Why did you first pick up a pipe?

[johnnyrebel]

Well, A little over a year ago my Dad had bought another Shop Smith, and it came with a manual with a well dressed man doing some woodworking with a pipe hanging in his mouth. It got me to thinking what pipe smoking was all about, because there was always those pictures of yester-years with men having a pipe.
Once i started to read about it i had to find out more, so i talked to my brother about it and while he was in the city i had him pick me up a pipe because at the time i had no idea where you could find a pipe other than a pipe shop. So for my birthday he got me a Corleone bent pipe. Its type of wood pipe but not briar wood. I then found a tobacco store and bought a couple of pouches asap, Sail Regular and Fox & Hound.
So thats my story in short, I also managed to find the cover to the Shop Smith manual as well!

(sorry for the huge picture.)

 

[baronsamedi]

Johnnyreb, that's old skool cool!

 

[papipeguy]

It was lighter than an acordian and less annoying.

 

[pipeinhand]

I was 15 and the gang of 3 as we called ourselves, wanted to stand out from the others smoking cigs. It just sort of stuck. Out of the gang, one is dead (Nam) and the other stills smokes a pipe with me. A pipe with still today bring back the friends of old.

 

[romeowood]

An ex-girlfriend gifted me my first, a Sasieni billiard, when I became a minister in the Church of the SubGenius. :wink: Took me a little while to really get the hang of it, but it's definitely a passion of mine now.

 

[scotrob]

a fascination with yesteryear I suppose, the real men of times gone by like Cary Grant and Errol Flynn, always wanted to emulate them...and now I do: sharp suits at work, smoking jacket, slicked hair and of course, a pipe...
plus, my Dad smoked one too...when I was a kid I found it a bit embarrassing, but now I wish I had appreciated it more when he was around
In the UK (and maybe it's sold outside of the UK too) we have a magazine called "The Chap" dedicated to chaps (and chapesses) who wish to recapture the style of years gone by...a great read, and always full of pipe smokers in tweeds or trilbys
The Chap

 

[jship079]

I smoke cigars and was looking for a alternative to them to enjoy. I don't do either all the time as in everyday but I cam to really like the pipe plus if you can stay away from buying tons of expensive pipes its much cheaper.

 

[aussielass]

First turned to the pipe to save big $'s - what a major friggen' fail that was!!!!
I'd have to say, probably the biggest fail of my entire life, but oh what a sweet excessive, compulsive collection building
I try to convince myself I'm leaving a legacy for my estate, in that they'll get more than what I paid so my collecting goes under the guise of "investment" - what a crock of self-serving shite.

 

[harrier52]

Always been a big fan of Sherlock Holmes myself. As soon as i was old enough i headed to my local tinderbox to get my first pipe.

 

[punkpiper]

I took it up earlier this year, almost thought I'd fail, but I stuck it out, got a small collection going of tobacco and pipes and discovered this forum, realised the world had some respect for what was. Not to mention an appreciation for real masculinity, a rejection of both metrosexuality and macho cage UFC loving.

By the way, a few years ago I got interested in the Church of the Subgenius, never joined, though I trust Bob completely. I am an ordained minister of the Universal Life Church and have solemnly promised that any of my friends who come to me and want to be married I will help.

 

[bogie]

My grandpa on my mothers side smoked a pipe. I had to be really young when this started because if memory serves me correctly he died either before i turned ten or shortly after. For years my mom worked an early shift at a local factory and my dad must have worked a later shift because we would get up real early and take mom to work. We would then go to grandpa's house where there was always homemade pancakes and syrup or homemade biscuits sitting on the stove. Now this wasn't done just for my dad and I by no means. The Adams were a very VERY poor family.
My grandpa was a pipe smoker. There were two chairs with one of those old end tables with a second tear on the back half,that separated the two. On the top tier was grandpa's pipe rack. It only held three pipes one of which had a blue bowl and a black stem. THAT pipe became my pipe lol. I had to be six or seven at the time. When I was done with my pancake or biscuit the very next thing that would happen would be that grandma gave up her chair to sit on the couch leaving me in the chair next to grandpa with my very own pipe. I was king of the world while I had the pipe in my hand, pretending to smoke it just like grandpa lol.
I will be 40 in January and last summer my uncle died. There were rumors that after grandpa had died that my uncle got his pipes. So I asked one of my other uncles and they said yeah, your uncle got his dads pipes and that they would come to me! Being very excited I was in high hopes that blue pipe was with them. You know this blew everyone's mind because I have never smoked! EVER! NOTHING.I hated smoking and thought it was folly for someone to shove cigarette after cigarette into their lungs and now I just couldn't wait to get my hands on my blue pipe.
Well unfortunately the pipes were not in any of his belongings. By now the curiosity of the pipe, remembering other grown ups in the family who smoked a pipe and recalling you could always tell when they were smoking a pipe just by walking into their home. THAT SMELLS AWESOME is what I always thought to myself. So by this time I couldn't stand it anymore. Scared and not knowing anything about pipe smoking I went and bought a Missouri wooden pipe and a pouch of Black n Mild sweet vanilla or something like that. That was the beginning of summer last year.I am not a heavy smoker in fact it comes in spurts now a days.
Sometimes there is nothing better than loading up a pipe in the mornings right after breakfast and just sitting here remembering my blue pipe.

