Tobacco Blender Extraordinaire Gregory L. Pease answers that question in his February 2022 column, titled "Rediscovering The Why"
Why Did you Start Smoking a Pipe, and Why Do You Still?
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It's no accident, I suppose, that this piece accomplishes what it discusses -- corrects in the reader's present what it laments in the author's past.
I'd be glad for more pipe men who write (or brand tobacco) with such whimsy.
I'd be glad for more pipe men who write (or brand tobacco) with such whimsy.
How come the WP sign in is not the same as our PM forum user/password?
Sincerely, I think it is fantastic, I identify myself in great part with what you describe. I remember my father sending me to the tobacconist to buy his pipe tobacco. I vaguely remember seeing and smelling that fantastic world of tobacco stores in the 80s. He would tell me that he would come to buy tobacco, while carrying me in his arms, as a baby. It is a very beautiful narrative. Thank you Kevin.
I always loved the scent of pipe smoke. And back when I was growing up, pipe smokers were characterized as smart thoughtful people of high intellectual attainment, you know, the college professor type. Of course, I know better now.
While in college I worked for a jewelry store on the Miracle Mile in Los Angeles. It so happened that there as a tobacconist across the street where I used to buy Sobranie cigarettes, and one day I decided to take the plunge. As it happened, the store was very famous and very well stocked, and the proprietor, Mr Copley, helped me get started by picking out a couple of inexpensive pipes and a selection of their blends, in which they did a nationwide mail order business. He didn't charge me for the blends, an investment in future business, I guess.
I went through the usual stumbling around, trying to figure it out. The frustration was lessened by the fact that smoking a pipe back then still had properties as a chick magnet. At that time, the early '70's, we were going wild. So great flavors, "cool" factor, and sex, definitely served to make me a pipe smoking enthusiast.
While in college I worked for a jewelry store on the Miracle Mile in Los Angeles. It so happened that there as a tobacconist across the street where I used to buy Sobranie cigarettes, and one day I decided to take the plunge. As it happened, the store was very famous and very well stocked, and the proprietor, Mr Copley, helped me get started by picking out a couple of inexpensive pipes and a selection of their blends, in which they did a nationwide mail order business. He didn't charge me for the blends, an investment in future business, I guess.
I went through the usual stumbling around, trying to figure it out. The frustration was lessened by the fact that smoking a pipe back then still had properties as a chick magnet. At that time, the early '70's, we were going wild. So great flavors, "cool" factor, and sex, definitely served to make me a pipe smoking enthusiast.
I've written about co-eds, tweedy profs and such in the past, all of which were, only somewhat, tongue in cheek. When I reached college, the pipe was the only nicotine delivery system I'd not tried. After a short trial period I found the pipe worked best in the dorm room My roomie didn't complain like he did about the acute smell of my Camels and I needed his brains at times when studying (I was a goalie, after all?).
Now? It's all about the nicotine.
Now? It's all about the nicotine.
I, like many, got into smoking a pipe around the time I went off to college and after following the lead of my grandfather.
I have very many fond memories of spending time with him and enjoying different activities while he smoked his pipe. His house, and especially his office, had the distinct aroma of pipe tobacco. Rarely was he without his pipe. Being his favorite tagalong and eldest grandson, whether we were golfing, running errands, having special lunches, visiting the Tinderbox or the Eckard's Drugs, or watching Astros Baseball or Oilers Football; he was rarely without me either.
He passed away when I was twelve. When I turned 18, per his wishes, my nana passed on his pipes to me. Throughout the years, even though I had a short engagement with cigarettes and a longstanding romance with cigars, smoking a pipe has always been my preferred method of tobacco usage. Mainly I'm sure because of my grandfather, but also because persons and characters I admired smoked a pipe. Becoming a sailor, also like grandpa, I came to embrace maritime heritage and culture... which also included smoking a pipe.
If I thought about it more deeply I am sure I could find other reasons why I began smoking a pipe. These reasons explain very well the beginnings of my journey as well as why I continue smoking a pipe today. Sláinte!
