Choosing a Pipe to Suit Your Face?

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Peter Peachfuzz

Starting to Get Obsessed
Nov 23, 2019
267
517
Central Ohio
I'm what most would call a big boy.. 6 '4" around 250#. My head is shaped like a bowling ball. I keep if shaved and wear a relaxed van dyke style mustache/goatee.
I stay away from petite pipes, canadians, etc.. I like a nice author, roadie, generally something a little meatier with a bend.
 

gamzultovah

Lifer
Aug 4, 2019
3,171
20,926
I find myself leaning towards this camp. Factory pipes just aren't special to me any longer, but those one-of-a-kind artisan pipes? Very appealing, regardless of how ridiculous I may look while smoking it.
I own a lot of (what some would call) ridiculous looking pipes...and I enjoy each and every one of them. The pipe to the left is an unsmoked 1975, Micoli (Mic Burns) freehand with its original hand made pipe box. The two off to the right are tomorrow’s smokes: a Francois Dal deep sandblast lovat loaded with Watch City’s Terrapin Station and the other is a Dunhill Group 3 lovat loaded with Dunhill Aperitif. As you can see, my smoking style and my collecting style are on opposite ends of the spectrum, and both bring me a great deal of joy. I do have some really odd pipes in my collection that I smoke, but I only smoke them in the comfort of my home. Smoking a pipe in public draws enough attention without the added “Ahh” factor of an extremely well made artisan pipe. ?10400
 

supperthyme

Can't Leave
Nov 2, 2019
345
1,215
I'm what most would call a big boy.. 6 '4" around 250#. My head is shaped like a bowling ball. I keep if shaved and wear a relaxed van dyke style mustache/goatee.
I stay away from petite pipes, canadians, etc.. I like a nice author, roadie, generally something a little meatier with a bend.

Makes total sense. Someone of your stature might come off as a little cartoonish clenching a tiny prince or similar shape.
 
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brian64

Lifer
Jan 31, 2011
9,629
14,734
The pipe has to fit my eye, not my face. Unless I'm looking in a mirror, I have no idea what it looks like when I'm smoking it.

+1

I can honestly say it has never even crossed my mind what I'd look like smoking it when considering a pipe purchase...only whether I like the look of the pipe, i.e., the design, size, shape, etc.

But then I never smoke a pipe in public anyway.
 

diamondback

Lifer
Feb 22, 2019
1,215
1,932
54
Rockvale, TN
When buying a pipe, in person, or for that matter when we receive a pipe in the mail, one of the first things we do is put the pipe in our mouth and look in the mirror. So there may be some merit to buying a pipe that suits our face.

I can honestly say I have never done this.

+1

I can honestly say it has never even crossed my mind what I'd look like smoking it when considering a pipe purchase...only whether I like the look of the pipe, i.e., the design, size, shape, etc.

But then I never smoke a pipe in public anyway.

I’ll go down to our local B&M to smoke on occasion. These guys will be in there with their Opus X Lost Cities and Anniversary Padrons, and I’ll whip out a cob with some HH ODF and know who’s got the best smoke in the room ;)
 

olkofri

Lifer
Sep 9, 2017
8,048
14,666
The Arm of Orion
Isn't that a cob in your avatar? It seems to suit you well, but perhaps too small in proportion to head size.
LMAO.

That's a character from a game, actually. When it was time to photoshop a pipe on in order to use it as my avatar here, I was gonna use a briar, but decided to go for the cob because of the title of the game itself; I assumed those who have played it would immediately catch the reference.
 

gamzultovah

Lifer
Aug 4, 2019
3,171
20,926
I can honestly say I have never done this.



I’ll go down to our local B&M to smoke on occasion. These guys will be in there with their Opus X Lost Cities and Anniversary Padrons, and I’ll whip out a cob with some HH ODF and know who’s got the best smoke in the room ;)
Oh, just to mess with the boys with sticks, I WILL BRING my oddest artisan pipes with me in order to put on a show. One time at Davidoff’s in Tampa, I filled an empty section of the room with cigar smokers who were curious about all aspects of pipe smoking, including (what they called) the wonderful room note. Every one of them asked if they could handle the pipes I brought and even a daring few asked for a puff. Hopefully made some converts that day. ?
 

supperthyme

Can't Leave
Nov 2, 2019
345
1,215
I do have some really odd pipes in my collection that I smoke, but I only smoke them in the comfort of my home. Smoking a pipe in public draws enough attention without the added “Ahh” factor of an extremely well made artisan pipe. ?

I'm not so sure... I've smoked both $10 corn cobs and massive gnarly Danish freehands in public with some regularity, but the reaction from bystanders was pretty even.
The pipe in your first photo might raise some eyebrows though ? maybe you should smoke it out in public some day, you know.. for science.
 
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olkofri

Lifer
Sep 9, 2017
8,048
14,666
The Arm of Orion
When buying a pipe, in person, or for that matter when we receive a pipe in the mail, one of the first things we do is put the pipe in our mouth and look in the mirror. So there may be some merit to buying a pipe that suits our face.
I don't do this at the B&M: I consider it bad etiquette to leave my saliva on a pipe I might not buy. (I also don't want to get somebody else's.)

When I finally bring one home, or get it in the post, yeah, that's one of the first things I do after disinfecting it: look at myself in the mirror with it.
 
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