Last week, while at the checkout at Walgreen’s, I noticed they have a section of pipe smoker supplies behind the cashiers–pipes, cleaners, and tobacco tins. This suprised me because I have only once seen a person use a pipe in real life, and I’m not totally sure it was tobacco:) Do you use pipe tobacco or know someone who does? How did you get into it? Why do you prefer it to cigarettes?
I’ve got some pipes… but they’re made of glass.
Anyway, I know someone about my age (early 20s) who uses a pipe to smoke tobacco and I’ve always thought it made him look like a giant hipster douchebag. The only other time I’ve seen someone use a pipe in real life (that I can recall) was an older guy driving his car. I guess older people can work the pipe look.
I can only think of three people I’ve known that smoked one. (Well, a tobacco one. Many that use pipes to smoke other things.)
My uncle.
My 8th grade history teacher.
When my dad owned a convenience store a while back, there was an elderly customer we nicknamed “popeye”, who smoked a pipe, and yes, bore a striking resemblance to popeye.
My uncle is the only one of the above I still know, but I think he’s quit, as I never see him step outside to smoke it on holidays any more.
I’ve known far, far more people that smoked cigars. Pity, because I love the smell of pipe smoke. Cigars, not so much, if I’m not the one smoking it.
ETA: I’m 35, so probably still not in the age range where it’d be common amongst my peers. When I was growing up, it always seemed to be older folks who smoked one.
Me. I have been a pipe smoker for close to 30 years.
BMalion has been at it longer than I have, but I’ve smoked a pipe for quite a while. I buy my pipe tobacco in bulk online (mostly from Mars Cigars) and at this late date I already own all the briar pipes I’ll ever need. When I did buy pipes, I rarely bought them new. I either bought them from the “vintage” drawers at tobacconists (the two best I ever visited were J.B. Hayes in Northern Virginia and a place called Cigar and Tabac, Ltd in Overland Park, Kansas) or on eBay.
I got into pipe smoking a couple of years ago. I started a thread here to help get me started. A bunch of SDMB pipe connoisseurs chimed in.
Did you just make a funny?
Knowing nothing about the subject, could you explain why would you prefer a pipe that has been previously stuck in someone else’s mouth for God knows how long?
I understand how a new pipe needs to be “seasoned” or broken in, a process taking months or years to do properly, but I had no idea that there was a market for used pipes for those unwilling to break in a pipe themselves…
Can you elaborate?
Do you bring your own spoon to a restaurant?
The preference for previously owned pipes is just about entirely financial in my case. Take a look at a website that sells both new and used briar pipes and you’ll see that they can be quite pricey.
The estate pipes I have bought are thoroughly cleaned, reamed and polished before I ever put them in my mouth (either by the seller, or as on a single occasion with an eBay purchase, by me). I’ve never been bothered by the fact that they are pre-owned although the fact that some of them almost certainly came onto the market because their previous owner had died creeped me out a bit. I got over it. After all they were alive when they smoked the pipes, so it really isn’t any different from buying a pipe from someone who had decided to quit.
Breaking in a pipe can take a little while but it isn’t difficult. You just put it into your pipe rotation so that you don’t smoke it more often than once every few days. This is only a problem for new smokers, since they don’t have a group of already-smoked pipes. It’s not a difficult problem to overcome. Neither meerschaum nor corncob pipes require breaking in. So starting with one or more of those and adding briars into the mix over time will keep you from oversmoking a new pipe.
Probably more information than you actually wanted.
Oh yeah. Going on 10 years. I’ve got a dozen pipes - all briar save for one Altinok meerschaum. I’ve got pounds of tinned tobacco in my cellar too. I’m a huge fan of Stanwell pipes and G.L. Pease tobacco. The majority of drugstore pipes and tobacco are to piping what McDonald’s is to hamburgers. Smokingpipes.com gets most of my business. Missouri Meerschaum corncob pipes, while cheesy, are cheap and fool proof for those interested in trying a pipe. But don’t ever skimp on the tobacco. Browse through the 3 and 4 star rated tobaccos on tobaccoreviews.com and find a few tins to order online. I can’t recommend G.L. Pease enough.
You can find me over at the pipe forums at puff.com. There’s a great bunch of people over there with ample advice, and it’s a nice community with lots of free samples and fair trading. I’ve led and organized the custom forum member pipe project over there for the last two years.
Not at all; Indeed a very thorough, thoughtful, informative post.
I had no idea about the cost of a new, high quality briar pipe. Not something the average guy can afford to pick up a new one of every week or two, eh?
I am not a smoker, but I always thought that pipe smokers were kind of able to have their own personal incense burners with them, inhaling a bit of the fragrant smoke on occasion…
I’m not anymore. I gave it up when I had a kid. I still have all my pipes, but gave away(almost all of) the last of my tobacco earlier this year.
But I am a wealth of information on the subject. It was a serious hobby of mine for years.
I used to love Greg Pease’s stuff, but he has a fondness for Latakia that I think would put most newcomers off. Then again, I was smoking almost exclusively Red VA when I quit so it’s not like my tastes exactly run mainstream.
Dang I didn’t actually answer the OPs questions and I posted twice. Let’s see if I can hit the edit window.
I started smoking a pipe in college, 1/5 because I needed to learn to use one for a play I was putting together 4/5ths because I thought that anacronistic shit like pipes were cool. Turned out I actually liked it a lot, and not really for the cool factor (there isn’t one, it turns out). I smoked a pipe for about 10 years regularly and was an active member of SmokersForums.org (possibly now defunct). I was also a heavy cigarette smoker, but they were very different for me.
While I think latakia is a godsend, he’s since branched out. Union Square is one of the best straight Virginias available, JackKnife Plug and Triple Play are excellent and latakia free, and Fillmore is my favorite of all.
The other ones are new since I quit but I liked Fillmore a lot. It never made my everyday rotation but I did always have some on hand. McCrainies Red Ribbon was my go to everyday smoke. But different strokes, there is a lot of good stuff out there and you could do worse than Pease. He is a really really interesting guy. Have you read his blog at all? I don’t know if he still keeps it up, it’s been almost three years since I have thought much about pipes and tobacco, but it was fantastic. Very thoughtful and informative.
I’ve smoked a pipe for several years. I started on cigarettes, and then tried the pipe.
The difference is amazing. Cigarettes taste nasty after smoking pipe tobacco, and you don’t inhale when smoking a pipe, but still get the nicotine. Sweet!
GL Pease and Esoterica are my favorites.
They can be expensive, but they’re not really the kind of thing that you’d buy every week or two. With proper care and cleaning, a briar pipe will last a lifetime, so it is not necessary to have a huge collection. Unless you want one, of course.