What Turned You on to Pipes?

[olkofri]

I wasn't sure if your mom was being straight or exaggerating when she said you were born with a pipe in hand.

You got someone else's mum. Mine is an arrant anti-smoker.

 

[Pondfisher]

I live in Michigan and was tired of freezing my butt off smoking cigars for an hour and a half. I originally was drawn to pipes due to the fact that you can easily change smoke times by how much you stuff in the bowl. I also have read Lord of the Rings and dammit if Gandolf is the coolest.

 

[username]

Long story short it was cheaper then cigars and I thought the tin art on nightcap was cool. Granted I also liked the box art on most cigars to but likes are way cheaper.

 

[PipesRock]

Nobody in the family smoked/smokes. My wife likes (liked) malls when they were a thing. I'd go and we'd often make a day of it. I'd visit the coffee shops, book stores, and game stores; then it just seemed natural to get drawn in to the tobacco shops. I got hooked on the entire concept/nostalgia of it but can't really explain it.

 

[Effortlessdepths]

The price of cigars.

I had a similar start to pipes. My wife brought home cigars from cousins wedding and we smoked them on a walk and loved the experience. Then we discovered how expensive they were, so I decided to roll our own cigars from whole leaf from leafonly.com. Well, I got alright at it, but they didn't taste even as good as a Quorum half the time, and the other half of the time they were actually damned good, which is simply too unpredictable. But the biggest thing was all the scrap waste, that you can only make cigars out of if you have the dexterity of Legolas, or a lieberman machine. So I decided to get a pipe to smoke the ground up cigar scrap, that tasted terrible, tried buying whole Burley and Virginia leaves and shredding them up and that still wasn't good, then I broke down and just started buying the stuff. Been in love ever since.... just had to let go of my OCD DIY attitude lol

 

[trouttimes]

45 years ago, in basic, you got smoke breaks so you smoke. It took longer to smoke a pipe than a cig. It stuck. Grandpa and uncles all smoked pipes.

 

[anotherbob]

Long story short it was cheaper then cigars and I thought the tin art on nightcap was cool. Granted I also liked the box art on most cigars to but likes are way cheaper.

I often cite that as one of the awesome things about it. As good as cigars I could afford and way cheaper.

 

[anotherbob]

You got someone else's mum. Mine is an arrant anti-smoker.

she was complaining about it so....

 

[02Knight]

For me it started when I was buying some very nice Pipes from a Doctor's Estate auction. I got to looking at some of them and they just called my name and instead of selling them all on ebay, I kept some for myself. They are works of art and I have been looking for a way to quit a 42 year Copenhagen snuff habit and once I found out you don't inhale the smoke you just savor it. So now I am almost off the snuff and really enjoying my HH ODF, my Peterson's Irish Flake among many other fine blends that I have.

 

[didimauw]

This is going to sound really wierd, but I truly have no idea how I got into this. I just remember finding P+C online, and ordering "The Dr. Is in" pipe kit. And the rest is history. It's been my favorite source of nicotine since 2012.

I just think it was meant to be.

 

[B_Rock]

I had a college friend in the 80's who was into pipe smoking. His dad was a psychologist who fit the bill as a quintessential pipe smoker - flowing beard, philosophical conversations, with a bent pipe constantly hanging from his mouth. On a backpacking trip in the Sierra's, my friend brought an extra Peterson for me to try and I enjoyed it. We would hit the local Dunhill store in SF and pick up tubs of Dunhill A2100 and became "sophisticated" pipe smokers while our friends usually smoked something a little more potent than tobacco. I eventually returned that Peterson and picked up several pipes that I smoked through the next several years. Eventually, I lost interest and all those pipes sat dormant on my old pipe rack for decades. I've been an occasional cigar smoker - but no more than 1 or 2 a month and it wasn't until this past year while "sheltering in place" that I decided to dust off the old pipes, clean them up and hit the local B&M for some tobacco. Since then, I've bought several new pipes, tried a myriad of tobaccos and truly enjoy my evening smoke outside on the deck.

