How to get started smoking pipes
 

1. Order a Missouri Meerschaum Country Gentleman corncob pipe. Do not imagine there is something "rookie" or "kiddie" about this, or most, of the Missouri Meerschaum line of cobs. A proper cob is an excellent smoking pipe that dries out fast, smokes cool, loses a "ghost" odor of scented tobaccos fast and takes seconds to clean. Many long-time pipers will tell you that a good cob is the smoking equal of the finest briar pipe. $10

2. Get a bag of 100 BJ Long Standard (not bristle or colored or tapered or oversized) pipecleaners to sweep moisture and tar out of the pipestem and pipe shank during and after a smoke. $2.00

3. Buy a cheap pipe tool/tamper or locate a suitable wooden golf tee or large flatheaded nail (with the point filed off) for the same effect. $2.00

4. Find a drug- or grocery store (or go online) and get a pouch of Carter Hall, Prince Albert or Sir Walter Raleigh and/or a pouch of Captain Black or, really, any other thing you want. The deal with CH, PA or SWR is predictability. We've all smoked it and we all know what it does so, if you have a problem, we can sort it out in seconds. It is also generally available, not expensive and tastes good.

5. Most of your local tobacconists wish to sell you a briar pipe and a few ounces of their house blended stuff that smells like chocolate chip cookies in the oven (you know - something in a giant glass jar called "Grandpa's Bib Overalls" or something like that) but nobody here knows what it. If you get a few ounces of Grandpa's Overalls, ask the guy at the store why your tongue hurts, not us. Also, if you buy an affordable briar or meerschaum pipe from the tobacconist, and not a Missouri Meerschaum cob, you probably are not doing yourself a favor.

6. No rules here. More what you call guidelines.

7. A pipesmoker can have a lifetime of enjoyment with the American classic combination of a MM cob and Carter Hall. It is the practically perfect starting point of ready availability, good taste, easy results and a common language if problems arise.

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

Great post :tu As someone who is seriously considering trying out a pipe, I appreciate it!

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

Excellent job! I need to get me some Carter Hall now!

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

Just ordered that pipe and a pack of filters. I've been wanting to get into pipe smoking, but really hadn't researched it much yet. Now to get the other stuff...
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Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

How dies Carter hall smell when smoking? I mainly wanted to get a head start on smoking choices for a music fest I'm headed to in a couple months. I want something with an aroma that's pleasing to others as well. I got dirty looks smoking cigars last year.
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Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

I haven't ever msoked it before but this might help: http://tobaccoreviews.com/blend_deta...PHA=C&TID=1092

It'll probably remind them of their Grandfathers in most cases.

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

you're gona get nasty looks no matter what mate. just don't let it bother you

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

It's funny because the majority of them smoke cigarettes. I show up with a stogie and suddenly I'm the bad guy. At least I get plenty of room to dance lol.

Going to check that link out now... Thanks!
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Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

I agree with your entire post except #4. CH, PA, and SWR are why I almost didn't get into pipe smoking. I suffered through them and hated every minute of it.

I do believe a burley isn't a bad place to start, and agree that staying away from Aromatics is a great idea.

But for tobacco, get a better burley. Or better yet, go to Cornell & Diehl and get a sampler pack from them. Take the Patty Tarler, she's a sweetheart. Have her hook you up with a couple burleys, an aromatic without much PG, a light English, an easy smoking Virginia and a VA w/Perique, and than an oriental.

But, that's just my opinion.

Peace of the Lord be with you.

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

Very informative thread, been considering about trying a pipe.

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

Dang, another slope, but I ordered a pipe and I'm 20 pages into the newbie pipe smoker's ask an old fart thread. :eek:

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

Haven't really thought much about pipes but this thread has peaked my curiosity.

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

I agree with RevSmoke's about not buying CH, PA and SWR. These are lower-end burleys and to me, even the higher end such as Peretti's blends and Solani's flake tinned burley taste flat to me. As does the powerful yet equally tasteless 5 Brothers.

Latakia blends are said to be the place to start as they have the least bite of all the major tobacco genres. However, although I don't smoke latakia, I'd go for a class act such as GL Pease Westminster. There are plenty of things to distract and annoy you when you start, and with a good/great tobacco, you can at least scratch that off your list.

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

Whether or not over-the-counter burley is the world's greatest pipe tobacco is not at issue in this thread. We ALL know what it is and we ALL know how it smokes, year in, year out. If someone has a problem getting a cool, easy smoke in a cob with Carter Hall or Prince Albert, we'll ALL know why and nearly anyone can get you back on track fast.

I concede there are thousands of possible things you can stuff into a pipe and enjoy but, if posters begin naming individual favorites (and brands) here it becomes a confusing, long and winding road. There are plenty of other threads (and entire web sites) dedicated to discussion why one tobacco is preferred to another tobacco. This is about a clean, easy foolproof start for newguys.

