Why did you start pipe smoking

[thefishguy]

I loved cigars back in the early nineties and was always intrigued by the pipes at the tobacco shop. Finally saved up some money and bought a decent basket pipe. I had always loved the smell of pipe smoke. I bought about 2 oz of what was probably 1Q and just never got the hang of it. Fast forward to January 2017. Sat down and watched Lord of the rings which inspired me to break my pipes back out. I knew there had to be something to it. Tried all the different otc drugstore blends and found that I kinda enjoyed Carter Hall. A friend had some nightcap and we smoked a bowl one evening. Down the rabbit hole I went.

 

[alsatmem]

I started smoking cigarettes at age 7 and by age 8 had a pack a day habit. I could usually buy them based on a “for my

 

[alsatmem]

I started smoking cigarettes at age 7 and by age 8 had a pack a day habit. I could usually buy them based on a “for my mom in the car”. Other times I would just take them. I had my own money as I am a natural at fixing most anything man made. So appliance and car repair kept me well funded. Somewhere in my 30’s I decided to quit cold turkey. Smoked nothing for a couple of years and just one day accepted that I miss and enjoy tobacco. Didn’t want to go back to cigs so bought a pipe and some tobacco and have been smoking ever since. Cigars mostly at work out of time constraints. Pipe at night. Low nic hit no matter what I smoke though. I’ll be 50 in 10 days. 3 stents in RCA, kidney cancer and a dozen stones, need new hips and knees, and a dozen other surgeries and my doc is thrilled with how well I am! So WTF, lighting up right now!!

 

[ukbob]

Walking past a pipe shop in Austria while on holiday suddenly stopped and went back in side and said I fancy having a go at smoking a pipe.

 

[redglow]

I was a big cig/cigar smoker back in the day. One day, over 20 years ago, I was having a smoke while listening to the radio. Heard an advertisement for the Columbus Pipe Show which was about 15 minutes from my house at the time.
I went up to check it out and came home with 2 pipes. Quickly was mesmerized by Nightcap and loved it for 3 or 4 years. Was transferred for my job and left the pipes behind.
19 years later. No cigs or cigars in the picture anymore. But, I would still from time to time imagine Nightcap and the pleasures of smoking a pipe.
So, one day around this past Christmas/New Years, I think I was having one of those life analysis moments and knew I was not taking part in enjoying life to the fullest. I figured what the hell. I'm going to start enjoying life and doing whatever I find enjoyment in. I don't miss the cigs or cigars. But, I always missed smoking my Nightcap out in the garage with a good book or listening to the radio. So, I decided, I'm getting back to my pipes!
Here I am, 6 months later with pounds of tobacco in the cellar and 10 or 12 pipes to rotate around.
Life is good.

 

[mikethompson]

I was looking for a pastime that would both consume my disposable income and take up my online time! Haha I think I'm only half kidding there.
I bought a billiard Meer maybe 4 years ago and just fell in love with the whole thing.

 

[PaulTheScandinavian]

I started smoking cigarettes at the age of 13, and during the years I smoked pipes infrequently as well,but for 90% it was cigaretts/cigarillos,then I liked the looks of the pipes and promised myself one day I'll quite cigarettes altogheter ,then comes my 50 birthday and that was the time I switched to pipes,though still I'm enjoying occasional cigarette/cigarillo but I will keep the number of smoked cigs down as no more than 4 to five per day,with 3 to 5 bowlfuls and occasional cigar.

 

[voorhees]

As a way to smoke the last part of a cigar. Honestly. I bought a pipe to stuff a cigar into. Then I got really interested.

 

[chilllucky]

When I was 18 and starting college, I was desperate for anything to make me look older, smarter, and more interesting than I actually was at the time. There happened to be a tobacconist in the old downtown of the tiny college town, and he happened to have a pipe I was attracted to for the amount of money I had in my pocket. Had any of those coincidences not come together at that moment, I might never have picked up the pipe those 27 years ago.

 

[writepipe]

I was raised by my grandfather who smoked a pipe. Though as I kid, I loved sitting in the den with him and watching him pack and light his pipe, I never really had much of a desire to smoke one myself. I got hired by the fire department when I was 19. Two years later, I had my first call involving an unsuccessful CPR attempt on a child. When we got back to the station, I couldn't stop my hands from shaking. One of the old timers on my engine company handed me a cigarette and just like that, I was hooked.
In 2016, I started smoking a pipe on rare occasions, but was still smoking 30 cigarettes a day. Last week I made the decision to put the cigarettes away for good and switch to pipes full time. I have quite a few reasons, but mainly I was simply tired of smoking cigarettes. I got to where I hated the smell. The hated the taste. And I hated the fact that I felt like I had to have one. It's different with a pipe, and much more relaxing to me. It hasn't been easy, but the switch is getting easier.
L.H.

