So you talked me into it

[RookieGuy]

So a successful trip! I managed to get a burly called Burly Broadcut and a black Cavendish. I was fighting the temptation on that Cavendish the whole way home too, let me tell you. Exactly how I remember it smelling. I wanted to bring home a Virginia, but didn't. There were none bulk, and the tins, well, I blanked. And the guy behind the counter was honest with me, knew all about the bulk, but hasn't really entered the world of tinned tobacco. So instead, and to encourage honesty even when it's not helpful, I ended up walking out with this little no name Italian made basket pipe.
This will be my first briar as well as my first bent stem. Some of you might see a bit of burly packed down in there. Yeah, I'm about to light some up now, just a half bowl to test both the pipe and tobacco. I'll try the Cavendish tonight.

 

[Kentos]

Looks like a nice pipe! Bent Pot-ish maybe?

 

[Hirsute]

So a successful trip! I managed to get a burly called Burly Broadcut and a black Cavendish. I was fighting the temptation on that Cavendish the whole way home too, let me tell you. Exactly how I remember it smelling. I wanted to bring home a Virginia, but didn't. There were none bulk, and the tins, well, I blanked. And the guy behind the counter was honest with me, knew all about the bulk, but hasn't really entered the world of tinned tobacco. So instead, and to encourage honesty even when it's not helpful, I ended up walking out with this little no name Italian made basket pipe. View attachment 1107503View attachment 1107504
This will be my first briar as well as my first bent stem. Some of you might see a bit of burly packed down in there. Yeah, I'm about to light some up now, just a half bowl to test both the pipe and tobacco. I'll try the Cavendish tonight.

Great looking pipe!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RookieGuy]

Thank you! I'm not sure the exact shape. The label just had an inventory number and price ($38.97). A bent pot or billiard.
The inaugural bowl smoked at least as well as the cobs (although it was 5x the price) and took a pipe cleaner down the stem to the bowl mid smoke. Just to try it.

I packed about a third of the bowl and something weird happened. It didn't go out on me! The foolish thing stayed lit from the first puff to the white grey ash. I may have to further investigate this.

Oh! Was I supposed to have had an unpleasant taste or anything from virgin briar? Because all I got was a pleasant nuttiness and the barest suggestion of what might have been dark cocoa. It has me looking forward to tomorrow's bowl!

But tonight Mrs. Rookie has asked me very nicely to try the Cavendish. Asked in such a way that tonight I will take the cob I've been smoking English in and fill out with this rich dark tobacco and see if it tastes as good as it smells.

And my last Rookie question (for right now) has to do with resting my pipe. At this moment, all my pipe stuff fits nicely in the closet on the highest shelf (kids). That won't be the case forever. And within the next couple weeks everything will be relocated to my basement. I have an old piece of furniture with glass doors. So here's the question. When resting my pipes, is behind glass doors in a basement ok? Or am I looking for fresh circulating air (as much as a cinderblock basement will provide)? Thanks everyone!

 

[AimlessWanderer]

I packed about a third of the bowl and something weird happened. It didn't go out on me! The foolish thing stayed lit from the first puff to the white grey ash. I may have to further investigate this.

Sound like you're doing something right. Congrats

 

[Kentos]

I have all my pipes in a drawer, with a “resting” rack above. After a smoke I run a few pipe cleaners into the pipe, wipe stray ash from the bowl, pass a fresh cleaner into the pipe and set it in the rack for a few days to dry out, after which then it goes into the drawer.

 

[KellyG]

For a good while, my pipes rested on various pipe racks on shelves in an old entertainment center/display case with wood frame doors with glass inserts. The pipes did fine but my wife thought the odor a bit much whenever she opened the doors (why she opened them I have no clue). She solved the problem by giving me a pipe cabinet for Christmas. Her primary motivation was to limit my pipe accumulation, in my humble opinion. i ended up with a 48 pipe cabinet that hangs the basement wall. It has a wood frame plexiglass door. The pipes do fine and for whatever reason, the odor isn’t as strong, or so she tells me. Her ploy to limit the accumulation did not work.

 

[RookieGuy]

So last night I tried that black Cavendish. Oh my God it was horrible! It smelled nice, but it was like smoking a Black and Mild! I ended up dumping out half the bowl, chain smoked a few cigarettes, and washed it down with a healthy shot of Jack Daniels to get the taste out of my mouth. That I think I'll be mixing with other blends.

It did smell nice though. Mrs. Rookie liked what clung to my beard and mustache. So while that's a definite positive, I'll be leaving the black Cavendish alone for a while.

Thank you everyone for the advice on resting my pipes. Sounds like a rack on the top of the furniture is the way to go. Easy enough.

 

[nortac]

My wife detests the smell of tobacco, so I let my pipes sit out on the screened in porch for a few days before I bring them back inside the house. They are of course protected from the weather and direct sunlight.

 

[RookieGuy]

I'm very lucky there. Mrs. Rookie finds the smell of pipe tobacco (especially English blends) "very manly and a little sexy".

