Interesting, I also get a sore throat but never attributed it to tobacco smoking. Most of the tobacco I have is from C&D and GL Pease.Thanks you two, it's really good to be back! I was still smoking a pipe just about every day during my absence, just sticking to mellow Lane aromatics that I knew wouldn't bother my throat since it took so darn long to recover. I was still finding that my throat was getting a little irritated if I smoked a pipe more than once a day even with the really mild aros though, so I decided to give them a try with a 9mm filtered pipe and a 9mm charcoal filter and that finally solved the problem!
For the past month or so I've been smoking a pipe 2 or 3 times a day, and as long as I smoke a fairly mild aromatic and use a 9mm filter I have zero throat discomfort whatsoever no matter how many pipes I puff away on over the course of the day. So hooray! I finally figured out how to enjoy a pipe as often as I want without aggravating my throat that's so oversensitive from nearly 30 years of pack-a-day cigarette smoking.
Now I've only got two problems when it comes to pipe smoking. The first is that I've been abusing the heck out of my poor Molina Barasso (104) Sandblasted Black pipe smoking it several times a day every day like an old codger who only has one pipe, since it's the only 9mm filtered pipe I currently own, so last week I went through my modest collection of a dozen or so pipes and sold off all the unfiltered and 6mm filtered ones that I hadn't smoked much and didn't have sentimental value. I took the money from those sales and used it to pick up a couple more 9mm filtered pipes, a Savinelli Siena (207) and a Molina Barasso (108) Smooth Natural, that should arrive in the mail in a few days; and I've been eyeballing a Peterson Dublin Filter (120) Rusticated Fishtail that I'm gonna pick up next week when finances allow.
With the matter of giving my poor over-smoked Molina pipe a much needed break fairly well sorted, my only other problem now is that I've been getting a little bored of my rotation of Lane blends. Thankfully I recently discovered that Sutliff and Peter Stokkebye aromatics are just as easy and comfortable on my throat as Lane's when smoked with 9mm filter, and while Sutliff aros are unfortunately very hard to come by now I've been picking up and trying to trade for the ones I can when I come across them. Adding a little variety to my smoking rotation that won't bug my throat is certainly worth spending a bit extra for.
So, that's where I'm at now! It took a few months of trial and error (admittedly mostly error) but I finally figured out what works for me when it comes to pipe smoking and won't bother my throat: Mild aromatics with a 9mm charcoal filter. I'll probably get bored of aros eventually and still need to smoke something non-aromatic that my throat will be less happy about from time to time just for a change of pace, but using a filter definitely helps reduce the irritation from non-aromatic blends too so it shouldn't be too bad. It doesn't solve the problem entirely with non-aromatics, but it does lessen the impact on my throat a great deal.
The important part though is that I'm a happy smoker and know how to enjoy pipe smoking without discomfort now. Finally!
I also found I get heartburn if I smoke more than 1 bowl of Cult BRM, so far the only tobacco to do that. I really liked it too.
