I have no real point to make with this thread. I have no question to ask. I only mean to tell a story, I suppose.
I have always been a smoker. I fist tried cigarettes when I was about 5 years old. The girl who lived behind us stole a pack of her father's camels, and we lit up in a tent in her back yard. We did other things, but I will leave that for another day and another forum. Later, my father caught me stealing my uncle's cigars, and his cigarettes. He found my stash and did the whole buy-a-carton-and-make-me-inhale-until-I-puked thing. It didn't work. I started smoking in earnest when I was 10. I smoked Winstons, and Camels (unfiltered), and Lucky Strikes (unfiltered). Later, I found and smoked Sherman Naturals. It was about the experience, not the nicotine.
I gave up cigarettes cold turkey when I was 21.
But, I was still a smoker at heart. I cannot remember where, but, when I was about 10 or 11, I had seen a photo of what I believe to have been FDR, Churchill, and Stalin at Yalta in which Stalin was smoking a pipe. (I didn't know then who Stalin was to the world. I just liked the pipe.) I think that it may have been a Davidoff or Nat Sherman catalog, but I am not sure. (I have not been able to find that photo online despite my several attempts over the years.) The pipe had what appeared to be a very narrow bit and I was enthralled.
I tried smoking a pipe while going to school in Israel. I was 15. I don't remember it being a failure as such, but I didn't keep it up. Later, when my daughter was born, I started smoking cigars. I refused to buy "it's-a'girls" to hand out, opting instead for a box of Ashtons that I bought at a local shop. I couldn't give them away and ended up smoking the entire box myself. I was off to the races. My tastes changed; I started smoking Cubans (almost exclusively); I eventually came to live at the cigar store. I had a key and came and went as often as I wanted. When that store closed, my friends and I went around the corner to the "other" store and made that one our home, eventually obtaining keys to it.
In 2012, while driving down to Florida, I decided that I wanted to buy a pipe. I had no motivation other than the reminder of the "Yalta Photo" that I had in my memory. I stopped at JR's on I95, I bought a $20 bent billiard and some tobacco, and I have not looked back.
I write this after reading Fred Brown's new article in which he writes,
I missed the cigar boom by a few years. I never even knew that that there had been one until I was smoking for a while. And, I now read that there is a renaissance taking place in the pipe world. Did I get in before it? Who knows. Who cares.
All I know is that, for me, it seems to be innate - maybe genetic.
So, there it is. No point. Just this: I am a natural born smoker.
I have always been a smoker. I fist tried cigarettes when I was about 5 years old. The girl who lived behind us stole a pack of her father's camels, and we lit up in a tent in her back yard. We did other things, but I will leave that for another day and another forum. Later, my father caught me stealing my uncle's cigars, and his cigarettes. He found my stash and did the whole buy-a-carton-and-make-me-inhale-until-I-puked thing. It didn't work. I started smoking in earnest when I was 10. I smoked Winstons, and Camels (unfiltered), and Lucky Strikes (unfiltered). Later, I found and smoked Sherman Naturals. It was about the experience, not the nicotine.
I gave up cigarettes cold turkey when I was 21.
But, I was still a smoker at heart. I cannot remember where, but, when I was about 10 or 11, I had seen a photo of what I believe to have been FDR, Churchill, and Stalin at Yalta in which Stalin was smoking a pipe. (I didn't know then who Stalin was to the world. I just liked the pipe.) I think that it may have been a Davidoff or Nat Sherman catalog, but I am not sure. (I have not been able to find that photo online despite my several attempts over the years.) The pipe had what appeared to be a very narrow bit and I was enthralled.
I tried smoking a pipe while going to school in Israel. I was 15. I don't remember it being a failure as such, but I didn't keep it up. Later, when my daughter was born, I started smoking cigars. I refused to buy "it's-a'girls" to hand out, opting instead for a box of Ashtons that I bought at a local shop. I couldn't give them away and ended up smoking the entire box myself. I was off to the races. My tastes changed; I started smoking Cubans (almost exclusively); I eventually came to live at the cigar store. I had a key and came and went as often as I wanted. When that store closed, my friends and I went around the corner to the "other" store and made that one our home, eventually obtaining keys to it.
In 2012, while driving down to Florida, I decided that I wanted to buy a pipe. I had no motivation other than the reminder of the "Yalta Photo" that I had in my memory. I stopped at JR's on I95, I bought a $20 bent billiard and some tobacco, and I have not looked back.
I write this after reading Fred Brown's new article in which he writes,
It occurs to me that my entries into the cigar and pipe worlds were self-motivated; they were not motivated by external influences, except my own memories.We are experiencing an epic movement in the pipe making world commensurate with the fine art realm of say, Impressionism, Neo-Classicism, Art Nouveau, or Post-Impressionism. It is truly a renaissance.
I missed the cigar boom by a few years. I never even knew that that there had been one until I was smoking for a while. And, I now read that there is a renaissance taking place in the pipe world. Did I get in before it? Who knows. Who cares.
All I know is that, for me, it seems to be innate - maybe genetic.
So, there it is. No point. Just this: I am a natural born smoker.