Pipe Smokers?

Dimitri · Super Member Joined: Nov 25, 2005 Posts: 5946

Anybody smoke a pipe?

Girlfriend hassles me all the time about when I smoke the occasional cigarettes (I go 6-9 months between packs), she says that cigars smell too strongly.

So we had a discussion and she said that I should start smoking a pipe. She came with me to Slueth and Statesman (where I normally get my fountain pen stuff) and got me a pipe and 50g of Cypriot Latakia on Wednesday.

Needless to say, I'm enjoying it, for the most part, I'm lousy at keeping it lit.

Dimitri

Vince · Posted: Sun May 25, 2014 5:37 pm Post subject: Re: Pipe Smokers?

I used to love smoking my pipe mate. Your pipe will be better once it is "burned in". I hurried up the process by lighting my pipe and holding it out the car window with the bowl in the wind...but only with a couple of bowls so I didn't overdo it and hurt the bowl. Get yourself a pipe tool mate...it has a tamp for tamping the tobacco and a scraper to help clean out the bowl. Also, make sure you keep the stem clean and change the filter regularly...tobacco juice from a pipe tastes a bit ordinary.

You will learn through trial and error the correct pressure to apply to your bowl of tobacco to assist the burn, but remember, pipe tobaccos are more moist than cigarette tobacco and also are not cut as fine as cigarette tobacco.

There are a plethora of flavoured tobaccos available and others that have different qualities. I used a mix of Borkum Riff Cherry Cavendish (lovely aroma), Condor Green (imparted a "cool" quality) and Murrays Erinmore because I liked its flavour. I still have my mixing jar...a Moconna coffee jar...pipe and tool, and even after 27 years I still enjoy the faint aroma left in the jar.

You'll get there mate, pipe smoking is an art and an acquired skill which you will have no problem achieving.

Elvis · Posted: Sun May 25, 2014 10:21 pm Post subject: Re: Pipe Smokers?

Erinmore Flake was what used to go well in mine.....
I enjoyed a pipe at night before bed and it was particularly good in a small tent for keeping the mozzies away.
as Vince has said its trial and error and like a good coffee a lot of it is to do with the tamping down.
you can get non tobacco pipe herb mixes (and I dont mean happy baccy)
so you can enjoy a pipe without the nicotine too

1895ss · Posted: Sun May 25, 2014 10:33 pm Post subject: Re: Pipe Smokers?

Vince has some sound advise. I smoked Old Chum in my pipe but I quit 15 years ago. Smile

Aloysius · Posted: Mon May 26, 2014 2:07 am Post subject: Re: Pipe Smokers?

Best advice: don't smoke at all!
Remember: it's easier to start than to stop. The main problem is not the lungs, but the vains. So be clever and don't start smoking.

I started because at a certain age everyone started smoking and I stopped after about 40 years because I realized the only positive thing about smoking were the taxes the government collected of it (and the death of a few close relatives is also very convincing!). And I smoked sigarettes, sigars and even pipe. I even tried this special chewing tobacco.
And do I feel better now that I've stopped (about 7 years ago!)? Not at all! I get less air when I use some mussles, so I'm sooner exhausted. I still like the smell of tobacco-smoke.
The only thing that did improve after I stopped, is my taste. So I gained about 10 kg in the first month after I quit tobacco and this extra weight never left me.
So go check your local hospital and visit some people with lung cancer or blocked vains and make a wise conclusion: don't start!

Vince · Posted: Mon May 26, 2014 2:23 am Post subject: Re: Pipe Smokers?

Sage advice Aloys.

I gave up on 14 February 1987 (but who's counting) and still enjoy the aroma of a cigar and pipe and could easily pick either up, but I don't like the smell of a cigarette now. One up side of smoking a pipe is you don't always breathe the smoke in before exhaling...a downside is they consider there is a heightened chance if mouth or throat cancer...probably because of the concentrated tobacco juice.

Aloys, they say it can take up to 10 years for the lungs to clean up after giving up smoking, so don't be too worried mate. I am heaps better now than I was when smoking.

