The First Blend That Got You Into Pipe Smoking

[timt]

OGS. It was the first tobacco I tried after all the goopy aromatics didn't do it for me. When I finally got those bright virginia flavors, it was tough to go back.

That pretty much sums it up for me right there. After aros and Carter Hall, along came Orlik Golden Sliced. It was quite a revelation and pipe smoking made a lot of sense from then on.

 

[weezell]

half and Half was first , then
House of Windsor - Barking Dog owned me...

 

[biodarwin]

I bought some Cult tins to start. One of them was good. The others were meh. Then I smoked plum pudding, oh yea, that was amazing. I was gifted a 5 yr old tin of John Aylesbury Luxury Flake, which made me fall in love with aging VA's.

 

[JOHN72]

965- I fell in love with that smell of latakia in general the mixture english.......... I only smoked Partagas and H Upmann..........I was so unlucky to meet pipe tobacco very late..........?

 

[Dottleganger]

Borkum Riff whiskey spring 1973, I was lucky to survive it. Then off to Eckhard’s drug store past the Balkan Sobranie white and black to Mac Baren Virginia, well, you can surmise. Smoking a varnished yellow bole mercifully lost in the mists of time.

 

[anotherbob]

965- I fell in love with that smell of latakia in general the mixture english.......... I only smoked Partagas and H Upmann..........I was so unlucky to meet pipe tobacco very late..........?View attachment 57406

hey pipe smoking is like making out. It doesn't really matter when you start unless you started too young. As long as you're able to enjoy it. And with either there are times you can be jealous of someone who gets to try something for the first time. And also no matter how long you've been at both and think you know everything there are still revelations that pop up from time to time.

 

[edger]

For me it was the smell of my grandfathers Condor in Ireland. I think my first bowl in the states, however, was Edgeworth ready Rubbed.

 

[musicman]

Rich’s Cigar store in Portland has a house blend called Sweet Oriental. The woman behind the counter recommended it to me as a good blend for starting out, along with an unfinished nording pipe. It was probably my fifth time smoking after the pipe had broken in a bit and the grain pattern was starting to emerge on the raw briar. Everything just clicked and I thought, “oh I get what this is about.” It was a really specific moment.

Rich’s is mostly responsible for my teenage romanticization of pipe and cigar smoking. I used to spend a lot of time downtown and would walk past the shop on Alder St(?) and the smells coming out were AMAZING!

 

[bent1]

Tried aromatic blends off & on. What took hold was Samuel Gawith Medium VA Flake (aka Golden Glow).

 

[bluegrassbrian]

The first 6 weeks or so of the great pipe experiment saw me try a dozen or so aromatic and English blends.
I found the the flavor of latakia objectionable, and though I enjoyed a couple of the aromatics (7 Seas Royal, C&D Mixture Monster), I could never get them dry enough to smoke the way I wanted.

I was close to quitting when I found myself at a local cigar shop that carried a few blends and a couple dozen Petersons and Savinellis. On a whim I bought a tin of Orlik Golden Sliced...
The next day I was on sp.com ordering several straight Virginia's.

 

[edger]

For me it was the smell of my grandfathers Condor in Ireland. I think my first bowl in the states, however, was Edgeworth ready Rubbed.

BTW, why did Edgeworth Ready Rubbed bare no resemblance to Edgeworth Sliced? I came to like the English Sliced, but was utterly bored with the American ready rubbed.

 

[crawdad]

Started out with a cob and a pouch of PA while waiting for a tub of Granger. Let’s just say I was so happy when the Granger arrived. Sorry PA fans.

 

[biz]

Never had a tobacco that sucked me in. Always liked smoking a pipe, no matter what the tobacco was. When I was a kid, your only choice was drug store tobacco, Captain Black Regular was my favorite I guess.

 

[markus]

My first experience with pipe smoking was with an old Dr. Grabow Lark and a pouch of PA and it burnt the hell outta my tongue, so I put the pipe down for a while.
My father passed away and eventually my mom gave me his pipes, along with a tin of his tobacco (Dunhill EMP) and just to feel closer to him, I fired up a bowl... and voila, I was a pipe smoker.
The next day and a couple more bowls later, I was downtown at the Briar and Burley, buying a couple more tins of Dunhill English blends and a new Peterson's Father's Day edition pipe in honor of my Dad... and so it began.

 

[krizzose]

Mac Baren Navy Flake and Vanilla Cream Flake really got me hooked, and they're still well-represented in my cellar

 

[jcinpa]

First tobaccos: My uncle started me on Borkum Riff original, and Troost Special Cavendish, both drugstore blends in the 1970s.

First eye-opener or aha blend for me was Iwan Ries Three Star Royale, discovered in college, loved it. Wasn't so popular with the ladies, though.

These days, if I'm alone I'll be smoking Frog Morton On The Town, Nightcap, or MyMixture 965. If the wife and kids are around it will be something like Scotty's Trout Stream or Sutliff Molto Dolce.

 

[B_Rock]

Dunhill A21000 was my first go around in the early 80’s. I used to pick up tins at the Dunhill store in downtown San Francisco back in the college days. I had no idea there were blends other than aromatic
After a 30 year hiatus, I started back this year with Mission Pipe Shop’s “Bob’s Best” (probably the house version of 1-Q). But Quiet Nights was the ah-ha moment for an English blend and Fillmore for a Va/Per.

 

[jrharrigan]

Old Gowrie opened my eyes. Dunhill Nightcap kept them open.

 

[fihbkyle]

First pipe I ever smoked was Eileen's Dream out of a mini cherrywood MM, hated every moment of it. It took Prince Al and a no-name eBay straight billiard briar to reclaim my attention. Luxury Bullseye was another revelation, opening the door to flake tobaccos. Then Mixture 965 led me down the path to English blends.

 

[JOHN72]

hey pipe smoking is like making out. It doesn't really matter when you start unless you started too young. As long as you're able to enjoy it. And with either there are times you can be jealous of someone who gets to try something for the first time. And also no matter how long you've been at both and think you know everything there are still revelations that pop up from time to time.

I agree with you,but it makes me sad that this art is lost in a few more years..........