Still Haunted by my Early Days of Pipe-Smoking...

[Sam Gamgee]

I started smoking a pipe in the Autumn of 2006. I was going through the LOTR via audiobook for the first time (many times since). It was the hobbits that made me want to try pipe-smoking.

I was working the night shift and decided to go downtown to the big library before work. This was a regular practice of mine, to score music CDs and books on CD, etc. This was a great time in my life, a sort of personal Renaissance period where learning and curiosity bloomed like it had not done since early boyhood.

On one of these golden afternoons I left the library and walked to the old tobacco shop downtown called Tobacco Lane (RIP). I walked in and the fellow sells me a MM corncob and something out of one of the big jars with a goofy Irish name. I smoked a bowl of that stuff on the drive in to work that day and knew I'd found something wonderful.

But the trouble is, that particular taste of that particular tobacco from that particular season haunts me still. I've still never found anything that tastes that good or hits me like those first days of pipe-smoking did.

Just yesterday I was taking my lunchtime walk and something about the temp, sunlight, etc, made me think of that time. The faint memory of the taste of that first tobacco hit me with a stab of longing. I so wish I could get that back and find something that tasted like that.

Is anyone else still chasing the ghost of his early days with the pipe?

 

[mikethompson]

My first blend that I got flavors from was Nightcap. It was easy to smoke, no fiddling around with it, and was generally fantastic.

I've recently forgotten everything on how to smoke a pipe wish I could go back then when it was much easier

 

[Cloozoe]

Is anyone else still chasing the ghost of his early days with the pipe?

Conversely, Sam, my early days would have been my end days as a pipe smoker were I not such a stubborn cuss.

Early '70s, had a profitable session at the backgammon table, and decided to spend some of my winnings on a nice pipe.

In the only book on pipe smoking I could find in the library, I read that while the hoi polloi smoked drug store blends and aromatics, the discerning, the purists, opted for "English mixtures".

Well, hell, the path was clear for such a superior fellow as meself, then!

Picked up a few tins of Dunhill; I remember one was Early Morning Pipe, another was Nightcap, and since they didn't have one called "Mid-afternoon Smoke", I just selected a few more at random.

For weeks I smoked the stuff. Tasted fine for a toke or two, but simply destroyed my tongue. Kept at it, anyway. Figured I hadn't mastered the technique adequately. Months went by like this, inflicting pain on myself, spitting dozens of times per bowl, when one day I wandered into a little tobacco shop and while chatting with the old dude who owned it learned that some people were "allergic" (his term) to latakia.

The rest is history. After putting aside my English mixtures and allowing a week or so for my poor damaged tongue to heal, I finally had a smoke that didn't require masochism. Indeed it was actually pleasurable. Been happily smoking a pipe ever since... but no latakia.

 

[AroEnglish]

Well, hell, the path was clear for such a superior fellow as meself, then!

Lol, love this line!

 

[yanoJL]

I grew up in Miami and there was a pipe and tobacco shop in the local mall. Edwards was the name as I recall. Even when I was too young to start my pipe journey, I would still poke my nose in there whenever possible to smell that fabulously fragrant store. And it was there that I purchased my first pipe

And I remember the jars, too, filled with re-named bulk blends. My first tobacco purchase was from one of those sacred jars, a blend called "dolphin" (of course, it was, after all, in Miami).

So yes, I find myself chasing a "ghost" too, the ghost of the dolphin. I don't know for sure which blend that was (Probably something from Lane Limited) but I now keep a blend from MacBaren, 7 Seas Regular (white) on hand as it is close enough to bring me back to that fragrance and flavor of my past.

 

[JJ_JJ_JJ_JJ]

Conversely, Sam, my early days would have been my end days as a pipe smoker were I not such a stubborn cuss.

Early '70s, had a profitable session at the backgammon table, and decided to spend some of my winnings on a nice pipe.

In the only book on pipe smoking I could find in the library, I read that while the hoi polloi smoked drug store blends and aromatics, the discerning, the purists, opted for "English mixtures".

Well, hell, the path was clear for such a superior fellow as meself, then!

Picked up a few tins of Dunhill; I remember one was Early Morning Pipe, another was Nightcap, and since they didn't have one called "Mid-afternoon Smoke", I just selected a few more at random.

For weeks I smoked the stuff. Tasted fine for a toke or two, but simply destroyed my tongue. Kept at it, anyway. Figured I hadn't mastered the technique adequately. Months went by like this, inflicting pain on myself, spitting dozens of times per bowl, when one day I wandered into a little tobacco shop and while chatting with the old dude who owned it learned that some people were "allergic" (his term) to latakia.

The rest is history. After putting aside my English mixtures and allowing a week or so for my poor damaged tongue to heal, I finally had a smoke that didn't require masochism. Indeed it was actually pleasurable. Been happily smoking a pipe ever since... but no latakia.

Actually I have the exact opposite exp. My early days were full of tongue bite and highly suspect and questionable tobacco choices.
It's a wonder I stuck with it, obviously I'm glad I did .

