Getting started.

[Flounder]

Hey guys, I'm looking to slide down this slope.

Any advise? I might go to my smoke-shop and look around tomorrow, anything I should look for in a pipe or what? I know it's a vague post, but I am looking for general advise.

[Emjaysmash]

Start with a corn cob.

[MurphysLaw]

Start with a corn cob.

This. Check the prices of MM Cobs at your local CVS/walgreens before dropping money at the B&M If you want to get a sample pack of baccy from the B&M go for it.

[Zanaspus]

Start with a corn cob.

+2 Also, people buy 5 aromatics and think they're trying a variety. Ask the kindly shop owner for a mild english, a Virginia, and a burley blend (if he has one) as well. :2

[jkstewart1]

Before Moo gets on here and says it... I'll say it. Get a cob and some over the counter tobacco - Carter Hall, Prince Albert, Sir Walter Raleigh, etc. Just load and smoke. Use the 'three step fill method'. Get familiar with how things feel and work for a while. Then you can make an educated move toward what you'd like to pursue next once you have a base of knowledge to work from without sinking a bunch of money into it to begin with.

[Flounder]

Considering my smoke shop isn't a whole lot more of a smoke shop than a head shop (Smoker's Choice, you may have one near you..) I doubt the employees will be much help. But I know they have corncobs for like 3 for $5, so I will do that and get some tobacco. I have a friend that smokes a pipe, I'll ask him what he likes.

[Flounder]

I picked up a corncob pipe and 2 puches of tobacco. Both are Tobacco Galleria, and one is their vanilla, and the other is rum and maple. Definitely more convenient, and not as much of a commitment as a cigar, but I don't know if I like it any more or less than a cigar.

I couldn't taste the flavors as strongly as I thought I would be able to do in the tobacco either. Couldn't tell a huge difference between the 2 I tried.

[darkleeroy]

Aromatics are known for their room note (how they smell when they're smoked) most of the time if it's rum, vanilla, cherry, etc. it'll be an aromatic.

A couple of other things you wanna get is a pipe tool and some cleaners. Use the pipe tool to tamp pick or whatever you need to get a good smoke. Eventually you'll notice your pipe is gurguling. Run a pipe cleaner through whenever that happens. Moisture is a bane to your tongue. Likewise run the cleaners through your pipe to get rid of whatever's in the pipe stem after you smoke it.

The stickys at the top give plenty of god sites to buy some tobacco, especially if you live in a place where you may be the only pipe smoker in the city, like, *cough* Miami...

Stick with the cob until you decide whether or not pipe smoking is something you wanna stick with.

[Flounder]

So, what is proper technique for this? I just load the pipe and light and smoke until it stops, should I be tampering it during the burn? I don't have a tool, so I just use my finger.

[DaBear]

Tamp while it burns every so often to insulate the burning core, plus it can help relight the bowl if it starts to go out. Grab a nail and use the flat end to tamp for now if you don't have a tool, saves you from burning your fingers up.