What Tobacco did your Ancestors Smoke?

Log in

SmokingPipes.com Updates

Watch for Updates Twice a Week

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

S.A. DeVault

Might Stick Around
Nov 12, 2022
68
455
Southern Wisconsin
My maternal Grandfather: Lucky Strikes cigarettes, Mail Pouch chewing tobacco, not sure for pipes
My maternal uncle: Half and Half for his pipe, Swisher Sweets for his cigar
Today, Half and Half is still my favorite OTC brand and almost always is in my house
 
  • Like
Reactions: Buzzard

Bbailey324

Lifer
Jun 29, 2023
2,108
27,747
Austin, TX
My great Grandfather smoked Prince Albert, and favored Kaywoodie pipes. I have a couple of them. One pipe at a time kind of guy. A great Uncle smoked Granger. Another old farmer, smoked a pipe until he burned it out.
 
  • Like
Reactions: grimpeur

Cracklin' Tobaccy

Starting to Get Obsessed
Mar 3, 2024
156
1,276
Slaughterville, Oklahoma
My granddad had pipes but I don't recall ever seeing him smoke one. He rolled Prince Albert cigarettes and I must assume that was what he put in his pipe. There was nothing else except a pack of 'store bought' cigarettes (Camel filtered) for when he went into town. To watch that man roll a cigarette was a study in skilled excellence.
 

Cracklin' Tobaccy

Starting to Get Obsessed
Mar 3, 2024
156
1,276
Slaughterville, Oklahoma
My granddad had pipes but I don't recall ever seeing him smoke one. He rolled Prince Albert cigarettes and I must assume that was what he put in his pipe. There was nothing else except a pack of 'store bought' cigarettes (Camel filtered) for when he went into town. To watch that man roll a cigarette was a study in skilled excellence.
IMG_20240325_152426.jpgIMG_20240325_152444.jpg
 

SmokingInTheWind

Starting to Get Obsessed
Mar 24, 2024
295
1,783
New Mexico
Title edited for caps and brevity. Rule 9!

Just curious if you have a grandfather or father that smoked a pipe what did they smoke?

Ill go first:
My grandfather only smoked Sir Walter Raleigh. My father didnt have a consistent brand but he enjoyed cherry tobacco.
My father smoked Half & Half in a cob. My only other relative that smoked a pipe was my mom’s brother. He smoked Borkum Riff in bulldog briars. I remember thinking his tobacco smelled better than my dad’s.
 
  • Like
Reactions: grimpeur

f4phantomdriver

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jun 23, 2019
143
247
My Great grandfather "my mothers stepmother's Dad) smoked Union Leader in Dr. Grabows billiards. If the Acme and drugstore was out he would smoke Prince Albert. My stepfather's brother smoked Captain Black original and Royal. In his den he had a pipe rack with 8 pipes and a tub of Captain black in the white metal can, he also had a can of Amphora in there too but only saw him dip his pipes in the Captain Black can. I loved the smell of his den. I remember when he stopped at our house before, he told me to go in his car to get a dollar out of his console so I could run up to the corner store for "Penny Fishy's" chewy red candy fish. Next to his gear shifter there was a pouch of Captain Black Royal sitting there. His car smelled amazing too. My great grandfather who was my mom's father's dad was an immigrant along with my great grandmother from Italy. He smoked Avanti anisette cigars. I was really young when I went to the house in Clifton Hights not far from South Philly. I remember that house smelling like red gravy and black jellybeans. I smoke those cigars once in a while and think of my Italian family members. My Dad and his father, my grandfather, smoked Salem Lights. My grandmother smoked Raleigh 100s. My mom smoked Merit and my stepfather smoked a Dr. Grabow with Borkum Riff cherry Cavendish, he also smoked True Green. My mom's dad smoked Winston's but quit when I was a baby. My whole family smoked some kind of tobacco. They are all long gone now except for my mother and stepfather. They are in their 70s now.
 

redleaderdave

Might Stick Around
Jan 19, 2022
68
955
Bridgewater Ma
My grandfather smoked Holiday Mixture. They lived pretty far away so I only got to visit them about once a year. I have a very distinct memory of the sweet smell of their house. When I started dabbling in the pipe hobby a few years ago Sutliffs Holiday Mixture was one of the first blends I bought. Unfortunately it doesn't match the olfactory memory that I have in my head.
 