I am open to discussion here. This thread isn't for my benefit - it's for the many folks who try to start smoking a pipe and immediately find it complicated, unrewarding or confusing. I have seen how confusing things get for newguys when a dozen pipe brands and scores of "my favorite tobacco is..." posts suddenly come pouring down when the problem is knowing how to light a pipe evenly or tamp it lightly. Given OTC burley isn't my first choice in pipe tobacco either, may we agree:

1. For the first-time pipe smoker there are thousands of tobaccos to select from; and
2. any of them may ultimately satisfy you more than over the counter burley.
3. We agree that basic burley creates a common language, has well-known and uniform physical characteristics; and
4. basic burley in a cob provides a good starting point for new smokers - particularly those wishing to depart from cigarettes.

If there is a better, easier and more clear way to explain "Intro Pipe 101" to the newguy, please propose it. If that should necessarily include a broader tobacco discussion within this thread I am listening.

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

I bought my MM cob and a pouch of captain black yesterday, couldn't find a tamper, but I have plenty of golf tees around. I did smoke it yesterday, and found that I need some practice in packing as a few re-lights were necessary, but I was also really taking my time in smoking to try to avoid tongue bite. The captain black didn't really do too much for me, but it wasn't horrible.

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

Downside: Captain Black is pretty moist (and stays that way). Don't be surprised if things get a little soggy at the bottom of the bowl (and needs to be pitched before you hit bedrock) or a pipe goes out a few times when smoking CB - nature of the beast, relighting pipes. Some pipe/tobacco combinations easily burn to the bottom on one light but, outside of experienced hands, most will not.

Upside: you can forget about a half-smoked open pouch for months and it probably won't crumble to dust when you pick it back up. :D

Sounds like you're off to a better start than I was. I had to call the local fire department to hose down my tongue.

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

I'm set on getting a pouch of Carter Hall. Pipe should be here tomorrow. Gotta get a pipe tool and some cleaners still.

Where do you guys store your pipes? I mean, are the pretty stout to just throw in a backpack? Do I need a bag of some kind to put it in?

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

I have a tin of Davidoff something..why I bought it I don't recall but can't for the life of me open the dang tin. I keep thinking I may spill it all over the place and waste the whole tin.

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

Great Post!!

I still have tins of Prince Albert that I dip in to ;)

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

Mooman, that's great, in fact I can tell a short story about the M.M. cob pipes. I ordered a dozen of em
for my smoking ice chest, thinking I would keep 4-5 and sent the rest to the battle theaters over time.
Once I got em in and started smoking out of them, I beceame really jealous and it was like pulling teeth to
put several of them into the boxes I was sending to Richard P. at the time, lol. I eventually manned-up
but it was tough going. They LOOK great, smoke great and many's the time I had to remind myself that
there was no reason to go to my heirloom pipes just yet. I have learned a lot in these pipes and managed
to just keep on smoking them. Having 3-4 on hand is a good idea though.

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

stick a knife under the lip ans slowly bend it out. Most tins are vacuum sealed and you need to get a litte air in there to open her up. You should hear a pop or the sound of the air rushing in. Also, the tobacco is proabaly wrapped in some sort of paper in the tin so it won't all fall out everywhere.

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

I was very careful to smoke slowly, even slower than I'll smoke a small RG cigar, as I wanted my first experience to be positive. I might pass by my B&M and snag a small tin of something else, they have a sampler set of 1/2oz tins on the website, but it shows them as out of stock maybe I can get the same deal in the store.

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

never a problem with a pouch of carter hall. :D

I rest my case.

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

LOL! Good point! :tu

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There is nothing like opening a tin and getting that first whiff. And then, the wax paper all browned from the tobacco. Mmmmm.

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

Can you light a pipe with a torch lighter or is it not a smart way to do it? Do you smoke it like a cigar and not inhale? How long does a tin last if you smoke daily? I went into a local B&M and noticed all the pipe tobacco they had which was pretty cheap but had some questions.

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

:2

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

Thanks for this post, Dan. I may pack up some of my baccy for now and move back to square one.

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

I got a tub of carter hall.... Pass by the house you can have half or more! :D

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

Oh yeah question. How do you smoke to the bottom of the bowl? Usually toward the end my pipe just keeps going out. I found some advice to use the pointy part of the pipe tool and stir it, tamp then relight but what happened was i got a mouth full of ash!:r Any advice? Thanks :D

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

Use a filter? I have NEVER smoked a pipe, but that's my guess as how to eliminate it..
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Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

By the numbers:

1. Questions here are limited to newguys with cobs and OTC burley. Anything else demands the thoughtful touch of the experts in the "Ask an Old Fart" thread.

