Hello from Italy! Long Time Lurker, First Time Poster!

[Will Jackson]

My guess was around Milano/Lago de Como given your tastes, definitely knew you weren’t from the south! Haha

my God, you're definitely near! What a keen eye you have, fine sir!

 

[Will Jackson]

My guess was around Milano/Lago de Como given your tastes, definitely knew you weren’t from the south! Haha

Quick question, I see how normally tourists don't see the remarkably deep cultural gap between north and south (at least in my opinion) as much as us italians from north do. Did you travel in Italy, as to possess such insight on how people from north and south italy differ?

 

[Ahi Ka]

Quick question, I see how normally tourists don't see the remarkably deep cultural gap between north and south (at least in my opinion) as much as us italians from north do. Did you travel in Italy, as to possess such insight on how people from north and south italy differ?

Haha yeah my wife and I spent a bit of time in the north, in fact we only ever travelled as far south as Assisi. We have a few Italian friends who illustrate the differences, and love the films Benvenuti al Nord/Sur

 

[Will Jackson]

Haha yeah my wife and I spent a bit of time in the north, in fact we only ever travelled as far south as Assisi. We have a few Italian friends who illustrate the differences, and love the films Benvenuti al Nord/Sur

Simply perfect! Let me tell you, those movies are pretty accurate, trust me. I've been to Palermo, and well, it's beautiful on one side, horrible on the other. But it's nice to see foreigners appreciate the north- How was the north, what did you appreciate the most?

 

[anotherbob]

At the very north, on one region that borders Switzerland. I can easily go there in a few hours worth of travel, they have lots of good pipe shops I'll have to visit, someday

oh where my moms paternal line comes from. Nice.

 

[Ahi Ka]

Simply perfect! Let me tell you, those movies are pretty accurate, trust me. I've been to Palermo, and well, it's beautiful on one side, horrible on the other. But it's nice to see foreigners appreciate the north- How was the north, what did you appreciate the most?

Haha said like a true northerner!

the thing I loved most about “the roof” was the scenery and the driving. I enjoyed the Swiss and Austrian influence on the architecture. We stayed at a small house in lake Como, and the lady served us 12 different types of baking/cakes for breakfast before we toured the lake on the ferry. We saw the scrovegni chapel in Padua which was mind blowing too.

 

[OzPiper]

Welcome from Sydney, Oz.

There were a lot of Italian kids at my school, and one of my best mates (we've been friends since) is Sicilian who introduced me to grappa and home made plonk.

I had a great time in your part of the world - Turin, Milan, Alba and the beautiful hill village of Nieve. Much Barolo, Barbaresco and grappa.
I bought some cigars at the well-stocked tobacconist in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele.

 

[Will Jackson]

Haha said like a true northerner!

the thing I loved most about “the roof” was the scenery and the driving. I enjoyed the Swiss and Austrian influence on the architecture. We stayed at a small house in lake Como, and the lady served us 12 different types of baking/cakes for breakfast before we toured the lake on the ferry. We saw the scrovegni chapel in Padua which was mind blowing too.

Well then I can only congratulate, for you have very good taste about beautiful places. The lake's also beautiful, and there's lot of little restaurants serving fish dishes that are simply amazing. One of them (can't say the name, as it may appear as advertisement) supposedly was visited by one of the ISS commanders some years ago, where he had the best ice-cream of his life and signed one of the menus with such a sentence. I've tasted that ice cream and, well, it's spectacular. Definitely, if you can, keep visiting Lombardy and the nearby regions, they're really really good, especially when driving around freely.
Just one thing, which I add because my late granpa's (the one that had the pipe I've talked about in my post) is from Emilia Romagna (I suppose you know where it is) and one thing I really love about there, apart from the scenery is the food. Local cold cuts and a special kind of fried bread (various names, either "torta fritta", "Chisolino", "Bortellina", can't really translate these as it's dialectal in nature) that goes very well with tomato salad are one of the staples of Emilian cousin, sure to please everyone

happy piping fine sir, it's a pleasure talking with someone as nice as you

 

[FurCoat]

Welcome from North Carolina

 

[jpmcwjr]

Benvenuto! You have started me wishing I were in a traveling mode!

Also----
Please put your location in your Profile, as people are forgetful.
Why:
That will save questions in the future as to where you live when you later mention local stores, weather, tobacco prices, availability, regulations, location of photos, wildfires, air quality, etc. In many instances that saves time for those who read your posts.
How:
Under your avatar, (top right, left most of three symbols) you choose "Account Details", which brings up "My Account". "My Location" is halfway down. Whatever you're comfortable with- town, city, county, state. Just country if you must.

