Self-taught pipe smoker?
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I got a one page print out with my first tobacco purchase from the tobacconist, it explained the three step filling method and some basics on lighting and tamping, trial and error from there for the most part...
No internet when I started. More or less self-taught. A couple of us at the university purchased pipes and tobacco at the local Woolworth store in Fairbanks. We trial and errored it. When I was asked to move off campus, seems hockey players were a problem and a distraction, I returned to Anchorage and the proprietor of the local tobacco shop smoothed out my technique.
What made me start was the delicious smell wafting down from the upstairs balcony of my apartment at the time!
I did not start prior to the internet, I just did not click at the time that the internet may be a useful resource for such an age old hobby...I am a bit slow on the technology front.
Isaac
I did not start prior to the internet, I just did not click at the time that the internet may be a useful resource for such an age old hobby...I am a bit slow on the technology front.
Isaac
My Grandpa smoked a pipe back in the day, but quit. So I had no one to teach me other than you guys before I joined the forums.
Same for me. I got a MM Legend @ THE drug store to smoke my roll your own tobacco because I wanted to eliminate the paper. I got interested in proper pipe smoking after trying out a couple specific pipe tobacco blends from the same drug store and THEN found out that there were things like this forum and the youtube pipe community.
Long before the internet "was a thing" I picked up pipe smoking. I just kind of trial and errored it until I got it to work. That's why I kind of laugh at the lectures some folks deliver on "the right way" off smoking a pipe. Plenty of folks somehow managed to enjoy pipes while doing everything wrong. Obviously it never hurts to pick up some tips that might improve the experience, but its not rocket science.
I started a few years ago, well into the internet age. At the time I was the only pipe smoker I knew.
I bought a cheap wood made in China pipe from Amazon for like $5 and went to a local "B&M", which really feels like a convenience store with cigarette and vaping supplies, not much in the cigars and pipes department, and I bought 1 oz of some bulk cherry cavendish. I youtube'd a video on packing and believe it or not, it wasn't a horrible experience. I then bought a Dr. Grabow Golden Duke and MO Meerschaum Diplomat, and it came with a tiny sample of an aromatic from 4Noggins. That was an even better experience. The aha moment came when I purchased my first Stanwell and some Dunhill EMP; that led me to confirm that I's stumbled into a great hobby.
The method and technique was a trial and error mixed with youtube tutorials and internet articles, that's how I discovered PipesMagazine.com. So you could say you guys taught me [cue the "aaaaaww's].
After me, a friend bought a no name briar at The Tobacco Shop in SJ. I also gifted another friend a briar pipe and a sampler and he has been my most constant smoking partner. Then, Enhorabuena Pipe Club was formed through mutual contacts, though we were only like 10 people and the most that have ever assembled at the same time were 5. Now I'm excited because a Cigar Shop with smoking lounge is opening in my city of Caguas, and it seems to me they'll have some (even if limited) pipes and pipe tobacco, and provide a good place for the occasional meeting.
Anyways, I digress. I am an autodidacta, and 3 years into the hobby I'm still learning, still making mistakes, and still enjoying the hell out of this wonderful hobby.
I bought a cheap wood made in China pipe from Amazon for like $5 and went to a local "B&M", which really feels like a convenience store with cigarette and vaping supplies, not much in the cigars and pipes department, and I bought 1 oz of some bulk cherry cavendish. I youtube'd a video on packing and believe it or not, it wasn't a horrible experience. I then bought a Dr. Grabow Golden Duke and MO Meerschaum Diplomat, and it came with a tiny sample of an aromatic from 4Noggins. That was an even better experience. The aha moment came when I purchased my first Stanwell and some Dunhill EMP; that led me to confirm that I's stumbled into a great hobby.
The method and technique was a trial and error mixed with youtube tutorials and internet articles, that's how I discovered PipesMagazine.com. So you could say you guys taught me [cue the "aaaaaww's].
