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Hello Pipe Room!

theginguy

theginguy

New Member
Joined
Aug 5, 2008
Messages
88
Hello pipers.

I'm interested in starting up with the pipe. But I have some questions that I was having a hard time answering by searching, so I thought I would just be best to start a new thread. Sorry if this has been covered before.... thousands of times. :)

I just started smoking cigars about a month ago. I smoked cigarettes when I was younger but quit smoking for 13 or so years. But I grew up with my dad chain smoking cigars and occasionally smoking a pipe, so I truly love the scent of good tobacco.

I really like smoking cigars and I'll continue to do so. But I have one major problem. I originally intended to only smoke a couple of cigars a month or one or two on a weekend. But, now as I have been smoking a lot of cigars the last month to test which ones I liked, I've developed a desire to smoke more often. :) But..... as if you couldn't guess what's next..... I can't afford to smoke cigars on a daily bases. At least the cigars that I like.

So anyway, this might be a premature question.... because I haven't actually tried pipe smoking yet, so I don't even know if I'll like it. But here are some of my questions, I was hoping someone could help me with.

1. Is pipe smoking as pleasurable as cigar smoking? One of the things that I really like is the feel of the cigar in my mouth... which is obviously something I can't experience with a pipe, with a pipe I've got a piece of plastic in my mouth. Also, I really like cigar smoke..... is pipe smoke as pleasurable?

2. I like nice smooth / medium cigars. Cigars that have a rich tobacco taste. I like getting a little nic buzz but not a lot. I don't like full flavored / strength cigars because they tend to be too strong in flavor and nicotine. They tend to be too peppery also, just a little too over the top for my taste. Are there good quality pipe tobacco's that fit this bill? Smooth, medium, full of rich flavor and low nicotine?

3. Is pipe smoking, considering I purchase a pipe around the $50.00 - $75.00 price range.... cheaper then cigar smoking?? If I plan on smoking two to three times a day.... can pipe smoking be affordable with a limited budget?

4. Is good quality tinned pipe tobacco very expensive? How long does an average tin of tobacco last?


Thanks for reading all of that, sorry for all the questions... I just don't want to invest anything into pipe smoking if It's not going to be as pleasurable and or cheaper then cigar smoking.

P.S. Here are some of the cigars I like..... I'm not really interested in aromatic pipe tobacco. I like the taste and smell of natural tobacco.

Fuente, Padron, AVO, Rocky Patel, Punch and Oliva are what I buy most often. My favorite "top shelf" cigar is the Padron 64. I also like Rocky Patel's Vintage 1990 a whole bunch. I like milder Connecticut cigars for morning smokes and I like maduro's, sun grown's, corojo's and such as my afternoon and evening smokes.

So can I find pipe tobacco that would be similar to this?
 
I'll give a quick response, given that I've smoked cigars for over 15 years, and I'm sensitive to nicotine, and have been also smoking pipes now for about a year.

1) Pipe smoking is different from cigar smoking. Both are pleasurable. I have not had the same "heights" with my pipe smoking as I have with cigar smoking, but IMHO that's probably due to the fact that pipe smoking is harder to do properly, and after a year, I'm still learning.

2) There are lots of pipe tobaccos out there and the range frankly is much wider than the flavors available in cigars. You will most likely be bewildered with the choices, frankly. I recommend a nice rich English that has very little casing or topping. GL Pease Maltese Falcon would be an excellent choice.

3) Pipe smoking is VERY cheap compared to cigar smoking assuming you don't end up buying 250 pipes. It's possible (and pretty easy) to buy nice new pipes for less than $60 that will smoke well (I'm thinking particularly of Peterson and Boswell) and estate pipes for less than $40, even less than $20, that will smoke well (I'm thinking of Frenchy's Stanwells, and some of the pipes I cast off from time to time for cosmetic reasons).

4) A great tin of tobacco will run you $9 or so (GL Pease) and is either 50 grams or 2 oz. Most people use 3 grams or less for a bowl, so you're talking 15 smokes or more per tin, even with some waste. You can smoke the best pipe tobacco in the world and pay less than $1 per bowl. Contrast with cigars, and it's a silly comparison. Pipe tobacco is dirt cheap.

Also I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that MANY of my favorite blends are available in bulk, some only in bulk, and that can be a lot cheaper. McClelland 5100 and 2015 are both great and only in bulk. Sam Gawith tobaccos are wonderful and are in both tins and bulk but can be a real screaming deal in bulk -- 1 lb of a tasty flake for less than $40, sometimes less than $30, which is more or less equivalent to five boxes of cigars...
 
Thanks for the quick reply rramstad! :)

I'm glad to know that pipe smoking, as long as I don't go crazy with pipe purchases, can be considerably cheaper then cigar smoking.

