What's new

Are you a pipe AND cigar smoker? If so...

Is there a different time/place that dictates your choice of smoke?

Are your tastes in tobacco consistent between the two?

Which did you get into first?

Which do you turn to more often and is there something about either that makes it preferable?

I didn’t mention cigarettes but feel free to comment on that too.

I love both cigar and pipe smoking. But I’m more of a social cigar smoker. I mainly smoke cigars at work with the guys. Or at BBQs. I rarely smoke a cigar at home. Mostly because of the wifey, kids and the neighbors.

If I’m smoking alone it’s definitely a pipe. It’s a great accompaniment to reading or watching something on the screen. Pipe smoking is high maintenance. But, like traditional wet shaving, I appreciate the process.

I think my tastes in tobaccos between the two are different. In a pipe I prefer the aromatics and I love the smell that it creates in my home office. On the other hand, I definitely do not like flavored, sweet, or infused cigars. In cigars, I especially love the bold, rich flavors of maduros and the like.

I got into cigar smoking first because it was a ritual at work and I found that I actually love the flavor and the buzz. The pipe smoking followed. My grandpa was a pipe (and cigarette) smoker. I used to like the smell of the pipes. However, I do not like cigarettes at all. The flavor, the smell. My mom was a heavy chain smoker throughout my kid days and it drove me crazy.

Today’s lunchtime smoke. One day I’ll get me a proper pipe holder. Yes, my current pipe holder is an unused nato watch band:

06FDE212-4A32-4D2B-B87C-821FE64BC9E8.jpeg
 
Pipe smoker first then transitioned to cigars. Still smoke both. I go with what sounds good. Usually a pipe but the ease of cigars wins out. Walking the dogs is hard to smoke a pipe with tamping and relights.

At the shop with the guys depends on my mood. Last night I had a stick and a bowl. Sometimes it is just sticks. If I'm chilling outside and reading it's either or. How much time do I have? Is it breezy?

If I smoke in the car, it is pipes only. I try to only do that when I can have the windows open.

At work I snus all day. Usually have one during the commutes. Get home and don't have a vitamin N craving.

As to preference I'm all over the map with pipe weed. With cigars it is 99% of the time a nicaraguan.

Lately I've been craving Fire Dance Flake. Technically an aromatic but high quality VA. I reach for VAs most of the time but there are plenty of blends in my collection that I reach for with dark fired leaf. I'm looking at you Solano Silver! Alighter VaPer is second but I can't ignore the English, usually a balkan with a lot of flavor.
 

AimlessWanderer

Remember to forget me!
Cigarettes were a quick nic fix for me. 30+ times per day. I'm glad to be free of those now, and it has been replaced with vaping, and the occasional pinch (or binge pinching) of snuff. I didn't want to be entirely smoke free though, and wanted to keep smoking on my terms, as and when I chose to, without bouncing off the walls for another an hour later. That's where pipes come in.

I much prefer pipe tobacco to cigarette tobacco now, and love the fact it's a casual free choice and not addictive need that leads me to reach for it. I had already dabbled with pipes when I was still smoking cigarettes, but any smokes now are just the pipe.

No cigars. I've tried them, but don't like the taste. Pipe tobacco varies wildly in taste, but cigars all taste like ... cigars. I also don't like the fact that the cost of one smoke is the cost of one or more whole tins of pipe tobacco. More money, less fun, as far as I'm concerned. I also don't get the "social" aspect, as I'll smoke whatever the heck I want, irrespective of what other people are smoking (if anything). I'm the same with drinks though. I'll happily be the only guy with red wine or a G&T, while others are knocking beer back. I do drink beer too (or did before I was on meds), but if I fancy something else, I'll go for it without feeling the slightest discomfort that I'm drinking something different to everyone else.
 
No cigars. I've tried them, but don't like the taste. Pipe tobacco varies wildly in taste, but cigars all taste like ... cigars. I also don't like the fact that the cost of one smoke is the cost of one or more whole tins of pipe tobacco. More money, less fun, as far as I'm concerned.

I never considered the cost issue. One box of cigars is like a new pipe for the collection!
 
I started with cigars for my fine tobacco enjoyment. I still enjoy them when out and about with friends. Still a very pleasant smoke. But they were getting costly. It started getting harder to justify.

So I gave the whole thing up for a while. Then, through you wonderful people, I found pipes. I've been smoking them since. Now the only cigars I have are with friends when we're out somewhere. Otherwise, pipes all day long.
 

