Newbie to the Fourm and Sort of New to Pipes

[cm2ras]

Greetings everyone :D I have been lurking around this site for a while now and just joined yesterday. I am a relative newbie to pipes, I smoked one for a while in my youth and put it down for 30 years. I have been more of the occational cigar smoker but decided to pick this up again. I am sure to have several questions about everything LOL. I try to use search functions and Google search as much as I cna to keep some of the newbie questions down. But what is currently driving me crazy is a profile picture, all the avatars I try to use the photo is WAY to big.
Anyway looking forward to learning a lot and expanding my enjoyment of the pipe!

 

[rmbittner]

Welcome (back) to the hobby -- and the forum! Tons of great information here.
Yeah, I had a terrible time getting my avatar photo to work. And even though I cropped it into a perfect square, the site still insisted on squeezing it in on the sides. . . (Which all just means I can't help you there!)
Bob

 

[teufelhund]

Welcome to the forum!!!

 

[cm2ras]

Thank you for the welcome! I will eventually figure out the avatar thing i'm sure. Still working my way back into pipes, trying to slowly get a feel for the different tobacco's out there....Man there are aas many as the stars!

 

[rmbittner]

cm:
It's kind of a cliche to say now, but yes: We really are living in a Golden Age of pipe tobacco. Sure, a lot of the major blends from 30 years ago are gone; but I don't think we have ever seen a wider variety of blends from large blenders and small artisan blenders -- or had such easy access to blends via the Internet. It really is amazing. And overwhelming! I'd just encourage you to sample as widely as possible. And then, when you find blends you really enjoy, stock up on as much as you can. Tobacco improves with time in the tin, and it's unlikely that we'll ever see a decrease in tobacco prices. (And some of us here are building cellars that we expect to last the rest of our lives.)

 

[john218]

cm2ras, welcome to the forum.
I started smoking back in the early 1960's, stopped somewhere in the late 1980's and startd smoking again last spring.
I've learned as much about pipe smoking since joining this forum last May, as I did in all the previous years.
You'll find everyone here loves to share their experiences and give advise.

 

[rmbittner]

You'll find everyone here loves to share their experiences and give advise.

And you don't even have to ask for it!
Bob

 

[misu]

Welcome

I love to share my experiences, but don't really have any good advice, yet :D I'm too new

 

[cigrmaster]

cm2ras, welcome to the forum. I also had trouble with the avatar thing and it took me a while to figure it out. You might want to contact one of the moderators and they can walk you through it.
In regards to all of the different blends out there, it can be very daunting. I would suggest going for a blend in the basic categories. I do not know what you prefer but the way I categorize the blends is like this.
Aromatics...Lane 1Q

English.. GL Pease Caravan

Virginia.. Dunhill Flake

Virginia/ Perique.. Escudo

Virginia/Burley...Mac Baren Old Dark Fired or Solani Silver Flake

OTC's mostly straight Burleys with a topping... Carter Hall
I think this will give you a pretty good representation for the different categories and there are a few flake tobaccos in their which I suggest you cube cut for preparing. There are multiple threads about cube cutting and even some videos. I picked these blends based on their availability as they should all be easy to acquire from one vendor. I recommend using one of these three sponsors. Pipesandcigars.com, smokingpipes.com and 4noggins.com. Put all of the blends in the cart for each vendor and see who comes out with the lowest price. I use all three and if you purchase over 100.00 shipping is free from all these guys, remember to buy plenty of pipe cleaners. I prefer the BJ Long extra fluffy tapered and bristled for most of my pipes, but some of mine need the thinner ones so grab some of the thinner BJ Longs. If you have pipes with vulcanite stems, Obidisian stem oil has been great for me in keeping my stems free of oxidization. Hope this helps and do not be afraid to ask questions, it is what we are here for.

 

[cm2ras]

Thanks everone for the warm welcome @misu- I see you have 100 posts compaired to my 5? to me you are vastly more experianced lol.

I got back into pipes by accident. i was going through an old box of things my mother had left me from my youth and found the old churchwarden from my teenage years (46 now), I thought what the hell, you smoke cigars now and then why not give the pipe another chance. I find I enjoy the pipe more often then cigars, with a cigar for me it is more of an "event", a thing to do with friends. But the pipe I enjoy just as a casual relaxing moment, and the wife much more enjoys the room note from the pipe. :clap:

 

[cm2ras]

cigrmaster: Thanks for all the info! The tobacco I have been smoking is from a local smoke shop, they are my go to for cigars but the woman who owns is really great and knows her tobacco. The few I have tried are their own blends, I started with a cherry and vanillia aromatic but soon found I was looking for more character (being a cigar guy) so i found a nice english blend they make that seems to be good. I recently ordered a english blend smapler from pipesandcigars. I can't wait for them to show up I recent picked up an estate Soren Rasmussen I am dying to try out. (Rasmussen is my family name, not sure about any relation)
As far as the avatar maybe I have to reduce the pixel size to make it work....

 

[numbersix]

Welcome cm2ras! Lots of great people here - enjoy your time!
@ john218 wrote:

I've learned as much about pipe smoking since joining this forum last May, as I did in all the previous years.

This forum really does ramp up ones knowledge very rapidly.

 

[misu]

@misu- I see you have 100 posts compaired to my 5? to me you are vastly more experianced lol.

Oh, no . . . I just talk a lot. I'll talk your ear off :mrgreen: I just smoking pipes 2 weeks ago. I came here for advise and answers to my questions. I've found lots of good advice here and nice people too! So

Misu....I see you removed your photo and switched it to a smurf. Not that I'm against smurfs (I am, but that's beside the point), why'd you swap? I kind of enjoyed seeing someone (besides Kevin) actually smiling in their avatar photo.

I'm a nurse at heart. I maybe gimpy and prematurely retired, but, once a nurse, always a nurse.

I couldn't find my Pez dispenser nurse picture, or I would have posted that one instead. I'll post a picture of me again. My third grandbaby is due soon, so, I'm sure there will be a picture soon. Maybe I'll have a picture of me smoking a pipe. Or not, it depends on how it looks

 

[lumberjakpipester]

Welcome Aboard!!

 

[misu]

As far as the avatar maybe I have to reduce the pixel size to make it work....

All I have is paint to resize my pictures. I find that if you "save as" a jpg it works better. A lot of pictures get saved to bmp files. I'm no expert, but I think the bmp files are larger.

 

[ugh457]

I'll second misu on using paint to resize pics, I think 150 x 150 pixels??

 

[trailspike48]

Welcome to the forum. You seem to have plenty of advice already on the avatar so I'll pass on handing out more of the same. I think you will really enjoy the forum and the members. Help is alway available from this great group of guys and a few gals.

 

[judcole]

Welcome aboard. ::

 

[oldredbeard]

Welcome aboard, and do enjoy the journey.

 

[cm2ras]

Thank you all for the very warm welcome....
@rothnh: I will report back on the Soren as soon as I can, it is the second este pipe i have picked up. The first was the lars, it smoked awesome from the first bowl. I can't wait for my english sampler to arrive.. ::