I have very many fond memories of spending time with him and enjoying different activities while he smoked his pipe. His house, and especially his office, had the distinct aroma of pipe tobacco. Rarely was he without his pipe. Being his favorite tagalong and eldest grandson, whether we were golfing, running errands, having special lunches, visiting the Tinderbox or the Eckard's Drugs, or watching Astros Baseball or Oilers Football; he was rarely without me either.
He passed away when I was twelve. When I turned 18, per his wishes, my nana passed on his pipes to me. Throughout the years, even though I had a short engagement with cigarettes and a longstanding romance with cigars, smoking a pipe has always been my preferred method of tobacco usage. Mainly I'm sure because of my grandfather, but also because persons and characters I admired smoked a pipe. Becoming a sailor, also like grandpa, I came to embrace maritime heritage and culture... which also included smoking a pipe.
If I thought about it more deeply I am sure I could find other reasons why I began smoking a pipe. These reasons explain very well the beginnings of my journey as well as why I continue smoking a pipe today. Sláinte!
Another great Greg Pease article—to go along with his great tobacco blends (including Drucquer) and pipe photos. In fact when I got back into pipes after a number of years off it was Greg's photos of his pipes that got me interested in collecting. As he says, his photos are meant to be portraits and indeed they are. Many are shot beautifully lit against a dark background so the pipe is warmly spotlighted. Beware if you're recovering from PAD. You'll be instantly hooked again.
I was trying all forms of tobacco in high school and it turned out that I liked them all and still use them all. Never knew a pipesmoker until I started and became the family's first smoker for at least three generations. So why did I start smoking a pipe? Nicotine.
I started because I found out I love tobacco and literally wanted to try every form of it I could. I started to really smoke a pipe as in smoking it nearly daily several times. Because of several factors. One totally quite cigs and switched mainly to smokeless tobacco (by accident to be honest) and the internet being number two reason. Why because I started to find more blends I really loved. I always loved the pipe but it took a while before I could find those blends that I liked enough to always want to have some on hand or at least order it with the next order. Why do I keep smoking the pipe. Because I really enjoy it all the aspects of it. Some more then others. But the relaxation is great, the tobacco is great, the way it tastes great, how it feels great, the hand feel of a nice pipe great, just looking at a beautifully carved and grained piece of root great, talking to the weirdos that smoke pipes here pretty close to great, the smell great, and a bunch of other things that are great.
Oh and thanks Greg now I have to figure out which of your blends I am smoking today. Because that seems to happen every single time I read one of your new articles (hey don't blame me for trying to manipulate the man into increasing his creative outputs
).
Oh and thanks Greg now I have to figure out which of your blends I am smoking today. Because that seems to happen every single time I read one of your new articles (hey don't blame me for trying to manipulate the man into increasing his creative outputs
).
Yes, I believe it is nicotine, a major factor. And to smell when I was very little that aroma of tobacco that my father smoked around the house or at work. That mix of home furnishings, wood, leather, coffee and tobacco. The television programs, of any talk show, or topic, where you can see how they enjoy their pipes and their delicious tobaccos. Hopefully the technology of the future will allow us to continue to enjoy some of these mythical traditions.
oh that green apple stuff was horrible. I don't know if it's the same one I tried but it answers the question of what does a pipe smoker who lost their tongue smoke. It is literally the only sensible answer for why that stuff ever existed. Oh god.
Great read. Greg has defined the moment when pipes were something to revel in and then you lose interest. I think it happens to all pipers over the many years we smoke to be rekindled by some event. It can be anything: going to a show, meeting up with a few fellow pipers at the B&M, trying a new blend that really hits the spot, etc.
Pipe smoking is an inexpensive way to use tobacco without addiction.
Also the best tasting way
My parents mightily disapproved of tobacco and smoking, but when I was about 9 two or three of our teachers at school smoked a pipe while they taught us. I loved the smell, it was obviously very enjoyable and I saw it as manly! I decided I would smoke a pipe one day. Bought my first pipe when I was at university. Now 50 years later, widowed and living on my own, it’s one of the great joys of my life!
