What got you started on pipes?

[flat4driven]

So what is it that gave you the idea to pick up a pipe? For me, it started when I was young. My dad and I would build Testors models down in his workshop and his grandfathers pipe was always in the cabinet and it smelled wonderful. I was always curious how the pipe was just because of how good it smelled.
What's your story?

 

[aeronca7acman]

I was about 9 years old the Airplane Mechanic at my fathers Hanger smoked a Pipe ,I was always interested in it so one day I just took it out back of the Hanger and Lit it up ! Been hooked Ever since ,Started out Smoking Gallagher's Condor and Stuck with it all these yrs ( I'm now 45 yrs old ) and still smoke Condor when I can get it -- .......now its Smokers Pride Whiskey Mixed 1/2 and 1/2 with Smokers Pride Black Cavendish I also Smoke Prince Albert, and Any Pipe Tobacco that Looks Interesting

Cheers !

 

[jcsoldit]

My Father and Stepfather both smoked cigars and pipes. I always loved the smell of a pipe so my first time was with one of my Dad’s pipes at age 17. From there I bought a cob and a pouch of Sir Walter Raleigh Aromatic and the rest is history.

 

[unclearthur]

Grandpa was a pipe smoker. One of my most cherished possessions is a little baby Wellington that belonged to my late Dad. Guess it was only natural that I took up pipes at an early age.

 

[chuckw]

UncleArthur, your story mimics mine. I still have the baby Wellington he gave me for my 13th birthday. I gravitated to cigarettes then cigars until about 10 or 12 years ago.

My wife had quit smoking the day after I left for a month on the road. I came home with a decent $5 cigar stuffed in my mug. I walked in and was immediatly told that those things really stunk and I couldn't smoke them in the house anymore. I could smoke a pipe though and a monster was born.

 

[pipemaker]

thank you Dr Grabow, at 15 I thought I was quite distinguished with such a high end pipe. I never put it down and still have it the rest spread like cancer.

 

[unclearthur]

Chuck that little pipe is the one he smoked at the time he and Mom met it has his and Mom's initials carved on the front of the bowl.

 

[shotokun16]

My girlfriend;she is getting a little irritated that i smoke a pipe now hmmm.
Any methods or solutions to calm future arguments? (gf: your lungs! even though you dont inhale a small percentage makes contact with your lungs still)

 

[flat4driven]

Does she ever lay out in the sun? If so, tell her that's cancerous too.

 

[cortezattic]

I was about 17 and bought a Medico filter pipe and Middleton's Cherry Blend on a lark.

Discovered it was a real chick magnet. (chick: '60 teen argot meaning girl.)

Chicks are gone, but the habit remains.

 

[whiskeymick]

Just fancied giving it a try in 1974 (about 17) - ain't looked back since ....

 

[sapo59]

I took up the pipe to get off cigarettes. A big monster was born. I thought I'd be able to save money by switching to the pipe, BOY was I wrong. I've made one pipe stand to date with more coming up. Carved my first pipe this morning with more to come. My current pipe collection is at 22. Ok, I need to stop I'll get depressed if I track where all the money has gone. Happy smoking everyone.

 

[midnighttoker]

I was about 12 when I asked my Dad if we could make a corn cob pipe out of the corn cob I was eating for dinner. He said yes. So I finished eating the corn and let the cob dry out. I got a cane fishing pole that I cut a stem from. I'm still using that same stem when I make a new cob pipe and I'm 36 now. I don't remember the tobacco, but the pride in smoking something I made stuck with me. The interest in pipes never left.

 

[runewolf]

I think it was my love for old fashioned things that got me going. I thought smoking a pipe was so much more interesting than plain old cigarettes or cigars...so much history behind it. At first I made myself a peace pipe, then I got myself a briar pipe. I ended up getting bored with the briar pipe and found a new fascination with clay pipes, especially the really long chruchwarden pipes. Pipe smoking has such a wonderful long history...I haven't the least desire to smoke a stinky rolled up piece of paper. I find cigarettes stink...they don't have a nice smell like a good old fashioned pipe.

