amount of knowledge in this forum. If you could offer one bit of advice/tip to a new pipe smoker, about pipes, tobacco, tools, lighters, cleaning, etc., what would it be?

 

[CherokeeBilly]

Slow Down and enjoy the experience. I see too many people huffing on the pipe and smoking it like a freight train and having a bad experience.

 

[curl]

If you're just starting out with piping, spend most of your money on various tobacco blends, not on pipes.

Early on, I spent too much for 2 pipes that I'd like a mulligan on.
Now I have a small collection of cob pipes that I'm using to burn through lots of different tobaccos.

I buy tobacco 1 pouch or tin at a time or 2 ounces at a time all based on recommendations on this forum or per tobaccoreviews.com. Even when guys say they buy a blend by the pound, I still just cautiously buy a couple of ounces of it because like they say here...Your Mileage May Vary. This is a slow but I think a necessary process to go through before buying mass quantities of any blend.

 

[oldredbeard]

Curl, You're right. Everyone's taste is different, just because I say it's my favorite doesn't mean you will even like it.
My advice would be, like curl said, grab some Cob's to try and find the tobacco's you like. Then if you are still enjoying the hobby, you can invest in better pipes.

 

[puffy]

Make a list of the type of blends that you like to smoke and don't like.This helps to not spend money on blends that you won't smoke.

 

[warren]

If possible; Find a Mentor! If one is not available, read The Ultimate Pipe Book by Hacker or some other book. In this manner the new piper will start with a bit of basic knowledge and some references as to what to expect and how to correct the many failures which will occur when starting off on the search for the perfect pipe, tobacco and smoking experience.
With a bit of experience and some success the new smoker should be ready to seek help in a forum such as this one. The varied and sometimes conflicting advice on a forum can be very confusing unless one has a bit of experience so they can filter responses.

 

[tbradsim1]

Warren gives good advice. Most old timers , and here I will probably go against the grain have one tobbaco they fall back on day in and day in, newbies are confused by all this Hey try this out, No this is the best. Don't pay attention to this, find what you like then practice on it. Load and then go on auto pilot, just smoke, read a book, listen to music, stop worrying if you're doing it right . It's like your first diddle, thought you weren't doing it right bit it was the best you ever had. It gets better, there are no rules, the pipe police won't confiscate your pipes if you relight 3 times or 100. It's your own thing no ones else.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

The best advise I ever got was to put the tobacco in the big hole and the small one goes in your mouth, all else is up for debate, ha ha.
huskysibe was dead on. Sssssslllllooooooowwwwwwww. If you can find a pipe shop to hang out and watch guys smoke, look at the older guys, you won't see smoke. And, if you do, it's a trickle. The nicotine and flavor don't get forced into the small blood vessels of your mouth by blowing big clouds. Actually, big clouds lead to tongue bite and bitter flavors. And, a waste of tobacco.
If you can't watch real smokers, watch old movies. The guys walked around with the pipe hanging out of the mawl while working or walking or whatever.

If you're in a hurry, either don't smoke, or just set the pipe down and come back to it latter. Nothing is to be gained by puffing.

 

[hedgehog]

Best thing I discovered on my own (though for all I know, a million people told me and I ignored them all, asshole that I am) was to do nothing else while smoking a pipe. I do think you can overthink things, and for that reason, it may be good to have a distraction at first, but for me, the greatest pleasure of all is to smoke slowly and zone out. The more I keep that zone-out as my goal, pipes and tobaccos and techniques matter less. That said, I think the Frog Morton series is a great one to discover as you are starting out.

 

[jarit]

[...] the pipe police won't confiscate your pipes if you relight 3 times or 100

My one advice would be to pay attention on the humidity of the tobacco. Wet tobacco doesn't smoke well.

 

[darthcider]

Take your time, its not a race

 

[ember]

Two things that have helped me that was not mentioned

When lighting or relight only hold the lighter over the bowl briefly, like 2 seconds . Move flame around tobacco and get no more than 2 very short drag or sip. This will help prevent over heating the tobacco and getting Ash taste in your mouth.

The other thing that is working really well to help with keeping my pipe lit is .......

How to use the tamper . Ive seen guys in video s ( amateur and experienced smokers ) tamp the tobacco flat but I have found if you push the tobacco to the center ever so lightly into a mound it keeps that ember going and cuts way back on relights.

 

[owen]

I read others saying smoke a tin before jumping to conclusions about a tobacco. That has served me very well. I tried samples for the varieties, about 50 different ones when starting out but I really feel you learn more exploring a tin.