I’ve been smoking a pipe since I was 18, now 21 years. I’ve enjoyed learning all kinds of things about the hobby during that time but i now have a fairly set routine of habits that I do whether or not they abide by the majority opinion. Here are my own pipe-smoking pragmatic idiosyncrasies by way of confession:
1. I open tins and smoke from said tin for well over a year without jarring in order to taste the tobacco blend at different moisture rates. If there’s a highly valued blend for me, I jar it right away.
2. I have no packing method other than putting the tobacco in the pipe at a gravity fill level a couple of times and giving it one light push.
3. True or not, I believe in not using a bic due to excessive heat, unless I have no other lighting options.
4. If I’m smoking in a convenient location. I probably run three pipe cleaners through the pipe on every smoke because a) I might just suck at smoking and always smoke wet, or b) I just suck at smoking.
5. I never did track how many relights I have per smoke. I just don’t care. It’s a lot usually.
6. I have trouble with and don’t enjoy clinching that much.
7. I smoke in the car all the time and live and die by the one driver’s side window cracked idea as a vacuum for sucking out the smoke (and still allowing you to hear the podcast you’re listening to).
8. I lost my taste for Latakia and I miss it.
9. I can’t seem to find the complexity of flavor in all the burley blends but I want to, in honor of Matches 860 (rip).
10. I restore pipes. I suck at restoring pipes.
11. I want to like C&D blends but they all taste just meh to me.
12. I ordered a stupid magnetic car pipe holder from eBay and it’s freaking awesome.
13. My calibri old boy from Amazon is the most expensive pipe accessory I have and 1 billion percent worth it.
14. Thunder bird lighters suck but I still buy them.
15, I bought fake old boys from Alibaba.
16. Some of my best smoking pipes are complete no names and they have put my nomenclature pride to shame.
17. I can’t believe I only started truly cellaring after McClelland closed.
18. I half believe/half disbelieve there is a coming tobacco apocalypse.
19. I gave up on vulcanite for acrylic about ten years ago. If I find a good stummel I just have a proper logo’d acrylic stem made for it.
20. I once had a Barling’s Make that a reputable pipe restorer sanded the logo off of… I’m still trying to forgive him.
21. When I first started smoking, you could buy all kinds of blends in the brick and mortar joints. I haven’t seen a decent one in years.
22. I have often risked being late for a flight by smoking my pipe one last time outside the airport.
I’ll stop here for now…
1. I open tins and smoke from said tin for well over a year without jarring in order to taste the tobacco blend at different moisture rates. If there’s a highly valued blend for me, I jar it right away.
2. I have no packing method other than putting the tobacco in the pipe at a gravity fill level a couple of times and giving it one light push.
3. True or not, I believe in not using a bic due to excessive heat, unless I have no other lighting options.
4. If I’m smoking in a convenient location. I probably run three pipe cleaners through the pipe on every smoke because a) I might just suck at smoking and always smoke wet, or b) I just suck at smoking.
5. I never did track how many relights I have per smoke. I just don’t care. It’s a lot usually.
6. I have trouble with and don’t enjoy clinching that much.
7. I smoke in the car all the time and live and die by the one driver’s side window cracked idea as a vacuum for sucking out the smoke (and still allowing you to hear the podcast you’re listening to).
8. I lost my taste for Latakia and I miss it.
9. I can’t seem to find the complexity of flavor in all the burley blends but I want to, in honor of Matches 860 (rip).
10. I restore pipes. I suck at restoring pipes.
11. I want to like C&D blends but they all taste just meh to me.
12. I ordered a stupid magnetic car pipe holder from eBay and it’s freaking awesome.
13. My calibri old boy from Amazon is the most expensive pipe accessory I have and 1 billion percent worth it.
14. Thunder bird lighters suck but I still buy them.
15, I bought fake old boys from Alibaba.
16. Some of my best smoking pipes are complete no names and they have put my nomenclature pride to shame.
17. I can’t believe I only started truly cellaring after McClelland closed.
18. I half believe/half disbelieve there is a coming tobacco apocalypse.
19. I gave up on vulcanite for acrylic about ten years ago. If I find a good stummel I just have a proper logo’d acrylic stem made for it.
20. I once had a Barling’s Make that a reputable pipe restorer sanded the logo off of… I’m still trying to forgive him.
21. When I first started smoking, you could buy all kinds of blends in the brick and mortar joints. I haven’t seen a decent one in years.
22. I have often risked being late for a flight by smoking my pipe one last time outside the airport.
I’ll stop here for now…
