Tips and hints for beginner smokers?

[mausee]

Hello fellow smokers!

So the thing is this, I've been smoking cigarettes and cigars "just for fun" without thinking about it so much until i realised how much i really like to smoke.

So now i'm asking all of you elder gods of pipe smoking, could you give a "greenpipe" some tips with what to start, what i need, and such?

Though i doubt anyone else has any questions (you are elder gods of smoking pipe), im sure everyone could enlighten eachother about tobacco issues.

 

[cortezattic]

Welcome to the forums mausee! The basic kit is:

• a pipe
  
  matches
  
  pipe tamper
  
  pipe cleaners
  
  tobacco

And, as with cigarettes and cigars, it's all "just for fun" with pipe smoking too!

I'll let someone with more recent start-up experience address the beginner's issues.

How high are the tobacco prices and taxes in Finland?

 

[mausee]

The tobacco taxes for the (i don't know if it's the right word i'm using) wholesale prices here are 50% for cigarettes, 22% for cigars and 48% for pipe tobacco.

The prices are somewhere around 4 euros for a normal "box" of cigarettes and from what i've dug around, 100 grams of Connoisseur's Choice pipe tobacco costs 26 euros at the "Töölö Cigar Store" here in Helsinki.
What i've been wondering about pipes is that is there a difference in pipes, or to put it simply, is there a special "beginners pipe"?

 

[pstlpkr]

Welcome Mausee,

The selection of pipes is a very personal thing however, a good old Dr. Graybow, or moderately priced Peterson is a good way to go for a starter pipe, a decent cob pipe will work too.

One thing to consider is that a pound of tobacco will last quite a while.

If you smoke 2-5 or six pipes a day you will still come in way under a pack a day habit, cost and volume wise.

As for the accoutrements Cortezattic is dead on.
Good luck with your new hobby and again Welcome!

 

[mausee]

Thanks for all the info!

I'm really baffled by the kind welcome i've received from this site.

This could work as the best pro-tobacco advertisement in the world!

 

[pstlpkr]

Just dive right in mausee.

We're just regular folks around here.

And we are glad to have you.

 

[mausee]

I just counted up every last coin i can spend in the name of tobacco, and it turns out, i'm propably going to go get my pibe and my tobacco today!

 

[112mercerstreet]

tips for pipe new pipe smoker: don't inhale the pipe smoke into your lungs, only your mouth. 2. smoke slow 3. relax 4. don't buy varnished pipes, most all good pipes are only waxed or oiled 5. never ever disassemble a hot or warm pipe for cleaning, never!

 

[josephpaul]

mausee - there's a lot of good info at pipedia.com, particularly useful to learn is the "two light" method of lighting your pipe. http://pipedia.org/index.php?title=Pipe_Packing_and_Smoking_techniques

 

[ohin3]

- don't pack your pipe too tight or too loose
- don't inhale
- tamp the ash down every so often as you smoke down through the bowl. Don't use force when tamping, just drop the tamper and let it gently crush the ash back down to the surface of the unburned tobacco below
- Don't remove the stem from your pipe when it's still warm. When I am done with what is in my bowl, I use my tamper to pull the ashes to the front of the bowl so that I can see where the airway meets the bowl. I then ease a pipe cleaner down the stem and through the shank till I can just see it starting to enter the bowl. then I put my hand over the bowl and shake the ashes up so that they evenly coat the bowl. Then I dump what is left, push the pipe cleaner in and out of the airway a few times, remove it and put the pipe down to rest in a verticle position with the bowl down.
Hope you enjoy your new pipe.
Cheers.
P.