In the 3rd week in January of this year -- after more than 15 years -- I brought out my pipe collection and its gear, found that I had some smokable tobacco as well, packed one of the pipes and lit up. And I found that there was still pleasure to be had in smoking the pipes as well as the enjoyment of looking at the beautiful briar carvings, like miniature bits of furniture. I've since bought or traded for 5 pipes, purchased some codger blends (of which more in a moment), spent $ on two tins of more esoteric leaf, and been PIF'd some Granger and some English blends to sample.
What have I learned?
I like the codger blends and look forward to smoking them: Half & Half, Sir Walter and his cousin R.O. Matic, Granger, and matches Field & Stream and Edgeworth. Carter Hall not so much, but it works as a mixer. Someday I may get to try Prince Albert. My point? In the '80s-'90s I liked the Tinder Box aromatics, including black Cavendish -- but the bit of Cavendish I have left is uninteresting to me now. EGR I may not buy again, and I'm still uncertain about Gentleman Caller.
I seem to prefer straight pipes now. In the '80s and '90s I bought a lot of bent pipes. Straights, especially billiards, were dull and awkward to smoke in bars and restaurants then. Thanks to the nicotine Nazis I can't do those now, and the straight pipes have come to appeal to me. Of the 5 I've bought or traded for, 4 have been straights and 1, though bent, is a very mild version. The ones I traded away were mostly bent pipes.
Esthetically, too, I've come to prefer a smaller though not tiny bowl; smooth finishes generally (4 of the 5 new pipes are smooth); horn or acrylic stems (I hate refurbishing vulcanite); and some decoration between stem and shank like a trim ring or a military mount. No doubt I'll make exceptions to all these "rules" in the future; I'm eyeing some black sandblast billiards right now.
Though I did it very rarely back then, smoking while driving is off my radar completely, and it's difficult for me to do anything that takes manual dexterity while I puff, like typing. The pipe must get most of my attention. I can watch TV and read, but that's about it.
Though I'll do an evening pipe now and then, I like smoking in the morning when things are quiet. I am not happy with the savage heat here anyway, and now the idea of standing out in it to smoke, even in what is laughably called "shade," is daunting. Better to hold a warm bowl in my hand when it's cooler, or rainy, or cold. I'm glad I restarted this hobby/habit in the winter. I've found too that I like coffee with my morning pipe, since I smoke cooler now.
I've realized I don't care for smoking every day. Part of the pleasure in it is the anticipation, and if it becomes a daily activity it will become ordinary and less enjoyable for me.
Visiting and learning here has been an enormous help. For instance, I'd never have thought of drying my tobacco before smoking it; in the '80s everything was about humidors and moist tobaccos. No wonder I found some of Tinder Box's offerings to smoke hot. Sipping on the leaf rather than puffing as if I were in a competition is another idea I've picked up from you expert pipers. In the '80s I had no one but pipe shop clerks and Mr. Jansen of Ye Olde Pipe Shoppe in the Quarter to ask questions of!
Such is what I've learned in this 6 months. It's been a good start to what I hope is a fun journey!
What have I learned?
I like the codger blends and look forward to smoking them: Half & Half, Sir Walter and his cousin R.O. Matic, Granger, and matches Field & Stream and Edgeworth. Carter Hall not so much, but it works as a mixer. Someday I may get to try Prince Albert. My point? In the '80s-'90s I liked the Tinder Box aromatics, including black Cavendish -- but the bit of Cavendish I have left is uninteresting to me now. EGR I may not buy again, and I'm still uncertain about Gentleman Caller.
I seem to prefer straight pipes now. In the '80s and '90s I bought a lot of bent pipes. Straights, especially billiards, were dull and awkward to smoke in bars and restaurants then. Thanks to the nicotine Nazis I can't do those now, and the straight pipes have come to appeal to me. Of the 5 I've bought or traded for, 4 have been straights and 1, though bent, is a very mild version. The ones I traded away were mostly bent pipes.
Esthetically, too, I've come to prefer a smaller though not tiny bowl; smooth finishes generally (4 of the 5 new pipes are smooth); horn or acrylic stems (I hate refurbishing vulcanite); and some decoration between stem and shank like a trim ring or a military mount. No doubt I'll make exceptions to all these "rules" in the future; I'm eyeing some black sandblast billiards right now.
Though I did it very rarely back then, smoking while driving is off my radar completely, and it's difficult for me to do anything that takes manual dexterity while I puff, like typing. The pipe must get most of my attention. I can watch TV and read, but that's about it.
Though I'll do an evening pipe now and then, I like smoking in the morning when things are quiet. I am not happy with the savage heat here anyway, and now the idea of standing out in it to smoke, even in what is laughably called "shade," is daunting. Better to hold a warm bowl in my hand when it's cooler, or rainy, or cold. I'm glad I restarted this hobby/habit in the winter. I've found too that I like coffee with my morning pipe, since I smoke cooler now.
I've realized I don't care for smoking every day. Part of the pleasure in it is the anticipation, and if it becomes a daily activity it will become ordinary and less enjoyable for me.
Visiting and learning here has been an enormous help. For instance, I'd never have thought of drying my tobacco before smoking it; in the '80s everything was about humidors and moist tobaccos. No wonder I found some of Tinder Box's offerings to smoke hot. Sipping on the leaf rather than puffing as if I were in a competition is another idea I've picked up from you expert pipers. In the '80s I had no one but pipe shop clerks and Mr. Jansen of Ye Olde Pipe Shoppe in the Quarter to ask questions of!
Such is what I've learned in this 6 months. It's been a good start to what I hope is a fun journey!
