Do You Still Have Your First Pipe?

[bluegrassbrian]

Not by a long shot. Very first pipe was an awful $20 churchwarden from a local cigarette shop (purchased with a pouch of captain black [ofcourse]).
My first "real" pipes were a joint purchase; a green Peterson Dublin churchwarden and a LaRocca quarter bent Dublin. It didn't take long for me to trade those in.

 

[prndl]

My first pipe was my father's old Grabow Freehand.
He passed in '91 and, though I rarely smoke it anymore, I do still have it.

 

[mso489]

Yes! In my cabinet and in rotation, a Tinderbox St. Ives, probably by Chocam, a bent pot with a vertical saddle stem, a really distinctive pipe in a light maple stain, so pretty it almost transcends the pot shape (I like pots, but this one improves the design). It's 40 years old and in fine shape. Because I don't build cake, the chamber is as wide as ever, and it has never been reamed -- I don't own a reamer. It's always smoked well and handles a wide range of blends. I suspect it was about $20 in the mid-70's, though I don't have distinct memory. We'd just bought a house, so I wasn't going to break the bank on a pipe. I think I had North Sea aro or a similar blend to begin. I've had stretches of not smoking, so I'm glad I hung onto the pipes. I've always liked them as "works of art" in addition to their function.

 

[pipebuddy]

God, no! I think I bought my first one in the mid-eighties. I can

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t keep anything that precede this one.

With what I know about pipes today, I can say this: a very few I regret not having kept. The others, I really don`t miss them.

 

[pipebuddy]

God, no! I think I bought my first one in the mid-eighties. I can

<br />
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t keep anything that precede this one.

With what I know about pipes today, I can say this: a very few I regret not having kept. The others, I really don`t miss them.

 

[pipebuddy]

Well, looks like my post is all screwed up. I tried to edit a few times, but to no avail. And I'm not in the mood to fight this.

 

[virginialover]

Yes, a GBD London 135 billiard, it used to have the GBD letters painted on the stem.It's one of those odities, either post merger or just before. I got it on my 18th birthday and smoked it until recently.

 

[joshb]

Yes. My Kaywoodie Large Bulldog. It was a Christmas gift from a good friend of mine going on three years ago now. Id smoke it on occaision back then, but was too heavily involved in cigarettes until about a year ago i started phasing them out in favor of the pipe. Still smoke it quite often. Stinger is still intact.

 

[pipedreamin]

I do, a MM cob. It's going on about 30 years old now. It's quite charred, probably sporting its 4th stem. I smoke it rarely but it sits in the cabinet as the grandfather to the collection. I recall after getting and smoking it a bit I couldn't keep it lit, No one to ask till I saw an older gent in a parking lot smoking a pipe so I went and put the question to him. He said he didn't know, just re-lit it, and suggested Captain Black in the white pouch, which I smoked pretty much solely back then.

 

[mikethompson]

Some good tales in here, keep 'em coming!

 

[davet]

My first pipe was this Yello-Bole Nova straight billiard, Brylon , purchased almost forty years ago. My second was this small McKenzie, my first briar. Pictured as well, my first Zippo :mrgreen:

 

[stickframer]

No. It was a Capri bent billiard with smooth finish, a basket pipe. I stopped smoking it after I got some better pipes, and eventually tossed it.

 

[scrumpyjack]

Technically no. My first pipe was a cob that I lost. My first Briar though, I still have. A Lorenzo Spitfire. Great little pipe.

 

[The Pipe Professor]

Yes, I still own my first pipe. It was a basket pipe from my local B&M. 3/4 Bent smooth Italian briar. Still smokes like a champ.

 

[PlanxtyPipes]

Yep. It is a Tinderbox basket pipe stamped 'Carolina Briar'. It is a smooth bent billard with a finish so thick and shiny it looks like it was dipped in plastic. Bought it in 2006.

 

[mso489]

nevadablue, an all-copper pipe? Sounds strange. What did the folks at the Ft. Sill PX think would be smoked in that? Even the well-loved Falcon sticks a piece of briar or Meerschaum at the end. I've never heard of a copper pipe, except in plumbing -- those are pricey.
Tinderbox supplied many of us with our first pipes. I think their revenue stream now is predominantly cigars, but they still make a gesture at carry pipes and pipe tobacco.

 

[davidy97]

Yes, my grandpa’s no name “imported briar” pipe.

 

[orobusto]

My first pipe met an unfortunate end when I had it in the pocket of a long raincoat and I accidentally closed it in my car door busting the shank and stem into a bunch of pieces.

 

[puffermark]

Yes. A Golden Square bent Bulldog which my late eldest brother gave me on my 21st birthday, 32 years ago. Smoked the daylights out of it until I quit the pipe a few years later. Carried on with cigarettes till I gave those up about 15 years ago.
Then, a few years ago I began fresh water angling again, and thought it might be nice to puff on a pipe while doing so. Couldn't find the old pipe though, and went and bought a Stanwell 232 at a local B&M. Shortly after, I discovered local carvers and estates and now have a rotation of 40+. Well, you know the story.
Subsequently, my wife found the old one in the pocket of my old rain coat. It's seen it's share of abuse and doesn't get smoked anymore, but its safely tucked away, and there it shall remain.

 

[bluegrasspipe]

Nope. My first was found at our campsite at a bluegrass festival in Kansas, a straight falcon with a apple bowl. I cleaned it up and smoked it for a few years. Eventually I broke the metal stummel/stem, and threw it away. In retrospect I should have held on to it.