What Turned You on to Pipes?

[wulfheard]

I grew up around pipe smokers..Father, both grandfathers and a couple of uncles all smoked pipes. They all smoked the usual OTC blends, Edgeworth, Granger, SWR, Bond Street, etc. By the time I was 8 or so I could tell the aroma of each blend and who it was associated with. So naturally as I got older, I just gravitated to the pipe. In fact unlike most adolescents I skipped cigarettes entirely and went straight to the pipe. That was over 40 years ago and to this day cigarettes and cigars really hold no attraction for me.

 

[bent1]

Liked the tradition. Walked into a pipe shop in Harrisburg PA. Picked through the basket, found two nice Irish Seconds from the Sherlock Holmes series, Watson & Professor. Bought them both & still have them.

 

[PipeIT]

I always appreciated the Art in Pipes, for me it was the freehand Danish pipes that drew me in, and let's face it pipe smoke smells better in the air, everyone complained when I smoked a cigar, so that did play a part...

 

[EvergreenPiper]

I was biding some cigars on a cigar auction website (cigarbids.com). All suddenly a Stanwell pipe pops up to the ending soon section. I became a pipe smoker since then.

 

[Mad Scientist]

The wonderful room note.
When I was about 6 years old my uncle stayed with us for a week.
He always had a pipe in his mouth.
I knew then that I would smoke a pipe.
That was over 40 years ago.

 

[maduromadness]

When I was in basic training smoke breaks were the best way to avoid the natural selection of being the "chosen" one. I didnt want to start smoking nasty cigarettes and tried to find alternatives...I found pipes. I didnt realize that bowls afforded 1 hr plus smokes but I did understand you could start and stop smoking the same bowl. That's what started everything!! E.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g?

 

[Pallidan]

My Grandfather smoking Prince Albert

 

[JOHN72]

I quit smoking cigs, but I still craved the taste of tobacco. It only made sense for me to switch to pipes, because I grew up among pipesmokers, and I've posted a bunch of stories about my uncles and their pipes over the years. You also still see lots of pipesmokers in this area, and I didn't even realize that it was a dying thing in other parts till I came here.

Your story is identical.........hahahahah.......I cany cut and glue..... same as you..It happened to me......?

 

[JOHN72]

Although my father smoked,pipe,cigarette,and pure cigarette..................My home stink to Gods.......In my childhood.......?

 

[Servant King]

I was a big Spaghetti Western fan as a kid. It was when I saw Lee Van Cleef's bent-stem meerschaum in "For A Few Dollars More" that I was interested. When he struck that match on Klaus Kinski's suspenders...wow! Such moxie. That was the first moment I can recall. Unlike many on here, neither of my grandfathers smoked a pipe, just cigarettes (Winston reds...yuck). Never liked cigarettes, and being a golfer, I gave cigars an honest try, but gosh, it's like smoking a chicken bone. It just occurred to me one day about two years ago, to give pipe smoking a try, and the Van Cleef memory came back strong. Watched some YouTube tutorials, bought a $10 pipe on Amazon with some accessories, and a tin of MacBaren's Original Choice on one of my bi-monthly treks to LA for groceries (I live in the mountains about an hour north of the madness). Loved it right away, and it certainly paired well with my cabin in the woods. Got myself two real pipes, a Savinelli Mattone 601 for aromatics, and a Peterson Dublin 221 for everything else, both bent billiards, of course. Love to sit on the deck with one of them and just watch the birds. Also, I got fortunate to buy an ex-smoker's tobacco collection on the cheap back in August, so I'm set pretty much for life. Thanks, Lee! May you rest in peace...

