Your First Smoke?

[jerwynn]

It was sometime in the 1980's... maybe connected to a Tinder Box B&M in State College, PA. First puff, I thought it was nothing at all. 2nd puff, I thought it was worse than nothing... sucking light, dry rancid air. (It was one of those light, golden "beginner's blends"... have no idea which.) But I was obsessed for a while... a year or two later, I had bought a very nice Dr. Grabow at a local drugstore which I tried to smoke whilst driving some long, tedious, boring road.(first and last time for that!) I smoked it so hard and hot, the finish was bubbling off the bowl. Very bad. Would have loved to have had easy access to a pipe-mentor back then. Or something like this forum.(No internet, no nuttin' then... except maybe Commodore 64s just starting up. As I sit here with a terabyte's worth in my lap.)

 

[newbroom]

My first smoke is the same as Warren's and about the same time period. It might have been a couple of years earlier, but I'll never forget sharing those first stolen Pall Malls with my next door neighbor by the railroad tracks behind the hill across the street from my house. I got nicotine woozy! I was thrilled! I'm not sure why?

It was about the most oft repeated warning from parents....don't smoke, while they all puffed away, as did tv news broadcasters, game show hosts, and sit com stars.

Forbidden fruit is the sweetest.

 

[mawnansmiff]

My first venture with the pipe was precisely a year ago. I had just bought a new Darvil bent billiard basket pipe that cost me the princely sum of £15. That along with a pouch of Clan (a strangely popular OTC blend in these parts) I settled down for my inaugural smoke.
Not knowing anything about packing or lighting techniques I just fumbled my way along and finally got the thing going. After smoking RYO for 30+ years this was quite some step change.
I still have the Darvil and still use it (damned good pipe for the money) but the pouch of Clan was soon finished and best forgotton about, a very dull blend indeed.
Considering I never had a mentor to guide me I think I have come along rather well these last 12 months. I joined this forum a month after taking up the pipe and that more than made up for my lack of mentor...I have learned much here and hope I will continue to do so.
Regards,
Jay.

 

[pipeanddrum]

My first smoke was a bowl of 1Q in a MM pride just over a year ago. I've since moved away from aros but will go back to this combination to switch things up.

 

[voorhees]

"there's fomefing I'm doing wrong here, let'f tfry again when I can tafte my mouff"

I read this exactly as you meant it! LOL :rofl:

 

[okiescout]

"First smoke- Middleton cherry"
Ditto. I was 14 or so at the time and thought it was great. Later in years, not so much :wink:

 

[kamikaze]

Savinelli bent billiard and Half&Half...like I imagined smoking a piece of furniture would taste like.

LOL. Truly a good thing I wasn't smoking/chewing anything while reading that, I would've choked on it laughing. Similar experience here, only with a Lucienne pipe. Packed it way too tight (easy to do with Half & Half) and couldn't keep it lit for more than one puff. Dropped the hobby until this year when I found a local smoke shop that carried CB and PA Soft Vanilla.
First smoke I liked would be CB Royal in a MM Legend.

 

[andvary]

As far as I remember, my first smoke was a Mac Baren Original Choice in a no-name briar that used to belong to my grand-grandfather. I don't remember any taste or impressions, I was so concerned with the tempo and the temperature of the pipe...

 

[noquarter]

First smoke was Frog Morton. Opened the tin and was greeted with a smoky ketchupy aroma that i found quite pleasant.Half-loaded a Savinelli and lit. It was heavenly.

Prior to my first pipesmoking experience,I was an occasional cigar smoker with a 2 pack a day habit for 16 years and 4 years smoke-free after quitting cold turkey.

 

[dottiewarden]

I got my humble start with some very dry cigar leaf clippings in a King's Cross Featherweight 110A Blast.
After an ounce or so, I got some Exclusiv Royal and smoked an entire 50 gram pouch in the same pipe.
I finally got a tin of quality pipe tobacco,Irish Oak, and my first Peterson (Aran 106).
Things progressed slowly, but with continued improvement adding decent pipes and proper blends.
Today some of my favorite blends are FMOTB, London Mixture, Cube Silver, Golden Extra and several others.
Life is Good!

 

[doctorbob]

Frog Morton in a BC Supermate billiard. Wasn't what I was expecting, but not too bad.
Doc

 

[uberam3rica]

Some type of otc blend in a cheap Chinese pipe was my first. Not too long after that I upgraded to an oom Paul Cayuga from pauls pipe shop.

 

[macaroon]

I'm very new to pipe smoking--the smoking of anything, for that matter--with my first bowl being just barely over one year ago. Some of one of the local tobacconist's aromatic blends in an MM cob. Took a few bowls before I could actually begin to parse out what I was tasting.

 

[mackeson]

Some OTC cherry purchased from Meijer in '92 (back when the pipes and pipe tobacco were hanging from the shelves in the heath care section) :lol: . After that... RYO cigarette tobacco stuffed in and inhaled.

First "A-ha" moment was in '98 or '99 sampling the various Edward's blends -then a couple years later Haddo's delight. Glorious Haddo's....

 

[michiganlover]

Prince Albert smoked blazing hot in an MM Legend. Tasted of nothing but super hot ash. Got massive tongue bite, and the nicotine spins.
Despite that, Prince Albert remains one of my favorite blends.

 

[wilson]

40 years ago, a Grabow and Captain Black White. I don't remember it all that well, but I guess it was good enough that I kept at it.

 

[johnscs]

I'd describe my first smoke as more of a false start: My dad's grubby bent rhodesian, some of my grandpa's Sir Walter Raleigh, and a book of matches that I couldn't keep lit long enough to let me light sufficiently. At 14 or so, I was kind of disappointed by the smoke and the flavor. So much anticipation and effort for such modest enjoyment.
My REAL first smoke took place a little later. I was still 14, but I properly packed a new (unsmoked) Medico with Amphora (regular - brown packet) and lit up with a disposable butane lighter. For a kid, Amphora tasted pretty good and didn't really burn my mouth or tongue as much as I'd heard about. A friend of mine at the time smoked Prince Albert and occasionally Borkum Riff (his dad's brands) and always complained about tongue bite. Through my teens and into my early 20s, I stuck with Amphora and Borkum Riff, then moved on to Captain Black. Sampling 1Q at a tobacco shop for the first time when I left for college pretty much changed my life. ;-)

 

[ravid98]

That would be Samuel Gawith full virginia flake.

 

[ophiuchus]

My first attempt to smoke a pipe as a kid involved a combination of Paladin Black Cherry and wood ... I burned the hell out of my Dad's pipe. It wasn't until I was a freshman in college before having the first bowl of pipe I loved, by which time I'd already tried smoking just about everything else imaginable.

 

[jabo]

Circa,1966. Middleton Cherry blend or Sugar Barrel. Talk about tongue bite, whoa. I really thoughtthat went with it. Of course I was 13. But with age and experience we learn. Now I know how (sounds good,huh). Still learning. Oh, didn't mention all the Rabbit Tobacco smoked before then. But, that's another story. Happy smokes boys. ;-)'