After me, a friend bought a no name briar at The Tobacco Shop in SJ. I also gifted another friend a briar pipe and a sampler and he has been my most constant smoking partner. Then, Enhorabuena Pipe Club was formed through mutual contacts, though we were only like 10 people and the most that have ever assembled at the same time were 5. Now I'm excited because a Cigar Shop with smoking lounge is opening in my city of Caguas, and it seems to me they'll have some (even if limited) pipes and pipe tobacco, and provide a good place for the occasional meeting.
Anyways, I digress. I am an autodidacta, and 3 years into the hobby I'm still learning, still making mistakes, and still enjoying the hell out of this wonderful hobby.
Humans were barely monkeys out of trees when we started playing with fire, and smoking a pipe isn't so hard that one of these former monkeys couldn't do it. I did have the luxury of growing up around pipe guys, codger scoops, fire it up, tamp it, and then just stick it in your mouth and leave it there. And, unless you had something very important to say, you did not start blathering away at a man with a pipe in clench. That was all I knew, and from there I found it easy to figure out.
Of course, if you never saw anyone smoke a pipe, then maybe you wouldn't know where to put the tobacco, or how to make fire, or which end goes in your mouth. And, this is why we are here. We help the average monkey fresh out of the tree know which end of the pipe to stick where. And, this keeps us vastly entertained. I feel all self-important, and giggle at some of our suggestions. Except of course when someone catches me doing something completely wrong with my pipes, like fishing termites out of a tree for a snack, or opening bananas, or cracking coconuts with my pipes, or smoking a goopy aromatic... embarrassing. Yes, yes, we all relapse sometimes. While it is a relatively easy thing to do, sometimes my inner monkey will have me scratching my back with the odd Savinelli laying about.
What was the question again?
Of course, if you never saw anyone smoke a pipe, then maybe you wouldn't know where to put the tobacco, or how to make fire, or which end goes in your mouth. And, this is why we are here. We help the average monkey fresh out of the tree know which end of the pipe to stick where. And, this keeps us vastly entertained. I feel all self-important, and giggle at some of our suggestions. Except of course when someone catches me doing something completely wrong with my pipes, like fishing termites out of a tree for a snack, or opening bananas, or cracking coconuts with my pipes, or smoking a goopy aromatic... embarrassing. Yes, yes, we all relapse sometimes. While it is a relatively easy thing to do, sometimes my inner monkey will have me scratching my back with the odd Savinelli laying about.
What was the question again?
No internet when I started. As a young lad I had an uncle that smoked a pipe that we visited once or twice a year. Always loved the smell of his pipe. My step father dabbled in pipe smoking a time or two when I was in my early teens. When I was in my early twenties I decided I wanted to give it a try and neither of these men where still around so I learned on my own. Don't remember having any issues or hurdles when I started. Wasn't until the internet came along that I started questioning the way I was doing it even though I wasn't having any issues. That was back in the early 80s when I started. :
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When I got into pipes seriously around 2009/2010 I learned a lot from DubInTheDam's YouTube channel. A lot of my technique comes from his videos.
I've looked at a couple of these internet "how tos." Damn! Pick the wrong one and your learning curve could get really steep.
Tell me about it, Warren. My first attempts... bowls, stems, the pack... by the time I have gone to the cabinet and picked out a bowl, and then cut some stems from the flowers in the yard, and the pack... a pack of what? I start getting confused, angry. Then I just smoke my pipe to calm down. ::
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Shikano, show us how you smoke it! I'd love to see someone smoke like I've never seen. That'd be great!!
When I was a kid, I saw a guy at church entertain us kiddos by putting a pipe in each nostril and puff the smoke out of his mouth like a train. I thought that was great. I am guessing that he knew that that wasn't the best way to smoke. But...
When I was a kid, I saw a guy at church entertain us kiddos by putting a pipe in each nostril and puff the smoke out of his mouth like a train. I thought that was great. I am guessing that he knew that that wasn't the best way to smoke. But...
No internet when I first started, picked up a Dr. Graybow, a pack of Cherry Blend and a box of strike anywhere matches and started. I eventually got to the point where I could pack and light without burning through half a box of matches. I stumbled upon the a Tinder Box; there I got some advise and a pamphlet about packing, lighting, tamping that helped my technique.
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