To Begin Smoking Pipe Tobacco

[bourboncc]

On another note where do you all smoke? My wife is lenient on most items (read: everything else), but she's always had some minor breathing issues and can't stand smoke. I'd like to smoke a pipe when the mood strikes during the winter, but can't stand the cold; it's just not pleasurable if I have to be cold. Do space heaters generate enough heat to make a detached garage doable for a session? Any other suggestions?

No cigar or pipe shops in your area?

Also, to answer the OP, I work for a cigar company so I might be a little biased, but I find pipes to be a PITA. The amount of maintenance that it takes to keep a pipe running well, not to mention to keep the tobacco lit while smoking, is just too much work for me. I also typically prefer fuller bodied Nicaraguan tobaccos, so generally pipe tobaccos don't do it for me.

[Young Blacksmith]

I've been a piper for about 8 years now. Switched over from cigars when I realized price and enjoyment were not there anymore.

If you've smoked before, especially cigars, I'd recommend something not aromatic. A pure virginia or virginia with perique, a stout burley, or even a latakia laden english.

I also recommend using a cob as your first main pipe. It looks country, but costs less than $10 and breaks in within a few smokes. Lets you get a feel for the pipe and smoking it without worrying about break in, breaking it, or what you've smoked in it.

For tobaccos I'd recommend opening jars at your local good tobacco store and sniffing. If one trips your fancy, pick up an ounce and try it out. If you can't do that, then the Stokkebye Bullseye Flake is one I love, Dunhill's Deluxe Navy Rolls is another.

Most places will carry at least Prince Albert, Carter Hall, or Sir Walter Raleigh, all burleys. I prefer Sir Walter myself. I'm not much for the latakia englishes or balkans so I can't help there except to say try one and see if you like the flavors.

[taylor714]

I've smoked cigars in the past and wanted to get into pipes because: 1. you can control the amount of tobacco you smoke at each session and 2. the tobacco is much cheaper than cigars.

I picked up a pipe a few weeks ago from an estate sale with the intention of not having to break one in. For 10 bucks or so I got a Dr. Grabow from the late 70s/ early 80s. I took it to a local tobacco shop where they told me it was unused - so a great price, but needed to be broken in. That said, I'd check local estate sales to try to find a pipe for a very reasonable price - especially since you very well might make some poor choices with your first pipe (or so I'm told).

About aromatics vs. english blends: I picked up a few aromatics that the local tobacco shop (Straus tobacconist) recommended to try out. Flavors are fairly mild, but reasonably interesting. I like to release the smoke slowly out my mouth and inhale a bit to get the aroma. I haven't picked up any english blends; online it seemed like most pipe smokers recommended starting with aromatics first. It seems that the english style is a bit of an acquired taste (take that with a grain of salt since I haven't tried them myself). Any recommendations for english/ natural pipe tobaccos to start with?

On another note where do you all smoke? My wife is lenient on most items (read: everything else), but she's always had some minor breathing issues and can't stand smoke. I'd like to smoke a pipe when the mood strikes during the winter, but can't stand the cold; it's just not pleasurable if I have to be cold. Do space heaters generate enough heat to make a detached garage doable for a session? Any other suggestions?

I didn't believe it til I tried it, but I smoke in my study with the door closed and windows cracked. For some reason, pipe smokers doesn't linger and stay like cigarettes or cigars

as far as English blends, McClelland dark English is excellent, as is peter stokkebye English. Squadron leader from Samuel Gawith is also phenomenal. If I loved the smokiness of English blends right away. Very rich, aromatic, and woodsy. If you want to try a few samples, send me your contact info and I'll get some your way.

For the record, I highly recommend corn cob pipes. They are inexpensive but smoke very well and can be replaced easily. If you smoke an English blends and don't like the camp fire smokiness and woodsy flavor, your pipe will still taste like that for many smokes to, come. It's called ghosting, where a specific tobacco impregnates the briar with its specific signature.