 

[raf66]

I was a newly married young businessman, having just graduated college, and I wanted to ween myself away from the cigarettes I would occasionally smoke while galavanting about late at night during my college years. I, too, had older male figures in my family who I looked up to who also smoked pipes and they looked like they were enjoying themselves. Plus, I kind of considered myself as having been born a few decades too late, and since pipe smoking was something of a "traditional art" engaged in by suave men in suits and overcoats in the black and white movies I sometimes watched, I surmised that pipe smoking must be a gentleman's hobby and one that I should partake in. This was in the early 1990's. I spent the first half of that decade with pipes and the second half with cigars. Now that I'm into my 40's, time has brought me back to the pipe, and I like it far more than I did 17-20 years ago. Plus, as an "older" guy with a bit of gray hair tossled about, I now have more disposable income than I did when I was in my early to mid-20's, allowing me to experiment with different tobaccos and pipe makers. It is now a thoroughly enjoyable hobby.

 

[classicgeek]

I guess I represent one of the younger demographics around here, raised entirely after pipes had their 1960-70 heyday. Raised by ex-smokers I rarely had any contact with smoking of any sort growing up. The only pipe smoker I knew was the father of a friend. I didn't really think anything about it one way or the other, except for the distinctive way their house smelled when you walked in the door. Not bad, just distinctive. Pipes are a part of the books that I read both growing up and as a YA: Tolkien, Sherlock Holmes, Wheel of Time. I'm sure there are others I've missed. But I was still pretty anti-smoking.
Then one day when I was golfing with my wife and another couple, the other fella offered me a cigarillo to smoke on the course. I refused (politely), but afterwards my wife asked me why. She said she liked the smell and I should have tried it.
It's a little thing like that that lodges in the back of your brain. Years later, after watching a Lord of the Rings movie, a little curiosity led to some Googling, which found me pipes.org and ton of other sites and I found myself learning a lot. I found a good B&M here who answered some questions, and I found myself kitted out with a briar, tamper, matches, filters, pipe cleaners and 25 g of a house burley blend for about $80.
It's still just an occasional thing for me. I have TAD urges, but everything's so expensive in Canada it's easy to fight off some days. My wife loves the smell on me so I tend to canvas her opinion on the tobaccos. Turns out her grandfather smoked a pipe, so that's probably something lodged in the back of her brain...
Simon

 

[ejames]

I first flirted with the pipe back in the early 70's when I was in the Navy. One of the Chief petty officers that I sometimes stood watch with smoked a pipe and after talking with him I decided to give it a try.The Chief gave me a pipe and a HAlf&Half pipe tool. The pipe is long gone but I still have the pipe tool. After I got out of the Navy I found the pipe to be to much trouble--cigarettes were quicker and easier.Didn't pick it up again until 2005 in an effort to get off the cigarettes!Most of my pipes came from Ebay and most are DR. G's.Have about 150 now. Since getting back into pipes I have taught myself how to restore and refinish them and have gotten into making them as a hobby.Set up a small shop in the basement and spend a lot of time there playing with my pipes.

 

[johnscs]

Some pretty consistent threads here. Interesting memories.
I can hardly remember a time in my life when I didn't yearn to smoke a pipe. Had a pipe-smoking grandfather, as well as a few other pipe-smoking role models while growing up. My dad even dabbled once in a while. I always loved the sweet aroma of their pipes and dreamt of the day I'd acquire my own pipe and enjoy the privilege of smoking it! Some neighbors of ours had a teenage son who took up a pipe under his dad's tutelage when he was still in high school. Watching the kid puff on his pipe with his dad gave me all the motivation I needed.
Finally got the chance to sample one of my dad's pipes at about 14 or 15. A bit of a disappointment, but after I got my own pipe (a Dr. Grabow, of course), I got the hang of it and discovered the satisfaction of smoking quality tobacco in a briar pipe. I've never smoked anything but a pipe and enjoy it as much now as I did in my teens.

 

[rbergum95]

started a little over a year ago because of the price of cigarettes. figured i could save a whole lot of money that way. i have saved a TON of money by not smoking cigs. however, if i let my PAD/TAD get the best of me it can get far more expensive real quick. now that i am a full time pipe smoker and cig free for 13 months now, i have no idea why i didnt start smoking a pipe when i was 12 instead of thoise damn cigarettes. just imagine what my collection would look like after 21 years.

 

[raf66]

Welcome rbergum95, and congrats at being 13 mos. cigarette free.