Howdy.
Honestly I'm never sure what to say in these things but I guess I'll start out apologizing in advance for my spelling, Grammar and general rambling style of writing. It's something I've always struggled with to the point I only graduated high school with help from a Writing focused IEP (Individual Education Plan) or Special ED classes as commonly known.
That out of the way how about a bit about myself and my current smoking experience.
My name's David I'm what most would consider an antisocial people hating Hermit. I'm 35 years old, live in Colorado practically off grid (electricity but no running water or indoor plumbing) making my living working 7-8 months a year as a foreman, mechanic, supervisor, consultant and general do everything handyman on a farm growing hops despite the fact I HATE just about everything about beer.
My peace and happiness is primarily found by myself smoke in hand, a radio playing in the background, spending time with the hound and my 30ish pigeons. My almost nightly movie or occasionally spending a couple days zoned out on a video game.
I also attempt at least once or twice a year to get into nature for some Fishing, Rafting, Camping and Shooting sports. Otherwise as mentioned previously I'm kind of a Hermit. Who doesn't leave home for anything but his morning caffeine and 4 trips a year to the grocery store both under a mile away. Only started doing the daily appearances for caffeine a few years back because it makes the dog happy and keeps the locals in my small town from stopping by the farm invading my space.
Now on to smoking which is why we are here.
I've smoked 1-2 packs of Cigarettes since I was a teen with zero desire to quit but last year my state and my county both decided to impose new insane taxes. Over night I saw my pack jump from 5.75-6$ to 9.00+. At two packs a day I realized very quickly I was going to have to quit or get a real job. Nether of those options are even remotely appealing.
So I started researching other options for nicotine delivery and tobacco enjoyment. I had some experience to go off of as over the years I've tried just about every form of nicotine on the planet from Vapes and Chew to Cigars and pipes and even a few lesser used examples like Nasal snuff and Nicotine Liquor. Most of those just never did it for me or were horrible awful nasty experiences I had no desire to repeat with exception for Nasal snuff and Pipe smoking.
I found both enjoyable when I was younger but living in remote tiny towns pre online shopping nether were ever very practical especially compared to cigarettes.
So last January I started researching both and finally settled on pipes. A choice I came to simply because pipe tobacco offered more flavors, types or blend as well as considerably more information available for the new guy.
I then spent the next two months saving money while watching and reading everything I could find on the subject from How to load a pipe and What equipment to start with to what felt like a billion different tobacco description. Finally "deciding" on 10 different pipes including a Clay, a Briar, a Meerschaum and a collection of Cobs. As well as over 80 different tobacco blends that sounded pleasant and seemed to cover just about every style available.
While I have a habit of over researching things before charging in like a steam powered bull. I knew without question that the pipe had to work out for me. Both for Nicotine delivery as well as Relaxation and enjoyment. Thankfully my research and overboard attack paid off and
It took almost no time to jump from 2 packs a day to under 1 a month smoking a single cigarette only on nights i couldn't sleep an issue I still occasionally have.
From those first 10 pipes and a handful of others during the first weeks I finally managed to settle in on 4 with two being practically the same pipe.
The first.
A very Simple Meerschaum with a relatively wide shallow bowl and a straight stem is without question my favorite pipe to smoke from but is regulated to only certain tobaccos typically Vanillas like Cult Anonymous, Mac Barren Vanilla Flake, Vanilla Cream or Vanilla Roll cake. Otherwise nothing goes in it but the occasional Straight(ish) Virginia as I find I rather enjoy the Virginias with the bit of Vanilla bleed over I get from that pipe. My Favorite straight(ish) Virginias as of now are Mac Baren Pure Virginia and Virginia Flake, Orliks and John Cottons Double pressed.
My next and most frequently used pipes are the M.M legends which I originally loved because of the filter and midsized bowl but gave up filtering them a few months back. I always get them with a straight stem in ether The Rob Roy or 5th Ave.