[taylor714]

No cigar or pipe shops in your area?

Also, to answer the OP, I work for a cigar company so I might be a little biased, but I find pipes to be a PITA. The amount of maintenance that it takes to keep a pipe running well, not to mention to keep the tobacco lit while smoking, is just too much work for me. I also typically prefer fuller bodied Nicaraguan tobaccos, so generally pipe tobaccos don't do it for me.

I came from 7 or 8 cigars a week to almost all pipe smoking. Much more in the way of flavor expansion. Also, if properly packed, a pipe should need only a few relights, maybe every 15 minutes or so, and that is just a quick match. Certain tobaccos will burn the whole way without needing a relights. Ad far ad maintenance, a quick pass of a pipe cleaner when done smoking is all the needed maintenance. When starting a pipe, it can seem daunting and frustrating, but just as it takes time to develop a palate for bourbon, so does it take time to master the art and skills of piping.

With all that being said, I still love cigars! Who do you happen to rep for?

[Beer&Bourbon]

No cigar or pipe shops in your area?

The place I picked up the tobacco at was a shop downtown. I know of at least 2 shops downtown, but the cost of parking downtown combined with the hassle and cold from walking around make it not worth it to me. There's a shop by my parents that I've been to a few times when the wife and I head back there, but we don't go very often; I rarely get the opportunity even when we do.

If anyone knows a good shop in Cincinnati, please let me know. I live in St. Bernard so a fairly central place that has a easy parking would be awesome.

[Young Blacksmith]

Just like bourbon, pipes and tobacco can be ordered from the net!

www.pipesandcigars.com
www.smokingpipes.com
www.4noggins.com

are just a sampling of my favorite retailers. Where I live I'm lucky to have a cigar store. I'm a member there because of their lounge with wi-fi. If I need to get away from the family and do some high speed surfing that's where I go. I rarely buy stuff from them though, and they know it. They have special ordered a few things in for me in the last few months just to be nice to me I think.

[ErichPryde]

wow, had a LOT of posts since I was last here! It's good to see that people are contributing to this thread, and honestly, great to see there are some more pipers on the board!

Lots of good info here, now. For any of you who started smoking pipes recently (at this point, geologically speaking) I'd make another recommendation: If you started with aromatics and you LIKE smoking a pipe, you may want to consider picking up a second pipe for trying English tobacco. smoking both types from the same pipe can yield some very interesting and potentially undesirable results. It can be difficult to get the "ghost" of an english tobacco out of a pipe if it was dedicated to aromatics to begin with, and you may end up with a pipe that doesn't taste the same again without some serious reaming, salt & whiskey cleaning.

As far as smoking a pipe in doors, a delegated room with a HEPA filter works wonders. Pipe tobacco is way, way less acidic than cigar smoke and typically contains less chemical additives than cigarettes, so it tends to haunt a room less. But it can happen.

[p_elliott]

As far as smoking a pipe in doors, a delegated room with a HEPA filter works wonders. Pipe tobacco is way, way less acidic than cigar smoke and typically contains less chemical additives than cigarettes, so it tends to haunt a room less. But it can happen.

The first car I ever owned was obviously previously owned by a pipe smoker. I always though that car smelled good.

[ErichPryde]

I used to make a habit of smoking a small bowl of English tobacco while on my way to work in the evenings in the truck. My wife was none the wiser. (Don't tell her now!)

[Bourbon Boiler]

I've smoked cigars in the past and wanted to get into pipes because: 1. you can control the amount of tobacco you smoke at each session and 2. the tobacco is much cheaper than cigars. ...

Number one is what prompted me to buy my first pipe last month. So many times I'm in the mood for a good cigar, but I realize I'm really only in the mood for about a third of a good cigar. Now I'm looking for tobacco suggestions. I'm thinking I'll start with English as it seems to be more "cigar-esqe". Are there rules of thumb for matching cigar flavors to pipe tobacco flavors?