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

I was drawn to pipe smoking because it's cheaper and better, than cigars. Also the fact that you can smoke nonstop for long periods of time, was part of the appeal.. I'm a fan of all tobacco products. Before I picked up pipe smoking I chain smoked cigarettes, ridiculously.

 

[HitchensDog]

My Grandfather smoked cigars and I loved the smell as a kid. So that got me on cigars. I served in the Coast Guard right out of high school (early 80's). I had a Chief Petty Officer that smoked a pipe and I just loved the smell. A small cigar and pipe store opened a couple blocks from where I lived in the early 1990's. The first time I walked in there it reminded my of my CPO and the smell of his pipe in the Coast Guard. Bought my first pipe and tobacco there. That was probably 25 years ago or so. I've enjoyed both pipes and cigars every since.

 

[cigrmaster]

hoosierpipeguy was a cigar buddy. One day were chatting and he tells me I have to try a pipe. I said are you crazy I had over 2000 cigars and a cabinet that could hold 6000. He wouldn't let up and I finally broke down and got me a nice Savinelli and I was on my way. Now i am all pipes no more cigars and happy as a pig in shit.


Thanks buddy, I know I wasn't that easy in the beginning.

























own. G

 

[elnoblecigarro]

I tried cigars and found out I really liked the taste of tobacco. I liked it the moment I first tasted it so it's not an acquired taste for me. Same with tea and coffee, I liked them instantly.

I wanted to smoke more often and pipe came into my mind as a more practical way to enjoy tobacco. Then I fell in love with pipe smoking. It has been four years with pipes now (with occasional cigars). It's even more awesome today.

 

[Winterreise]

I inherited my grandfather pipe and grandfather mustache at 18 years old so it came out pretty naturally , first year i enjoyed aromatics but got bored pretty quickly , when i smoked my first English blend it was love at first sight .

 

[Swampy16]

I had an uncle and a second cousin that smoked pipes growing up. I started with cigarettes, went to cigars, then finally graduated to what I feel is the best way to enjoy a smoke. It took me a while because I had no clue. I smoked my pipe like cigarettes in the beginning and burnt the heck out of my tongue. After a while I figured it out but as I started researching it more it go SOOOO much better. Those that smoked pipes growing up just smoked whatever was available and cheap. Their regular was Liberty Smoke or Chew. Yup, smoke or chew. Yikes !

 

[JoeKemp]

Honestly, I liked the restoration of the pipe to almost new. I restore old hand tools, and this seems to fit right in. I was looking into pipes as well as cigars and pipes seemed more appropriate to me.

 

[BuckChickman]

For me it was a college prof I did a lot of independent research with. Every 45 minutes or so he'd point to the door and we'd go outside so he could take a few puffs. Obviously smelled great. He was not an old guy and always smelled like a pipe...some of my female classmates called him 'Dr. Sexy'. Not gonna lie, I was kinda hoping some of that magic would wear off on me by proximity.

That was over 15 years ago, and I still see him once in a while and talk about life and pipes. Turns out he smoked his own custom blend, and gifted me almost a pound of it. It's an odd cherry-cocoa burley-Va-cavendish that has great burn characteristics.

 

[pantsBoots]

Was/have been a cigar smoker for over 15 years. The problem I was running into with cigars is how long they take to finish. During the pandemic, I don't know what triggered the curiosity, but I bought a cob (MM Danish Spool) and a tin (Quiet Nights) and read up on how to use the damned thing. After a couple abortive attempts, I started getting the hang of it. At first, I didn't care for the smell or flavors of Quiet Nights, so bought a few tins of Va and was hooked immediately. After a month or 2, I started grokking Balkan/English mixtures and now bounce back and forth between them and Va blends (Burley-heavy blends are still a change of pace smoke for me).

I like how I can set a pipe down when life pulls me away and return to it, relight and pick up generally right where I left off. The experience is a little more rare with cigars.