With a preference to the Rob Roy simply cause it fits in my little viking Brand day bag better but have both simply due to an order error on my part.
These Cobs are the pipes I smoke Day in and Day out. I keep at least 10 of them unused tucked away for just in case and must have 6 or 8 in use. One stays in my day bag for my work days as well as one in the shop those two pipes as well as the travel bag will only ever see Anonymous, Vanilla Flake or Vanilla Creme.
I also keep one in my tackle box, one on the boat as well as the 4-5 sitting by my easy chair for smoking my once and a while blends which depending on my mood and the blend I might do a couple times a week. Typically I don't worry to much with these pipes about what style of blend is being smoked in them but I do Try to keep 1 or 2 each for Virginias, strong aromatics, subtle blends and English blends. I also have a hand full of blends with designated legends ether because they ruin pipes like War Horse Green and Cross Eyed Cricket or because In my opinion the blend looses a lot out of a shared pipe like 3Ps or Mississippi River Reserve.
With any of the pipe specific blends getting a number on the Storage Jar then a matching number on the bottom of the pipe both marked in Sharpie.
My last pipe is another M.M. Cob. A small bowled churchwarden I believe called the Cobbet but am not sure as it was a happy little accident from Amazon. I was after the much larger churchwarden Cob but was sent this instead. Fell in instant love.
This pipe is my Kick my shoes off dim the lights relax in my comfy chair Get stoned late night let's kill that Nic fit tell moring smoke something strong and rich enough for bed knock me into bliss pipe and it's only ever sees a very few specific blends ether Cobblestones Chess King or C&D's Night Train with a very very rare appearance by C&D Pirate Kake but I don't do that often as Pirate leaves a Smokey taste on the next bowl or two. A taste that doesn't particularly play well with the sweet sour taste I love so much about Chess King and Night Train but I love that pipe and that blend so I break the rules once and a while.
Well those are my pipes and being very much a creature of habit short of something happening to the Meerschaum or M.M no longer producing those two models I don't see myself ever switching it up much.
As for the tobacco that goes into my pipes that's been a much longer more diverse and frustrating process.
In the initial hunt for my perfect smoke.
I've currently tried and have the remaining ounce or two of over 150 blends jarred up. I'm not sure of the exact number as I haven't counted since August and tend to pick up a few new blends everytime I order something else for the cellar or notice something interesting or on sale in the Email adds.
Which being one of those people that keeps a years worth of food, supplies and such on hand "Just in case". Cellaring would've happened even if aging hadn't been a factor. As such at this point my cellar contains 2 lbs of my dailys Vanilla Flake, Chess King and Night Train.
Between a Lb and a Half Lb each of the varieties I smoke a few times a week. Such as Vanilla Roll cake, Pirate Cake, Mississippi River Reserve, 3P, Escudo Navy Deluxe, Peterson's Deluxe Navy, Davidoff Medallions, John Cottons Double Pressed Virgina, Orliks Golden flake, H.H.Pure Virginia, Mac Baren Virginia Flake and War Horse Green.
As well as 1-4 Tins of roughly 20 Other blends which I ether haven't gotten around to trying, want to age before trying or have tried and enjoyed enough to snag a few but they aren't something I'll ever smoke enough of to justify holding on to more than that.
I also have a half a tin over 1lb of Cult's Anonymous remaining which tell a few weeks ago I was smoking at about 3x the speed of even my closest second. Blissfully unaware of it's impending unavailability. It's Anonymous I can thank for joining this forum. Between wanting to start a conversation on substitutes and deciding I should be more aware it's what finally pushed me to try getting involved. Well that and the start of Winter giving me back my free time.
On that note this has gotten considerably longer than I planned and kinda a bit out of hand. So having definitely over introduced my self it's time to end this.
If you've survived the general 3rd grade chaos that is my writing and made it this far. I wanna say thank you for your time and that I look forward to future conversations.