Tonight I think is a burley night. I've heard nothing but good things about smoking burley blends from a cob pipe. I tell you, it's only been a couple bowls, but I'm digging that burley! Smooth as a good scotch, that kinda nutty sweet with the barest trace of cocoa. I see a purchase of some drugstore pouches in my future.

Something else that surprised me, I understand why some people are clenchers now. That bent briar taught me a couple things. It's still not my way, but I get why it's yours.

 

[oc_in_fw]

I'm very lucky there. Mrs. Rookie finds the smell of pipe tobacco (especially English blends) "very manly and a little sexy".

Tonight I think is a burley night. I've heard nothing but good things about smoking burley blends from a cob pipe. I tell you, it's only been a couple bowls, but I'm digging that burley! Smooth as a good scotch, that kinda nutty sweet with the barest trace of cocoa. I see a purchase of some drugstore pouches in my future.

Something else that surprised me, I understand why some people are clenchers now. That bent briar taught me a couple things. It's still not my way, but I get why it's yours.

If you want to bump the burley up a notch, order some Solani Aged Burley Flake or MacBaren HH Burley Flake. ABF has s a little harder to find, but it’s one of the best out there

 

[steveclarkus]

If you want to bump the burley up a notch, order some Solani Aged Burley Flake or MacBaren HH Burley Flake. ABF has s a little harder to find, but it’s one of the best out there

Cob pipes work for anything by the way. You can get some very nice remakes of the old American OTC (codger) blends from Pipesandcigars.com. Order some 1 oz. samples for under three bucks. I have a thread going on some of these blends - impressions, not actual reviews. In any case Burley rocks!

 

[RookieGuy]

I've been following your thread, steveclarkus. Very interesting. I keep going back to the burley and my one example of a vaper. I must slow down on the Escudo, it's too expensive to burn through like that.

Last night on a whim though I packed a bowl of the English again. I'm not going to say I learned all its secrets, but I did realize that it shines when the sun doesn't. At least when the temps are in the 80s.

 

[RookieGuy]

So I have a question for everyone. Anyone ever get to try out an Old Dominion cob? Made in somewhere in Virginia, my neighbor to the south, they look a lot like any of the cobs from the (American) Civil War era. I like the idea of heirloom corn and the reed stem, since I'm not a clencher I'm not as worried about bits and such. I was wondering how they compare to a MM. Thanks.

 

[radrick96]

So I have a question for everyone. Anyone ever get to try out an Old Dominion cob? Made in somewhere in Virginia, my neighbor to the south, they look a lot like any of the cobs from the (American) Civil War era. I like the idea of heirloom corn and the reed stem, since I'm not a clencher I'm not as worried about bits and such. I was wondering how they compare to a MM. Thanks.

I have one of the clay pipes and it’s good. I plan on grabbing a couple cobs to try next

 

[RookieGuy]

It kinda sucks nobody around here has them on shelves, at least not that I've seen. I know enough about plumbing (air and water flow similarly), woodworking, and common sense to be able to physically hold and examine a pipe and confidently walk out with not a dog. It's when I can't do that I get nervous spending money.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

It kinda sucks nobody around here has them on shelves, at least not that I've seen. I know enough about plumbing (air and water flow similarly), woodworking, and common sense to be able to physically hold and examine a pipe and confidently walk out with not a dog. It's when I can't do that I get nervous spending money.

Almost all mine were online purchases. To go and pick up a pipe in person, it would be a 45 minute walk, a 30 minute train journey, and then another 20 minute walk, for just a very limited selection, most of which would be outside my budget. So far though, I've had very few duds, and several excellent smokers.

 

[Kentos]

Just FYI Peterson Summertime Army Mounts are half of at SP. 60.00 for a Pete is pretty good. Might make a nice knock around pipe at that price.

 

[RookieGuy]

Good points, all. @AimlessWanderer, this is going to sound weird, but thank you. I live in an incredibly metropolitan area. Between Philadelphia, PA and Richmond, VA is the I95 corridor. It's essentially one big giant city and suburb running the 260 miles. Sometimes I take for granted how spoiled for choice I really am.
@Kentos, right now I'm sitting on two cobs at an average of $9 each and one $37 basket briar. I get pipe pricing enough to know that Peterson Summertime (that just took up residence on my WANT! list) is a good value. But at 1.3x my next most expensive pipe, a beater it won't be, lol.

 

[radrick96]

Almost all mine were online purchases. To go and pick up a pipe in person, it would be a 45 minute walk, a 30 minute train journey, and then another 20 minute walk, for just a very limited selection, most of which would be outside my budget. So far though, I've had very few duds, and several excellent smokers.

It’s the same here for me in Florida, USA. I have a car but no real B&M near me. It would be over an hours drive to a good one with a large selection but like you stated, most wouldn’t be in my range.

I purchase from online vendors and rely on them having an accurate inventory.

I only plan on dropping real money for the B&B LE pipes until I have a set of 7... or Maybe more haha Otherwise it will be Missouri Meerschaum cobs for me. They’re always reliable and readily available.

I do need to purchase a cheap reliable black dress pipe as I am an architect. Don’t want to take my LE pipes everywhere haha I’m thinking a falcon? It would be 50$ for the stem and bowl combo that I’m considering....