Noob Pipe Question

[tagriese]

Hey all,

Recently joined the board, lots of great information.

Just started smoking a pipe a month and a half or two months ago. So far I'm sticking mainly to a couple cobs that I picked up, but am now starting to look at moving to briars and eventually on to others perhaps.

I know there is a lot of discussion about not smoking different tobaccos in the same pipe, but I'm wondering how many non-cob pipes should I be looking at buying, just to get an idea? I like to smoke all kinds of different tobacco, and enjoy trying new blends and types.

Also what are your opinions on what different types of tobacco that should never be smoked in the same pipe?
Thanks in advance,

Thomas

 

[judcole]

Thomas, this is one of the most hotly debated questions in the community.
Personally, I maintain a latakia blend rotation and a virginia/burley rotation. I rarely smoke aros, so they usually go in a cob.

I am also a member of the "smoke one bowl in a pipe and then let it rest" school. I let all my briars rest a week or so after I smoke one bowl in them. See Greg Pease's column on this.

 

[numbersix]

Welcome Thomas! I think you'll find some excellent advice from the folks here.
I've heard that an ideal number for rotation purposes is 4-5 briars, allowing 1-2 days of rest between use to allow the pipe to fully dry out before using it again. Others prefer to have more, so that they can dedicate one or two to a particular type of tobacco or aromatic.
And yet others (including those who have smoked for many, many years) still have only 1 or 2 pipes and don't worry about any of the above. ::

 

[cortezattic]

IMHO, your pipe will be "ghosted" by Latakia, Lakeland scented blends, and many aromatics.

Since the flavor(s) of Virginia blends can be subtle, I would reserve some pipes for them.

For the present, it doesn't make much difference, since there's no way you could have sampled

all the different blends in the 2 months since you've started smoking. I wouldn't worry about

dedicating a pipe to a blend -- or even an entire genre -- until you've been around the block

a couple of times.

 

[philip]

Welcome to the forum, Thomas.
You don't need many pipes to begin. Most would say just enough to let the briar rest a day between smokes. Your beginning pipes may be ghosted a little, but some would argue that is a good thing.
More important now is to work on your smoking technique - slow and easy. Enjoy.

 

[puffy]

Over the years I've come to believe that a few good pipes are better than a lot of not so good ones.It never seemed to matter how much I rested a bad smoking pipe.Most pipe smokers always want another pipe.That seems to be pretty much the norm..My point is..Be as selective as you can afford to be in what you buy.

 

[jah76]

Hey welcome aboard.
Being a new pipe smoker this is what I found out worked for me.
1. I focused on what type of tobaccos I liked the best. Pipes are fantastic delivery systems and I do believe that the pipes quality (not always cost) has a lot to do with your smoking experience. However it's the tobacco being smoked that is the engine which drives the experience. I have a very addictive personality. I wanted to make sure I didn't get sidetracked by acquiring pipes while I'm starting out. Without knowing what I liked to smoked I had no idea what my pipe needs would be.
2. Now that I've got some tobacco types narrowed down, I've started focusing on which brands and blends I like. For me I love being able to spend 6-10 bucks and get a whole new tin to experiment with. At this stage I'd rather spend $100ish on different tobaccos then $100ish on a new pipe. (That's what my budget's like atm)
3. My last step which I haven't started yet is to get my pipes lined up. By determining how much I smoke, what I like to smoke, and what I want out of the hobby I have figured out that 5-6 pipes works best for me. I've got pipes I only smoke my current favorites in and my eyes on a few new models I've love to buy, but honestly I don't mind going slow. Realistically I don't even have a great cake built up in my "dedicated" pipes so I'm perfectly content to puff on an estate, watch the smoke clouds drift by, and keep an eye open on the future.
I'm looking forward to the day I buy my first new pipe, but I'd rather focus on identifying what I plan on smoking in it first. That's just what works for me.
TLDR?
Tobacco is the key to it all. I think it gets lost in the shuffle sometimes.

 

[cigrmaster]

Welcome to the site. I can tell you what I do. I dedicate pipes to Virginia Flakes and Virginia/Periique flakes and a few aromatics. I let my pipes rest 3-4 days or longer between bowls. I smoke 5-6 bowls a day so I need a fair amount of pipes. I buy pipes that are appealing to me, are certain shapes, in certain price ranges. I buy well cared for estate pipes and some new ones. I like certain sizes and certain weights. I am from the school where you should buy the best possible pipes for the price you are looking to spend. I think your first pipe should be a good one so that you have a frame of reference. If you only buy cheap basket pipes, you will never know how good a hand made quality pipe can be. My first pipe was a Savinelli Linea Piu 5. It had a retail of 150.00. I then bought a couple of pipes that were much less expensive and right away I could tell the difference. With a good pipe you will get a much cooler and drier smoke and the tobacco will taste better. I hate a pipe that gurgles or gets too hot to hold even with proper smoking technique. I would rather have less pipes than have a lot of poor smokers. I also take very good care of my pipes and make sure they are clean. There is nothing worse than smoking a dirty pipe, it is a waste of good tobacco, and will ruin your smoking experience.
There is tons of good info in regards to caring for your pipes on this site, as well as smoking technique, types of tobacco's ect. Don't be afraid to ask questions, we were all newbies at one time and pipe smoking does have a large learning curve. Hope this helps.

 

[sparroa]

Thomas, you don't "need" any pipes more sophisticated than a cob. It is a preference thing. Perhaps you should continue to sample tobaccos as widely as possible using your cobs until you are settled on what you like and dislike. They are great for that purpose...
I have only smoked cobs for almost 3 years and it is only now that I am looking at more elaborate pipes.
I have three estate "drugstore" briars in the mail - two Grabows and a Medico. They will be my first introduction to briars and I'll go from there with that experience. For under $20 each I have three restored pipes in seemingly good condition - you could get a new Savinelli for that but then you've got to experiment with cleaning/polishing/reaming on a brand new pipe without any experience AND you won't be able to smoke as often...
I am interested in a meerschaum, as well, but I estimate it will cost me $200 or so and that will be a luxury purchase and a treasured keepsake, I hope!
Anyway, enjoy your cobs until you decide the best path. I recommend the Missouri Meerschaum Country Gentleman model - I own a approximately 15 devoted to various styles/blends.

 

[brewshooter]

I tend to dedicate briars to one of four broad categories, VA/VAPer/Burley, Aromatic, Latakia/English and Lakeland. I do have a handful of aromatic pipes that are dedicated more specifically. I have one pipe that I smoke mostly cherry blends out of and another that is mostly vanilla blends. I suspect, if you're constantly changing the tobacco type from one smoke to the next, ghosting is probably less of an issue and it seems like it's not as big a concern with cobs or meerschaum pipes.

 

[tagriese]

Thanks a lot for the replies. Very helpful. This board is pretty awesome.

 

[baronsamedi]

I'd grab up a couple more cobs, hit up Storient for a Meerschaum and as for briars, get the best ones you can afford. Starting out for me, that meant a $15 estate from Ebay, but I plan to go for some custom ones next. Number of pipes doesn't matter too much as long as you give them a rest after smoking and use cleaners on them after each use. As you acquire briars, you can use the cobs while you rest yours. Cobs will also be good for those fruity aros, if you happen to like those.