Hello from the Shuswap, British Columbia

[tobakenist]

Hi and welcome from Northamptonshire, England, middle England, not middle Earth, but nearly.

 

[upnorth1]

That’s quite an intro! Welcome from a fellow Canadian and burley lover!

 

[Doctor Chopper]

 

[BrightDarkEyes]

Welcome! Your story is amazing to me because it mirrors my own in many ways: getting into pipe smoking around the same time, also because of LOTR, finding the YTPC and forums, having a long pause only to rediscover pipes years later, and if you can believe it I got my first pipe and tobacco from City Cigar. I never watched much matches860 but I watch a bunch of how-to videos from pipefriendCHS and often watched the videos of dighsx.

One question for you: how much did you pay in taxes when you ordered that 2 lbs. from Arizona? I never got hit with taxes when I lived there but I only ever ordered a few ounces at a time.

Oh and don’t fret about missing out on those bygone companies and tobaccos. Journey before destination.

Thank you! That is pretty amazing. You can tell how much Tolkien loved pipe smoking by the scene in the ruins of Isengard when Gimli was presented with a pipe by Pippin. That says it all.

I ordered my first pipe off of eBay from Germany since it was about two thirds of the price of a brick and mortar. City Cigar was definitely the first place I bought my pipe tobacco though.

Matches860 was someone I watched in the beginning because of the stories he told. Maybe I will check out the two you mentioned.

I didn't pay any taxes on the tobacco I ordered from Arizona. I just did it and never knew any better at the time so I got lucky.

The only time I was hit with taxes and duty when I first started was when I ordered two ounces of Lane TK-6 and a tin of Peterson Irish Flake. That was about $70 CAD at the time and I was so disappointed because the order was about $20 CAD including shipping.

Nowadays I pay taxes on all tobacco products I import into Canada. Having "tobacco pipe" or "old tobacco pipe" written on the customs declarations of all my incoming packages for the past two years is probably why.

I just ordered four tins of Sansepolcro 2024 from SmokingPipes.com and the taxes and duties were just over $150.00 CAD. Including the cost of the order and shipping, it worked out to about $72.50 CAD a tin.

That is pretty good and the reason I say that is because Sutliff Cringle Flake goes for over $100.00 CAD for a 50 gram tin here and Three Nuns goes for about $112.00 CAD for a 50 gram tin at City Cigar. They would probably charge a similar price if Cornell & Diehl would save some of its small batch tobacco specifically to be packaged in STG style undecorated and homogenized 50 gram tins and sent to Canada. I won't hold my breath for that to happen.

I would say that a pound of tobacco here today costs about $500-600 CAD after taxes and duties.

 

[AreBee]

Welcome from Connecticut, USA!

 

[DanWil84]

 

[MRW]

You can add me to the list of guys who started pipe smoking because of J.R.R. Tolkien. In 2014, I decided that enough time had passed since quitting cigs (6 years) that smoking a pipe would be a good idea. I wanted to get the Gandalf pipe, but, unfortunately, I found out the original Lord of the Rings pipes made by Vauen were no longer in production and the license would not be renewed. I believe I was in grade 9 when the movies came out, so it is not like I could have legally bought one of those pipes anyway. I settled on the next best thing. It was a Vauen Auenland series smooth Eron, which was my first pipe.

I knew nothing about nothing when it came to pipe smoking. I looked at the Dr. Perl filter that came with the pipe, did not know what it was, and immediately set it aside to put the non-filter adapter in.

The next step was what to put into the pipe to smoke. I was overwhelmingly surprised by the sheer number of blends at a brick and mortar tobacconist called City Cigar in Vancouver. I remember buying a blend called Kitsilano Cherry Blossom, a cherry aromatic, which was the best cherry aromatic I've tried to date, and a Virginia Flake.

Then my search for other tobaccos begun, which of course was to look for the tastiest aromatic tobacco that existed. I found a man on YouTube called the PipePastor, and he recommended calling Hiland's Cigars in Arizona, USA to order a pound of Black Gold and Black Gold Plus, so I did. It is really good. I am not sure if it is just Lane 1-Q or their own blend.

I went on to buy about 6 more regular sized pipes into 2015 and I think one was a basket pipe but the rest were Vauen.

After I had my two pounds of that Black Gold, I wanted something with more strength. That's where I found the forums.

I decided to order some Peterson Irish Flake and Dunhill Nightcap according to what some people mentioned on here.

Wow! I still remember smoking my first ever bowl of Dunhill Nightcap. It was my first ever English Blend and it was amazing. I never experienced such flavours as those in my life as I sat there and melted into my dad's old armchair. I must have been very close to achieving what the Buddhists call nirvana that night.

Peterson Irish Flake was really good, but I don't remember it like that first bowl of Nightcap.

I moved back home from the city in 2015 and I didn't unpack my pipes until about this time two years ago.

PAD is something I have already been through since coming back. Most of my collection is Vauen. They made the original LoTR pipes for the movie and it made me kind of loyal to their company because of that.

The funny thing is that I never even tried smoking with a Dr. Perl filter until about November of 2022. Now I basically only smoke with an activated charcoal 9mm filter.

I still have a couple unfiltered pipes that I smoke from time to time, but I might let those go on at some point.

Upon my return in 2022, I tried finding an old guy on YouTube I watched when I first started pipe smoking. I found one of the videos I was looking for. Much to my dismay, it was Matches860 and he passed away while I was on hiatus from pipe smoking.

If I only ordered some Haunted Bookshop back when I first started, I might have never let my pipes sit in a box for almost 7 years. That has to be my favourite blend.

Now I know what I really like: Haunted Bookshop, Old Joe Krantz, Oak Alley, Riverboat Gambler, Gates of Light - Sha-are Orah, Burley Flake #3, Night Train, Exclusive, Bayou Morning Flake, Briar Fox, Sun Bear Tupelo, Carolina Red Flake w/ Perique, Big n' Burley, Bow Legged Bear, From Beyond, the Beast, and Epiphany.

I realize this list is all Cornell & Diehl. There are other blenders I have tried but these are my favourite. Oh, and Five Brothers.

It's too bad I missed out on some companies that went away. However, am I ever glad that companies like C&D are around. I just smoked my first bowl of Sansepolcro 2024 while writing this and it was great.

Anyway, sorry if I have made a record for the long first ever post. Please keep in mind that I have been smoking a pipe now for almost 3 years in total with absolutely no one to talk to about pipes or tobacco. I haven't met anyone else to smoke a pipe with yet.

Thank you to all the members on here who contribute; these forums have helped me along the way since becoming a pipe smoker.

Hello and welcome to the Forum from Deep in the Heart of Texas. You will find this site to be informative and the members insightful (and at times, most entertaining). Enjoy your stay!

 

[trouttimes]

Welcome from Alabama.

 

[GrampaJoseph]

Hello and welcome from Sacramento, California Thanks for sharing such a detailed and interesting backgrounder. Lighting up one of your favorite blends with you! Cheers!