Jim's 50th Pipe Smoking Anniversary.

[PipeIT]

WOW, nice stories, and thanks for sharing, and of course Happy 50!

P.S. Now go feed the cats! LOL

 

[kcghost]

Congratulations on the anniversary of your pipe maiden voyage!!

 

[JimInks]

WOW, nice stories, and thanks for sharing, and of course Happy 50!

P.S. Now go feed the cats! LOL


View attachment 318712

Thanks, man.

Here's a few more stories:
I smoked at every job I ever had, and since then I've worked at home for over thirty years, smoking to my heart's content.


For nine years, I ran a comic book shop. The last year and a half I was there, the city passed a no smoking ordinance in businesses, but I noticed a loophole in the law. The ban didn't apply if there were less than three employees. We had two, so I smoked my pipe, like I really would stopped if there was no loop hole, lol. One day, some smart ass started giving me some crap about it, saying he could get the place shut down if he wanted to because I was smoking. I handed him the telephone and said, "Go ahead and call the city, and tell me where you're going to buy your comics from now on. And you can explain it to the people in this shop before you leave." He mumbled he was only kidding me, but I knew better. He shut up and when he left, all the customers in the shop gave out a lot of laughter. A few called him a some choice names, too.

One of my American history teachers in college smoked a pipe in class, though he had to relight a lot while he lectured. One day, I gave him a sample of Balkan Sobranie to try. A few days later, he said, "You get an 'A' in pipe tobacco, and you're on course to get an 'A' in this class if you keep giving me the good stuff".

When I was a freshman in college, there was a pipe smoking old man who was a janitor in the art building who was once a sailor. Looked weather beaten as could be, and he had quite a colorful past. I was fascinated by him, and used to talk to him. One day, he asked me what I was smoking, and I told him "Amphora Original". He said in more colorful language than I can use here, "Ya don't know [crap], kid. Yer smokin' [crap]. Try this." It was half Anniversary Cherry and half latakia. I liked it and smoked the blend for years, though by '81, I changed the formula to 2/3 Anni Cherry and one third latakia. The Tinderbox people always thought I was crazy to smoke, and really gave me jazz about it for years. But, I liked it, and it was a go-to for me at the same time I was smoking other blends. I smoked it until about 2004 as well as many other blends.

1982 was the year I moved over to Three Nuns, Balkan Sobranie Original, several Dunhill English blends and their Elizabethan mixture. My OTCs were Amphora Original and SWRA.

 

[scloyd]

Great stories.
Happy Anniversary.

 

[huntertrw]

JimInks:

By your own admission you have smoked approximately 2,857.19 pounds of pipe-tobacco. You also stated above that, "I'm probably half way there" to Mr. van Klaes' lifetime total of nearly four tons (approximately 8,000 pounds) smoked. Now I'm no mathematical whiz, but it seems to me that you've got quite a way to go before you reach his half-way point.

Guess you'll need to start smoking in your sleep!

 

[Servant King]

This is the very first pipe I ever bought ($2.49) in 1974

What's that in 2024 dollars? I shudder to think...

 

[huntertrw]

Servant King:

According to the usinflationcalculator.com Website, JimInks' pipe would currently cost $15.86.

 

[LotusEater]

Happy Anniversary Jim!

 

[BenMN]

Happy anniversary Jim!

 

[verporchting]

Awesome stories, Jim! Thanks for sharing and happy anniversary sir!

 

[Christos D. Tsatsaronis]

Happy anniversay to you Jim! See you again on the 100th (somewhere). Thank you for your contribution to the community and the Forum, greetings from Athens.

 

[yanoJL]

Enjoyed a tasty lunch, and am celebrating my fiftieth anniversary as a pipe smoker with a bowl of pre-2014 Edward G. Robinson's Pipe Blend in the very first pipe I ever smoked (which was my father’s pipe), a late 1950s smooth with etched grooves straight Willard long stem adjustomatic Canadian with a black vulcanite stem. The last of this bag of Gold Star mmmMocha, neat, is my drink. Going to smoke the first few pipes I bought this afternoon.
View attachment 318678

Back when I was a teenager, my buddy Steve Parsons was trying for weeks to get me to try pipe smoking, knowing I had my father’s old pipe. He wanted someone to enjoy smoking with. Finally, he said, “Just try it, and if you don’t like it, I’ll never bug you again about it.” I said, “Anything to shut you up, Steve.” On June 20, 1974, he had a small still which was brewing his alcohol, and we were checking it about that time. The reason I remember the day is obvious. The reason I know the exact time I had my first bowl of pipe tobacco (1:30 p.m) is because I'm an infamous clock watcher, and when I lit up for the first time, I looked at my watch as I often do, and in this case, to record the moment so I could bitch Steve out if I hated it, which I obviously didn't. Btw, the tobacco he handed me was Borkum Riff Bourbon Whiskey, which was half decent in those days if you puffed slowly.

Steve said the batch was ready to drink, and he wanted me to try it. I said, "You are out of your freakin' mind, buddy. You made it, you try it." He wouldn't. He fed a sample to a mouse, and the mouse died. That ended that experiment. But, I enjoyed that tobacco, and was forever hooked on pipe smoking. I did bitch Steve out after high school when he quit smoking, and I was a lone smoker. I never let him forget it to this day.

