Newbie from Massachusetts.

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Aug 4, 2022
3
10
Hey all.

I'm brand new to pipe smoking and have been enjoying it a lot. Two months ago I walked into L.J. Peretti and purchased my first pipe, a Sevinelli 412 KS and a couple of ounces of Boston Slices and Cambridge Flake, leading to an immediate love of hobby. So much so that I have already obtained 30 different blends of tobacco, about 2 ounces each within these first months.

I realize this is probably too much to start with, but have enjoyed most, if not all of the blends I have obtained and stored each properly in ball mason jars to avoid ruining any that are neglected by time as I Ignore them for others.

Because of this, I have a couple questions.

Firstly, what can be done with blends I don't like, or don't seem to smoke as much as others? I feel bad throwing them out since I spent money to obtain them. Should I age them and try again in the future? or just get rid of them?

Second, since I only have one pipe at the moment, should I worry about smoking a variety of blends from it? I heard ghosting can cause an underlying taste and I don't want to want to ruin any blends that might require 0 interference from outside taste notes. I just want to know if Im able to smoke all of what I have from my pipe (although this has already been done) and not worry about mixing.

Finally, I want to say hello to everyone here and thanks for a great hobby that I hope to enjoy for years to come. Greetings from Massachusetts. Cheers!
 
Dec 3, 2021
4,792
40,302
Pennsylvania & New York
Welcome from Pennsylvania and New York.

If you have the space, you could store the tobacco you’re not crazy about and set it aside. Having the option to come back to it is not a bad thing. The tobacco will change to varying degrees as time passes (depending on the kind of tobacco and storage conditions); your tastes and preferences may change over time as well. There’s no real predicting how aging will affect what you set aside. There are threads you can read that cover generalities and typical or likely possibilities on how some mellowing or sweetening might occur. Only you’ll know if you like the change. You paid for the tobacco; no sense in tossing it. Try it again in a few weeks.

You would probably benefit by having a different pipe for the major categories, i.e., Virginia, Virginia/Perique (VaPer), English, etc. Try not to spend too much for now, just invest in a couple of inexpensive corn cob pipes to be able to try similar tobaccos in each pipe so you have less mixing going on—this will give you a chance to better understand what the tobacco tastes like rather than what’s mixing in your one Savinelli pipe. At the very least, after your pipe cools down, use pipe cleaners and get any gunk out of the stem, shank (more accurately, the mortise), and chamber. Keeping your pipe clean is important. Most Savinelli pipes have acrylic stems, so be careful using alcohol, as it can cause micro cracking in acrylic.
 
Aug 4, 2022
3
10
Welcome from Pennsylvania and New York.

If you have the space, you could store the tobacco you’re not crazy about and set it aside. Having the option to come back to it is not a bad thing. The tobacco will change to varying degrees as time passes (depending on the kind of tobacco and storage conditions); your tastes and preferences may change over time as well. There’s no real predicting how aging will affect what you set aside. There are threads you can read that cover generalities and typical or likely possibilities on how some mellowing or sweetening might occur. Only you’ll know if you like the change. You paid for the tobacco; no sense in tossing it. Try it again in a few weeks.

You would probably benefit by having a different pipe for the major categories, i.e., Virginia, Virginia/Perique (VaPer), English, etc. Try not to spend too much for now, just invest in a couple of inexpensive corn cob pipes to be able to try similar tobaccos in each pipe so you have less mixing going on—this will give you a chance to better understand what the tobacco tastes like rather than what’s mixing in your one Savinelli pipe. At the very least, after your pipe cools down, use pipe cleaners and get any gunk out of the stem, shank (more accurately, the mortise), and chamber. Keeping your pipe clean is important. Most Savinelli pipes have acrylic stems, so be careful using alcohol, as it can cause micro cracking in acrylic.
Thanks for the response! This is some great information that I will follow. I haven't been too good about cleaning my pipe after each use and only been cleaning it after a couple of days. I am going to stow away the tobaccos I haven't been using and return to them after a month for so. Any insight to the alcohol I should be using to clean pipes? I have a bottle of Stoli vodka that I don't drink and could use to clean. Would this suffice? or cause the micro cracking you mentioned? I imagine only dampening the tip of a pipe cleaner would prevent this.
 
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Dec 3, 2021
4,792
40,302
Pennsylvania & New York
Stoli would work. I use Everclear to clean the mortises in estate pipes and vulcanite/ebonite stems. Some people use rum. Members have posted here about not experiencing cracking using alcohol on their acrylic stems. It’s probably better to err on the side of caution; some members here recommend a mild dish soap to clean out an acrylic stem—that’s probably the way to go for now. Starting with a clean stem, if you use a dry pipe cleaner shortly after you smoke to run through the stem, you probably won’t need alcohol. You want to avoid build up of oils in the shank, mortise, and stem. Things will get sour and funky and affect your smoking experience.
 

OldWill

Part of the Furniture Now
Feb 9, 2022
690
3,877
74
Blanco, Texas
Welcome from Central Texas. I'm in the iron monkey school as far as no water flushing is concerned. In addition to Everclear and vodka, a QTip rub of the inside of your bowl with any whiskey you like will give you a slight, pleasant smell and flavor for a couple of bowls. Enjoy!