Why a pipe?

[Oddball]

So with “where do you smoke” going around I thought it would be interesting to find out what turned you into a pipe smoker.
For me it was my grandpa when I was quite young with a combination of Carter Hall and a Yellow Bole NOVA on Friday nights watching the Opry on TNN. He smoked until he had a heart attack and was forced to quit. I now have his pipes and rack though I have never felt any desire to smoke any of them.

 

[puros_bran]

Way back when (pre-internet) I smoked a cob with Bugle Boy while camping and such until I discovered Backwoods cigars. I smoked these for quite a few years until the dreaded day I discovered a Thompson Cigar catalog at a tank wash. I borrowed (ok I stole it, but I left a Cabelos catalog and a HotRod mag) the catalog and spent the next week or so pouring over the pages. After a week or so of the 'softening up' talk I informed the wife I was ordering some stogies. This led to that and before you know it I was swept away in tobacciana world. When I would visit my mother and step-dad,he would council me on what was good,all the while puffing on an old pipe. After a couple years of this, I began questioning why he 'gave-up' cigars for the pipe. He stated "pipes are cheaper,there's more variety, and the tobaccos better." Of course I didn't believe him but over the next few visits I began to question him more and more. I wandered into my Cigar shop one day and instead of walking to the humidor I went to the pipe counter. I walked out with a Savinelli 2oz each of MacBaren Virginia #1 and Golden Extra. I showed it off to the wife, loaded up a bowl of one or the other and proceded to destroy my mouth. Of course I smoked all of the tobacco, noway was I admitting to the wife I'd just made a 100 dollar mistake. The following month was fathers day,my birthday,christmas or some such occasion when women buy men gifts. Mine? A Winslow and a tin of Penzance, Gawd I dreaded it but I had to smoke it and act like I loved it. I packed the pipe and...hold it.... Ths doesn't taste like that MacBaren stuff....Damn this is good.... Thanks honey. I've been hooked since.

 

[Mikem]

About 20 some years ago I just thought I would like to try it out since I smoked the occasional cigar. Plus I remember the wonderful smells of my Grandfathers pipe. Found a local pipe shop, bought a Gefapip Giant and started smoking Lane 1Q. Then through the Internet and another local pipe shop about eight years ago I learned about other blends and Latakia :cyclops: :cheers: . Its never been the same since.

 

[Justpipes]

I grew up in the south and was surounded by all forms of tobacco use. My father smoked a pipe. My grandfather smoked Optimo cigars. My other grandfather smoked roll your own cigarettes (Bugler). We all chewed tobacco. I started chewing tobacco on a daily basis when I was 8-9 years old. I was not allowed to smoke but us younguns would sneak and smoke dried corn silks and rabbit tobacco, sometimes rolled up in newspaper or if possible with some of my grandfather's rolling papers. Then when we were old enough to go to town and had our own money we bought corn cobs. One thing led to another. I have always used some sort of form of oral tobacco but smoked a pipe on and off most of my adult life, I guess because of the influence of my dad smoking a pipe. Like Mike mentioned above with the advent of the internet and the strong retail push in the 90's I discovered the diverse world of pipe smoking that has evolved and I took up the pipe on a more full time basis about 10 years ago. I have never cared for cigarettes at all! I smoked a few but never could develop a taste for them. Nasty I think! I still dip snuff and chew tobacco and probably always will unless I am forced to quit. I really wish society was more accepting of pipe smoking like it was back in the days of my childhood. We probably won't ever see those times again.

 

[morleysson]

I took up pipesmoking because all the men whom I admired were pipesmokers, and they seemd to be enjoying themselves. Cigarettes, I think Benson and Hedges or Parliaments, were what I would pilfer from the parents. But, the pipe was always available in my grandfather's work area, or on his chair. It really didn't take much to take a few puffs when his pipe was lit. I decided shortly after Christmas of my freshman year at college that this was what I wanted to do. Receiving no objections from the parents, and spending my earned resources, I bought a basket pipe and some Middleton 5 at a store near the campus. Never looked back. It was inevitable, though. I always wanted to become my grandfather, my only goal, and I have almost. He had better stories and a more diverse life as a ship's carpenter and barge captain, and the list could go on and on. He never appeared to be flustered or off-center , and he always had a pipe smoking. Couldn't be bad, right?

 

[Wet Dottle]

My father gave me a pipe when I was in college. He wasn't a pipe smoker, but he had this Ronson pipe (I know not why), a little thing looking like present day Falcons. He showed it to me and I asked if I could get it. "Sure!" he said, and things were never the same. I started with Mixture No. 79. This was in the early 80's. Mix 79 was completely different from what it is today. It was made of little solid cubes and had this wonderful bouquet, and it tasted like it, too. Very chocolaty and not dry at all. I also used to smoke Danish Truffles. I can't find them anywhere anymore. I think this was an aromatic of European origin. Also very chocolaty and delicious. The little Ronson and these two blends did it for me.