  • Like
Reactions: grimpeur

BingBong

Lifer
Apr 26, 2024
1,474
6,343
London UK
My maternal grandfather smoked Dutch cigars - lived over the road from the shop, he was a regular.

My late Mum told me the story, must have happened 1960 or so, when she decided to quit cigarettes and in the process, stuck Dad's pipe on the bonfire for good measure - he was at work, no say in it. The marriage survived 54 years, no idea how.

About a dozen years ago, I was sat outside with my late Dad (lived to 96) and filled my pipe with Three Nuns. He said "that's nice tobacco, I used to smoke that". Poor old fellow, he still missed it.
 

Zamora

Part of the Furniture Now
Mar 15, 2023
513
1,348
Olympia, Washington
Both of my grandfathers were pipe smokers, but sadly I have no way of finding out what blends they smoked or what brands of pipe they had. After they died I never found any pipes or tins when helping go through their effects, but I wasn't interested in pipe smoking back then so I probably wouldn't have paid attention to it anyway if any was found.

My maternal grandpa smoked a pipe when my mom was growing up and was still smoking pipes when he met my dad, but he'd quit some time before I was born but still smoked cigars whenever he golfed which was often. He always had to have the best brand names for most things, so there's a good chance he wasn't a codger smoker but given the fact this was before online sales he might've been.

My paternal grandpa was an avid smoker of Dutch Masters (he only smoked hand rolled stuff when gifted some), but I do remember seeing a pipe on a rest in his liquor cabinet. He was a frugal man of simple tastes, his go to whiskey was Jack Daniels and his go to beer was Budweiser (again only drinking anything nicer when gifted), so I have no doubt he smoked whatever OTC blend and pipe that was sold at a local drug store.

I don't know of any other pipe smokers in my family tree, I'm sure there were several others but everybody else I'm aware of either smoked cigars or cigarettes if not both.
 
Last edited:

Zamora

Part of the Furniture Now
Mar 15, 2023
513
1,348
Olympia, Washington
My maternal Grandfather: Lucky Strikes cigarettes, Mail Pouch chewing tobacco, not sure for pipes
My maternal uncle: Half and Half for his pipe, Swisher Sweets for his cigar
Today, Half and Half is still my favorite OTC brand and almost always is in my house
I didn't realize Swisher Sweets were around for that long.
I love Half and Half, it's very polarizing but I think every pipe smoker should try it since it's so cheap and probably the easiest non aromatic pouch blend to find.
 
  • Like
Reactions: grimpeur

Green Hill Hermit

Can't Leave
Feb 1, 2023
391
2,730
My grandfather smoked cigarettes, tailor made and hand rolled, cigars, smoked a pipe, chewed leaf, plug and twist, dipped and snorted snuff, and if he could he’d have shot it up in his arm.:)

He began smoking at age 6 in 1886 and died of old age (Alzheimer’s we’d call it today) with a sound body except worn out by old age at 92 in 1972.

He could walk around his yard on his hands at age 89, on his 50th wedding anniversary to his second wife 17 years younger and about a head taller than he was, my grandmother.

He wasn’t poor, either. In a chest of drawers he kept every codger brand of tobacco known in the sixties.

My favorite was Half and Half, which he also favored, but he smoked them all.
At what age did he lose his legs?
 

RookieGuy80

Part of the Furniture Now
Jul 6, 2023
734
2,716
Maryland, United States
When I first started smoking a pipe in my car, it was pouches of Carter Hall. After about a month, we went on vacation. Shreveport we got back home and I hopped in my car to go somewhere, I noticed it smelled exactly like my grandfather's car. I got in touch with some aunts and uncles to find out if Gramps smoked a pipe and if so what. The answers I got were there was a pipe in his mouth whenever grandkids weren't around. I knew it! What did he smoke? Whatever was on sale at the time. CH, PA, Velvet, Walnut, Sugar Barrel, Revelation, it made no difference.

Oddly enough, his pipes were almost the same. Every year the kids put their pennies together and got him a new pipe for Father's Day. It could be a Grabow, it could be a cob, it could be a Medico, it just depended on how good a year it was for them.
 

gcm

Starting to Get Obsessed
Nov 10, 2023
142
2,756
Belgium, Flanders
Both my dad, his grandpa and my great grandpa from my mom's side all smoked semois!

When i came home from my local b&m one day with a brick of semois, my dad sat beside me as I opened it. He was sniffing the jar for minutes on end! I'm sure that smell unlocked a lot of memories from years and years ago.
And here I am, smoking semois!