Have any of you guys tried pipe smoking?

[Justmi]

Hiya, I'm curious about pipe smoking as a change of pace to cigars, (one cigar a week, one pipe a week). Are any of you here seasoned pipe smokers and what is your experience like? Tips for a beginner would be handy.

[Marker]

Pipe smoking is to cigar smoking

as

Fly fishing is to standard rod and reel fishing.

Pipe smoking is much more involved. Takes technique. Skills developed over time (many years). Thousands of pipe/tobacco combinations.

Cost wise, if you don't go haywire buying too many pipes, pipe smoking is much less expensive.

Smoking wise, depends how much you want to fiddle and learn with pipes. There is a lot of reading and hands on learning with pipes. Cigars are light and go 98% of the time.

[Jah]

The best way to get involved in pipe smoking is to get a corn cob from your local tobacconist and an ounce of aromatic tobacco. It takes a while to learn, but once you get the hang of it, you'll appreciate tobacco in a completely new way.

[frenchkiwi]

when i decided to try it out, i went and got three 2nd hand pipes on ebay and some proper tobacco - no flavouring added - so i could figure out what was what. the pipe that suits me is a churchwarden-style long stem with a small bowl, pretty good for cooling the smoke, whereas i find it a lot harder to not overheat the short fat pipes.

i then got some virginia, some burley flake, and an "english" blend (dunhill london) which has latakia in it, and a perique.

that way i at least know the major varieties of pipe tobacco on flavour.

the best was the blend (of course?), that latakia is really strong in a wonderful way, very good with peaty whisky or spiced rum. the burley was aged flake from solani, not bad...

i've had a few bowls since, the main thing for me is if i'm in a tea mood not a coffee one (rare!), as i take mine straight without milk, it goes a lot better with pipe tobacco than with cigars. But i find i'm rarely in the mood to fiddle around with a pipe. Definitely worth a go though, and a whole new world of generally non-fermented tobacco to explore...

let us know if you take the plunge!

[Smallclub]

The best way to get involved in pipe smoking is to get a corn cob from your local tobacconist and an ounce of aromatic tobacco.

Aromatic pipe tobaccos (most of them) = tongue biting, super sweet, goopy crap full of propylen glycol - probably the last thing you should recommand to someone who loves fine habanos…

[Profmd]

Pipe smoking is to cigar smoking

as

Fly fishing is to standard rod and reel fishing.

Pipe smoking is much more involved. Takes technique. Skills developed over time (many years). Thousands of pipe/tobacco combinations.

Cost wise, if you don't go haywire buying too many pipes, pipe smoking is much less expensive.

Smoking wise, depends how much you want to fiddle and learn with pipes. There is a lot of reading and hands on learning with pipes. Cigars are light and go 98% of the time.

My thoughts exactly! I have tried it many times with different pipes and tobaccos and it is involved.

Definitely with some of the blends the smell is incredible! Lots of sweetness In the blends I have tried.

(might be able to smoke a few and the wife won't mind!!)

[mazolaman]

I enjoy my Wellbent pipe.

Mostly smoking the aforementioned Virginias, Burley, Latakia and Perique. Favourite is Gawiths Virginia.

But I also enjoy Gawith and Hogarth Ennerdale.

Get a reasonably good pipe, and try a few.....

[CanuckSARTech]

Pipe smoking is to cigar smoking

as

Fly fishing is to standard rod and reel fishing.

Pipe smoking is much more involved. Takes technique. Skills developed over time (many years). Thousands of pipe/tobacco combinations.

Cost wise, if you don't go haywire buying too many pipes, pipe smoking is much less expensive.

Smoking wise, depends how much you want to fiddle and learn with pipes. There is a lot of reading and hands on learning with pipes. Cigars are light and go 98% of the time.

Very much agreed here. While I don't smoke pipes at all, my now-deceased Granfather on my mother's side used to smoke pipes all the time. He was old-school, had ten or twelve different pipes, which he considered a "pauper's collection", and he was a direct immigrant to Canada from Holland, so he enjoyed his classic tobacco blends from the Netherlands.

That said, and while I agree with the above, it doesn't necessarily make it better.

For example, I fish, but why fish for just a few little brook trouts that only weigh a pound or two, caught via flyfishing, when I can enjoy the battle of a 5 or 6 pound smallmouth bass, or a 20 pound rainbow?

And, tobacco that's had things added, flavours, preservatives, chemical "blends", etc., etc.??? Naw, man - you gotta enjoy your tobacco plain Jane, just as it was invented and originally enjoyed. A la Habanos-style!

Apples and oranges though, IMO. Either way, it's all about a love of the leaf.

[DrunkenMonkey]

Question for those of you who know pipe tobacco: What are some commercial blends (non-flavored) that you think would appeal to cigar smokers? I have a can of a dunhill blend that a tobacconist suggested (mixture 965) that I think is ok, but the best pipe tobacco I've had was a plugged partagas 898. Is there any blend that approximates the basic tobacco flavor of a good cigar, or is this just trying to get blood from a stone?

[Colt45]

Here's a discussion that might be worth a look:

Link

[ash13brook]

I agree with Jah about the corncob. They're cheap, they're light weight, they smoke dry (no slurp), and if you only have one, they don't need to "rest" to dry out between smokes. Taken care of, they last a long time. I have one I've been using for two years, and I've heard of guys using them for way longer. I would say only buy Missouri Meeschaum. They have it down to a science.

And if you find you like them, you can buy a quality stem for them. Google Forever Stem.

