Why the pipe?

[briarbird]

I started smoking a pipe many many years ago. Of course I was under age at the time... I loved the pipe, and then went to cigars, unfortunately that all led me to cigerettes. I quit smoking nails over 5 years ago, and picked the pipe back up a little over a year ago. I mostly started smoking the pipe again because I became curious into making them for a fun hobby. Now I really enjoy smoking the pipe but I do not feel like it is something that I have to do. I can go days without it sometimes. But the days that I do smoke it; those are my favorite. :puffpipe:

 

[mrenglish]

I started with cigars about 20 years ago. Then got interested in pipes. A friend of mine had a Tinderbox his wife bought him for fathers day but every time he smoked it, she ragged on him as his family had a history of cancer. WTF? So, he sold it to me cheap. I went the basket pipe route for awhile then bought my first hand made pipe at the 2nd NASPC show.
I still smoke cigars and go thru phases of smoking them almost exclusively, but its mostly pipes these days. The wife has some pipes, but she rarely smokes them and sticks with strong cigars.

 

[wallbright]

I started smoking a pipe as a cheap alternative to cigars. I was hurting in the financial department and couldn't afford to spend the $5+ a stick on cigars so I decided to give pipes a try. Now I really only smoke my pipes in the colder months/weather and cigars in the warmer months/weather as I have plenty of both but I do enjoy my pipe. The colder months are almost here so I will be back in full swing.

 

[cigrmaster]

My dad smoked a pipe once in a while and my grandfather on my mothers side was a pipe smoker. I grew up with the smell and always loved it. I was a huge cigar smoker and one of my cigar buddies told me how great a pipe was so I bought one, that was back in 2000. I fell in love and began collecting and buying all kinds of tobacco. In 2009 I gave them up for a while and when I returned I was back in love with my pipes. I was always a cigarette smoker and when I came back I kicked a 1.5 pack a day habit.

 

[zirbengeist]

I started off with cigars in 2000 but the tobacco tax has increased so much I wanted to try a pipe to reduce costs. Just by chance I bumped into my uncle and mentioned that I wanted to try it. He found a B&M in Harrow Ontario (small farming community) that was going out of business. They sold him a brigham 4 dot for $30 CDN that he gave to me.

 

[cigrmaster]

zirbengeist, I don't know how anyone can afford to smoke cigars in Canada. They tax you poor guys to death. Me and cigar buddies would go to Montreal and we would bring our own Cubans because the prices were so crazy there. Smart move switching to the pipe. Do you know that 4noggins.com, one of our sponsors ships to Canada? Great people to do business with.

 

[hawk60ce]

I picked it up randomly. Decided it was something I wanted to try as I enjoyed cigars but not the after taste of cigars or the feeling I had when I woke up the next morning and I felt like I was still smoking it. So I went down to the local B&M where I had never been before and Thom set me up and I visit at least once a week to have a smoke and relax. Wife doesn't like it compared to the cigars because I smoke the pipe more often. The upside though is the smell doesn't linger as long and it's a hell of a lot cheaper!!

 

[zirbengeist]

Cigrmaster thanks for the information. I do know of them and some of the other sponsors. I have an order coming from P&C today or tomorrow. To put the tax in perspective SG tins cost around $28 in Canada. I will support local B&M with my pipe purchases but keep my tins orders from the US.

 

[koshersmoke]

There was a teacher in school Mr. Al Keck who smoked pipe. I don't know what brand or blend he smoke but the smell was intoxicating. When he walked by, he had this smell of ( well i cant even try and explain it) sweet soothing slightly smokey amazingness. I felt like one of the rats in the story of the pied piper. as he went by i would almost stop dead in my tracks and savor the aroma, tempted to follow him up the hall. My brother smoked cigs and started smoking pipe to cut the cost. He smokes otc brands from "smokers choice" and they all smell like crudd to me. But the memory of MR. Keck is burn into my mind, ooo ooo that smell. I thought there has to be something out there similar to that, and im going to find it. Thats when i got my first pipe and went on my quest in search for the tobacco of my dreams.

 

[profpar]

Growing up I had a friend who in my mother's neighborhood and had a dad that smoked a pipe, was a chemist, and was bearded. Now some 40 years later here I am a bearded chemist and pipe smoker. It appears that my friend's dad had an influence!
I started smoking the pipe myself when I was an upperclassmoan in college back in the late 70's.

 

[lordofthepiperings]

Stepdad puffed on a pipe a few times when I was younger, but he never was a daily or even weekly pipe smoker. Then the LOTR movies came out around the time I turned 18. So, after watching one of them I went out and bought a $30 churchwarden and a 2oz bag of house blended cherry tobacco. I was off and on for a few years and now in the last two years or so I've gotten to smoking a pipe pretty much on a daily basis. Love the relaxation that pipe smoking brings.

 

[captainsousie]

I always have liked the aroma of a pipe. I also liked the idea of relaxing while smoking. Started with cigars and quickly moved to the pipe.
Side note: I always have felt bad that I was the reason for my grandfather quitting the pipe because I was a kid that fell for the "all smoking will kill you instantly" line. Sort of poetic justice that I now smoke one too.