Here's another story:
I was 16 and it was a very hot summer day as I was driving down the busiest street in town, smoking my pipe. The air conditioner in my car didn't work, so I had the windows down. Next thing I know, a cop stops me. He walks to my side of the car, sticks his head in the car, and has a funny look on his face. I asked why he stopped me. He said, "Aren't you smoking marijuana?" I told him I wasn't, and showed him the pouch of Skandinavik Regular. I said, "You thought I was smoking dope? If I was, would I be doing it in broad daylight in the middle of Church Street with my windows down?" "Well, I'm not used to seeing a kid smoking a pipe with pipe tobacco," as he apologized for bothering me, and walked away with a "I'm the dumbest cop in Alamance County" look on his face. I expect he graduated to policing school crosswalks after that.

Sometimes I think about how cool it might have been if I had the chance to enjoy pipe smoking back when some of the fabled blends were still being produced, or when there was a tobacconist is every city or town.

But I was not around back then.

I am, however, around now. And I feel fortunate to be smoking pipe while you are still going strong; puffing and posting, and sharing your stories with all of us.

Thank you @JimInks

 

[irishearl]

Might have hit 50 myself this year.

 

[DesertDan]

Happy Pipe-iversary Jim, may you have many more!

 

[lraisch]

Thanks, man.

Here's a few more stories:
I smoked at every job I ever had, and since then I've worked at home for over thirty years, smoking to my heart's content.


For nine years, I ran a comic book shop. The last year and a half I was there, the city passed a no smoking ordinance in businesses, but I noticed a loophole in the law. The ban didn't apply if there were less than three employees. We had two, so I smoked my pipe, like I really would stopped if there was no loop hole, lol. One day, some smart ass started giving me some crap about it, saying he could get the place shut down if he wanted to because I was smoking. I handed him the telephone and said, "Go ahead and call the city, and tell me where you're going to buy your comics from now on. And you can explain it to the people in this shop before you leave." He mumbled he was only kidding me, but I knew better. He shut up and when he left, all the customers in the shop gave out a lot of laughter. A few called him a some choice names, too.

One of my American history teachers in college smoked a pipe in class, though he had to relight a lot while he lectured. One day, I gave him a sample of Balkan Sobranie to try. A few days later, he said, "You get an 'A' in pipe tobacco, and you're on course to get an 'A' in this class if you keep giving me the good stuff".

When I was a freshman in college, there was a pipe smoking old man who was a janitor in the art building who was once a sailor. Looked weather beaten as could be, and he had quite a colorful past. I was fascinated by him, and used to talk to him. One day, he asked me what I was smoking, and I told him "Amphora Original". He said in more colorful language than I can use here, "Ya don't know [crap], kid. Yer smokin' [crap]. Try this." It was half Anniversary Cherry and half latakia. I liked it and smoked the blend for years, though by '81, I changed the formula to 2/3 Anni Cherry and one third latakia. The Tinderbox people always thought I was crazy to smoke, and really gave me jazz about it for years. But, I liked it, and it was a go-to for me at the same time I was smoking other blends. I smoked it until about 2004 as well as many other blends.

1982 was the year I moved over to Three Nuns, Balkan Sobranie Original, several Dunhill English blends and their Elizabethan mixture. My OTCs were Amphora Original and SWRA.

Half cherry and half latakia? It's a wonder there's anything left of your taste buds!

 

[dino]

Congratulation Jim!
I really enjoyed your reminiscences.
I'm almost at the 65-year mark of my pipe smoking history and I, too, remember sharing some tobacco with one of my favorite poli-sci profs at DePaul. I gave him a bowl of my Balkan Sobranie 759 ($1.25 for the 2 oz. tin at the neighborhood book and card shop). He loved it. Got some good "brownie points" for it.
Best wishes, and "keep it smokey".

 

[craig61a]

This is the very first pipe I ever bought ($2.49) in 1974; a smooth three quarter bend Dr. Grabow Omega military mount with a nickel band and a black vulcanite p-lip stem. This was the closest I could get to a 4AB in a small town.
View attachment 318685

The very first pipe I bought ended up in the dumpster. A cheap Grabow, came in a bubble pack. 1981 at Mountain Home AFB, ID. I think I bought a pouch of Half & Half also. I didn’t know what the hell I was doing. Tossed it when I PCS’ed to the UK in 1982.

Bought my first “good” pipe in 1990, a Peterson Limerick 69. I bought a few basket pipes prior to that.

 

[JimInks]

JimInks:

By your own admission you have smoked approximately 2,857.19 pounds of pipe-tobacco. You also stated above that, "I'm probably half way there" to Mr. van Klaes' lifetime total of nearly four tons (approximately 8,000 pounds) smoked. Now I'm no mathematical whiz, but it seems to me that you've got quite a way to go before you reach his half-way point.

Guess you'll need to start smoking in your sleep!

Who sez I don't?

 

[JOHN72]

Great and beautiful stories. Congratulations on your anniversary. God bless you Jim.

 

[JimInks]

What's that in 2024 dollars? I shudder to think...

I had to work to get that $2.49. I was a buck short of buying it, and I certainly wasn't going to ask my father for it. I was thirteen at the time. Luckily for me, my neighbor, Dale Cain, was mowing the front yard. I asked him how much his dad paid him for mowing. He said, "A dollar for the front yard, and dollar for the back yard." I asked him if I could mow the back yard because I needed a dollar. He said, "My dad would get mad if I did that." I asked him when his parents were coming back home, and he said, "In a couple of hours or so." I said, "I'll have it mowed before they get home, and nobody's going to see me mow the back yard, so nobody's going to know." It took a few minutes, but I convinced him to let me do it.

His parents got home around five o'clock, and Dale came to my house, gave me the dollar, and I immediately went to Eckerd's Drug Store to buy the pipe. I mowed a lawn to get my second Grabow Omega, too. This one was a $1.99.