Tried during my cigar phase, after cigarettes. I liked it. Smoking fell by the wayside for a decade or more. I took it back up after my dad passed in 2019. Then I found y’all, and now I’m a junkie. Thanks for that.
In thirty years I've always smoked a pipe daily.
My introduction to pipe smoking wasn't through a tweed wearing professor but through a grease stained auto transmission repairman - my step-grandfather - back in the late 1950s. He smoked George Washington and had maybe three or four pipes. One of those was a tiny briar that he always took to work and would smoke when he had a break. The pipe was good for maybe a 15-20 minute smoke. I know this because it was one of the pipes I was given after he passed away. The other was a Yello Bole Spartan briar. I still have the Yello Bole but I gave the small pipe to one of my sons who also occasionally smokes a pipe.
I didn't become a pipe smoker until the summer of 1972 while aboard an icebreaker. It too was a cheap pipe, probably a Dr. Grabow. I do remember the tobacco, Borkum Riff Whiskey.
Ironically, I never smoked cigarettes and I didn't even like dating girls or women who smoked cigarettes but I was an occasional cigar and pipe smoker. I still smoke an occasional cigar but over the last 20 years or so became a daily pipe smoker.
I didn't become a pipe smoker until the summer of 1972 while aboard an icebreaker. It too was a cheap pipe, probably a Dr. Grabow. I do remember the tobacco, Borkum Riff Whiskey.
Ironically, I never smoked cigarettes and I didn't even like dating girls or women who smoked cigarettes but I was an occasional cigar and pipe smoker. I still smoke an occasional cigar but over the last 20 years or so became a daily pipe smoker.
I was studying abroad in England--the midlands--in the early nineties, and a guy I knew talked me into entering a little pipe shop and buying a cheap pipe and some cherry tobacco. At that time I was smoking cigarettes and I did not find the pipe or the weak tobacco satisfying. I smoked it mainly to avoid spending so much on cigarettes, which at that time cost.... I can't remember the pounds, but it came out to like five bucks a pack, which struck me as outrageous.
I quit smoking for a couple of decades. Then one day as an experiment I planted some wild tobacco (Nicotiana rustica) in my garden. I had read a book about tobacco use of the Native peoples of North America, and I wanted to get an idea of what their smoke must have been like. I dried the stuff in many ways but mainly green, and smoked it in tiny amounts in a Elizabethan clay pipe. I enjoyed it--mainly for the nicotine rush.
Then, a few years ago, I was in Kansas, and I smelled a pipe. It was not the "cherry" scent of OTC pipe tobacco smoke but the scent of a tiny tobacco ember, barely burning, which for me is quite different. The smell was really wonderful and nostalgic. I must have been around a pipe smoker when I was a kid and I just don't remember it, because that scent was familiar to me, very appealing (especially after that rustica). I remember walking around until I found the guy with the pipe and I was surprised to see that no smoke was coming out of it. (Of course there was.There was just so little I couldn't see it, and I didn't know that was the proper way.)
Anyway, that put the idea in my head that maybe I should try a "normal" pipe with "normal" tobacco. And here I am.
I quit smoking for a couple of decades. Then one day as an experiment I planted some wild tobacco (Nicotiana rustica) in my garden. I had read a book about tobacco use of the Native peoples of North America, and I wanted to get an idea of what their smoke must have been like. I dried the stuff in many ways but mainly green, and smoked it in tiny amounts in a Elizabethan clay pipe. I enjoyed it--mainly for the nicotine rush.
Then, a few years ago, I was in Kansas, and I smelled a pipe. It was not the "cherry" scent of OTC pipe tobacco smoke but the scent of a tiny tobacco ember, barely burning, which for me is quite different. The smell was really wonderful and nostalgic. I must have been around a pipe smoker when I was a kid and I just don't remember it, because that scent was familiar to me, very appealing (especially after that rustica). I remember walking around until I found the guy with the pipe and I was surprised to see that no smoke was coming out of it. (Of course there was.There was just so little I couldn't see it, and I didn't know that was the proper way.)
Anyway, that put the idea in my head that maybe I should try a "normal" pipe with "normal" tobacco. And here I am.