 

[ftrplt]

Grew up around, and in, Winston-Salem, NC with the wonderful smells from the RJ Reynolds plants that used to be downtown. Primed tobacco as a kid and teen; family had 40-some acre tobacco allotment. Worked at the RJR Whitaker plant for a while (really good money for the day!!). Never smoked cigs; both parents did. My sister and I hated the things! But I always enjoyed the aroma of pipe tobacco and cigars. Got my first pipe when I was a freshman at NC State in 1964. Been hooked on pipes and cigars ever since. Have never inhaled (well, never intentionallY!!) and have no addiction to nicotine. Took me a while to figure out what tobaccos I really enjoyed (English/Balkan blends the best). 44 years of doin' it and still goin' strong!!! FTRPLT

 

[regor]

Nobody in my family ever smoked a pipe. What got me started was the teachers in Military School smoked pipes alot and it was the only time they looked peaceful and happy and it smelled pretty good. I never forgot that time and feeling. There are many times when I'm enjoying a bowl and think of that time back in the late 50's and early 60's. In 62 was the last time I saw a teacher smoke in class. Time sure does fly :bounce: :cyclops: :sunny: :sunny:

 

[Carlos]

Something very nostalgic about a pipe. Memories of good smelling tobaccos. Family and friends. Growing up, cigarettes were more convenient. Trying to learn the pipe without help was a struggle. Something that I seem to have gotten the knack of here in the past 5 years.

That after quiting cigs 15 years earlier. Mostly because they are down right nasty. I don't think they were always like that. But they became nothing more than sinking, flavored, treated paper, nicotine bombs.

The big difference is I smoke the pipe by choice. Not because of a need, or addictive craving. The ritual relaxes me. Reduces stress in my life, more than any chemical in the tobacco.

 

[gospelman]

Being around my great-grandfather when I was a boy...smelling his tobacco...I think that was the germ of the thought that I might like to try a pipe.

I started when I was in college in the mid-70s. I went to a tobacconist and they hooked me up with a pipe and some Captain Black, and I was on my way.

However, just about two or three years ago, I found that there was a whole 'nother world of tobacco, thanks to the Knox board and others. I've immensely enjoyed trying different blends, and am eternally grateful to those on the aforementioned board who gave me suggestions and guidance in my journey through pipe tobaccodom. ( Ha...I just made up a new word!)

Mike

 

[Puff Daddy]

There's certainly a nostalgia element (grampa smoked a pipe) that drew me into it but after several aborted attempts with Grabows and Borkum Riff type tobacco's I knew, absolutely knew that there had to be something special there that I was simply too dense to figure out on my own. I mean, the old fellers I saw smoking pipes seemed to be blissfully enjoying it, the stuff sure smelled great, why did it taste like crap and burn my mouth? I decided that I would begin a determined quest to find out what the deal was, convinced that there had to be something there, some sub culture somewhere with the answers.

Found it on the Knox board. Wonder of wonders! There were all kinds of pipes and tobaccos, some amazingly beautiful and exquisite pipes beyond my wildest imaginings, and apparently the pouch and bulk aromatics that littered the shelves of drug stores and B&M's were a diversionary tactic to keep people off the trail of the really good stuff. Took a while to learn the ins and outs and work up some honest, hard earned opinions and tastes, but it was worth it! I recommend to any and all newcomers to the hobby to be patient, stay away from the real cheap stuff and go slow. It's worth it! 8)

 

[bolson]

It started for me as a young lad hunting pheasants in South Dakota(my home state). One of the old timers who hunted with us and owned the good hunting land would always smoke a pipe at the lunch break and end of the day. I loved the smell and the old guy made me laugh. I thought back then that some day I would be the old funny guy smoking a pipe.....zoom to 2007 and I walk into the baccy shop and lay down the cash for a Peterson 80s. I thought the thing looked cool...and smoked well to.

I am not yet old and not too funny, but I did pick up the pipe I had been thinking of since I was 12.

 

[Anonymous]

I did pick up the pipe I had been thinking of since I was 12.

I love happy endings :cheers: :cheers:

:face:

 

[Ol'Dawg]

Why pipe smoking? Short answer-it beat the heck out of smoking grapevine.

Actually, my dad, grand dad, great grand dad, and great great grand dad all smoked pipes, along with several uncles, neighbors and folks that lived near my grand dad's farm. I loved the smell of their tobaccos and the calming effect it seemed to have on them, though I'm just guessing about my great great grand dad and have only seen pictures of my great grand dad. As soon as I thought I was "man" enough I bought a pipe and cloth pouch of Bull Durham soon to be replaced by Country Gentleman as I wasn't quite man enough at the mature age of 14 to grab a bull by the horns.

Thanks to the internet and pipe and tobacco message boards I've learned more about pipes and tobacco the last 5 years than in the previous 43.

Jim

 

[Muleskinner]

I grew up around my Grandfather who smoked a pipe. He grew his own tobacco and sprinkled it with honey and molasses water, then toasted it in the oven on the wood cook stove. He also made his own twist chewing tobacco. I always thought it smelled so good. When I was around 7 or 8 years old, I started slipping and taking puffs off his pipe. Most of the pipes were cheap pipes but he had one Weber pipe that he called his Sunday pipe and I still own that pipe. It was a bent bulldog. So the rest is kinda history I have been smoking and collecting pipes since then. The bulldog shape is still my favorite.

Muleskinner