Hey all,
I've been lurking in the forums and reading the reviews and watching the (excellent) videos on the site for a bit. I finally decided I'd sign up so I could put in my two cents when I wanted to!
I picked up the briar in early 2005 for no better reason than I was curious. A father of one of my childhood friends smoked a pipe, but other than that my only piping influences have been literary. I'd thought that pipesmoking was something of a time gone by, but I should have known that in this age of the Internet that like-minded folk would find a place to gather.
I'm lucky enough that I have access to not one but two B&Ms a short walk from my place of work, and they both are very knowledgeable about pipes and pipe tobacco. Both sell their own blends and that has influenced my tobacco choices so far. The only non-local blend I've tried so far is Mac Baren Plumcake, which I didn't really care for. My current selection consists of locally-blended aromatics that my wife likes to smell on me. I get them from here:
Goodfellas Cigar Shop and the blends I'm rotating right now are the Colombian Mocha, Saturday Night and Tubman.
I don't have a large collection of pipes. More of a TAD type than a PAD type. I only have a bowl every week or two, so resting the pipe isn't an issue. I'd like to try some English mixtures at some point and I'll get myself another pipe to dedicate to it. I'll try to get my hands on a meerschaum and a churchwarden at some point.
Cheers