I really don't mind the time it will take me to figure out how to get a great bowl. I'm the kind of guy who loves the journey more then the destination. So I look forward to learning about the pipe. I just hope that I can sit down and have a great pipe experience like I've had with cigar's.

I have another question.... although you have made some very great suggestions, I was wondering about something else.

I would like to sit down and be able to smoke for at least 45 minutes to an hour. I don't know anything about pipes. Is it possible to smoke one bowl in this type of time period? Or are we looking at a much shorter time of smoking per bowl?

If I wanted to buy a good inexpensive pipe for let's say around $60.00, and I wanted a very "creamy," "smooth," "rich," and..... especially "cool" smoke, and I wanted to be able to smoke for around an hour.... what kind of pipe should I look for? I read that straighter pipes vs. curved pipes are a little smoother and colder. What size bowl should I get to be able to have longer smoking times?
 
Actually 45 minutes to an hour is a pretty normal length of time for a pipe bowl.

An average sized pipe will work fine.

If you are spending $60 or so, I'd run (don't walk) to Frenchy's pipes and pick up an estate Stanwell for $38.

http://www.frenchyspipes.com/index.php?crn=205&start=7

I think an estate (used) pipe is best for a new piper. They are already broken in and will smoke well right out of the box.

Straight pipes can be less work than a bent. It is common when starting out (and when trying certain tobaccos) to find that there's more resistance than you'd like to the draw during smoking, and when that happens, it's usually due to moisture in the shank. Easy to get out by just carefully running a pipe cleaner in the pipe... but with a bent, it can be tricky to get the pipe cleaner in there with the pipe assembled. (Never disassemble a hot pipe, unless it's specifically designed for that.)

Now, that said, my first pipe was a bent and after about a dozen tries, I got good at getting a pipe cleaner down in it, wasn't all that hard. If you like the look of a bent, go for it.

I would avoid any outlandish shapes. A billiard, apple, Dublin or similar are all great choices.

Most of your attributes "rich, creamy, smooth" have only to do with the tobacco, not the pipe... "cool" smoking is a pipe attribute, as is "dry".

The GL Pease Maltese Falcon I recommended is something that has a lot of flavor but I wouldn't describe it as creamy. I'd say creamy is a less common attribute in pipe tobacco, from my limited experience.

My favorite tobaccos are Sam Gawith Full Virginia Flake, GL Pease Westminster, Sam Gawith Squadron Leader, and McClelland 5100. There are a lot of choices out there.

Again, though, I recommend starting out with one tobacco -- and because you are a cigar smoker, you need something with flavor, so I recommend a medium to full English tobacco. Most newbies start out with aromatics (terrible, burn hot) or with burley tobacco (great stuff, but not a huge amount of flavor, so a cigar person may find themselves puffing too much, also burley can be high in nicotine which you don't want, according to your preferences...)...

BTW, if you are going to smoke a pipe regularly, you'll want a few. I'd definitely recommend starting out with a couple, and if you are buying from Frenchy, tell him you are a newbie and he'll probably toss in a cob for free... I usually smoke one pipe for one day, and then let it rest for a while and use a different pipe the next day. (I also have pipes dedicated to different groups of tobacco, but this isn't critical. I have three groups -- virginias and burleys, english and orientals, and aromatics. When starting out, stay away from aromatics...)

So, two Stanwells at $38 each is a bit more than $60, but that would be a great place to start.

(I wish I had started that way!)
 
rramstad said:
Most of your attributes "rich, creamy, smooth" have only to do with the tobacco, not the pipe... "cool" smoking is a pipe attribute, as is "dry".

BTW, if you are going to smoke a pipe regularly, you'll want a few.

So, two Stanwells at $38 each is a bit more than $60, but that would be a great place to start.
Click to expand...

Just to expand a little on the already great advice from rramstad....

Like he said, there is literally thousands of different blends to try. You might want to read tobaccoreviews.com to see reviews and descriptions of various tobaccos. One that I would recommend that is pretty smooth is MacBaren HH Vintage Syrian.

If you plan on smoking on a regular basis, yes you will probably want to rotate your pipes or they will get sour quickly from over use. It is best to let them rest before the next bowl thus the need to rotate your pipes. I would say not to go out and buy a whole bunch until you are sure you like pipe smoking. But two or three might be good to start. You might also want to think about getting a meerschaum pipe. Meers can be smoked more frequently than briars.