I would disagree about aromatic tobaccos to start. If you get them a little hot, as you probably will, they can get "slurpy", which is nasty, and will cause tongue bite.

[canadianbeaver]

At a trade show I was selling my coffee and another seller was selling handmade pipes. Beautiful ones with burled wood bowls and ebony details. I know nothing about pipes, but I always wanted to try smoking one, and so did Matthew. We traded coffee for the pipe, about $150 if I recall.

I went to my cigar shop and they gave me a few tobaccos to try and honestly I may or may not have gotten the "technique" right, but the tobacco smelled too nice... almost like pot pourri. I just could not smoke it. So I have this beautiful pipe, more as a collectible.

[DrunkenMonkey]

Here's a discussion that might be worth a look:

Link

Thanks for that link. What a great thread.

[MIKA27]

Here's a discussion that might be worth a look:

Link

My thoughts exactly. That was a pretty good thread.

[Justmi]

Thanks guys for sharing your advice. I bought myself a pipe and some Cavendish tobacco and gave it a try. So far I find it completely different to cigars. The smoke is smooth and cool but the taste is mild and one dimensional, like a mild NC. There is more ritual to packing and lighting a pipe and remembering to tamp it down while you smoke, but it lacks something. I'll keep my pipe as a change of pace to my regular cigars.

[mazolaman]

Question for those of you who know pipe tobacco: What are some commercial blends (non-flavored) that you think would appeal to cigar smokers? I have a can of a dunhill blend that a tobacconist suggested (mixture 965) that I think is ok, but the best pipe tobacco I've had was a plugged partagas 898. Is there any blend that approximates the basic tobacco flavor of a good cigar, or is this just trying to get blood from a stone?

Try Rattrays Red Raparee...that's the nearest I've found to a cigar.

Also enjoyed the limk above, thanks.

[Smallclub]

I bought myself a pipe and some Cavendish tobacco and gave it a try. So far I find it completely different to cigars. The smoke is smooth and cool but the taste is mild and one dimensional, like a mild NC.

You can't form an opinion based on one try with something as trivial as a "cavendish blend"… Why don't you try a quality product, a real natural blend? There are hundreds of them…

[winelover]

What about associated health risks? Are there greater risks than with cigars? Is it a consideration?

[Hubba]

Must say....it doesn't really interest me. Can appreciate what those that smoke a pipe enjoy, but Habanos for me.

[Justmi]

You can't form an opinion based on one try with something as trivial as a "cavendish blend"… Why don't you try a quality product, a real natural blend? There are hundreds of them…

I won't give up based on a few bowls, but I was expecting more. I'll try a more natural blend next time.

What about associated health risks? Are there greater risks than with cigars? Is it a consideration?

Pipe smoking has a greater health risk?

[Squarehead]

I owned 4 pipes and smoked them from the early 1960's to the mid 1970's.Since I didn't smoke them daily they tobacco burnt always more on the roof of my mouth than in the pipe.Eventually I gave up and thats how I got into cigars,slowly but surely.

[investandprosper]

I've heard pipes are more of a health risk for oral cancer; does anyone know differently? I assume it's because it's easier to get a hot smoke and the resulting tongue bite, but I could be way off.

[sharks]

Tried it several times and keep going back to try it now and again. Very much a technique to it which I am yet to master.

Have a cheap Briar pipe atm although love the Peterson range of pipes. I gave up on it awhile back (sold the Peterson pipe I had) although I am slowly getting back into it again or trying to anyhow

[Justmi]

In terms of health, I think the nicotine and tar content (depending on blend) can be lower than cigars, but with cigars there is no fear of the dreaded tongue bite. I've had my tongue bitten last night and a quick Google told me that its a combination of steam and the sugar content in pipe tobacco which makes it alkaline and hence irritating. The article concludes that continuing to smoke with sores in your mouth like tongue bite could lead to oral cancer. All I can say is its uncomfortable.

[mazolaman]

I live neaer the town of Kendal, in The Lake District.

This town has a long tradition of pipes and tobacco.

There are two, often confused, brother companies. Samuel Gawith, and Gawith and Hogarth. I think Samuel Gawith is the original.

I knocked on their door one day, and asked if there was a chance of a look round their factory, but sadly, they are agovernment bonded factory which means they are unable to do these things, as we public are not allowed to enter, in case we start eating tobacco or somehow enjoying ourselves in some other way!

But, if I had been allowed in, which of course I wasn't, I would have seen the large bales of tobacco from all over the world, Africa, Turkey, the US..all waiting to be processed, all different shades, smells...

The process begins by slight wetting and turning with a hi tech shovel on a blackened paved floor, that has seen millions of tons of baccy...and large stalks are removed. Large leaves are put to one side for outer wrappers when pressed.

When the ratios are correct, it is placed in ovens, which bake it overnight, and compress it to a foot square slab, about 2 inch thick. The Viginia flake is then complete (my favourite), but others are then coated with whichever flavouring is required, with a hi tech pot and paint brush!

It is then either sliced for flake tobacco or it goes through the shredder, it is then weighed to it's correct blend ratios, with a hi tech large scales, packaged up and sent out!

They also have a snuff room, which had I been allowed to see, which I wasn't, I would have seen a room covered in a thick layer of snuff, made from tobacco stalks, and machines that have been here since 1792, when they were bought second hand from a gunpowder factory in the North of Scotland! That first batch must have been mind blowing!

It would have been great to see this factory, that still produces tobacco products in the simplest fashion, with some machinery being over 200 years old. But, rules are rules!