Thanks guys, for all the advice! I knew I was asking the right people. Exactly the kind of stuff I needed to know.
And as for looking cute…I have wanted to try smoking a pipe for years now so I’m going to do it regardless of social customs of what is acceptable for women but I don’t plan to smoke in public. Just by myself every now and then when I chill at the lake. I might like it, I might not.
Just remember that a pipe is sipped. If you hit it or draw too hard, you’ll smoke too hot, have to relight too often, and give yourself tongue bite – which is really just scorching your tongue.
It’s a really rewarding hobby, and taking the time to have an hour’s smoke makes one more contemplative.
If you join the forum I posted, you’ll find they have a noob sampler trade thread. This is a great way to try dozens of great tobaccos without shelling out for individual tins. Stick to tins, in my book. Drugstore/pouch tobacco ranges from meh to blargh.
Browse the 3 and 4 star reviews here. Look for flavors/notes that you think you might like. It’s much better than blindly buying whatever is on hand at a brick and mortar store.
http://tobaccoreviews.com/browse_rating.cfm?RATING=4&orderBy=4&orderByDirection=DESC
http://tobaccoreviews.com/browse_rating.cfm?RATING=3&orderBy=4&orderByDirection=DESC
http://www.smokingpipes.com/tobacco/tinned/bestsellers100.cfm
Actually, I thought that was one of the advantages of pipe smoking. Gives you something to fiddle with while you’re pontificating. My freshman year philosophy professor smoked a pipe (yeah, it was that long ago), and it was the perfect appliance for academic punditry. You could sit there wreathed in smoke and if you had to think for a moment before answering, you could busy yourself with the pipe. I always figured that if I were dumb enough to take up smoking, it would definitely be pipe smoking.
I have to say that you’re a complete idiot for even considering starting a tobacco habit.
If you just like the smell, isn’t there another way to get there? Incense, pot-pourri, something?
One possibility are the new e-cig vaporizers. My shop has several tobacco flavors, including one that tastes and smells like pipe tobacco. You can get the liquid without anything but just the flavoring in it, so it would be much, much less bad for you than actual tobacco.
That said, if you’ve got a local tobacco shop that sells pipes, they can help you select a pipe and will have instructions on breaking it in. They’ll be happy to give advice as you go along. And they’ll generally have a selection of pipe tobaccos - mine here will let you try several to find what you like.
Please Quarter Girl, I beg, don’t start. Are you sure you are aware of all the risks associated with this? Do you have a clue as to how difficult this habit can be to lose?
redtail23 is right. No one but an idiot would start a tobacco habit if they knew the consequences of it. I don’t know if you do or not, but if you do (and I think you do)…whatever you say. If you don’t however, please do some research and make sure it is really something you want to do in spite of the health consequences.
I own a couple of decorative Egyptian hookahs. I smoke maybe twice a year, usually because a friend asks to try. It is a ton of work to get a bowl going, and then there is clean up after.
Although I regularly enjoy non-tobacco combustibles, the head-rush of nicotine is nice now and then.
Let’s dial back calling people names unless you’re in the Pit.
Quarter Girl, I regret now suggesting a corncob. I believe they burn hotter than other times.
In any case, let me tell you a story. I started smoking a Frank Medico pipe (only $1.00 back then) at the age of 14. I smoked more than a pound of tobacco a week until I was about 40.
I took solace in the fact that research I read showed that pipe smokers a had much lower rate of lung cancer than cigarette smokers. Mostly because we did not inhale that much I suppose.
In any case, I smoked almost all day. I let one pipe cool off and filled and smoked another.
I had a friend that I only met infrequently as he lived some distance away. He, like I, smoked a pipe all the time. One day we met at a conference and I was shocked.
It turned out he developed cancer of the tongue and had surgery to have it removed and also chemo and radiation. At this point, he could only talk a little bit, and he had to keep a handkerchief at his mouth all the time to wipe up the saliva. All he could eat was baby food.
The next day I threw away all my pipes, including a treasured meerschaum, dumped the tobacco can and never smoked again. That was 45 years ago, and i still remember my friend’s condition. He died a few years later when it turned out that it had metastasized.
When somebody lights up a pips now, I still have an overwhelming desire to start again, so don’t tell me it is not addictive.
As others have said, don’t start the tobacco habit, please. Get a bubble pipe. Or marry some guy who smokes a pipe. 
I tried a pipe for a while while in college. While I found it enjoyable, it was more expensive and involved than I had anticipated. You’ll want more than one pipe - not only to let them rest, but also because you’ll find different pipes are more appropriate for different situations. Tobacco itself is not terribly expensive, but you’l need a pipe tool and pipe cleaners.
Just saying - it involves buying and carrying considerably more than just a pack of cigs. At hoe, it can be pleasant to fiddle around with. But if out and about, you might find it a hassle.
I would strongly counsel against starting a tobacco habit. But if you do, I’d suggest starting with corncobs - just to reduce the initial investment until you are sure you will like it. When I decided to give it up, I was disappointed at the amount I had invested into just a few pipes - that were just really getting broken in. Probably only $50-75, but I was on a college budget.
Even if you’re alone, you’ll still look cute.
Well, maybe not. http://deniskitchen.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=bios.mammyyokum
:eek: Now, that is what I call a tobacco habit.
How do you get a cat to smoke a pipe?
So this *isn’t *the thread about Tim Tebow?
Best anti-smoking testimony ever. The OP seems to have some romantic association with being at a lake and smoking a pipe. What she’ll succeed in doing is funking up her clothing and skin and hair, and annoying anybody else at said lake who is there to enjoy the fresh air. Why any woman, knowing what we know now about smoking and women’s health, would voluntarily take up tobacco, is beyond my comprehension.
Yes. Be sure not to smoke a pound a week for 26 years.
Listen, I am not pro smoking. You will see me posting in all the quit smoking support threads telling people that they do have the strength to quit. But honestly the OP is an adult and I can’t imagine that she doesn’t know the risks. Lots of stuff is really really bad for you, but totally acceptable in society. Some stuff, like alcohol, is even immediately dangerous to others, and yet we have many threads on selecting alcoholic beverages. If she knows the risks (and I assume she must, being alive in the world today and all) and makes a decision to engage in a risky behavior as an adult, that’s really up to her.
Let her be.
You can’t assume any level of education (or even the age) for someone you’ve never met. It’s morally irresponsible not to warn someone who is putting themselves in danger. The advice here has not been hysterical, nor abusive, but necessary.
Reminds me of the proverbs my wise ol’ grampy used to spin for us as he puffed on his pipe on the porch chair.
“if you ain’t got a dong, better put down the bong!”
“if you gots ya three holes, don’t go packin’ no bowls!”
“do ya pee and then wipe? well then, stay off that pipe!”
“there’s not nothing less finer than a 'baccoed vaginer!”
… then he’d rape us 