 

[mso489]

Starting out, pipe smoking is kind of clunky. A lot of fiddling, relights, and obvious mistakes. Maybe this is why, when it gives pleasure, it is such a surprise. When I got to a blend I liked, I was amazed.

 

[didimauw]

Nah, I like pipe smoking so much more now then I ever did in the beginning lol.

 

[Dave760]

I recently tracked down a ghost from my early days as a pipe smoker. I was smoking mostly 1Q as a college freshman. I was a student representative on an academic committee, and one of the faculty members also smoked a pipe. The room aroma was intoxicating, but the guy was such a bastard that I didn't want to ask him what he smoked.

I would try different blends over the years but couldn't find anything that had a similar room aroma. Until a month ago when I got an ounce of VIP match. And there it was. I'm sure the original VIP and the match aren't exactly the same, but that characteristic room aroma's there. It must have been VIP in his pipe.

It turns out I don't enjoy the birch taste, but at least now I know.

 

[JackOrion]

Like every other thing in life, firsts are fleeting and can never be repeated.

 

[Cloozoe]

Like every other thing in life, firsts are fleeting and can never be repeated.

...with the exception of mistakes; in the words of the immortal Homer Simpson, which apply equally well to me:

Marge, my friend, I haven't learned a thing!

 

[Searock Fan]

1963 vs. Today

Sail Yellow, wonderful then, terrible now.

Balkan Sobranie white, wonderful then, "clone" just ok now.

Balkan Oabranie No. 10, wonderful then, nothing I know of like it now.

Dunhill English blends, wonderful then, "clones" are just so so now.

A local pipe shop's English house blend, wonderful then. Today, yuk!

Conclusion: Tobacco was better back then.

If I could only turn back the clock.

 

[telescopes]

My first pipes were bought from John Dengler. However, my tobacco came from Tinder Box because my friend at college who smoked with me at the cafeteria enjoyed Crown Royal, so that is what we smoked. It was heavenly. I worked with Dengler to duplicate the recipe and ended up with my own blend, Telescopes, which I have smoked for over four decades. Lately, I have altered the recipe to include some Latakia and Perique and refer to it as The Doctor’s Own Blend.

 

[Gimlet]

Like every other thing in life, firsts are fleeting and can never be repeated.

Sounds like marriage..

 

[El Capitán]

My first tobacco was Half and Half. It was my Abuelo's favorite pipe tobacco and I thought I'd try it as my first tobacco. It was heaven. My tastes have widened now but that first bowl with the sweet cherry flavor has stuck with me.

 

[Gimlet]

My first tobacco when I began pipe smoking in my twenties was Gold Block. Because when I was in primary school the headmaster, an avid pipe smoker who even smoked it in class, always smoked Gold block and the smell is highly evocative to me.
Unfortunately the experience of smoking it didn't quite match the memory of the scent from my school days. I found it too hot, as I still do most bright virginias.

Back then I eventually settled on Three Nuns, which again had childhood memories as there was an old chap who lived over the road who smoked it constantly. He was a keen gardener who spent more time outside than indoors and if the wind was in the right direction you always knew when he was out an about long before you saw him.

 

[Skippy B. Coyote]

I can certainly sympathize, since the first pipe tobacco I ever smoked way back when was Middleton Cherry and it's not being made anymore. Thankfully I found Mac Baren's 7 Seas Red Blend though, which tastes almost identical to my memory of what Middleton Cherry tasted like but with nicer quality tobacco and no bite. Still, it would be awful nice to get ahold of an old pouch of Middleton Cherry again someday though!

 

[Chasing Embers]

Still, it would be awful nice to get ahold of an old pouch of Middleton Cherry again someday though!

Check cigarette stores. I found an unsealed box of 8 pouches of Middleton Apple last month.

 

[Searock Fan]

My first tobacco when I began pipe smoking in my twenties was Gold Block. Because when I was in primary school the headmaster, an avid pipe smoker who even smoked it in class, always smoked Gold block and the smell is highly evocative to me.
Unfortunately the experience of smoking it didn't quite match the memory of the scent from my school days. I found it too hot, as I still do most bright virginias.

Back then I eventually settled on Three Nuns, which again had childhood memories as there was an old chap who lived over the road who smoked it constantly. He was a keen gardener who spent more time outside than indoors and if the wind was in the right direction you always knew when he was out an about long before you saw him.

Try smoking it in a Calabash. You might be surprised how much it gets smoothed out.

Check cigarette stores. I found an unsealed box of 8 pouches of Middleton Apple last month.

You guy are braver than me!

 

[Gimlet]

Try smoking it in a Calabash. You might be surprised how much it gets smoothed out.

Interesting. I must admit I've often thought about acquiring a calabash but I wasn't sure what to do with one - ie. what to smoke in it.
Cooling down an otherwise mild virginia and making it into a long easy smoke does make sense.

Oh dear. My poor credit card..