Hi, I'm not exactly new here. I just haven't been on in about 10 years, and deleted the e-mail account and user information I used to be registered with.
I jgot started with pipes while deployed to Iraq with a couple Meerschaums I picked up there. When I got home I started picking up briars at antique second hand stores and got into refurbishing them. I'm not quite good enough to say I can fully "restore" some of them, but I do a fair to middling job and I have built up a collection of about 70 pipes, down from about 130 a few years ago. (Nothing too high end, but a few gems.) And I have a few dozen others in various states of wear and tear to work on yet.
On the smoking side, I 'd say I'm more of a collector than dedicated smoker. For some reason I've never quite developed the refined palate for tobacco some people have. Regardless, there's something undeniably charming about a nice piece of briar or a well-seasoned meer that pulls me in.
I'm always interested in more information on restoration, some of the different brands I stumble across and the history of pipes in general.
