The smell, the taste, the collectibility, and can't forget that it's different.
What Turned You on to Pipes?
- Thread starter highwaycobbery
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I smoke a humble blend of tobacco as my main stay tobacco. I enjoy it well enough that I don’t require any other blends, although half my cellar is just that, an assortment of tins. The other half is my own blend, and I am happy with it. It brings me comfort.
My pipe collection is humble. The
majority of the pipes are old friends. I have one that is top of the line and one that is artisan made and a show stopper. Most are just Petersons, Stanwells, Savinellis, a few Chacoms and a mix of a few others. My pipes are memories.
Would I like a Jack Howell? Yeah, but it wouldn’t be why I am a pipe smoker. I smoke because it connects me to something else. Something that isn’t marketing, the next big thing, or anything. Smoking reminds me that I am human.
My pipe collection is humble. The
majority of the pipes are old friends. I have one that is top of the line and one that is artisan made and a show stopper. Most are just Petersons, Stanwells, Savinellis, a few Chacoms and a mix of a few others. My pipes are memories.
Would I like a Jack Howell? Yeah, but it wouldn’t be why I am a pipe smoker. I smoke because it connects me to something else. Something that isn’t marketing, the next big thing, or anything. Smoking reminds me that I am human.
I guess the seed was sown when I was just child, and my unkle let me examine his pipe. He kept telling me, how good the tobacco tasted, and warned me never to start smoking. As a child, my biggest dream was to be pipe smoker. As I grew up reading The Lord of the Rings and The Wheel of Time, it was just a matter of time. And then, just one cool spring day, three years ago, I reached a decision, went on to buy all I needed, and got started with it.
As a sideline, my classmate urged me to take a puff from his pipe. I was something like twenty then. I took, and it tasted horrifying. I thought I'd never smoke a pipe. Well, I'm not sure how often he cleaned his pipe, if he did... He almost buried my lifetime dream, forever.
As a sideline, my classmate urged me to take a puff from his pipe. I was something like twenty then. I took, and it tasted horrifying. I thought I'd never smoke a pipe. Well, I'm not sure how often he cleaned his pipe, if he did... He almost buried my lifetime dream, forever.
Used to smoke some years before, but earlier this year I saw videos of people smoking pipes and it seemed so satisfying to me that I went to buy one myself.
My father smokes cigars Habanos and pipe. That smell caught me...............
They used to be. Not so sure now.
I was sitting outside my building inside my car, holding my churchwarden and about to light it—it wasn't even producing any smoke yet—and cute girl walks down the street and as soon as she spots the pipe starts wrinking her nose and making a fuss of facial gestures. Thing wasn't even litten or smoking yet.
Best reason to give up pipes that I've ever read.
I guess it was not the pipe she disliked but smoking in general. Smokers today have a bad image. I heard comments about smoking people as if they were irresponsible criminals who only damage their fellow men.They used to be. Not so sure now.
I was sitting outside my building inside my car, holding my churchwarden and about to light it—it wasn't even producing any smoke yet—and cute girl walks down the street and as soon as she spots the pipe starts wrinking her nose and making a fuss of facial gestures. Thing wasn't even litten or smoking yet.
I smoke pipes as some supplementary to cigars. I started because pipe tobaccos are not very expensive and I can control how long I need to spend on each bow.
Yep, that's it. The generations that are currently in their young(er) years have been indoctrinated into the cult of wellness. Smoking kills and all that.
That's one reason, albeit not the chief one, I prefer to smoke aromatics: since smokers are normally perceived as dirty and stinky (cigarette smoke does stink, even I can't tolerate it indoors), I try to erode that concept as much as I can with fragant smoke.
Working at a tobacconist shop in the mid 2000s. Manager and one of the long time employees were pipe smokers and sold me on the economy of daily pipe smoking vs daily cigar smoking. Then when I started to experiment with different tobacco blends the options seemed limitless. (That said, I quickly settled into just a few regular favorite blends (same with cigars really, ie, my experimental phase is long over and I have a few regulars I rely on)).
Add to that the appreciation I soon got for Peterson System pipes (which a 95% of my collection) and was hooked.
Add to that the appreciation I soon got for Peterson System pipes (which a 95% of my collection) and was hooked.
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The price of cigars. But then again if I had bought boxes of cigars instead of pipes I'd probably be well stashed. One of the fun things about pipes is keeping the art where that 100+$ box of cigars doesn't do much good for just the box art.
My Father and Grandfather both smoked a pipe and an NCO that I admired in the Army smoked a pipe and cigars.
I also was also exposed to it a lot in the books I read and movies that I watched.
I just seemed to be around it a lot in my early years and was always intrigued by the smell and the ritualism of it.
One day when I was older, after my Father had passed away, my Mom asked if I wanted my Dad's old pipes and I said yes (only one of the pipes were in good enough condition to smoke) so I bought some PA and smoked a bowl in his memory.
After that I started looking for a better pipe and some better tobacco to improve my experience, and it was all downhill from there.
I think I was a little enamored with the pipe, even before I actually started smoking it!
I also was also exposed to it a lot in the books I read and movies that I watched.
I just seemed to be around it a lot in my early years and was always intrigued by the smell and the ritualism of it.
One day when I was older, after my Father had passed away, my Mom asked if I wanted my Dad's old pipes and I said yes (only one of the pipes were in good enough condition to smoke) so I bought some PA and smoked a bowl in his memory.
After that I started looking for a better pipe and some better tobacco to improve my experience, and it was all downhill from there.