-David Chamberlain
Honestly I'm never sure what to say in these things but I guess I'll start out apologizing in advance for my spelling, Grammar and general rambling style of writing. It's something I've always struggled with to the point I only graduated high school with help from a Writing focused IEP (Individual Education Plan) or Special ED classes as commonly known.
That out of the way how about a bit about myself and my current smoking experience.
My name's David I'm what most would consider an antisocial people hating Hermit. I'm 35 years old, live in Colorado practically off grid (electricity but no running water or indoor plumbing) making my living working 7-8 months a year as a foreman, mechanic, supervisor, consultant and general do everything handyman on a farm growing hops despite the fact I HATE just about everything about beer.
My peace and happiness is primarily found by myself smoke in hand, a radio playing in the background, spending time with the hound and my 30ish pigeons. My almost nightly movie or occasionally spending a couple days zoned out on a video game.
I also attempt at least once or twice a year to get into nature for some Fishing, Rafting, Camping and Shooting sports. Otherwise as mentioned previously I'm kind of a Hermit. Who doesn't leave home for anything but his morning caffeine and 4 trips a year to the grocery store both under a mile away. Only started doing the daily appearances for caffeine a few years back because it makes the dog happy and keeps the locals in my small town from stopping by the farm invading my space.
Now on to smoking which is why we are here.
I've smoked 1-2 packs of Cigarettes since I was a teen with zero desire to quit but last year my state and my county both decided to impose new insane taxes. Over night I saw my pack jump from 5.75-6$ to 9.00+. At two packs a day I realized very quickly I was going to have to quit or get a real job. Nether of those options are even remotely appealing.
So I started researching other options for nicotine delivery and tobacco enjoyment. I had some experience to go off of as over the years I've tried just about every form of nicotine on the planet from Vapes and Chew to Cigars and pipes and even a few lesser used examples like Nasal snuff and Nicotine Liquor. Most of those just never did it for me or were horrible awful nasty experiences I had no desire to repeat with exception for Nasal snuff and Pipe smoking.
I found both enjoyable when I was younger but living in remote tiny towns pre online shopping nether were ever very practical especially compared to cigarettes.
So last January I started researching both and finally settled on pipes. A choice I came to simply because pipe tobacco offered more flavors, types or blend as well as considerably more information available for the new guy.
I then spent the next two months saving money while watching and reading everything I could find on the subject from How to load a pipe and What equipment to start with to what felt like a billion different tobacco description. Finally "deciding" on 10 different pipes including a Clay, a Briar, a Meerschaum and a collection of Cobs. As well as over 80 different tobacco blends that sounded pleasant and seemed to cover just about every style available.
While I have a habit of over researching things before charging in like a steam powered bull. I knew without question that the pipe had to work out for me. Both for Nicotine delivery as well as Relaxation and enjoyment. Thankfully my research and overboard attack paid off and
It took almost no time to jump from 2 packs a day to under 1 a month smoking a single cigarette only on nights i couldn't sleep an issue I still occasionally have.
From those first 10 pipes and a handful of others during the first weeks I finally managed to settle in on 4 with two being practically the same pipe.
The first.
A very Simple Meerschaum with a relatively wide shallow bowl and a straight stem is without question my favorite pipe to smoke from but is regulated to only certain tobaccos typically Vanillas like Cult Anonymous, Mac Barren Vanilla Flake, Vanilla Cream or Vanilla Roll cake. Otherwise nothing goes in it but the occasional Straight(ish) Virginia as I find I rather enjoy the Virginias with the bit of Vanilla bleed over I get from that pipe. My Favorite straight(ish) Virginias as of now are Mac Baren Pure Virginia and Virginia Flake, Orliks and John Cottons Double pressed.
My next and most frequently used pipes are the M.M legends which I originally loved because of the filter and midsized bowl but gave up filtering them a few months back. I always get them with a straight stem in ether The Rob Roy or 5th Ave.