 

[tabakpfeife]

I have a distinct memory of an uncle's pipe rack when I was pretty young-maybe 8 or so. I thought it was pretty interesting and remember taking a pipe out and looking at it. I started when I was a Freshman at the University of Texas-some 45 years ago (!) and have been smoking these things ever since.

 

[elbert]

In a very large family I only had the odd aunt or two who even smoked cigarettes. No tobacco in my parents house, ever.
But I have a literary and (so I thought) an academic bent. My favorite author never smoked, but too many others did; Russell, Tolkien, Edward Abbey, Einstein, Bill Bryson. It all gave me a terrible itch, and at the age of 25 I finally scratched it, with a Peterson bent billiard and a pouch of black Cavendish. The first smoke was terrible in nearly every way, but got better. I even smoke the odd Marlboro red now myself, for convenience's sake.

 

[hauntedmyst]

It was 1977 and disco was in full swing. Everybody had Saturday Night Fever and were Stayin Alive. Yeah. I was the opposite of that. So I took up smoking a pipe.

 

[derhammer]

Having been a cigarette smoker for 15+ years, I picked up the pipe about 2 years ago. It is a coincidence really. I was teaching at uni and were making tutorial on Photoshop especially how you can merge a couple of jpeg images into one coherent image to present a new product design. I found this image of a gentleman smoking a pipe on the internet and decided to combine with a design of a motorcycle.

This is the result:

And I thought to myself "That's interesting...Why haven't never thought of pipe smoking?" Now I smoke pipes exclusively ::

 

[railman]

I got into premium cigars in college. I had never even thought about a pipe despite the jars of bulk right in front of me at the counter where I’d buy cigars. Then one day I just thought, you dummy, why not try a pipe? It would be a lot cheaper! I was under the impression that all pipe tobacco was aromatic. It took me about a year of bad and sometimes not so bad experiences with bulk aromatics to again say, “you dummy, the cigars you smoke aren’t flavored with anything, there MUST be unflavored pipe tobacco, just like cigars.” I found a tin of Aperitif and the rest is history.

 

[frankrem]

My experience began as a kid in Virginia- I wandered into a tobacco shop in Bush Gardens. Its an amusement park in Virginia where my mother worked. I remember the aroma in the shop was amazing - It was something I had never smelled before and it was almost a magical experience. I remember being transfixed by all the bins with the different bins full of brown stuff. I had no idea what it was and asked the person tending the shop who said it was pipe tobacco. I know tobacco was something I was not a "good thing" My mother smoke cigarettes and I was dutifully told I was never to touch them etc. However the desire was clear when I stepped into that shop that I wanted to try a pipe one day.
I have always associated pipe smoking with intellectuals. The art of slowing down ones life and just thinking has been lost to so many. Seeing men with pipe in hand simply enjoying conversation or just resting in quiet contemplation is inviting.
So I finally decided its time to begin my journey. I am new and clueless and working my way into that world. Slowing down enjoying the whole process and trying to get the most out of every pipe.

 

[condorlover1]

Everyone in the family smoked a pipe with the exception of the women although I often wondered about Auntie Winifred and her taste in cigars! Most of them had survived WW1 so smoking a clay pipe seemed like a natural thing for me at 14 as all my Uncles were always cutting up plug or twist and stuffing clay pipes with the stuff. :rofl:

 

[sparrowhawk]

I tried a pipe once or twice in my youth, but didn't really know how to smoke it. Then I quit the cigarettes about 6-7 years ago, got a Dracula Peterson, and then discovered this forum where I picked up some tips on pipe smoking and how it's an entirely different experience from cigs. Also, a pipe just felt right for a scholarly fellow and writer like me, and so I eventually learned how to smoke a pipe. At the time I figured I would just need a couple of pipes, maybe five max. Well, the rest is history,, but I sold off many pipes when monies got short. But I still have close to twenty, the most being Peterson. I will never give up my Dracs or my Irish Harps!

 

[snagstangl]

I am surprised no one else said this. It was something to do while my cigars aged. I think most of them have about 8 years on them now, but I haven't smoked any in years.

 

[trubka2]

I chain-smoked strong cigarettes every day all day long for 30 years. Six months ago, I suddenly realized that I had hated cigarettes for years, so I quit. It was very spur of the moment, but I haven't touched one since. I still had a massive nicotine monkey on my back, and I needed something to do with my hands. Luckily, I already had some pipes and a couple tins laying around (I'd been a casual pipe-smoker for a long time), so I got "serious" about smoking them. I enjoy the hell out of it, and it's been great for my health and general well-being, as well as my wallet. Wish I'd made the switch 20 years ago.