How or Why Did You Start Smoking a Pipe?

[mackeson]

started as a lark. - A friend and I at age 19 drunkenly deciding - "We should smoke pipes" ('92ish)

Continued as a cheap way to smoke tobacco. ('92-94)

Became the most flavorful and enjoyable way for me to smoke tobacco. ('98)
Eventually, an enjoyable part of life (2000)

 

[eltice]

Nothing as memorable as some, but.....
In my twenties, and still I guess, I liked an "occasional" cigar or two. As I grew older, I always thought about trying a pipe. At the time, I thought it would be like a "quick cigar." Well, I learned it was a little different (lol). I still like a cigar once in a while, but really enjoy sitting down and lighting up a bowl!

 

[hugodrax]

Both of my grandfathers smoked pipes and I grew up with them puffing away. I'd like to tell you that was the reason. In reality, I was an eighteen year old kid from the suburbs of a one horse (not even a stop sign) town plonked down in the middle of a large university trying to look sophisticated.

 

[hakchuma]

Raised on a cattle farm spitting baccy. got married, desk job and started the pipe. My father smoked a pipe. Talked to him about it about a year ago. He stopped because of tongue bite. To this day all his farmer buddies still call him smokey and never by his first name.

 

[iamn8]

I was researching nicotine delivery devices. Had already visited all the others. I love rituals and the pipe is all about ritual.

 

[skraps]

My Uncle, who was essentially my father figure growing up, was a pipe smoker. Used to follow him around everywhere. Him with a lit pipe in his mouth, me with one that I pretended was lit so I could be like him. His neighbor across the street was an ex pipe smoker and would periodically present me with one of his old pipes. All said and done, I think I wound up with about 8 of them over the years. They sat on a rack in my room on display. I still have them to this day.
Fast forward to my early 20's, in an effort to quit the coffin nails, I dug out my old pipes and grabbed a pouch of Capt. Black from the drugstore. That evolved into finding a smokeshop, becoming a fixture there and eventually diving into pipe smoking head first. My collection expanded, much of my buying went to the internet and next thing you know I have more pipes and tobacco than I know what to do with. That's it in a nutshell.

 

[navypipe23]

I remember growing up around the age of 8 or 9 and we had just moved to North Carolina from Germany. I'm an Army brat. I remember the smell of the realtor who always seemed to be smoking a pipe and I believe it was something cherry. I still remember that smell. Well fast forward more than 20 years and a few years of a pack a day cigarette habit and I decided to quit smoking cigarettes and started on the pipe. It's much more relaxing, wife approves, cheaper, and smells better.

 

[andvary]

The first pipe I owned was my grand-grandfather's no-name briar. I think he had it mostly for the looks, being a navy captain and all. I don't recall him smoking a pipe, ever. After he passed away I claimed the pipe as my own and it was stashed somewhere in my room all the way through my school years. At the time I detested smoking, because the majority of school kids in Russia smoke, and I wanted to be different.

I picked up the pipe again in college, mainly out of curiosity, started reading about the hobby and came across a guy here in Moscow that makes a living re-selling estate pipes. If you want to buy from him, you can make an appointment, come over to his apartment, have a chat, smoke a bowl. So me and my then-girlfriend, who also smoked at the time, spent hours with this guy, looking through his stock and talking the hobby. Eventually my interest faded, the girlfriend separated and the pipes were neglected again.

I don't really know, how they crept up on me again. Must be my family life with two little kids, rent an other pleasures. Or maybe it's my hobbies. For years I was obsessed with miniatures, boardgames D&D etc. But all my friends eventually back off, so I have noone to play with. I wanted something I can do alone. But just in case I dragged two of my friends into the pipe hobby. :lol:

 

[pappymac]

