I'm a brand new pipe smoker - in fact, I just smoked my first bowl, with mixed results!
I live in Thailand but I'm from London. Used to smoke cigarettes for many years, stopped several times, tried vaping, tried snus, went back to cigarettes, backing to vaping, then hit on the bright idea of 'having a few cigars' before giving up nicotine for good. I didn't want my last experience of nicotine to be from vaping or from snus.... The trouble was, I found that I loved the taste of cigars and, unlike cigarettes, they don't make me feel sick after I've finished one.
To get to the point, I accidentally bought some cigars made with pipe tobacco and a plastic tip. I'm sure the tobacco wasn't very good quality but I quite liked them and the smell reminded me of my godfather, who always looked so contented when he came round our house in my childhood days and smoked his pipe. So, I ordered a cheap briar from the UK (a Parker Jockey Club Billiard), then ordered some Dunhill EMP and Presbyterian Mixture from a local online vendor.
As the tobacco turned up straight away and the pipe will take at least another week to arrive, I ordered a MM Legend (straight) from another local online vendor, which arrived today. I was nervous to try it as I knew it wasn't going to be plain sailing but I packed the bowl loosely with a pinch of Presbyterian, left it for 45 minutes and just had my first attempt at smoking a pipe.
I had trouble keeping it alight, although there were a couple of periods of a few minutes when I seemed to be getting the hang of it. I can't say it tasted very nice....it tasted something like smoking an old book. However, I did get a few tinges of pleasant taste here and there, as I tried to sip it and stay calm. When I finished and emptied the bowl, there were still quite a few mostly blackened ribbons of tobacco in the bottom.
On the positive side, I experienced a very nice N buzz that came on just after I'd finished.
I took the cardboard (?) filter out as soon as I got the pipe but after packing it I practised drawing before lighting it and got a few small bits of tobacco in my mouth so I put the filter back in. I'm not sure if I should leave it in or take it out now. I'm also not sure why I didn't do so well at keeping it alight....freshly opened tin too moist? Packed too loosely? I've really no idea. At least it wasn't an awful experience - I didn't burn my tongue or set fire to myself
. I'm also very happy about the effect. Almost every tobacco review I've read mentioned the blends in question being mild to medium and I was beginning to worry that pipe smoking wouldn't satisfy my needs but I think I can safely say I was wrong on that score.
Apologies for the overly long intro. I'm a little overexcited and still buzzing. I hope you're all keeping safe wherever you are and thank you for the vast amount of useful information on this forum.
Oh, almost forgot to mention. In addition to the EMP and Presbyterian, i just ordered 50g each of the following:
Peterson Nightcap
Peterson Royal Yacht
Capstan Blue Flake
HH Old Dark Fired
Cornell & Diehl Bayou Morning Flake
Balkan Sasieni
Lane Limited Partagas
As far as I could tell from my research, that covered a few different types of blends to try (from memory, I think I added the Partagas to see what black Cavendish tastes like in a blend).
I live in Thailand but I'm from London. Used to smoke cigarettes for many years, stopped several times, tried vaping, tried snus, went back to cigarettes, backing to vaping, then hit on the bright idea of 'having a few cigars' before giving up nicotine for good. I didn't want my last experience of nicotine to be from vaping or from snus.... The trouble was, I found that I loved the taste of cigars and, unlike cigarettes, they don't make me feel sick after I've finished one.
To get to the point, I accidentally bought some cigars made with pipe tobacco and a plastic tip. I'm sure the tobacco wasn't very good quality but I quite liked them and the smell reminded me of my godfather, who always looked so contented when he came round our house in my childhood days and smoked his pipe. So, I ordered a cheap briar from the UK (a Parker Jockey Club Billiard), then ordered some Dunhill EMP and Presbyterian Mixture from a local online vendor.
As the tobacco turned up straight away and the pipe will take at least another week to arrive, I ordered a MM Legend (straight) from another local online vendor, which arrived today. I was nervous to try it as I knew it wasn't going to be plain sailing but I packed the bowl loosely with a pinch of Presbyterian, left it for 45 minutes and just had my first attempt at smoking a pipe.
I had trouble keeping it alight, although there were a couple of periods of a few minutes when I seemed to be getting the hang of it. I can't say it tasted very nice....it tasted something like smoking an old book. However, I did get a few tinges of pleasant taste here and there, as I tried to sip it and stay calm. When I finished and emptied the bowl, there were still quite a few mostly blackened ribbons of tobacco in the bottom.
On the positive side, I experienced a very nice N buzz that came on just after I'd finished.
I took the cardboard (?) filter out as soon as I got the pipe but after packing it I practised drawing before lighting it and got a few small bits of tobacco in my mouth so I put the filter back in. I'm not sure if I should leave it in or take it out now. I'm also not sure why I didn't do so well at keeping it alight....freshly opened tin too moist? Packed too loosely? I've really no idea. At least it wasn't an awful experience - I didn't burn my tongue or set fire to myself
. I'm also very happy about the effect. Almost every tobacco review I've read mentioned the blends in question being mild to medium and I was beginning to worry that pipe smoking wouldn't satisfy my needs but I think I can safely say I was wrong on that score.Apologies for the overly long intro. I'm a little overexcited and still buzzing. I hope you're all keeping safe wherever you are and thank you for the vast amount of useful information on this forum.
Oh, almost forgot to mention. In addition to the EMP and Presbyterian, i just ordered 50g each of the following:
Peterson Nightcap
Peterson Royal Yacht
Capstan Blue Flake
HH Old Dark Fired
Cornell & Diehl Bayou Morning Flake
Balkan Sasieni
Lane Limited Partagas
As far as I could tell from my research, that covered a few different types of blends to try (from memory, I think I added the Partagas to see what black Cavendish tastes like in a blend).
