My Tobacco Journey

[VaMick22]

Cigars have been something I've enjoyed for many years but I never really understood the desire to smoke a pipe. I don't have a history with pipes. My grandpa smoked cigarettes but none of my family members were pipers. My only run in with a pipe was about a decade ago one of my fathers friends lent me his corn cob and a couple bags of bulk aromatics. All I remember was being very underwhelmed by the taste of the aromatic tobacco, though it smelled great.

During my 20s and 30s I smoked cigars often. On the golf course with friends, at the cigar bar with friends, with my father in law when I visited them in Florida. It was a very social thing. I began to buy cigars for the house. Started a small humidor and would enjoy them on my back deck on a nice evening. But smoking cigars by myself wasn't the same and I began to slow down as I got a bit older. Now I have two kids and my social life is not nearly as active as it once was. I've just recently picked up a pipe and the introspective aspect of it has fit into my life quite nicely. It has become almost meditative. It's quite interesting that something I once could never see doing has filled such a hole in my daily rituals.

I recently walked into a pipe shop not knowing a thing. Thankfully the gentleman was a great teacher and was extremely helpful in teaching me the ins and outs of the different pipe shapes, tobacco types, and gave me many tips on how to pack and light the pipe once I got home. My first pipe was a Prince from Briar Works and with it I bought a tin of Robert McConnell's Scottish Flake at the recommendation of the man behind the counter. I sat with it for a few weeks. My first few bowls I broke up the flake into pieces and didn't enjoy it much. I then began to really rub it out into ribbons and found that it enhanced the flavor by quite a bit making it much sweeter. I then went on a tobacco buying spree.

Early Morning Pipe - quite nice
Plum Pudding - bought at the recommendation of many though I am still undecided.
Purple Cow
Night Cap

I read on here something I still am unsure of which is to have different pipes for different types of tobacco. So, I picked up a Savinelli 628 Rusticated Foresta from a local brick and mortar for my English Blends. Although my first go at pipe smoking was with Aros and I didn't remember loving it I wanted to dabble a bit. So next I bought

Sutliff Molto Dolce - I read if you're going to bother with Aros this is once to check out. It was fine. Tasted good. Was wet but still burnt well. Didn't experience any tongue bite.
Virginia Creme

I kept hearing about the dreaded ghost of tobaccos past so I picked up a Missouri Meerschaum to use as my Aromatic pipe.

I've really been enjoying this journey but still have a few questions that I keep reading conflicting answers to.

Should certain pipe shapes be used for specific blends? Should I be using my Prince for Virginia's? My Brandy for English's?

Anyway, that's enough rambling. With all that said, I've learned a lot from this forum and look forward to what's ahead. If any of you have any tobacco recommendations based on where I've started or any general tips/tricks I am all ears.

 

[blackpowderpiper]

Great story. Thanks for sharing. I generally have pipes that I use for English blends, a pipe or two for the odd aromatic, and the rest of my pipes are kind of grouped together for Virginia, Vaper, Vabur, burley blends. Occasionally if I happen to hit on a tobacco/pipe combo that is particularly good, I may dedicate the pipe to that blend. I leave all options open. I may smoke any given pipe with any given tobacco depending on my mood.

 

[rmbittner]

You can absolutely smoke anything in any pipe, if you want to. I did that for 20 years and thoroughly enjoyed it. Now, I’ve got pipes dedicated to all the styles I most enjoy, with only a couple of “floaters” that I’ll use for anything.

If you only smoke Virginias or latakia blends in specific pipes, then it makes it easier to get true flavors faster when you move from blend to blend. But that’s honestly not that big a deal.

 

[jndyer]

Thank you for an interesting and well written post.

I personally believe it is best to have pipes dedicated to categories of pipe tobacco ie. english, aros, virginia, etc. I typically keep a pipe or two for aromatic blends and then pipes for virginia/vapers.

 

[bullet08]

Pipe shape doesn't matter. Chamber size might. But that depends. Wider chamber diameter burn more at a time. This, in someway, helps with complex blends like English. To some, narrower chamber diameter focus on single blend or simple mix like VA. But you can smoke whatever you like in any chamber or shape you want. It's your pipe.

 

[FHlight]

Thanks for sharing.