 

[OzPiper]

Benvenuto! You have started me wishing I were in a traveling mode!

Hopefully one day soon we'd all be able to travel freely and safely again.

 

[Dudditz]

Welcome from New Jersey!

 

[PipeIT]

My guess was around Milano/Lago de Como given your tastes, definitely knew you weren’t from the south! Haha

Hmm I guess he’s to far to send on a Stealth Covert Castello Missions! LOL

Welcome Castello Jackson!

 

[chopper]

Hello everyone! I've finally bit the bulled and registered at this marvelous forum of yours, in hope to found even more info about pipe smoking and various bits and bobs. I'm a young italian man, around 21 y.o., that started his obsession with pipes thanks to his late grandpa's basket no-name billiard (Piccadilly, I think it's called. Never heard of that) that got abused over the years, first when I was around 5 years old, chewing on the stem while toying around with it and leaving such chatter marks that, if I'd post a picture I'd have to mark it as NSFW, and eventually biting through the lip. Years ago, when my grandpa passed away (he was never a pipe smoker, tried it years before and never liked it. The pipe was a gift from a pipe maker friend of his) I got the pipe, got it squeaky clean and stored it. But as the years passed I found myself attracted to it and eventually got it out of its place to dry puff on it, adoring the wooden, complex smell of the tobacco that was smoked in there; seriously, I find it addicting.

Now, my father is an ex cig smoker and strongly condones cigarettes, he does not want me hooked on them like him and so on. I always hated cigarettes, matter of fact, and I have no reason to poison me breathing one in my lungs.

I'm still in the process of starting to smoke a pipe, I'm slowly and sneakily getting all the supplies I need and then I'll have to find a reason to tell my parents. I think it may end well, as I tried to question my father (main problem, we shall say, to my pipe smoking adventure) about cigars and pipes and he seemed pretty indifferent about it, as he deems them "safe". This will take a year at most, I have to finish the first years of Uni first to get more independent.


I adore the smell of the rare pipe I see when going around the city and sometimes (I know, it seems ridiculous) I try and follow them to breath in some of that aromatic goodness they billow around while walking.
I'm an old fashioned man, 1950s suit-and-hat style, safety razors and fountain pens, vintage cars and fountain pens and everything. The pipe suits me, and eventually I'll master this wondrous hobby.

Thank you everyone again, and greetings!

PS: I talk wayyy to much, as you probably guessed....Sorry...

G'day and welcome from Oz.

It's so good to see a young fella picking up the hobby.
At 15yo I picked up a pipe but unfortunately, I did not know any other pipe smokers who could give me advise so I gave up and smoked cigarettes for the next 35 years before switching back to a pipe over 11 years ago.

My only regret is not sticking with the pipes or switching much sooner.
The biggest difference is that when I smoked cigs, I'd start craving 30 minutes after the last.
Now I can go all day without a puff and not even notice when I'm otherwise occupied.

When I smoked cigs, a craving meant I needed a smoke "NOW dagnabit!".
Since switching to a pipe, now when I feel like a puff, I'm happy to wait until it's convenient.
As a consequence I'm smoking way less. [Several bowls compared to 30-40 cigs a day]

Best of all, my health has improved markedly since switching exclusively to a pipe.

Back in the day pipes were far more acceptable than cigarettes and you might be surprised to know why.
A U.S. Surgeon Generals report found that pipe smokers who inhale, have the same life expectancy as a non-smoker.

Cigarettes have a staggering 300+ added chemicals.
Pipe tobacco has none [some blends might have a little harmless propylene glycol as a humectant]
Most flavourings like rum, maple and vanilla for example, are natural.

Tobacco is not as harmful as the miserable whining anti-tobacco brigade would have us believe.
One does not need to be a medical scientist to see that it's the 300+ chemicals that are added to tailor-made cigarettes that's the main cause of smoking related illness, not the tobacco.

Enjoy your pipes with a clear conscience.

 

[Country Bladesmith]

Welcome from Louisiana!

 

[Will Jackson]

Welcome from Sydney, Oz.

There were a lot of Italian kids at my school, and one of my best mates (we've been friends since) is Sicilian who introduced me to grappa and home made plonk.

I had a great time in your part of the world - Turin, Milan, Alba and the beautiful hill village of Nieve. Much Barolo, Barbaresco and grappa.
I bought some cigars at the well-stocked tobacconist in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele.

Wow, I know what tobacconist you're referring to! It seems to be great, actually! I'll eventually have to visit it, someday!

 

[Will Jackson]

G'day and welcome from Oz.