 

[tschiraldi]

Both my grandfathers smoked pipes. My dad smoked pipes and his good friend ALWAYS had a pipe in hand. He was also the first "collector" I knew. He had a couple hundred pipes, mostly Charatan. There was a great pipe tobacco shop in Columbus, Ohio called Camelot. My dad would let me pick out tobaccos for him to mix his own blends with. I would spend an hour opening jars and sticking my nose in them. Dad would buy whatever I chose and take them home and make his blends from them. I hate to.think what Frankenstein concoctions he ended up with! The smell of that shop was incredible and I never forgot it. I bought my first pipe in my early twenties. That lasted a few years, and I don't recall why I ever stopped. It probably happened because I started spending 5 nights a week at nightclubs, drinking and dancing and cigarettes were just more convenient. Pipes took too long and I had to get back on the dance floor if I wanted to get laid. Years later, I would tell my wife a few times a year that I wanted to get another pipe. About 8 years ago, I was opening up Christmas gift from my wife. I unwrapped a package containing an HIS Italia pipe and a couple bags of house aromatic tobacco! The rest is history. My dad had given his pipes to our collector friend, Tom. Tom was having some serious health issues and could no longer smoke. He asked me over one day and had his collection of pipes laid out... minus the Charatans. He told me to pick out 10 for myself. I humbly chose pipes I remembered as my father's and a few of Tom's. Haven't looked back since.

 

[mso489]

To pick up my story from page 2 of this thread, I quit pipes in support of my late wife who quit a three-pack-a-day cigarette habit. I was wise enough to lay my pipes aside but keep them, about six pipes at the time. I bought a pipe at the state fair a few years after she was gone, and smoked one of the old baggies of tobacco from years before. I didn't really get back to regular smoking until I remarried, and my wife had a struggle with infections after hip surgery. I needed something to center myself after getting home from her rehab place. I didn't want to drink and then get up early to go see her. So I pulled out my pipes, bought a tin of Nightcap, and got the show on the road again.

 

[recoilrob]

I had always smoked cigars but in the mid1990's they really took off in price.
One day a friend came home from a tag sale with a rack of pipes, most were common but there was an old Dunhill "cherrywood" style poker and a Dunhill billiard.

The pipes came with an old pouch of some tobacco, can't remember what. We lit up and that was the entrance to the rabbit hole.

 

[SmokinRoadKing]

I have to say, remembering back to being 12 years old, and hanging out with my cousin who at the time was always smoking a pipe. The sweet smell of the smoke, and the tobacco shop where he had a custom blend done for him. We would be going somewhere, he would hand me his pipe, ask for me to pack it for him, he showed me a couple of times on how to pack, light and tamp. I'd pack it and light it for him, after all that I always had a taste for a pipe.

Didn't know how relaxing it could be until later (a lot Later) in life.

 

[ph151]

For myself it seemed to be the one form of tobacco consumption that wasn't spoken with disdain, but admiration.

 

[Servant King]

For myself it seemed to be the one form of tobacco consumption that wasn't spoken with disdain, but admiration.

"Wasn't" being the operative word! Nowadays, everything tobacco related is all spoken of disdainfully, and all under one umbrella. Which might be a good thing, because overly moist pipe tobacco won't hold an ember very well...

 

[OzPiper]

No pipe smokers in my family. I was at University when a friend loaned me one of his pipes. It wasn't a memorable start - while I recall enjoying the smoke itself, I got a head spin, fell backwards into the chair and almost lost my dinner when I got out of the chair - 1st major Nic-hit !
Some years later I decided to give pipes another go in an attempt to give up cigarettes (successfully). I smoked pipes for the next fifteen years until the kids came along. I gave up smoking then as I had promised my wife that I wouldn't smoke with kids around. Once they grew up I toke up cigars which I smoked exclusively for about fifteen years.
One day I was in an airport duty-free cigar store and saw some tins of pipe tobacco, and picked out a tin (Peterson's Connoisseur's Choice). I dusted off my old pipe collection, discovered PipesMagazine Forums, Tobacco Reviews, Pipedia, online pipe and tobacco merchants, EBay - I haven't looked back since.

 

[ukparagolfer]

I always remember my grandad was in the merchant navy so took me on trips to see boats being restored.

One old boy lit this pipe up and the smell was mental! stood by us chuffing away on it.

That's what got me

 

[Franco]

As a teenager, my mentor was a retired U S Navy Captain that served on the New Jersey during WW2. He didn't have any sons and I was always ready to go duck hunting and fishing with him. It was also a way for me to get him to talk about his experiences in the Pacific. I remember his go-to pipes were by Wally Frank. Anyway, I bought two Medicos and drug store tobacco and started my habit.

 

[jeff59]

Watching my Dad and Grandfather -