 

[orionpyoung]

My father, grandfather and grandmother all smoked cigarettes. Needless to say, I've always been fond of tobacco. I smoked cig's on and off from 16 to 21, got tired of the lackluster flavor when I had my first cigar. But cigars didn't last long. For two years I had and hour long brake, so I smoked one at lunch everyday. When my job changed my break shrunk and I got tired of planning enough time to smoke a whole cigar, so I picked up a $12 briar at a head shop and haven't looked back! I've always been a fan of Brew Pubs and Micro-Brews, and damn does a pipe of 3P's and a glass of stout go well together. How about a VA flake with an IPA? The combinations are endless.

 

[danno]

My Grandfather discovered that I had started smoking Cigarettes. He asked me to sit down, and told me he would

be right back. He brought me a pipe ( a nice Canadian )a pouch with Tobacco in it ( and an orange peel for humidification ) and told me in his broken English, smoke this instead. That was about 35 years ago. Somebody stole that Canadian from me. I have always regretted that, and have, to this day, added no canadians to my collection. When I find one worthy of his memory, I will buy it.

 

[clunk]

When i was in Bagdad a tomahawk missile struck a pipe shop. I helped myself to a few. I also learned that day that Iraqi tobacco smells a bit like smoked camel dung and can get you thrown out of a tank.

 

[smooth]

A fellow soldier at a base in Turkey where we were stationed gave me my first pipe. I, just like Clunk, quickly found out that I should stick with the tobacco offered at the PX. Lighting up local Turkish tobacco got me run out of the barracks.

 

[topd]

Simper Fi Lawrence....
The two Marines I told about ( http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/wasnt-sure-where-to-put-this )

in this story were a great influence on me. I was 17 years old and wanted so much to be like them.

I'm 58 now and haven't changed a bit!
TopD

 

[porshcigar]

Back in September of 1970, I got a part time job. The boss smoked pipes in the office all the time, and cigars also.

In the lobby of the old Chicago Title building, there was a news/candy/tobacco stand. I bought my first pipe, a Custombilt, that I still have in my collection, at that stand. That, of course, was in the last century when we still had the freedom to smoke everywhere, and I did enjoy that freedom for many years, until the politicians drove me into my basement.

 

[adam12]

Great thread! Thanks for resurrecting it
My uncle was a pipe guy and I always thought it smelled cool. Now I understand, years later, that the tobacco he was smoking was very aromatic, and I wouldn't go near that stuff ever. It was like pine tar.

 

[drjones013]

I was 20 and trying to figure out how I wanted to smoke tobacco at the Cigar Emporium in Torrance, CA (which I'm almost positive is out of business now, sad enough). A real estate agent named Houston got me thinking that pipe smoking would be a good idea. Bought an estate pipe and promptly broke it the day after (back pocket). Sent to Tennessee for repair work and I was smoking two weeks later. I miss that first pipe; I forgot it was on the hood of my Jeep and drove off onto the 215....

 

[simnettpratt]

Reading The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings back in 1980. Became a major Tolkein geek, as did all of my friends.
Never smoked cigarettes, and later in life found it more fun than smoking cigars, because you don't have to smoke a whole cigar (last too long), you get to mess with it as you're puffing, and you get to buy pipes!
I have noticed that pipe smokers seem to be a higher class of people than random folks, IMHO.