New pipe smoker

Brothers of Briar

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Wow!....and welcome to this group of nice guys that will help you gently lose your pipe-ish virginity. Just ask, and we'll answer. The ride to knowledge of pipes, tobaccos, etc. will be pleasant, or, it might be confusing at first, but it's worth it in the end.

You didn't ask but my most ardent advice:
Only buy bulk-blends that you can buy in small amounts, or order some samples of many different blends, both English and Aromatics until you can figure out what direction your tastes are pointing. It's far more economical to buy smaller amounts of mixtures that suit your fancy and curiosity.

Good luck and hoping that smoking a pipe will bring you many hours of peaceful enjoyment.
 
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Thanks all for making me feel welcome.
So I have a couple of estate pipes that I purched from ebay like you do, not wanting to commit to much money to the hobby at first. I got some petersons luxury blend and wow I loved it and have been slowly getting my way through a couple of 50g tins. Then I decided to treat myself and buy a shape 55, a shape that really looks great in my opinion! The pipe is from LCS briars and i would like to try some different tobacco in it. What would you guys recommend ?
 
Welcome, pull up a chair and set a while!

Two points for first time smokers.

Buy a cob, they're an inexpensive neutral smoker that will let you familiarize yourself with the flavour of different tobacco types without bias. A porcelaine pipe also serves this purpose beautifully but they are more expensive and tougher to find.

Second, sample different tobacco types, ie. Virginia, Burley, Latakia, Turkish, Cavendish, without casing or flavouring to learn their characteristics and find your niche. Uncased blends have very distinct character eg, VaPers (Virginia/ Perique), or VaBurs (Virginia/Burley), American, English, Danish, and Oriental blends, before they are flavoured.

You can experiment extensively without toppings. Find a tobacco type you really like alone, then experiment with toppings. As BriarPipeNYC mentioned, work with bulks, look for blending tobaccos, they will be unflavoured. Enjoy yourself in all things pipe!
 
My new pipe arrived this morning from LCS briars London and I am over the moon with the quality of the craftsmanship Simon at LCS has done.
Any recommendations how I should break in this gorgeous pipe ?
I've read some say use good quality honey and others say not to, I Don want to ruin it any help would be appreciated
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Aussiemike said:
Beautiful pipe Stu, it wouldn't matter to me if good bad or ugly tobacco. I would light that lovely thing up and enjoy asap. :LOL:
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Yeah I couldn't wait had to go put on my lunch break and some it with some tobacco I don't particularly like but it tasted a lot nicer in this pipe. Usually I smoke in an old estate pipe I purchased from ebay so this is the first proper new pipe I've ever smoked and boy is there a difference it the taste of the tobacco
 
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