Christening a New Pipe?

[sparrowhawk]

Do you have a special routine or ritual that you go through with a new pipe, or do you just immediately put it in your mouth with a special tobacco and start puffing away?

Getting a new pipe is always a special event for me--especially--for the pipe I expect in a few days, so I evolved I special ritual for christening a new pipe. I fill it with a tobacco that I think appropriate, then take a favorite seat or sit outside the picnic table, and at midnight light up, and enjoy my first smoke on my new pipe. (I may get a drink when the Vampire's Wand arrives). So am I the only one who does this, or do others have a christening ritual?

 

[mso489]

Sometimes I'll have the pipe around for several days of eyeballing it, until eventually, as if by impulse,

I dive on it and pack it with a blend chosen by momentary inspiration and fire it up. I don't know why

I have to sort of stalk a pipe, but I often do. Other times, I'll just go ahead and pack it and light it up,

more or less right out of the box. I actually have a cob with a Forever stem that has been unsmoked

for about a year; I have no explanation.

 

[northernneil]

No ritual as it is. But I do have a process to determine what tobacco smokes best in the new pipe.
I will usually start with a lighter straight VA (my favorite genre) and see how the pipe performs. If it seems to be missing out on some of the subtle VA flavors, I will try a mixture next, usually a VA/Or or a VA/Bur. If I still feel there is something missing I will try Latakia blend.
This process has worked pretty well for me so far.

 

[huntertrw]

When christening a new pipe is it best to sprinkle or immerse it?

 

[tuold]

I recently kept my new Peterson Harp in front of me on my desk for week before I lit it up for the first time just enjoying the beauty of it. I wasn't really expecting to have my socks blown off on the first smoke. After six or seven bowls of "Old San Francisco" it's starting to come around. So far it feels very good and smokes smooth as silk.
One thing I learned late in this hobby is that patience really pays off in just about every aspect. Everything from breaking in a new pipe, restoring old ones, or just smoking in general is best done slowly and with much consideration.

 

[anthonyrosenthal74]

I tend to hold the pipe for a good while before I actually load it up to smoke. I'll hold in my hand, admiring the feel on my fingers, how it sits in the palm. I'll turn it over and over, admiring the grain, the shape. Heck, I still do that with the pipes I've had for a while. I cannot pick up my Peterson St Patty's day 2013 XL90 without doing this. I swear I got lucky with this one. Everything about it screams that it was meant to be a higher end pipe and somehow got dropped into the wrong bucket.