With a preference to the Rob Roy simply cause it fits in my little viking Brand day bag better but have both simply due to an order error on my part.
These Cobs are the pipes I smoke Day in and Day out. I keep at least 10 of them unused tucked away for just in case and must have 6 or 8 in use. One stays in my day bag for my work days as well as one in the shop those two pipes as well as the travel bag will only ever see Anonymous, Vanilla Flake or Vanilla Creme.
I also keep one in my tackle box, one on the boat as well as the 4-5 sitting by my easy chair for smoking my once and a while blends which depending on my mood and the blend I might do a couple times a week. Typically I don't worry to much with these pipes about what style of blend is being smoked in them but I do Try to keep 1 or 2 each for Virginias, strong aromatics, subtle blends and English blends. I also have a hand full of blends with designated legends ether because they ruin pipes like War Horse Green and Cross Eyed Cricket or because In my opinion the blend looses a lot out of a shared pipe like 3Ps or Mississippi River Reserve.
With any of the pipe specific blends getting a number on the Storage Jar then a matching number on the bottom of the pipe both marked in Sharpie.
My last pipe is another M.M. Cob. A small bowled churchwarden I believe called the Cobbet but am not sure as it was a happy little accident from Amazon. I was after the much larger churchwarden Cob but was sent this instead. Fell in instant love.
This pipe is my Kick my shoes off dim the lights relax in my comfy chair Get stoned late night let's kill that Nic fit tell moring smoke something strong and rich enough for bed knock me into bliss pipe and it's only ever sees a very few specific blends ether Cobblestones Chess King or C&D's Night Train with a very very rare appearance by C&D Pirate Kake but I don't do that often as Pirate leaves a Smokey taste on the next bowl or two. A taste that doesn't particularly play well with the sweet sour taste I love so much about Chess King and Night Train but I love that pipe and that blend so I break the rules once and a while.
Well those are my pipes and being very much a creature of habit short of something happening to the Meerschaum or M.M no longer producing those two models I don't see myself ever switching it up much.
As for the tobacco that goes into my pipes that's been a much longer more diverse and frustrating process.
In the initial hunt for my perfect smoke.
I've currently tried and have the remaining ounce or two of over 150 blends jarred up. I'm not sure of the exact number as I haven't counted since August and tend to pick up a few new blends everytime I order something else for the cellar or notice something interesting or on sale in the Email adds.
Which being one of those people that keeps a years worth of food, supplies and such on hand "Just in case". Cellaring would've happened even if aging hadn't been a factor. As such at this point my cellar contains 2 lbs of my dailys Vanilla Flake, Chess King and Night Train.
Between a Lb and a Half Lb each of the varieties I smoke a few times a week. Such as Vanilla Roll cake, Pirate Cake, Mississippi River Reserve, 3P, Escudo Navy Deluxe, Peterson's Deluxe Navy, Davidoff Medallions, John Cottons Double Pressed Virgina, Orliks Golden flake, H.H.Pure Virginia, Mac Baren Virginia Flake and War Horse Green.
As well as 1-4 Tins of roughly 20 Other blends which I ether haven't gotten around to trying, want to age before trying or have tried and enjoyed enough to snag a few but they aren't something I'll ever smoke enough of to justify holding on to more than that.
I also have a half a tin over 1lb of Cult's Anonymous remaining which tell a few weeks ago I was smoking at about 3x the speed of even my closest second. Blissfully unaware of it's impending unavailability. It's Anonymous I can thank for joining this forum. Between wanting to start a conversation on substitutes and deciding I should be more aware it's what finally pushed me to try getting involved. Well that and the start of Winter giving me back my free time.
On that note this has gotten considerably longer than I planned and kinda a bit out of hand. So having definitely over introduced my self it's time to end this.
If you've survived the general 3rd grade chaos that is my writing and made it this far. I wanna say thank you for your time and that I look forward to future conversations.
-David Chamberlain