I think this discussion keeps popping up to see if any of us changes our stories. Here's mine:
It was a cold, August day... at least it was if you happened to be on a Coast Guard icebreaker somewhere in the northern most Bering Sea between Alaska and Russia...in 1972 and there I was, one of the new kids who had reported aboard just a couple of months before and wanting to fit in. Wait, I forgot, no seriously. The only grandfather I knew was a pipe smoker and I think he mostly smoked George Washington until it was not longer available and then switched to Prince Albert and Carter Hall. So when I found myself aboard my first unit, I also found a couple of the older veterans who would sit around on the fantail smoking pipes and cigars and drinking coffee. I decided I was going to smoke a pipe.
I bought a cheap pipe - probably a Dr. Grabow and a pouch of Borkum Riff and one of the Chiefs I worked with was kindly enough to teach me the basics. While I was too young and junior to actually sit in on their group get togethers, I did occasionally find myself sitting and having a discussion with one of them while smoking my pipe.
It was a good time. And it also made me a favorite of a couple of the Chiefs and got me out of things like mess cooking and other less desirable work details. They also would take a little extra time in mentoring me.
All in all, pipe smoking opened doors for me.

 

[robwoodall]

I grew up in a cigarette-smoking family, but I always thought pipes looked cool. I tried several times in college and after to get the hang of it, but never lasted through a whole pouch of drug-store tobacco. I tried all the normal starter tobaccos, Captain Black, Borkum Riff, etc. Basically only wet aromatics, and I never could get past the tongue-bite. I think I'd have succeeded, if I'd known a pipe smoker who could have helped me get started.
After years of cigarettes, I felt like I had to quit, but wasn't ready to give up nicotine. In a choice between smokeless tobaccos and the pipe I felt like a pipe would fit my self-image better, so I tried "one last time."
This time, I've sought help and advise online. I seem to have had more trouble with tongue-bite than the average beginner, but I finally got it under control.
If it hadn't been for you guys and your patient advise I probably would have given up before I really "got it." Thanks!

 

[ravid98]

Well, when my brother bought his first [and last] pipe, I was highly intrigued. He let me smoke it, but I did not liked smoking it, but only the look of it. As time went by, I wanted to smoke it again. My brother switched back to cigarettes, gave me his pipe, and here I am, A beginner.

 

[tslex]

Just here to say again how much i enjoy these stories.

 

[oldreddog]

Very mundane compared to all the above stories. I used to smoke cigars when I had a little money to spend on them. Things change,and I couldn't afford cigars. Or even as a substitute, a pipe and tobacco for that matter.

Things got a bit better after a while so now I have a few pipes and can spend a bit on tobacco luckily.

 

[wilson]

Curiosity, I suppose. No one in my family, except one uncle, smoked a pipe. He died when I was pretty young and we were not terribly close, so I don't think he was a big influence. My grandfather was a cigar smoker (El Producto Queens) and my father was a cig smoker, as were most of my aunts and uncles. My father quit cigs about 40 years ago.
I was about 19 or 20 when I picked up a pipe. I had been smoking some cigars since my junior year of high school (all of the track guys smoked cigars -- go figure!) and it just seemed like a natural extension of smoking cigars. I smoked a pipe pretty regularly through college and grad school, along with cigars and cigs. In college, I had a good friend who also smoked a pipe and we spent many hours trying all of the different OTCs (which was all that was available to us). In grad school we had a local tobacconist who was great and there was a core of grad students who liked both cigars and pipe. It was then that I discovered latakia and through grad school I mostly smoked latakia blends. After grad school, without a good tobacco shop around, I mostly smoked cigars and cigs, off and on. I tried, but did not enjoy the few OTCs I tried. This more or less overlapped the cigar boom of the 90's, so decent cigars were readily available.
Through the 90's and the 0's I mostly smoked cigars. Then, Hurricane Sandy hit and I was at home for a week (no work, no way to get to work). I had ordered cigars, but there were no deliveries and my humidor was getting light. I walked over to the local cigar store (they had power, or a generator, or something, and were open) to get some cigars. I'm not sure why, but I grabbed some Carter Hall instead. They had a dismal pipe tobacco selection -- CH, Captain Black White & Blue, and Smoker's Delight or some name like that. I cleaned the oxidation from my pipe stems and discovered that the CH was pretty good. Then I discovered on-line tobacco ordering, then this site, and I've been smoking a pipe almost exclusively for the past 4 years. I still have a cigar once in a while, but 98% of the time I have a pipe.
So, although I started with a pipe long ago, my re-introduction to the pipe is pretty much due to Hurricane Sandy.