1895ss · Posted: Mon May 26, 2014 4:07 pm Post subject: Re: Pipe Smokers?

Even better advise from Aloysius!! I quit 15 years ago and I don't miss it at all nor would I ever start again. It all stinks now. As for the weight gain, yep and I still have it. Very Happy

I think the weight gain is still better then if I was still smoking.

RePete · Posted: Mon May 26, 2014 4:55 pm Post subject: Re: Pipe Smokers?

I smoked a pipe for 15 years - stopped cold turkey - no sweat.

Erinmore Flake was my work tobacco, Borkum Riff Black Cavendish was my shitz and giggles bacca, but I got custom bleand from a pipemaker in Stowe, VT - long gone.

Dimitri · Super Member Joined: Nov 25, 2005 Posts: 5946

Elvis wrote:

so you can enjoy a pipe without the nicotine too

I am not worried about Nicotine, more so the tar. The tar is what causes cancer and breathing issues, when it coats the cilia. And you'll get that from smoking any organic matter.

I am unsure if this pipe can accept a filter, does not appear to. If I Keep it around (pipe smoking) will have to get a filter compatible pipe.

So far just had it three times, it is more enjoyable then cigarettes.

Dimitri

gelandangan · Posted: Mon May 26, 2014 10:11 pm Post subject: Re: Pipe Smokers?

Drop in a carved to suit piece of pumice stone nearby the pipe hole. That would act as a filter.. to a point.

I am not used to pipes so I cannot comment much..

Vince · Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 12:01 am Post subject: Re: Pipe Smokers?

You should be able to get a filter that fits in the stem, or, you could try to make one. Pumice is a good idea, another suggestion is a bit of charcoal.

Best of all though is to not smoke at all mate. But if you are hell bent on smoking then the suggestions/advice above should set you right mate.

Suzanne · Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 6:04 am Post subject: Re: Pipe Smokers?

If you notice your voice changes the next morning, then you've had enough.

Suz

Bushmaster · Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 8:02 am Post subject: Re: Pipe Smokers?

A lot of [information] here of which may not do you any good. I smoked a pipe for many years (and I still miss my pipes). Like a couple here I smoked only costum mixed tobacco.

Most pipes will not take a filter and will be needing a cleaning twice a day with just a pipe cleaner. I only now of one pipe manufacturer that made a filtered pipe (can't remember. Medicos??). English, Irish and Scotish briers are (IM[notso]HO are the best. Never leave a pipe dirty over night. Always rest a pipe with the bowl lower then the stem.

Breaking in a good pipe takes time (not Vinces "out the window method" Laughing

). Just keep it lit and at a rather warm bowl temp. Not too hot or you will burn the brier. You need at least two pipes as a pipe should have at least 24 hours to rest after use and cleaning.

Pipes are dirtier then smoking a cigar as far as nicotine and tars are concerned Mostly because of the tobacco used.

I had a collection of pipes ranging full bents to straight to bulldogs. I was forced to quit because from the time I got up and had my first cup of coffee till I went to bed at night one of my pipes was lit. Not good for the lungs.

As far as packing a pipe to help it stay lit. a medium pack is best. Not to tight and not too loose. A pipe is like a woman. If you neglect it, it will go out on you.

LOVED MY PIPES AND MISS THEM...I quit smoking April 1, 2000.

Vince · Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 8:48 pm Post subject: Re: Pipe Smokers?

Excellent advice Bushy, and you are right mate...the "out the window" version is a shortcut that is not as good as smoking it in slowly.

I only had one pipe myself, and it was rested on occasion when I went to cigarettes...but like you, I found a pipe very relaxing and satisfying. As for filters, the first pipe I saw that would take a filter was a pipe with an aluminium straight stem and bowl mount into which the bowl screwed into which you put a circular filter made of pipe cleaner. I have also seen pipes where a spiral aluminium rod that I think was designed to filter and cool fitted into the stem.

Bottom line...get a good quality pipe and look after it, treating it with respect and you will have a most enjoyable smoking tool.