Very nice. I have really been enjoying some of the background stories of these first acquisitions.....and pics.
Your First Pipe?
- Thread starter Ethan
- Start date
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My first pipe was a Willard Aristomatic. Was helping my Grandpa clean out his house as a kid, found the pipe and asked if I could have it. He said "Sure, as long as you don't smoke it!" I miss that man dearly.
but did you smoke it?? Pretty sure I know the answer here
My second, third, and fourth pipes were Iwan Ries house pipes sourced from Edwards Benton line and made of oil cured Algerian briar, with a few fills to keep the prices down; they were maybe $35 apiece -- a good big bowled Canadian, a pocket Oom-Paul, and a large Group 4 billiard. I still have them, and they are going strong. The fills are still solidly in place, My money's worth!
I still go for a good value like these over the spendy big name stuff
My first pipe was this Hilson Dromedary, the internet equivalent of a basket pipe -- cheap and marketed at first-timers. I was still buying my cigars from JR back then, when they had those crazy-ass catalogs, and it seemed like an opportunity to expand my horizons a bit. It took a lot of abuse in my first, abortive skirmish with piping. It has spent a lot of the last two decades in a box in the basement, after I gave up and went back to smoking cigars exclusively. Time passes, things change, and I smoke it regularly now. 
Unique design....have you stayed with this idea throughout your collecting or gravitated towards more traditional shapes over time?
I’ve never seen another one like it, except once on a pipe restoration site. I like its odd shape, and that hump in the shank really feels good in the hand, but most of my pipes are very traditional.
The first pipe I ever bought was a Turkish Meerschaum from the Bazaar in Istanbul.
A few years later I managed to break the shank and tossed it without ever smoking it (it would be another seven years before I started buying any Tobacco).
At some point I wouldn't mind going back to Turkey just to buy a small collection of Meers. Buying them over the Internet just feels like cheating.
A few years later I managed to break the shank and tossed it without ever smoking it (it would be another seven years before I started buying any Tobacco).
At some point I wouldn't mind going back to Turkey just to buy a small collection of Meers. Buying them over the Internet just feels like cheating.
I expect with travel restrictions cheating may be more popular...
Imagine the ebay market for these "freehand" creations
A lot of you guys really got lucky! Old guys from small towns know, the only available pipes were Grabows from a drug store. No other choices available. Maybe four tobacco selections.
My first few pipes were just plain ol' cobs in college with the occasional Captain Black or other OTC blend. It wasn't until I inherited my grandpa's small budget pipe collection that I really got into pipe smoking and got some English and VA blends and bought my first Peterson Donegal Rocky.
I still don't have 1 of the classic grabows in my collection....it is actually on my list of thing to pick up at some point.
Sad to say no I don't, but I would know how to make one. He and my grandmother liked Hickory King Corn variety which had huge ears. I suspect that's what we used. Now days folks like the more sweer varieties with smaller ears. I've read Missouri Meesheum uses a particular variety that they produce themselves.