 

[bigtex]

As a kid, my great uncle smoked a pipe and everyone liked the way it smelled. As a teenager, I started dipping Copenhagen. One day my freshman year of college, me and some friends all went down and bought Dr Grabows and a one pound bag of Middleton apple tobacco. I burned the ever loving shit out of my tongue several times and put the pipe away for a decade. During that time I picked up cigars and later another pipe. I burned my tongue fiercely again and put the pipe away for another few years. About four years ago, I got my old pipe out again and with determination, learned how to enjoy the pipe. Although I still smoke cigars, pipes make up at least half of my smoking now.

 

[curl]

I'm 63 now, and I started smoking a pipe early 2014.

I joined the Redneck Country Club in Stafford, TX the August before where there was much cigar smoking going on.

In January, I visited with a guy there who said he smoked a pipe, too.
That visit prompted two thoughts:

my dad smoked a pipe when he was trying to give up cigarettes

I figured smoking a pipe would take half the time of smoking a cigar...hahahahahaha.
The other thing about pipes is that I enjoy living in the tail of the distribution curve.

 

[fitzy]

Back in the early 80's I had two teachers in high school(They would both smoke in their classrooms between classes) that were pipe smokers and one of them was a very close family friend. We used to spend a lot of time skiing and camping and other activities. I always loved the smell of their pipes. I think I was 15 when I went and bought one in the drug store and a pouch of tobacco. I had smoked that pipe for a few months and lost interest. Then in my early 20's I regained an interest when visiting a local tobacconist to pick up some cigars and walked out of there with a pipe and several shop blends. I've been smoking a pipe off and on since then. My frequency has really picked up though in the past 15 years. I had a bunch of meerschaums back then but I had lost them in a move.

 

[bluegrassbrian]

I got in to ryo cigs about 4 years ago. That meant I was frequenting a local tobacco shop chain quite frequently. This chain specializes in Ryo, commercial cigarettes, cigars, novelties and accessories. Not quite what we'd consider a tobacconist. About 2 years ago I went in to buy a tin of my American Spirit and started browsing around. I bought a really cheap, cheesy Lucerne churchwarden on a whim and a pouch of Captain Black Royal.

I thought the Cap'n Black tasted like a Black&Mild...but the whole idea of smoking a pipe grew on me quickly. Did some Internet research and within 2 weeks I had a couple real pipes and an assortment of quality tins.

It's only gotten worse since then...

 

[jabo]

Way back in 66. Probably before that if ya count rabbit tobacco. Hell, I was only 13, but back in those day's anyone could buy tobacco products. Got everything at the drug store. Burnt the devil out a my tounge,really thought that went with it. We tried any thing tobacco related ! Over the years, smoking a pipe off and on. Finally found good pipes and tobacco and the rest is history. Still have that first pipe, one of those little yellow vole pugs,it smokes better today than it did 50 years ago. Damn,I must a learned something. But, everyone knows I'm a slow learner. ;0)

 

[jerwynn]

All I can really remember is that pipes were a fascination to me since childhood. I've always thought of myself as a pipe man even for the 35 years I didn't smoke anything at all. Six years ago, I had this conversation with myself about the enjoyment of life, fleeting years, bucket-lists and the like, and so on... and then my middle son, then in college, thought he would revive a classy 50's professorial look and ordered the first pipe of the family in two generations. Well... I couldn't let him smoke alone, so I got one as well and the rest is history, joyous, smothered in delight history. And pipesmagazine and this forum has been the best source of information, advice, fun&frolic, and happy silliness that has amplified and expanded the joy of pipes and tobaccos a million-fold!