Estate pipes would be a good place to start due to the expense involved. Frenchy has a great reputation and would be a good place to start. Another place to try is Marty Pulvers at: http://www.pulversbriar.com/specials.html or sometimes there are some good deals on new pipes at Iwan Ries http://www.iwanries.com/Category_C518.cfm

Have fun and good luck. :thumbs:
 
Habana Daydream by Cornell & Diehl is a tobacco I find quite "creamy" and it has a good flavor with the cigar leaf thrown in. It and GLP Key Largo are very good blends with cigar leaf in them. That might interest you along with the previous suggestions.
 
Hey thanks all for the great replies. I knew that I could get hooked up here. :)

I've gone to Tobacco Reviews . com via Fia's recommendation... ( thanks Fia ) and boy oh boy... lot's of blends to try.... right up my alley, this indeed will keep in interested and happy for many years. I love the idea of the endless possibilities with tobacco blending.

You all have made a few great suggestions for some blends that I most certainly am going to try first.

GL Pease Maltese Falcon
Sam Gawith Full Virginia Flake
McClelland 5100
Habana Daydream
MacBaren HH Vintage Syrian

I think I'm also going to try these two also.

Billy Budd
Shortcut To Mushrooms


So this should keep me active for awhile. :) Thanks again for the great help. I'm sure I'm going to like smoking a pipe, now I just need to order everything....

Oh... P.S. one last question,

I've been reading that the Missouri Meerschaum Corn Cob pipes are actually pretty good pipes. I've seen some nice looking ones and believe that this would probably be my best bet with starting out. Right now, I'm not at all picky with what my pipe looks like, I'll be smoking by myself. These are obviously a cheap way to go. How does everyone feel about these particular pipes?
 
MM Cob is a great start. The General Is my favorite.
 
Cobs are great, especially MM cobs. I like the Diplomat as it has a hardwood bottom which makes them last longer. Keep in mind that breaking in a cob has it's own weirdnesses, and often the cobs come with a few minor issues -- you may need to sand out varnish on the inside of the bowl, trim the wood at the bottom where the shank comes into the bowl, and so on.

I think your list is great. I would try to avoid going too wide at the start though. Do what you can to keep things down to a half dozen tobaccos or so, otherwise they'll all kind of blend together in your mind.

Virginias (like 5100 and FVF) are best with some age on them. If you find they are sharp, or bitter, or acrid, they are either young or you are smoking too fast. I know pipe smokers that have been smoking for 10 years and who don't like and don't "get" VA tobacco, so if you don't get them, it's not a big deal.

You might add a classic burley to the mix. Prince Albert would be one, Carter Hall would be another... both interesting in their own right. CH is sweeter, PA is nuttier. Both are medium nicotine... stronger than most of the others on the list.
 
There is so much to learn about pipe smoking (Im still learning) but the worst thing you can do is puff too hard or too fast. You will burn your tongue! When smoking a pipe it much more like taking "sips" than large puffs. Also, when you pack the bowl test the draw before lighting. It should be like drinking liquid through a straw. If it is too hard, unpack and try again. If you pack too hard, you will have to puff hard to get smoke and like I said earlier you will end up burning your tongue. I actually did that when I first started. Couldnt taste anything for like 4 days! :0 Didnt go back to the pipe for like 3 years until a friend got me going again.

Good Luck!
 
Cobs are great for a start. I'd get a few so you can keep one pipe for each type of blend you are going to try. They don't ghost as much as briar, but they're so cheap it's good insurance against cross-flavoring. The Diplomat is also my usual choice, but given proper care, any of the MM cobs will last a good while.

And do be cautious with the Virginias. They're nothing to be afraid of, but they can be temperamental as Bob mentioned. Also, if you find you don't like a blend, don't trow it out. Put it in a mason jar and revisit it once you have more experience. It's likely your technique will improve and your tastes may change. It's always nice to go back to a blend that was not agreeable and find that it's actually pretty good.
 
LilBastage said:
Also, if you find you don't like a blend, don't trow it out. Put it in a mason jar and revisit it once you have more experience. It's likely your technique will improve and your tastes may change. It's always nice to go back to a blend that was not agreeable and find that it's actually pretty good.
Click to expand...

This actually happened to me just last week. I received some 1995 McClelland Navy Cavendish right after I started piping, in April 2008. I found it was a serious tongue blowtorch and wouldn't stay lit. I stashed it, and smoked it the other day for the first time, in a pipe I know is good for flake tobacco and is well broken in. Not sure if it was the pipe, or the piper, but I had a great smoke.
 
Some great advice and info here. Thanks for the tip on Habana Daydreams, Alan. Sounds like it's a blend I'd like.

One thing I love about pipe smoking is the near-infinite variety of blends. It never gets old but you tend to acquire a cellar quickly. ;)

Steve
 
I would like to recommend Frog Morton on the Town. very creamy and the flavor is nice.
 
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