Welcome new members. Introduce yourselves.

[python]

Welcome Josh!
You can check out the Pipe Tobacco Discussion Forum for quite a few discussions about tobaccos. Here is one of the threads where we have been talking about Aromatics with good room notes:
http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/aromatics-with-good-room-notes

 

[pstlpkr]

Hi Josh,

Welcome to the site.

My local tobacconist has a bulk blend called "Baklava".

It is fairly wet tobacco, totally black in color, and has a vanilla and cinnamon flavor. Easy to keep lit. It's very sweet and smells great. Maybe something along those lines.

Here is Skips web site:

The Briary

They do mail order and are very reasonable.

I look forward to your posts, and seeing your pipes.

 

[sapo59]

Welcome to the site hope you guys enjoy it. Look forward to your insights.

 

[admin]

Welcome Docgarr, Hooligan and Josh!
Josh, that's really cool that you have been smoking a pipe for three days and you already here and posting!
My suggestions for a good aro that your wife will appreciate the room note on that you can find quick and easy at your local drug store is Captain Black.
You can't go wrong with this as a new smoker and as something that will smell good to others in the room.
Many drug store brands, and even many aromatics that are of a higher quality level have a high risk of burning your tongue (Tongue Bite is the correct pipe smoker terminology). Captain Black has a nice flavor, a nice room note and will not bite unless you really smoke like a locomotive.

 

[vitorteixeira]

Hello pipe people!
Smoking my favourite tobacco (for now) which is GLP Maltese Falcon, it's strange...at first bowls i didnt like it very much, but nowadays it's the one i love the most.

Im really really fresh on smoking pipe tobacco (nearly a month), but this "quest" it's becoming very pleasant and adictive....

Let's say in a month i purchased 4 pipes and a lot of tobacco (i guess...lol) such has:
Smoked

GLP Maltese Falcon;

C&D Heritage, Redwood, Epiphany

SG Navy Flake

Esoterica Stonehaven

GH Bob's Chocolate Flake

GH Ultimum
Unsmoked

Two Nuns

GLP Westminster
All i've learned was from the internet in great forums like these, so thank you all for sharing.
Vitor

 

[admin]

Welcome Vitor! Maltese Falcon is one of my favorites too.

 

[dunendain]

Welcome to the fold Vito. You have many great blends for a beginner. That's a good way to start.

 

[pstlpkr]

Hi Vitor,

Welcome.

I look forward to your posts.

 

[dunendain]

Welcome all new members.

 

[tathlow]

I started smoking pipes like 25-years ago when I was in the Navy, but stopped a couple times primarily due to relationships. Luckily I am in a relationship that is far more tolerant. Even so, though I do not smoke in my new home, I do while driving and on walks around the neighborhood.
I have a mixture of mid-range priced pipes – couple Petersons, couple Stanwells, couple Savinelli , and an old small Dunhill Bulldog with an actual ivory dot. None of the pipes are very exceptional with the possible exception of the Dunhill. I plan on upgrading my pipe collection and concentrating on Petersons. Actually I plan on only smoking Petersons. I have been doing a bit of Internet browsing and over the next year plan on picking up a number of pipes to fill-in my collection. Currently am looking at the Peterson Claddagh, Donegal, Racing Green, Irish Sea, River, and Castle series. Of course I really don’t know much about any of the Petersons series mentioned above so am going in a little blind. I cannot find individual reviews on Peterson pipe series. If you have anything to say about the Peterson series that are currently available, I would appreciate it.
Concerning my smoking of pipe tobacco, I find that over the years my tastes have changed. I want to stay away from aromatics. I used to smoke a personally mixed blend created from #27 McClellan some bulk Turkish, and topped off with Perique. Nowadays the Perique seems just too strong so will try and go for straight English that is on the “light” side. Too much nicotine gets me light-headed. I haven’t really found what I like – have had “light English” from the neighborhood Tobacconist, but it is hard to count on the bulk tobaccos being kept well so it is hit and miss. Got a few tins here and there without much luck. Expense wise it hurts to test out tobacco in such manner. I need to find a good bulk I can order regularly. I did try a tin of Mac Baren HH Vintage Syrian that I sort of like, but it isn’t where I want to settle. So if you have an idea of a good English on the light side that isn’t overwhelming with nicotine and smooth, then I would be thankful.

