I just picked up the pipe again after a hiatus of some 40 years. When I smoked a pipe as a young sailor, it was a fine Dunhill, but I didn't know the first thing about smoking a pipe. I was a pack-a-day cigarette smoker back then and was looking for something with more style, but I bought some fairly aromatic and stingy tobaccos and didn't stick with it for long. I actually ended up using that fine briar to smoke grass for a while, then put it aside altogether. I learned to roll my own cigarettes, using Drum tobacco, but gave up the habit about 30 years ago for health reasons. I quit smoking grass about 12 years ago also for health reasons. I have taken up the pipe for mental health reasons. I had been thinking about it for a number of years and finally reached a point where I was so seriously wanting something to help me relax that I went to a local tobacco store (I couldn't bring myself to call the place a true tobacconist shop) and sniffed a few humidors and picked out IQ. I bought a decent, though undistinguished, pipe and from the very first have enjoyed pipe smoking. It took a while to learn how to properly pack and light and draw, but now I'm enjoying about a bowl and a half a day in two or three sessions either out on my front porch, or out in the sunshine when it's available. I've made a couple of my own mixtures and have hit on one that I just love. But I am just at the start of things. I've purchased and restored five estate pipes both on eBay and from local antique/second hand stores. I just bought a humidor/pipe rack and am eagerly awaiting its arrival. I've got a very nice pipe tool (the first ones I bought were very cheap and rather clumsy to the hand). I'm hoping to learn a lot from the various forums here.
