5 days into pipe smoking...and I need a pipe rack! lol
 

So I thought I would venture in and give pipe smoking a try. I went by my local B&M and dropped about $50 on a briar and some bulk baccy. All the tobacco I purchased was Aro, I liked it but I didn't LOVE it.

So tonight I stopped by again, the owner had offered to let me try a bowl or two of tobacco when I visit free of charge. So he gave me a bowl of some Virginia...mmmm now this is more like it!

I didnt buy any more tobacco yet, but I did purchase 3 more pipes..this time cobs. I didnt like having to rest the briar and worrying about ruining it. Now I can smoke daily and just rotate.

Question, I see a lot of mention about cobs being good starters cause you don't want to ruin the briar. How would you ruin a briar?

Re: 5 days into pipe smoking...and I need a pipe rack! lol
 

LOL I love the title of this thread.

My pipe rack is coming from ebay and my first pipe only arrived on Friday :D

Re: 5 days into pipe smoking...and I need a pipe rack! lol
 

Briar pipes get ghosts of blends smoked in them. For example, if you smoked a cherry blend in a pipe for several sessions, then tried to smoke an english blend in the same pipe...you would taste an english blend with cherry flavor...but worse.
For that reason many of us will devote pipes to a certain style of tobacco (one for vapers, one for english, one for burleys etc.) and some folks even devote pipes to a specific tobacco.

Re: 5 days into pipe smoking...and I need a pipe rack! lol
 

I understand the ghosting, but how does that 'ruin' a briar some salt and everyclear will fix that right up??? no?

Re: 5 days into pipe smoking...and I need a pipe rack! lol
 

Actually I don't use the salt method, I just use the booze lol
heard of rare cases of the salt expanding and going so far as to crack the briar. Yes is most cases a good cleaning will fix the pipe, but we a superstitious and wary folk :P I have pipes I wouldn't even risk a ghosted flavor jumping in and grabbing hold lol

Re: 5 days into pipe smoking...and I need a pipe rack! lol
 

Brother, you don't slip down a slope, you ski it!

Re: 5 days into pipe smoking...and I need a pipe rack! lol
 

Smoking a briar too often without a rest, keeps it moist - it smokes hot - it causes tongue bite. Can it ruin it? Maybe, I don't know. However, unrested briars taste cruddy when they're wet. That's the long and short of it.

Re: 5 days into pipe smoking...and I need a pipe rack! lol
 

:tpd:

That, and, I dont know about the rest of you, but my first Cobb has one of the most scorched bowls I've seen! A big reason, IMO, for starting with a Cobb is to learn to light properly without scorching the bowl.

Re: 5 days into pipe smoking...and I need a pipe rack! lol
 

:tpd: The 11-post superstitious PaulMac rookie speaks the trooth; why take the time and effort (and smallish risk) to soak and scour a pipe if you don't have to? Great post, newguy.

Further to risks that cobs can avoid - it is amazing how many ways a new pipe smoker can find to burn a pipe, char a rim, chomp a pristine vulcanite hand-cut bit, dent briar or gore a smooth meerschaum chamber. Cobs are good ground to learn, experiment and make cheap mistakes.