Hi and welcome Dan from Kettering, Northamptonshire. 
Good Evening from the United Kingdom!
- Thread starter MomentoMori
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Hello and welcome from Norwich. You got a good start with St Bruno - that was my first pipe tobacco too! Hopefully you'll grow to love it.
You'll get loads of great advice here, but nothing can replace experience and practice. You may find things go better for you in a different way from what's suggested, and that's fine. Some of the advice on this forum that sometimes seems gospel I don't really agree with (I rarely dry my tobacco, for example). Having said that, at least initially you will probably get a better result following what @OzPiper said - dry, loose, slow. 'Slow' really means gentle; just let the smoke drift into your mouth, you don't really need to draw like with a cigar or fags.
You'll get loads of great advice here, but nothing can replace experience and practice. You may find things go better for you in a different way from what's suggested, and that's fine. Some of the advice on this forum that sometimes seems gospel I don't really agree with (I rarely dry my tobacco, for example). Having said that, at least initially you will probably get a better result following what @OzPiper said - dry, loose, slow. 'Slow' really means gentle; just let the smoke drift into your mouth, you don't really need to draw like with a cigar or fags.
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Hello and another welcome from California 
Happy to have you here, friend!
Happy to have you here, friend!
Welcome from France.
Oz gave some great pointers at the beginning of the thread. Almost everyone starts with aromatics and they are the hardest to smoke well. I think you will have great luck with more standard blends if you follow his suggestons and experiment.
Most importantly be patient and hang around. Folks here guided me well when I returned to the pipe last year.
Oz gave some great pointers at the beginning of the thread. Almost everyone starts with aromatics and they are the hardest to smoke well. I think you will have great luck with more standard blends if you follow his suggestons and experiment.
Most importantly be patient and hang around. Folks here guided me well when I returned to the pipe last year.
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It was a Rusticated System Pipe! So far it's smoked rather well, but I've only smoked half bowls from it.
Nice! I love my system pipes. Which shape did you go with?
Maybe it's just me, but does anyone else find this postcard unintentionally ironic? God's own county - ruined deserted abbey?
Welcome - Some advice I wish I had learned quickly when I started about 15yrs ago - Slow-slow-slow sip'in, make sure the tobacco has the right moisture levels for optimum smoking qualities ( not too dry ( muted flavor and burns hot ), not too wet ( muted and will cause tongue / mouth burn ) , choose easy load/go blends at first until you have everything dialed-in to your likeing. Above all else - Variety is the spice of life , try all families of pipe tobacco ( Aromatic, Burley, English, Virginia, etc. ) also tastes change over time - I was a heavy English blend smoker when I started but now have them from time to time and spend most of my days smoking Burley, Vs, VaBur and VaPer blends. Like most of us that have been smoking for a long time will say, it isn't about getting to a Finish line, it is about the journey. So sit back, pack a fresh bowl and join us for a wild trip into the tobacco fields of mystery and delight. -Good evening folks! MomentoMori here, but you can call me Dan
Thought I'd finally join and introduce myself after lurking and reading for a year or so now! I'm a pretty new pipe smoker, having originally bought a pipe and a pack of St Bruno (which I honestly quite liked) out of curiosity stemming from the fact I'd already smoked, and sometimes enjoyed, cigars since I turned 18. I have, however, hit an early obstacle (which I've since realised is quite common from reading here) in my pipe smoking journey...aromatics just don't seem to do much for me. As I said, my first introduction to pipe smoking was when I was 18 and, armed with £5 cob pipes from the internet and a pack of supermarket bought St Bruno Ready Rubbed, me and my friend embarked on our first Pipe Smoking adventure. It was 'okay' for lack of a better word. It tasted a little sweet, with a slight hint of vinegar and raisins and, about halfway through, a tad ashy and acrid (but I put that down to having zero concept of cadence, packing and lighting). The room note was nice enough though.
And so I endeavoured to sample more Aromatics. I'd heard good things about Peterson, they certainly make nice pipes I thought, so I bought a tin each of Conoisseurs Choice, Sweet Killarney and Nutty Cut. They all smelled divine but, like St Bruno, only tasted 'okay', with a hint of ash and bitterness. I've tried to learn to avoid tongue bite but with aromatics, I guess it just keeps occuring no matter what I do. And so I've finally decided to delve into the world of Englishes, opting for a small of Squadron Leader and Skiff Mixture from Samuel Gawith. I've also bought samples of Sutliff Barbados Plantation and Molto Dolce, just to see if they do anything differently for me than the Peterson Aromatics I've tried. But if after trying these I still don't get anything out of it, I am at a loss. I certainly like the taste of tobacco, I enjoy cigars, so that isn't the issue I don't think. But what I've smoked so far all feels kind of 'samey'. I get a bit of the flavouring of Connoisseurs Choice and Killarney from the retrohale, but I am yet to even begin to taste anything like what others are claiming to taste in them.
All in all, I'd really appreciate any advice or recommendations on where to go and what to try from here. The Samuel Gawith stuff arrives tomorrow and I'm eager to try it in a new Peterson System pipe that I've bought along with it. I'll report back tomorrowIt'll be good to get to know the Pipe Smoking community better too!