I think I was a little enamored with the pipe, even before I actually started smoking it!
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UPhill, my good man, you mean uphill.
I grew up enamored with both Tolkien and Lewis, so I assumed the Kaywoodie I picked up when I was 18 would impart some... gravity, maybe? Inspiration? In reality, it just made me cough a lot.
Second pipe was a Mariner freehand gifted to me by my mentor a few years later (who encouraged me to stop smoking cigarettes - bad habit picked up when I worked in a kitchen). He'd amassed a collection over the years and had quit for both health reasons and because our church frowned upon it.
I gave pipes another spin five years ago and picked up a Nording in addition to a Lorenzetti my sister gave me for Christmas. I actually bothered to learn how to smoke one properly at this point, but I was still smoking cigs, so the pipe was only occasionally reached for.
Once I finally gave up cigarettes, I avoided nicotine for ~6 months then returned to the pipe. It was wild how much I could actually taste and smell when my airways weren't scorched from cigs. As an added bonus, I found it much easier to take my time with the pipe when I wasn't chasing a cigarette-level nicotine buzz (a little goes a long way now). The pipe keeps me on the straight and narrow - I'm honestly not tempted to grab a pack of cigs because I legitimately enjoy pipe smoking.
Second pipe was a Mariner freehand gifted to me by my mentor a few years later (who encouraged me to stop smoking cigarettes - bad habit picked up when I worked in a kitchen). He'd amassed a collection over the years and had quit for both health reasons and because our church frowned upon it.
I gave pipes another spin five years ago and picked up a Nording in addition to a Lorenzetti my sister gave me for Christmas. I actually bothered to learn how to smoke one properly at this point, but I was still smoking cigs, so the pipe was only occasionally reached for.
Once I finally gave up cigarettes, I avoided nicotine for ~6 months then returned to the pipe. It was wild how much I could actually taste and smell when my airways weren't scorched from cigs. As an added bonus, I found it much easier to take my time with the pipe when I wasn't chasing a cigarette-level nicotine buzz (a little goes a long way now). The pipe keeps me on the straight and narrow - I'm honestly not tempted to grab a pack of cigs because I legitimately enjoy pipe smoking.
When I first started working at my local B&M, I was a cigar guy through and through. Although the shop sold mostly low to mid range basket pipes, with the occasional Nordings, a few Petersons, and once in a while a Castello or two, along with our "House Blends" (random mixtures of aromatics the boss-man concocted back in the day), we were a cigar shop first and foremost. I experimented, early on, with our house blends with a cheap cob to better learn the products I was selling. With little to no guidance on how to actually smoke, and a few hot-boxed bowls of aromatics, I quickly gave up and stuck with sticks.
Besides my own ignorance, the majority of our pipe and tobacco customers that wandered in were mostly neckbeards rocking churchwardens and steampunk gear and curmudgeons set in there ways, stopping in for their monthly pound of Black Cavendish. My early and initial experience with these types, save for few regulars raised with southern hospitality and enough decency to say more than the blend and amount they wanted, left a taste as sour as a poorly smoked pipe in my mouth.
Over time, I grew close with an old salt, a regular who moved to the beat of his own drum. He smoked Padron 2000's, drank his coffee black, and always shot it smooth and straight, in his own special way. Eventually, our friendship grew and we met at his residence for an early morning smoke and cup of coffee often. That is when I discovered that one of the greatest men I have been fortunate enough to know smoked a pipe, and had been since he was thirteen years old.
My interest grew and perception shifted. If old JH smoked a pipe, I should smoke a pipe. And over time, my dear friend taught me all that he knew about the art of pipes and tobacco. When I asked why he never brought his pipe to the lounge, he simply grinned and replied, "son, somethings are just to special to be enjoyed around others." I've been a pipe smoker ever since.
Besides my own ignorance, the majority of our pipe and tobacco customers that wandered in were mostly neckbeards rocking churchwardens and steampunk gear and curmudgeons set in there ways, stopping in for their monthly pound of Black Cavendish. My early and initial experience with these types, save for few regulars raised with southern hospitality and enough decency to say more than the blend and amount they wanted, left a taste as sour as a poorly smoked pipe in my mouth.
Over time, I grew close with an old salt, a regular who moved to the beat of his own drum. He smoked Padron 2000's, drank his coffee black, and always shot it smooth and straight, in his own special way. Eventually, our friendship grew and we met at his residence for an early morning smoke and cup of coffee often. That is when I discovered that one of the greatest men I have been fortunate enough to know smoked a pipe, and had been since he was thirteen years old.
My interest grew and perception shifted. If old JH smoked a pipe, I should smoke a pipe. And over time, my dear friend taught me all that he knew about the art of pipes and tobacco. When I asked why he never brought his pipe to the lounge, he simply grinned and replied, "son, somethings are just to special to be enjoyed around others." I've been a pipe smoker ever since.
Friends and I in high school jokingly connected pipesmoking to that same philosophical/ contemplative point of view others have mentioned. Had a chance to guy a pipe the summer after high school (sigh in the late ‘80s) in Europe. Am trying to track it down. It’s somewhere. It proved to allow they slower quieter time — have been smoking then one and off since. And as I mentioned in my intro a week back my grandfather smoked one so I figure there’s some passed on heritage as well.
I was digging around in @Jerry144 's shop looking for some nails, and opened a cabinet full of pipes. Instead of cigars that night, I asked to try one of his pipes. I was hooked on the first puff. He sent me home with four, including a Savinelli and a Nording.