I guess as the one who initially asked the question, I should post my own response. Growing up and to this day none of my immediate family smoked. My grandfather did smoke a pipe, but that was many years before I was even a thought. I always admired pipe smoking though; the wonderful smells, the beautiful look of a good pipe, the classiness of it all, and even the imagery conjured up of the great pipe smokers throughout history. When I turned 18, myself and one of my good friends became avid cigar smokers, becoming by far the youngest "regulars" at our local tobacconist. Several months later, after some deliberation, I finally purchased my first pipe; a cheap $3 corncob. I was hooked. Here we are five years later, my collection has grown to eleven pipes (still small, but decent for a recent college grad) which include several Peterson's, Bari, Stanwell, Mario Grandi, Boswell, two of my own hand carved pipes, and several other no-names. I do have to add though,thank goodness for the internet because without the motivation and support of the YouTube pipe smoking community, my passion would be nowhere's near what it is today.