I have been smoking pipes sporadically since college, approximately 50 years. Have also been smoking approximately 1.5 - 2 packs of cigarettes for the same time. Recent medical problems, mainly blockages, have inspired me to take up pipes again as a means of weaning myself off of cigarettes. i started pipes again about 3 weaks ago. I still smoke cigarettes, but I've managed to reduce my intake to about 1/2 a pack daily. I am finding that I enjoy pipes much more, mostly because i am learning how to correctly smoke a pipe. thanks to advice on this and other forums.
What Got You Into Pipe Smoking?
- Thread starter Milleniumsmoker
- Start date
hoosierpipeguy who was a cigar buddy would not stop bugging me to try the pipe that I just gave in. I am grateful he bugged me as much as he did. He was right, pipes are great and I didn't need to spend 20 plus grand to smoke the best in the world.
For me it was seeing English Civil War / British Redcoat re-enactors (Lace Wars, Sealed Knot etc) smoking clay pipes.
I initially dabbled with pipe smoking while in college; I had been exposed to cigars through my father and grandfather (and thoroughly enjoyed them) but there seemed something much more aesthetic and romantic about a pipe. Plus my father, when telling stories about his uncle Joe, without fail mentioned the intoxicating smell of cherries and tobacco that wafted from Joe's ever-present pipe and that always piqued my interest. However I didn't pursue it seriously and was put off by the learning curve. Time passed but the thought of smoking a pipe haunted the corners of my mind. The pandemic gave me ample time to pick it up and put in the practice. The rest, so to speak, is history.
I have been enjoying this thread so thought I would chime in. As a kid of 3-4 yrs old I remember my dad, my grandpa my uncles and great uncles all smoked pipes. My great uncle would take me out on the tractor and he would have a pipe in his mouth and I was on his lap with hands on the wheel and it was great. I loved the smell of the pipe. I liked the looks and feel of the pipe. It all seemed great to me. Fast forward 40+years. Seemingly out of the blue one day I wanted to get some pipes. I hit Ebay which at the time had been going a couple of years or so. I was out in the country but shockingly had internet access, slow but worked. I know, right?! I purchased a few pipes from Ebay. I was always into the looks and feel. Not so much the smoking. I had no clue what I was doing (still pretty much don't but am learning) 1 or 2 of the pipes I bought were made by some guy named Mark Tinksy (I since learned who he is) another guy named De Jarnett, Peterson, Salvanelli and a few others including some cool looking Meerschaums and a few corncobs. Yes I did smoke very little here and there but many of you would not count it. Then I put the pipe down but always had my pipes around. Fast forward another 20+ years and here I am. Posting here, buying a few more pipes and learning more about tobacco then I ever knew existed.
There was this fellow on a cigar forum that kept talking about pipes and made it sound so good.
Thanks Bob, (python) !
Thanks Bob, (python) !
In growing up I used to spend part of my summers with an aunt and uncle on their farm. My uncle smoked frequently all day as his chores allowed. However, in the late afternoons and evenings he would relax on his front porch smoking his pipe/listening to the radio at times (before tv era)/ or having conversations with me. He would totally unwind in the process of smoking his pipe and was able to astutely ignore my aunt in ways that didn't rile her in the slightest. So impressed as I was with him and his ability to ignore my aunt without her realizing it, I just had to experience the relaxing pleasure pipe smoking could bring! I must report that I do enjoy many such blissful times with my pipe smoking, but haven't totally mastered the ability to astutely ignore, but I have been improving on that aspect each year!
Childhood exposure to pipe smoking in movies on TV. I just knew that as soon as I'd leave my non smoking house I'd be smoking pipes. When I left home I picked up two MM cobs and a Nording Billiard. I was too ignorant to appreciate pipe smoking, and the interest faded away but never left me. Mostly due to dormitory living and being forced to step outside for an hour at a time.
Now I have my own home and a wife that allows me to smoke Lat blends indoors.
Now I have my own home and a wife that allows me to smoke Lat blends indoors.
Watching my Father cutting and rubbing out his Condor plug,packing his Peterson 314 standard system,cracking a Maguire and Patterson match,lighting up, and puffing away happily,that's what done it for me in 2004.
What Got You Into Pipe Smoking? About $2000.00 and a small fucking brain... 
Quitting cigarettes got me in to it. OCD and and a collecting strand in my DNA have kept me in it.
I always loved my dad's pipe and the style of the 30s 40s 50s. But I never smoked til I hit mid-life. I decided to do all the stuff I thought was cool from those times but that I never acted on. Buying a camera, knives, guns and of course a pipe. And when I tried it I loved the taste and smell (the nicotine was not a factor for me); and the ritual of the pre-smoke, the smoke and post-smoke. I also became fascinated with pipes and tobaccos and all that goes with them.
At the same time this was a re-affirmation of the manly arts, of the style and activities of men from the last century. I started dressing in 40s Canadian fishing lodge style lol. I refuse to accept the idea that males are toxic any more than women are toxic. I decided to become a living example of all the cool stuff I loved combined with reaffirmation that being a man and what that has meant for centuries is a good thing. Men and the manly arts (like pipe smoking) are far from toxic.
At the same time this was a re-affirmation of the manly arts, of the style and activities of men from the last century. I started dressing in 40s Canadian fishing lodge style lol. I refuse to accept the idea that males are toxic any more than women are toxic. I decided to become a living example of all the cool stuff I loved combined with reaffirmation that being a man and what that has meant for centuries is a good thing. Men and the manly arts (like pipe smoking) are far from toxic.
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