I think the Olsen is Danish, so you should be able to find it easily enough.
If you’re in Germany, I have to ask: Have you tried a Max Brandt pipe? Beautifully crafted, like works of art on their own, and they smoke beautifully. I have a Max Brandt MB–I understand very few make it to North America, so I consider myself lucky to have found one for sale here. I can’t believe he made it when he was only 17. But a wonderful pipe, sort of like the one on the right in the photo of his pipes in the link.
I actually do have a hookah, along with a whole arsenal of… smoking accoutrements, but none I could use in public.
I think mostly it’s that I probably couldn’t just break out a pipe and have a smoke in public, without drawing a bunch of unwanted attention and questions. It’s not that I’m worried about defying social conventions, it’s just that I do things because I want to do them, and not because they’ll bring me attention, you know? Like falconry, you can’t fly a hawk where there’s a remote possibility someone might see you, or you’ll be mired down in onlookers before you know it. If I smoke a pipe, it’ll be because I want to smoke a pipe, and not because I want to talk to people about my choice to smoke a pipe. I hope that makes sense. Being female seems to have a tendency to complicate this sort of thing.
I have smoked cigars, and I’m usually done with them by about a quarter of the way through it. The more I think about it, the more a pipe seems the way to go. What the hell, maybe I’ll get one. Do you inhale pipe smoke the way you do cigarettes? Or is it more like a cigar, where you just roll it around in your mouth?
Enjoy pipe smoke as you would cigar smoke: roll it around and enjoy the flavour and the aroma. Don’t inhale it.
For a while, my local tobacconist was stocking what they called “ladies’ pipes.” These were generally smaller and more delicate-looking models of the other pipes–much like a woman’s watch can be a smaller, more delicate version of a man’s watch. Anyway, the tobacconist said that while they weren’t flying off the shelf, a few ladies had indeed bought them for themselves. Wish I could remember the manufacturer, and it’s been years since I lived there otherwise I’d ask the tobacconist, but maybe if these “ladies’ pipes” are still around, they’re something you should look into.
I’ve been a pipe smoker off and on for 40 years. My current favorite is Solani’s X, although the ones you’ve listed are excellent also. It tough to get good pipe tobacco here. Maine has enacted ridiculous laws about mailing tobacco into the State and none of our local stores have a decent selection. I have a son out of state who mails it to me and when i run short i need to drive to Boston to stock up.
Very relaxing habit.
Phlosphr, thanks for that link. Very nice selection of meerschaums and the prices aren’t bad.
