First Pipe You Ever Bought?

[peckinpahhombre]

What is the first pipe you ever bought and how did you decide to buy it? Do you still own it? Still love it?
I have only been into pipes since last September. Before that, cigars were my thing. In September I was in Dublin for a conference and, while walking about, I stumbled upon the Peterson flagship store on Nassau street in Dublin. I went in, and came out with the pipe below. Because I liked big cigars (Cubans), I told the salesman that I wanted a big pipe. He pulled this one out and said this was the biggest pipe they sold. So I bought it. Oddly, they call it a Peterson "House Pipe", whatever that means. It is a large billiard with a black blast. For the next few days, i walked around Dublin smoking my new pipe (and drinking a fair amount of Guinness) and I was hooked.
I didn't know this then, but I know now that Peterson has gotten a fair amount of bad press recently over poorly drilled pipes and other defects and issues. However, this pipe has always smoked wonderfully for me, and just seems to get better and better each time I smoke it, so I am always at a bit of a loss when I hear that bad press about Peterson. I probably just got lucky.
Even though I now own many "high end" pipes, I still love this one and think it will always have a place somewhere in my rotation.

 

[tbradsim1]

Kaywoodie, bent rusticated , still have it, bought in a Navy Gedunk in 62, very sentimental pipe, has a lot of history. The old cajun

 

[numbersix]

Nice Peterson and good story.
My first was cheap basket pipe which happens to be a good smoker surprisingly enough.

 

[tanless1]

Bought a 'popeye the sailor' mearschaum back in the eighties.

I gave it away in the 90's. I do miss it though.....thinking about

having one carved to replace it soon.

 

[cigrmaster]

My first pipe is this Savinelli Linea Piu 5 with silver band. It retailed for 155.00, I bought it at my buddies cigar shop so he gave me 20% off. I still smoke it and it is dedicated to Carter Hall. It was originally dedicated to English blends and it is a great smoker. I will always keep it in the collection. I was lucky in that I had no clue as to what constitutes a good smoking pipe so having this as a first pipe it gave me a frame of reference. When I went to buy other pipes, I could tell if something was not a good smoker. For example the second pipe I bought was a Nording straight Grain from Mom's on Madison Ave in NY City. The pipe was a free hand Dublin that had some real pretty straight grain, but it would not pass a pipe cleaner and when it would gurgle I had to pull it apart to get a pipe cleaner through it. I did not know how important that was until later on so I ended up getting rid of the pipe. My third pipe I bought was a Winslow C grade that had a 500.00 retail again from my buddies shop and that was a great smoking pipe and again it gave me a frame reference when it came to high grade pipes. The fourth pipe I bought was a cheap Jensen that was a piece of shit, so I learned early on that in many cases you get what you pay for. That Jensen retailed for 90.00 and it smoked hot and wet and it had a varnish on it which did not let it breath. I never bought another pipe with varnish on it.

 

[acaciavet]

First pipe I ever bought,was a Dr Grabow Crown Duke,Smokers HAven Port Huron Mich,1967.That old pipe i still enjoy has a lot of Sea time on it.Rode on the USCGC Acacia with me fo 4 years.

 

[captainsousie]

My first pipe was a gift but the first one I purchased was an estate Savinelli Punto Oro bulldog. I still have it and I smoked it last night. It's a great pipe and I doubt I'll ever give it up willingly.

 

[yadan]

My first pipe was a Shalom Deluxe briar. Certainly no high-end pipe, but also no drugstore basket pipe, either.

I needed to replace the stem (with, of all things, a straight MM Country Gentleman stem which fits perfectly), but the pipe is still in my rotation and smokes quite well. ::

 

[foggymountain]

Got my first, a Stanwell, in 1956 or 57. It got lost many years ago. I do have a 1959 Stanwell in the same shape, a horn, I think. Neither are great pipes, but without the internet the selection of available pipes was limited back then. They cost $18 each, which is like around $270 now.

 

[gnatjulio]

My first ebay pipes were a Savinelli Oscar estate (awesome smoker) and a 1967(?) Yello-Bole Spartan, new in box. Then I bought a Peterson Shannon at Barclay Rex for my first "new" purchase.

 

[bubblehead33]

Mine was a brylon Medico. I still have it but dont't bother smoking it, gets way to hot to hold but I can't toss it out either.

 

[radio807]

Mine was a Dublin shaped Kaywoodie from 1972. I no longer have it because I got rid of all my pipes back in the late '70s when I gave up pipe smoking for cigarettes. It was a decent smoke as far as I can recall, but then again I was in my late teens in '72 and probably couldn't tell a crap pipe from a decent one back then. I should probably look for another Kaywoodie of the same vintage and see what I think of them now.

 

[punkrockarmy]

A Mitchell Thomas basket pipe. I smoke only English blends in it.

 

[mso489]

The two oldest and probably my first from the 1970s are a Savinelli second that came unfinished and is now a golden brown with

a few distinctive fills (I really like!) and nifty bent sitter with a pot shaped bowl, a Tinder Box St. Ives. Both are delightfully light

weight, smooth smokers, and in fine shape. Worn but solid.

 

[drwatson]

My first pipe was a Dr Grabow. Was driving and went to dump it out, bowl fell off the stem and in the road!

 

[englishdave]

My first pipe was a Peterson System #301, bought in 1988 I think from a Tinderbox in a mall near Amherst, MA. I bought into the whole "thinking man" ad line, plus Jeremy Brett smoked a Peterson Churchwarden in the Sherlock Holmes series that he was so famous for. What originally caught my eye was a bulldog "Baker Street" from Peterson's newly released Sherlock Holmes series of pipes. Of course, as a college student I couldn't afford it, but it pushed me toward Peterson's even more.
Eventually my mother bought me that very pipe for my college graduation a couple of years later...
I still have the #301, and I loved that the military mount mount I could put I had less risk of breaking anything. It served me well for many years. It is by no means perfect, has a very slight fill, and has seen it's share of abuse. At one time it just wouldn't smoke right anymore. I learned to salt & alcohol clean it. I recently reamed out the airway to 5/32". It can be a bit difficult, in comparison to some of my later and better pipes. It won't handle aromatics well, smokes very wet. But I graduated from those to English blends long ago.
I expect it to be temperamental, she's old and abused. But I don't think I'd ever get rid of it.

 

[uberam3rica]

Mine was a cheap little calabash. It was very hard to get a pipe cleaner through it, even with the stem off. It may have been an F.e.s.s., I'm not sure as it didn't have any markings on the pipe or box. I have since gotten rid of it as I found it to smoke horrible once I started getting more pipes.

 

[lifeon2]

Dr Grabow Big Pipe, still have it and I still smoke it.

 

[hodirty]

Dr Grabow Duke. Still have it and smoke it.

 

[oldredbeard]

My first was a Calabresi, 3/4 bent billiard. I knew absolutely nothing about pipes, or how to smoke them. Put that pipe through the ringer during the first part of learning this great hobby, and it has turned out to be a very good smoker. I still average smoking it once a week.