2. Assuming you have a cob that won't burn to the bottom AND you can get ashes in your mouth that means:
a) the tobacco has burned down to the level of the (very large) airhole; and
b) the unburned tobacco remaining in the pipe is probably below the airhole where it ain't a-gonna burn. Fergettabowdit. Smoke's over. Dump it. You're a shave-tail slick-sleeved rookie smoking the cheapest tobacco money can buy for crying out loud - dump it! What do you think this is - an International Longest Smoke Competition? Refill and enjoy a new pipeful. :D
c) cob-smoke duration will improve along with your pipe-filling skills; the unburned soggy stuff (dottle) at the bottom of the pipe can be eliminated with pipe mud. Ask an old fart about that after a while.

3. That pointy thing on the pipe tool is good for poking holes in celery.

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

Okie Thanks! :D

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

Hope it helped.

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

bump... I was referring to traveling with the pipe. I'm going to be bringing it to a music festival where we camp for 4 days.

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

Thanks! I may have to do that this weekend at some point.
:r

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

See above

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

Doh! Thanks, MJ. Will pose my question there.

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

I have assembled the suggested materials and read the instructions on "loading" a pipe, I'll let you know how it works out shortly.

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/n...IMG_0376-1.jpg
Had to go to a Rite Aid for the CH as CVS and Safeway only had Captain Black and Borkum Riff.

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

:dr

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

So far I like it. Used the 3 step load process and (excuse the cigar think) the draw felt a little/lot too open. I went ahead and lighted it, but I have tamped it down twice with my finger and it's much better. I have never been very good at describing flavors, but it's very mild with a slight cherry taste. I guess I should have more pressure when I loaded it and do you pretty much have to relight it after tamping it down?

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

Loose is good. I usually, when needed, use the lighter then apply light pressure with the tamp to push the burning tobacco into contact with the tobacco below. If it is going out after you tamp you might be tamping to heavy.

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

+1. Very easy to tamp and compress if needed; pretty much a waste of time trying to smoke a plugged up pipe.

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

Take a cob. Break a cob. Replace a cob. Store it in a worn out sock.

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

I would say the biggest thing that new pipers worry about which they shouldnt is relights. Who cares if you have to relight ten times to smoke to the bottom of the bowl. Its just part of pipe smoking. Chill

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

Kudos to Mister Moo as always! Thanks to this thread I re-examined the three step - child/woman/man - loading technique as per Mr. Moo in the Old Farts thread and found that I really had not been loading my pipes with enough tobacco. I was too concerned with getting plugged up and as a consequence, smoke was always thin (not full) and air was too free through the pipe.

I feel that by getting back to basics - Carter Hall and a cob - and re-examining technique, pipe smoking is even more of a pleasure. I'm definitely looking forward to practicing until it becomes perfection (for me)!

Thanks again, Moo!

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

Would you recommend the filtered or unfiltered pipes? I have smoked a briar some but never a cob so I didn't know what the difference would be.

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

Cochella? Bonnaroo?

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

Unfiltered. I feel the draw is impeded too much. Doesn't feel right, to me.

If you get a cob, you can always take out the paper filter if you want. Try it with or without and see which you like better.

:2

Re: How to get started smoking pipes
 

Zackly. Anyone who enjoys a pipe discovers proper filling, even lighting and effortless production of opaque clouds of rich smoke by SIPPING is the essence of easy smoking. It also reveals the most flavor from the tobacco. Like a well-oiled golf swing or the consistent clank of a horseshoe ringer, it isn't the easiest or most natural thing to accomplish in, say, the first three tries.

Carter Hall (and Prince Albert and Sir Walter Raleigh) tobacco endears itself to long time pipers and encourages new-to-pipe smokers. Besides the charming nutty taste and loved-by-all-downwind-aroma it has to be the easiest tobacco there is to fill and light evenly, the, most important, "sip" without overheating. After you get a handle on that, it's all gravy.

(WTF? Anyone who wants to smoke a pipe can get what they want and have at it. Me? I was a genius. I started out with these great smelling, super-moist Escudo coin-thingies in a BIG briar pipe. If I had stuffed 20 pipes with a pound of cheese I couldn't have plugged them up worse than I did with Escudo in a giant horn - too many variables for an idiot like me.

It would be cool to start right up with a $2000 Preben Holm goll-danged work of art perfect pipe and smoke the piss out of it and gnaw up the stem and char the rim and, maybe, burn a hole through the side of it. And then pitch the sonnofabich and start again. I wish I had that Emjaysmash kind of money. So why not one of those shiney sweet looking basket pipes or dragon-claw-demon-eye meerschaums for $30? Please.. the range of weird tastes, lacquered interiors, whistle-sounds, bad draws, gurgles and mis-drill issues create too many hassles to predict. Nossir. The cob is THEE low risk, low-variable entry that happens to match perfectly with OTC burley for a cool, dry easy smoke.

If you don't want to discuss cobs and OTC burley for rookies you have come to the wrong place. Now git. :D )