 

[jah76]

I lived with my grandparents for a year while growing up and my grandfather smoked a pipe. Being about 8 I followed my grandfather everywhere. If he was fishing I was fishing, if he was siphoning wine I was siphoning wine, if he was drinking gin martinis I was drinking Shirley temples. The man lived with a pipe in his mouth.
I imprinted on him really strongly that year I was there. These days I find myself with a bottle of gin in my freezer, watching black and white westerns, making wine, and of course smoking a pipe.
That was hands down the happiest year of my childhood.

 

[ghost]

I never personally knew anyone who smoked a pipe, no family, friends...nada. Always loved the aroma of course.
One thing I do remember is going to hockey games when I was a kid, back when you could still smoke inside buildings, and intermissions would be torturous with cigarette smoke in the hallways outside the seating areas. Every so often someone would have a pipe going and it would literally be a relief. I never had the desire to smoke darts, ever, but I always knew I would try a pipe one day.
I still never tried it until my early 20's. My first pipe was a spur of the moment purchase. I was in a mall and passed a shop that had a wall display of pipes, had the usual thought of "someday" I'll try it out...and it just hit me, what are you waiting for? I went in, pointed at one I liked, was told the price, and then bought a completely different one for half the cost. (A $20 'basket' pipe that I still have.) Never looked back, and it's really one of my passions. Love it.

 

[meerschaumsteve]

Well, my story is a little different than most, but its the truth.
Up until 2011, I was an avid anti-smoker, having grown up around friends that were all cigarette addicts. My parents didn't smoke, but both my sisters did heavily. I had a pretty bad idea of smoking, hated it. I didn't really know anything about cigars, or pipes, my feelings came from cigarettes.
Later, I watched a movie, called "National Treasure". One of the important items in the movie was a meerschaum pipe. I thought the name sounded interesting and was surprised at how it was carved. So, over the next year or so, I started learning about meerschaum, history, where its made, learning about pipe styles and just anything I could find. Even found video's on YouTube showing meerschaum stone being mined in Turkey. I still didn't smoke, and didn't have any plans to start.
Eventually I started poking around on eBay and was amazed at the amount of meerschaum pipes there.
One good thing I learned early in my research, was about compressed meerschaum pipes made from carving scraps. I was always weary of eBay pipes, wondering if its block or compressed. Although compressed meerschaum pipes are made out of the correct material, since its ground up and glued together, the stone has almost no absorbent ability, and probably won't color at all, or if it did, very uneven.
Later I discovered the pipe smoking community on YouTube, and several pipe smoking forums, like this one. What I read impressed me, how the members really enjoyed the smoking experience, how they generally were not in it for the nicotine addiction. I read how meerschaum pipes actually reduce the nicotine in the smoke by absorbing it. Read about different tobacco's, flavors, and cuts. Things like tongue bite, and how to pack a pipe.
Around that time I was looking on eBay and found a pipe that I just loved. We talk about a pipe singing to you, while that one did.. lol. I watched it for a while, it wasn't selling, price was too high I guess. It got re-listed twice, and finally I decided to take the plunge and bought it. When it arrived I loved it, just a beautifully carved antique meerschaum with amber stem. After having it for a while, I decided I wanted to try smoking it. I went to my local tobacconist, who really was a cigarette shop, but had a teeny section for pipes. I got a few of the blends they had, just drugstore types like Captain Black Royal, Half & Half, Prince Albert, Middleton Cherry, and Carter Hall. After cleaning the bowl thoroughly, I tried small half bowls of them in my new-old meerschaum. I liked the PA, the CH, and the CB-R. I didn't really like H&H, seemed too strong, and the MC, well, I couldn't taste cherry at all. lol
So that was the start of my pipe smoking, I got a few others pipes eventually, have six meerschaums now. I have since also tried some tinned tobacco, and a very nice house blend that I really enjoyed called Bill's Blend. A friend on YouTube sent me the Bill's Blend, love the smoothness on it, and great room note. Since then I have decided that I will enjoy my pipes regularly, and I don't regret buying any of them.
I'm glad I could join the excellent pipe smoking community online and on forums like this one. When I can I try to share my knowledge about meerschaums, especially to others I meet that want to get one, but haven't done all the research I have. If a few comments can help them not damage their meer, and enjoy it for a lifetime, then its surely worth it.
Usually I smoke a bowl every 1 to 3 days. Although I have read a lot about briar, morte, or other wood pipes, including watching them being made, styles, and reading countless comments on them, I have never smoked one. I also tried a cigar recently, and although it was good, and I enjoyed it, the cost stunned me. So, I'm not getting into cigars. Pipes will be where I focus. I still hate cigarettes, and view them as contaminated, addictive, chemical laced trash compared to the quality pipe tobacco we have.
Just my 2 cents for this nice thread... well, more like 15 cents! lol.