Introduction to all you fine gents.

[jpants]

Hello everyone! My name is JP, I live in the finger lakes region of NY alittle south of Rochester. I come from a culinary trained background but got myself into brewing beer for alittle place called Custom Brewcrafter. I only just recently start to smoke pipe tobacco. Was a long time cigarette smoker who has tried to quit so many times, I lost all pleasure in it and found that I smoked way to much and it generally just became a drag on my wallet and happiness. I'm not quite sure how exactly or why I thought of it but one night after dinner I said to my lovely lady, "Maybe I'll start smoking pipe tobacco..." The very next day I found myself looking for a local tobacco shop. About a week later I stopped at one, that turned out to be a really grungy hookah bar that sold large bags of not so good looking tobacco. I quick turned my heels and headed out the door, thinking that I need to find the real deal if this is going to work for me. Nad indeed I found what I was looking for the very next day just a short 15 minute drive from me. A place call Havana House. The proprietor was very kind and steered me towards an aromatic called Edwards Blend. He sold me one once for 5 bucks. He had a beautiful collection of pipes for sale, but I couldn't see myself spending 35 to 500 dollars on my first pipe and he was fresh out of corncobbs! So now I had the tobacco and no pipe! I soon found a drugstore on my way home that had Missouri Meerchaums and picked one up. I immediately packed the pipe and throughly enjoyed it the whole drive home! The next day I found myself wondering about different tobaccos other then the newbie recommendation of aromatics and purchased some Frog Morton and Balkan Sansieni, which I truely love! I haven't smoked the blend since then either! I will finish up by saying that I am patiently waiting for 2 briar pipes I got off ebay, a Kaywoodie standard 09b and a no name Danish made freehand. With that said I hope I didn't bore you with my detailed entry to this new liesure time hobby and I look forward to reading and sharing stories with you all!

 

[sixmp]

Hello! Welcome to the forum. Hope you find much happiness with your new hobby

 

[brewshooter]

Who you calling fine?!?!? You assume too much.

Good Day, Sir! I said GOOD day!

 

[spartan]

Beer and a pipe.
You sir, have found a path to happiness for the rest of your days.
Welcome to the forum.
I'm in the process of brewing my first batch ever of hard cider. Brewing and pipe smoking are two great hobbies.

 

[mlyvers]

welcome jpants. i hope you continue to enjoy pipe smoking. there are things you will need to know to get full enjoyment from your pipes. loading, lighting, tapping, and cleaning are some of the things you will need to know. you will be able to get all the info right here sir. you may already know the basics, which is a good thing. now for tobacs, you will have to experiment with all the choices out there, which i think is fun to do. good luck too you sir.
take care.

mike.

 

[jpants]

To Sam... I did discover tobaccoreview, and that's how I ended up with frog and sansani. I will definely concider your recommendations seeing that the Haddos is on my list already! Thanks everyone.

 

[voorhees]

Welcome to our little side of heaven... :twisted:
Jason

 

[flmason]

Welcome to the forum and our hobby. I hope you have many years of enjoyment.

 

[cigrmaster]

Welcome to the forum, it sounds like you are off and running and on your way to a great journey. I also started with English blends with Frog Morton being one of my favorites back then. After a while I gravitated to va flakes and vaper flakes, and have been smoking those ever since.
I would recommend getting a tin of Escudo, that blend opened my eyes to the world of flakes and perique and it is still one of my favorites. There is a bit of a learning curve with flakes, but in my opinion it is really worth it. There are video's here on how to prepare them. I use the cube cut method. You do need to smoke them slower, and I have found that a smaller pipe like a Dublin,Billiard or Apple really brings out the best in it. When you get your pipes don't forget to post pictures, we love looking at pipes around here.

 

[jpants]

How exactly do I post a picture to a thread? I received one of my pipes today! Wanna post it!

 

[judcole]

Welcome aboard. Sounds like you are off and running. I smoked a lot of Balkan Saseini at one time; I really should revisit it.

 

[numbersix]

Good to know you jpants - welcome to the forum and pipe smoking. ::

 

[crazypipe]

 

[sparroa]

Welcome!
Nice story.
Pipe smoking is a great way to free oneself from the addictive monotony of cigarettes.
I've spent many hours at tobaccoreviews myself, it is a phenomenal resource even though you have to take each review with a grain of salt...
Try as many different types of blends as you can. Escudo is definitely the perfect intro to a Va/Per as it is truly a benchmark blend. Cigrmaster knows his flakes so pay attention!
The forum here will look after most of your questions; feel free to ask for assistance on pipes, tobaccos, or techniques.
To samcoffeeman: I have noticed some of your reviews on TR lately, good work.

 

[gnatjulio]

Welcome, jpants. Looking forward to some brewhouse stories as well.

 

[ohin3]

Good to meet you brother. Look forward to future posts.
Cheers.

 

[yohanan]

Hello JP, and Welcome to the forums. ::

 

[baronsamedi]

There are a good number of homebrew guys on here, so it will be cool to hear from a pro. One of the mods is in Culinary school right now, too.

 

[papipeguy]

Welcome aboard. BTW, there is a sticky on the Forum page with instructions for posting pictures. If you have any problems let us know. There are a lot of experts here who can guide you. I've found that Photobucket is the easiest to use. Good luck.

 

[photoman13]

Welcome aboard. If you have any technical questions about the forum feel free to send me a PM.