First pipe smoke.

[phat]

Well done! I've yet to try FM, but I always hear it spoken of highly. Cobs are some of the best smoking pipes and don't require a break in period, so you may want to stick with them while you work on technique. Plus, they make it easy to have different pipes for different styles of tobacco. I'd also recommend lighting your pipe with wood matches.

I think of SL as a solid English style with a medium amount of latakia. It tends to be a love/hate thing and has a low WAF (wife acceptance factor), meaning it smells unpleasant to anyone who doesn't like latakia. If you like peaty scotches I imagine you'll enjoy it.

I recommend you try out a drug store blend / old codger blend. Carter Hall is my personal favorite, but the others have their fans. You won't be blown away by this category, but they are pleasant enough that you can do something else and not get distracted by the amazing flavor of the tobacco. Perfect for writing, golfing, hiking, etc. I think they smoke best in a cob.

Also, once you feel you've got technique down please try a straight VA. There are lots of good ones. Only some pipe smokers like them, because they can bite when improperly smoked and seem bland at first. However, with he correct technique they can be the most rewarding and incredible experience of sour-sweet and slowly deeper richness as the bowl progresses.

Thanks for the hints, esp about waiting a bit to try straight VA. Peaty scotches around here have a very low WAF ("get away from me, you smell like a gutter wino") so by the time I'm enjoying something like a smoke I'm sort of out of the WAF for the evening

I've been noticing Carter Hall reccomended a lot, and it will be on my list of things to try. ATM I figure I'll be lucky if I have the
chance for a smoke a week - at least until it warms a bit more.

I'll try the SL next and see how I like it compared to the Frog Morton. I figure I'll smoke these for a little while to see if I'm not
just first time lucky, and to try for consistency before switching to another something too soon. Interestingly the tin of SL does *not* smell as smoky as the Frog morton, but I haven't actually smoked any yet..

 

[Senshi]

Well done! I've yet to try FM, but I always hear it spoken of highly. Cobs are some of the best smoking pipes and don't require a break in period, so you may want to stick with them while you work on technique. Plus, they make it easy to have different pipes for different styles of tobacco. I'd also recommend lighting your pipe with wood matches.

I think of SL as a solid English style with a medium amount of latakia. It tends to be a love/hate thing and has a low WAF (wife acceptance factor), meaning it smells unpleasant to anyone who doesn't like latakia. If you like peaty scotches I imagine you'll enjoy it.

I recommend you try out a drug store blend / old codger blend. Carter Hall is my personal favorite, but the others have their fans. You won't be blown away by this category, but they are pleasant enough that you can do something else and not get distracted by the amazing flavor of the tobacco. Perfect for writing, golfing, hiking, etc. I think they smoke best in a cob.

Also, once you feel you've got technique down please try a straight VA. There are lots of good ones. Only some pipe smokers like them, because they can bite when improperly smoked and seem bland at first. However, with he correct technique they can be the most rewarding and incredible experience of sour-sweet and slowly deeper richness as the bowl progresses.

Can't agree more about the Carter Hall. Don't have the highest expectations and you might just be surprised at how pleasant it is. Really shines in a cob and great for breaking in a pipe IMO

VA advice is sound too. Takes som getting used to as there is a necessary cadence adjustment but they are truly wonderful.

 

[captaincaveman]

I remain the lone dissenter on the Carter Hall issue. To me it is kinda cigarettey. It's well-behaved, but that's just enough to make smoking tolerable if it's something you need, not enough to make it compelling. Obviously others manage to find more compelling flavors in it than I do. Stick with English/Latakia blends like Frog Morton and Balkan blends, in my opinion.

 

[langlois]

The BL is a generous community I'm drowning under sample.
Carter Hall, Rattray's Hal o the wynd, Escudo, Solani 656, Erinmore, Peter stokkebye luxury flake, are some of my favorite.
Good luck mate.

 

[simon1]

That's a lot better than my first try with a pipe. Now you have to work on constructing a smoking den.

 

[phat]

So, did my second go at it this morning. This time with squadron leader.

I packed it again using the frank method - I think this time a little looser, but hard to tell for me yet because the SL is more ribbons than the frog morton is.

This smoke wasn't as good, although still good - A few things :

I did this with a cup of coffee, but while re-pinning a straight razor. I think this was too much distraction, and so for the time being
I should probably confine it to sitting and contemplating

I did 4 re-lights again, but it mostly only went out when I put it down and ignored it for a bit.

I found SL to be not as "rich" to me as the FMC was, although it's different. Captain caveman's "cigaretty" adjective comes in a bit - it's more cigaretty, or more correctly, cigary - to me, than the frog morton was. however I noticed the bottom half of the bowl started to get a bit "nutty" - dunno how to describe that.

I did like the SL - just so far not as much as the FMC - but I think I would partly characterize that as "it was not what I wanted at that
time of day" - had I had this in the evening my opinion might be different.

 

[phat]

So my third go at a bowl was yesterday afternoon - after being at the dentist, I took the cob and the Frog Morton
out to the garage and again attempted to smoke while doing something. This time was much better. I had the Cob with FMC, frank method filled, and a bag of straight razors and honing goo.

I did a few relights, because I would put the pipe down, often for a protracted period, but it was always pleasant when I picked it
up again. Managed to smoke the whole bowl in between and during some DMT 325 and DMT 1200 work on a gold dollar and a TI frameback, but this time basically if I had the pipe going and was smoking it didn't go out, I think my pack was a little better ( a bit
less tobacco than last time)

Really do love the smell of the FMC - even lingering on me afterwards..

 

[SamDE]

If you like Frog Morton, you should try On the Town. It seems to be well liked in the community. GL Pease makes a few nice English blends. If you're ever on a budget, there's also John Bull.