 

[admin]

Welcome tathlow.
Two of my favorite English-style blends aside from HH Vintage Syrian are:
1. Frog Morton

2. Maltese Falcon
Three of my favorite private tobacconists English blends are:
1. Bennington's No. 10, Bahia Apooke

2. Bennington's No. 15, Balkan Mix

3. Nat Sherman's # 536 - Empire English
You can order them online here:
https://www.bocabenningtons.com/items.php?cat=8&name=Bennington%20Custom%20Blends&type_id=100
http://www.natsherman.com/product.cfm?CFID=619834&productid=803

 

[tathlow]

Hey Kevin, thanks for your advice.
I will check both of those tins out. I used to be a McClellan lover so will certainly have to give Frog Morton a try (though I must have smoked it once long ago). As for Maltese Falcon, I have smoked a tin of G. L. Pease' "Haddo's Delight" recently and it didn't sit very well. Not sure if Maltese Falcon will be a bit heavy. I am also going to try Samuel Gawith's Squadron Leader since it has always been a standard for many people (which I can also get in bulk).
Concerning the bulks, I have never smoked anything from Bennington. They "seem" a bit on the pricey side for a bulk, but I assume you get what you pay for... I have not smoked a Balkan mix since smoking the old Balkan Sobranie - which at the time I didn't care for but given that my tastes of changed you never know now. Alas, it is long gone anyway. I certainly know of Nat Sherman, used to occasionally smoke their cigars.

 

[doogey]

Hi, I'm Dave and a former cigar smoker who loved Aston VSG's and Cuban Bolivars for quite a few years. While cigars can be pleasureable, nothing is more relaxing and mind-cleansing as a fine pipe loaded with a good tobacco mix. I'm new to pipe smoking and can't wait to start building my pipe collection and sample as many tobaccos as I can. This looks like a great group and I'm glad I found you guys.

 

[dunendain]

Welcome Tathlow, nice Petersons. I would suggest some English/ American blends. Sometime referred to as light English. Like, Count Pulaski, Barking Dog, Spilman Mixture, Revelation, and others.

 

[admin]

Welcome Dave (doogey)

 

[sinistertopiary]

It's great to meet so many new members: Welcome -- I hope this place becomes as welcoming a home for you as it has been for me.

 

[dudleydipstick]

Hi all,
I began smoking pipes in earnest about 4 years ago. I also enjoy nasal snuff and have been a roll-your-own smoker since '98.
Not long after the SCHIP taxes began last April, I've been one of the RYO smokers who've been smoking the new ersatz pipe tobaccos instead of paying the full tax of RYO tobacco. With the new tax on true pipe tobaccos being proposed, I've been thinking about quitting cigarettes for the first time. While I'm not okay with political tax abuse of any kind, whether it's soda, packaged smokes, etc., I've decided that if I must pay almost $25 tax on a pound of tobacco, it will be for the one I enjoy the most (pipe).
That's about as long as an intro post needs to be, but I'm looking forward to spending more time here and hoping my Congressman really does keep me in mind like he promised in the letter.

 

[patriotfirst]

Hello everyone. I have, for a long time, been interested in smoking a pipe. My father in law smokes and has a lot...plus I like the way pipe tobacco smells. Including my wife.
SInce I am brand spanking new to this I have just purchased my first briar pipe, but now I need to know what to do to prep the bowl of the pipe if anything, and how to do it.

 

[admin]

Welcome dudleydipstick & patriotfirst! Thanks for signing up and introducing yourselves.
patriotfirst - here's the quick down and dirty.
You don't really have to prep the bowl. However, some like to put a light coating of honey inside the bowl before the first smoke. I have tried this and did not see any benefit.
Others say you should just fill the bowl 1/4 of the way for the first few smokes, then go to half way for a while, then 3/4 of the way for a while, then fill it up.
This is supposedly to help create a more even "cake", the natural carbon coating that builds up from the burning sugars in the tobacco. Putting the honey coating as described above is also to help the cake build up.
Here's my trick:
Just stick some tobacco in the pipe and smoke it!
Do take some care packing it though. There are a bunch of different packing methods. Here is what I think is the simplest, assuming you have ribbon cut tobacco or something close.
Let the tobacco fall loosely into the bowl until it fills it up. Then push it down gently to the bottom. Repeat this 2 - 3 more times, each time pushing down a little bit harder. You want a medium-tight pack, not too tight, not too loose.
While doing this, suck on the stem each time to make sure you can still draw air. If not, it is too tight. Start over.
Smoke slow. One puff a minute.
Tamp and re-light when needed.
Push a pipe cleaner through the stem if you have to suck too hard. It's shouldn't be like sucking on a McDonald's milkshake.
That's my crash course in pipe smoking.

 

[sinistertopiary]

Smoke slow. One puff a minute.

Seriously?!
Damn, I'd better slow down... a lot.