For the past several years, a group of guys meet at our local B and M once a week(sometimes more) to solve the problems of the world. There are six of us in the core group with our ages ranging from 65 to 85. We are all serious pipe smokers and enjoy anywhere from 6 to 12 bowls a day. I could write a book about this cast of characters but that's not the purpose of this post.
Although we talk about everything, inevitably we talk a lot about pipe smoking. We figure between us all we have over 220 years of pipe smoking experience and here are some things that we have learned along the way. Of course your mileage may vary so it would be interesting to hear your thoughts as well
1.) Pipe smoking has become too fussy. Too many young pipe smokers read all of the conflicting information on the Internet and fall into analysis paralysis. In general stuff, it, light it and smoke it.
2.) Dry your tobacco and when you think it's dry enough dry it some more. In general, these guys think that dryer tobacco burns better, taste better and leads to less tongue bite.
3.) Smoking down to fine white ash is a unicorn that doesn't occur real often. These guys consider the tobacco at the bottom of the bowl to be a filter for the rest of the smoke so don't spend any effort for force lighting the tobacco at the bottom.
4.) Some of the guys used to favor pipes with big bowls so they could have a longer smoke. It seems like now they've decided that any bowl size is good and if they're smoking a smaller bowl, they just swab it out after one smoke is finished, reload, and go again.
5.) Most of the guys average 4 to 6 relight a bowl and sometimes many more depending on what they are doing. They talk about the old days when a bunch of guys smoked pipes at work and the click of a lighter was a very common sound. They are always saying that people get too caught up in how many times they have to light their pipe.
5.) Some of the guys used to do the old school thing of having one pipe and smoking it to death. Now they all have several pipes in their rotation. Most of them have a few Artisan pipes in the $250+ range but the majority of their pipes are cheaper factory pipes. They all agree that most pipes smoke the same, and that there is too much emphasis placed on high dollar pipes.
6.) They all agree that pipe smoker should smoke with they like and not listen to the pressure that can sometimes happen in this community. In fact, a couple of them smoke only aromatics and one guy only smokes Carter Hall, consuming about a pound a month.
7.) This last topic comes up most frequently. Don't listen to the anti-smoking Nazis that try to lump pipe smoking in with everything else. Pipe smoking is a great hobby and lifestyle so be bold about it. Smoke your pipe in public(of course, being considered of those around you) and wear your pipe smoking like a badge of honor. They agree it's a time honored past time and to keep it alive you need to do it around others.
I'm not saying that we have everything figured out, but we are the very definition of Codgers. It'd be really interesting to hear your thoughts on these insights.
Although we talk about everything, inevitably we talk a lot about pipe smoking. We figure between us all we have over 220 years of pipe smoking experience and here are some things that we have learned along the way. Of course your mileage may vary so it would be interesting to hear your thoughts as well
1.) Pipe smoking has become too fussy. Too many young pipe smokers read all of the conflicting information on the Internet and fall into analysis paralysis. In general stuff, it, light it and smoke it.
2.) Dry your tobacco and when you think it's dry enough dry it some more. In general, these guys think that dryer tobacco burns better, taste better and leads to less tongue bite.
3.) Smoking down to fine white ash is a unicorn that doesn't occur real often. These guys consider the tobacco at the bottom of the bowl to be a filter for the rest of the smoke so don't spend any effort for force lighting the tobacco at the bottom.
4.) Some of the guys used to favor pipes with big bowls so they could have a longer smoke. It seems like now they've decided that any bowl size is good and if they're smoking a smaller bowl, they just swab it out after one smoke is finished, reload, and go again.
5.) Most of the guys average 4 to 6 relight a bowl and sometimes many more depending on what they are doing. They talk about the old days when a bunch of guys smoked pipes at work and the click of a lighter was a very common sound. They are always saying that people get too caught up in how many times they have to light their pipe.
5.) Some of the guys used to do the old school thing of having one pipe and smoking it to death. Now they all have several pipes in their rotation. Most of them have a few Artisan pipes in the $250+ range but the majority of their pipes are cheaper factory pipes. They all agree that most pipes smoke the same, and that there is too much emphasis placed on high dollar pipes.
6.) They all agree that pipe smoker should smoke with they like and not listen to the pressure that can sometimes happen in this community. In fact, a couple of them smoke only aromatics and one guy only smokes Carter Hall, consuming about a pound a month.
7.) This last topic comes up most frequently. Don't listen to the anti-smoking Nazis that try to lump pipe smoking in with everything else. Pipe smoking is a great hobby and lifestyle so be bold about it. Smoke your pipe in public(of course, being considered of those around you) and wear your pipe smoking like a badge of honor. They agree it's a time honored past time and to keep it alive you need to do it around others.
I'm not saying that we have everything figured out, but we are the very definition of Codgers. It'd be really interesting to hear your thoughts on these insights.