AimlessWanderer

Remember to forget me!
I never considered the cost issue. One box of cigars is like a new pipe for the collection!

The price I pay for pipes (not a lot), is about the same price I'd have to pay for one decent cigar. :001_tongu
My most expensive pipe cost less than three tins of pipe tobacco :biggrin1:
 
Cigars outside, when I am in the yard or maybe fishing. Pipes inside, pure relaxation time. I prefer pipes, but cigars are easier to deal with when I am doing something else outside. Now, tobacco... it's not that similar. I mostly smoke English flakes from the Lakeland District (Gawith Hoggarth) and traditional English mixtures with latakia. Cigars are pretty much always maduros. Padron/Oliva/Macanudo.
 

steveclarkus

Goose Poop Connoisseur
I smoked cigarettes first. Probably started in 1965. Added pipes when I went off to college in 1967; cigars as well but less than cigarettes and pipes. I quit cigarettes in 1982 but had the occasional pipe bit began pipes regularly in early 1990’s by 2005 began cigars exclusively but came back to pipes exclusively a few years later. Cigars always tasted like cigars even if high quality Havanas. From now on out it will be pipes where I have a strong affection for classic American blends - simple and extremely satisfying.
 
I've probably smoked 10 cigarettes in my life, and those were when I was in Boy Scouts - we learned more than knot tying!
My first cigar was at age 16 or so with some of my swim team buddies, they were older than I and apparently more experienced as I was the only one that puked. The combination of a greasy hamburger and a cheap cigar was too much. Lesson Learnded.
I started smoking a pipe in college (1971), at first to be cool and then I grew to enjoy it. I kept up the pipe smoking and cheap cigar smoking until 1985 or so. Then it was cigars (and better cigars) only until July 2018 when you all brought me back to pipe smoking with the purchase of the Larrysson POY. I've smoked only one cigar since then, although I do maintain a nearly full humidor with some nice sticks that will be smoked on occasion. I find I much prefer the variety in pipe smoking.
 

Whisky

ATF. I use all three.
Staff member
I was cigarettes, then pipe, then cigarettes, then cigars, now back to pipes. I’m married to a vascular surgeon who sees the effects of tobacco smoking daily. She puts up with the occasional pipe because she can tolerate the smell (Lane 1Q). I usually only smoke when she’s not home just to avoid the eye rolls and comments. My in-laws are all cigar smokers so I’ll sit on the porch and have a bowl while they have a cigar. I’ve found that I much prefer pipes to cigars. The sheer variety of pipe tobacco makes it much more enjoyable than cigars for me. I haven’t had a cigarette in 15 or so years.
My wife has not seen my pipe tobacco cellar and I have no intention of showing it to her. She used to call my cigar humidor my “big box of cancer.”
 

seabee1999

On the lookout for new chicks
Cigar, then cigarettes, and back to cigars again. A pipe came in briefly then went away. I dropped the cigarettes but kept the cigars for special occasions. I picked up the pipe again recently (2017) and have enjoyed it more than the cigars. But I still like a good, quality cigar from time to time. FWIW, SWMBO likes the pipe tobacco smell more despite having an allergy to cigarette smoke. But then I smoke outdoors mostly, on my front porch.
 
I prefer to smoke my pipes when I'm alone at the house. That way I can focus more on my technique and relax with my thoughts. Kind of therapudic in a way.

When I go to the lounge or play cards with the guys, I prefer cigars. I can puff away, not worry about re-lights and be more social.

I started with cigars about 25yrs ago. Just got into pipes last year.
 
Pipes mostly. Most any tobacco, aro's being my least favorite. Burleys, virginias, English, I love them all. Codger blends are a frequent smoke too, a can of Carter Hall and a couple cobs stay in the shop.

Cigars leave a nasty stench in the house so strictly outdoors with them. Fishing, after yard work, or a nice evening around the fire pit.
 

Columbo

Mr. Codgers Neighborhood
Cigars are an outdoor, summer, social sport here. We go through a lot of sticks from May through early October. Never indoors or in a vehicle with a cloth headliner.

However, there are a couple gentlemen in our area piping group that love cigars year-round. And if they smoke them inside their own houses during winter, I'm happy to join them. We just did exactly that last month. Pipes, then dinner, followed by cigars and booze downstairs at the bar. And plenty of good fellowship.

Otherwise, it's pipes year-round, everywhere, and almost exclusively so from October to the end of April.
 
Top Bottom