It's so good to see a young fella picking up the hobby.
At 15yo I picked up a pipe but unfortunately, I did not know any other pipe smokers who could give me advise so I gave up and smoked cigarettes for the next 35 years before switching back to a pipe over 11 years ago.

My only regret is not sticking with the pipes or switching much sooner.
The biggest difference is that when I smoked cigs, I'd start craving 30 minutes after the last.
Now I can go all day without a puff and not even notice when I'm otherwise occupied.

When I smoked cigs, a craving meant I needed a smoke "NOW dagnabit!".
Since switching to a pipe, now when I feel like a puff, I'm happy to wait until it's convenient.
As a consequence I'm smoking way less. [Several bowls compared to 30-40 cigs a day]

Best of all, my health has improved markedly since switching exclusively to a pipe.

Back in the day pipes were far more acceptable than cigarettes and you might be surprised to know why.
A U.S. Surgeon Generals report found that pipe smokers who inhale, have the same life expectancy as a non-smoker.

Cigarettes have a staggering 300+ added chemicals.
Pipe tobacco has none [some blends might have a little harmless propylene glycol as a humectant]
Most flavourings like rum, maple and vanilla for example, are natural.

Tobacco is not as harmful as the miserable whining anti-tobacco brigade would have us believe.
One does not need to be a medical scientist to see that it's the 300+ chemicals that are added to tailor-made cigarettes that's the main cause of smoking related illness, not the tobacco.

Enjoy your pipes with a clear conscience.

Thanks man, this is nice info. Just one thing I'd point out... Isn't that surgeon general report from 1960s ? I may have read it. Also, I've read other reports and unfortunately they mix pipe and cig smokers all together, basically destroying actual results they'd have gathered. Also, I may be prone to cancer (both grandpas died of cancer, one possibly related to cigarettes, my grandma has had cancer to her intestine (or something like it, never quite knew the full story)) so I'd keep smoking to a minimum probably one or two bowls per week.
Does this sound a moderate amount?

 

[Will Jackson]

Hmm I guess he’s to far to send on a Stealth Covert Castello Missions! LOL

Welcome Castello Jackson!

Huh? What's that? It seems like a cool thing! Care to explain what a Covert Castello Mission is?

 

[Will Jackson]

Benvenuto! You have started me wishing I were in a traveling mode!

Also----
Please put your location in your Profile, as people are forgetful.
Why:
That will save questions in the future as to where you live when you later mention local stores, weather, tobacco prices, availability, regulations, location of photos, wildfires, air quality, etc. In many instances that saves time for those who read your posts.
How:
Under your avatar, (top right, left most of three symbols) you choose "Account Details", which brings up "My Account". "My Location" is halfway down. Whatever you're comfortable with- town, city, county, state. Just country if you must.

Sure thinks, thanks for pointing it out!

 

[chopper]

Thanks man, this is nice info. Just one thing I'd point out... Isn't that surgeon general report from 1960s ? I may have read it. Also, I've read other reports and unfortunately they mix pipe and cig smokers all together, basically destroying actual results they'd have gathered. Also, I may be prone to cancer (both grandpas died of cancer, one possibly related to cigarettes, my grandma has had cancer to her intestine (or something like it, never quite knew the full story)) so I'd keep smoking to a minimum probably one or two bowls per week.
Does this sound a moderate amount?

Yes, IIRC the U.S.S.G. report came out in 63-64.
This was a very good time to do a survey because many more people smoked cigs or pipes or cigars back then.

The idea that some people are more prone to a disease than others is based on bad science AFAIC.
Sure, genetics may well play a part but lifestyle, diet, habits, environment and mindset are most responsible for illness.

Drs say that because my mother and her father had heart attacks that my siblings and I are at much higher risk of heart disease. Utter bullshit. None of my three brothers, sister nor myself [all now in our sixties] have had any heart issues.

Cigars, like pipe tobacco, have no added nasty chemicals.
The comedian George Burns smoked several large cigars every day for most of his adult life.
When asked what did his doctor say about his habit, Burns replied "I wouldn't know. He's dead".
Burns lived to over 100yo.

The only health concern to be aware of; do not smoke if you ever have an open wound in your mouth.
Tobacco tar will get in and aggravate the wound which can, in some cases, eventually lead to an oral cancer [this is why back in the day, when oral health was not like it is today, oral cancers were not that uncommon in pipe smokers]

One or two bowls a day is what I consider moderate.
A pipe after ones evening meal is an excellent way to relax after a long day.
It's the meditative effect that explains why pipe smokers who don't inhale, live three years on average beyond that of a non-smoker.