am i thinking in the right direction.

ok, tell me im not going about this wrong. i have been considering trying out a pipe, if for nothing more than to cut back on my cigarettes, dont know if it will work or not, but i do remember loving the smell of aromatic pipe tobaccos that my grandfather used to smoke. so my question is to all you pipe smokers, i have access to some pipes at an antique shop here local, they wont put me out much. cleaning one up to smoke what should i do, anything i should look for, and so forth. any and all information will be helpful. and to oldGI, when i drank, yuengling was all i drank, i used to live very close to there main plant in pottsville pa, so it was very local for me then.

Pipe smoking is a slippery slope. You will never be satisfied with one and then you'll want the really expensive ones and then all the fancy pipe lighters and fancy tobacco. You'll be sorry if you start.:nono:

much like razors and soaps and assorted items to go along with it, oh well, i need something else to get me in trouble, so its not always one thing.lolol

Talk to Jimmy HAD, I think thats the way he gave up cigarettes.

I'm not a pipe smoker nor do I claim to know anything about it. But I do have a friend who is right into it. I do remember him telling me that the enemy of pipe Tabacco smoke is heat, so when looking for a pipe you want to look for one with either a long shaft or a multi chambered shaft.

will keep that in mind, thanks for the insight

You can buy a brand new corn cob pipe for under ten bucks and try it that way. If you do when you look into the bowl where the stem enters you'll see the wood from the stem protruding into the bowl. Cut it out if you can. If not it will eventually burn out, but sometimes it causes a woody taste.

If you do buy a used pipe a thorough cleaning is in order. Plenty of pipe cleaners with pure alcohol and/or pipe sweetener. There's also a salt alcohol treatment that should be done. You basically fill the bowl of the pipe with salt and add ten or so drops of alcohol to it. After letting it sit in the bowl for anywhere from 24 hours to a couple of days you'll notice the salt has turned brown. This should freshen the pipe up for you.

Keep in mind that if you do buy a used pipe you'll probably have no way of knowing what type of tobacco was smoked in it. Smoking an aromatic in a pipe that was reserved for English blends may not be a pleasant experience for you.

John

now when you say should be don, that is after all the other cleaning is complete, it still has to be salted, am i understanding you correctly.

Yes. I would clean it up and get it to where you would smoke it and do this as the last step. It should take any sour taste out of the pipe, pretty much neutralizing it. Another thing you want in the bowl of the pipe is what's known as "cake" which is a buildup around the walls and bottom. You don't want it too thick, maybe only the thickness of a dime or nickle, so don't go chipping out any that's in there unless it's too thick.

Also in regards to smoking too hot, if when you are smoking the bowl is getting too hot in your hands then you are smoking it too fast. It should only get slightly warm.

John

something else to keep in mind, thanks

Wvloony,

Saying goodbye to cigarettes is difficult sometimes because your body is addicted to nicotin. Therefore i would suggest that you try some strong (lot of nicotin) pipe tobaccos. Aromatic pipe tobaccos are usually, but not always, very mild. Pipe isn't meant to be smoked as often as cigarettes so you need to get your N-shot from strong tobacco. At least for start.
Aromatic tobaccos smell good, but they taste not so well if you let them burn too hot.
There are several strong pipe tobacco blends: Peterson Irish Flake and SG Bracken Flake and many others.

Quitting cigarettes was maybe the best decision in my life. Last time i got a cigarette from my wife it tasted like paper so i put it away and never took another. Someone has said: In coffee and tea making and smoking there shouldn't be paper in any part of the process.
I do not inhale pipe smoke and smoke a pipe for about 3-5 times a day.
You do not need expensive pipes to get going. Missouri Meerschaum or well cleaned estate pipe will do, imho.

thanks for the information, i will keep that in mind

Actually that's pretty good advice about not inhaling. As was mentioned the aromatics smell nice, but that's about all. There are many out there that will pack a punch and should probably not be smoked on an empty stomach, such as 1792 Flake.

It's been a while since I've broken out the pipe with the winter and all. It's pretty nice out. I think I'll go have a puff.

John

another brand i will have to remember, and you enjoy your pipe, i hope to have one to smoke very soon.

PM sent, I can have you restoring old pipes and enjoying pipes so much you'll can those coffin nails in nothing flat.

As with straights, I think starting out buying estate pipes (used pipes) with the intention of restoring them for use is not such a good idea. You can buy estate pipes from shops that are good, clean, and ready to smoke - that is a much safer option. Or you can buy a new pipe from a good maker that has some cosmetic defects or some such for a great price and still get a great smoker.

Aromatics tend to smoke hot, so I wouldn't recommend them to a new smoker. Until you get your smoking cadence down, you will be likely to smoke too fast and that plus aromatics can be a recipe for bad things.

I would recommend something like a virginia/cavendish blend, a light english blend, and a mild burley blend to get started out. If you can get house blends from a local smoke shop, that's the way to go, but avoid the giant drug-store bags of cheap tobacco. They are the Zeepk's of pipe tobacco (IMO).

well i bit the bullet, and bought a royal soverign woodstock, i picked it up at a local antique shop for 14.00 which i thought was fair, it has been smoked but i may be wrong but it doesnt seem like it has been smoked alot, i will post a pic of it later on today, and you that smoke pipes can tell me if i am wrong. next i start the cleanup of it.

Wvloony,

Congrats for the pipe. There are maybe few things you have to consider. I'm not talking about cosmetic matters as they are up to our personal taste.

Sometimes old pipes have a bit weird smell. In most cases smell comes from tobaccos that were used in the pipe and not cleaned after smoking. There might as well be thick or uneven cake inside the bowl, or then the bowl just looks messy.
In these cases you have to give a salt and vodka treatment to your pipe. It'll make it work like new again.

If you have no these issues, then just throw your tobacco in the bowl and smoke. :gl:

im gonna freshen it up before i do anything, gonna work on it some today, after i run to the store for some pipe cleaners

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sailor

Wvloony,

Congrats for the pipe. There are maybe few things you have to consider. I'm not talking about cosmetic matters as they are up to our personal taste.

Sometimes old pipes have a bit weird smell. In most cases smell comes from tobaccos that were used in the pipe and not cleaned after smoking. There might as well be thick or uneven cake inside the bowl, or then the bowl just looks messy.
In these cases you have to give a salt and vodka treatment to your pipe. It'll make it work like new again.

If you have no these issues, then just throw your tobacco in the bowl and smoke. :gl:

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Sailor,
No worries, I've schooled him up on how to de-funk old pipes. He has the tutorial from hell and we're not even done yet. He knows enough to be dangerous for sure.

as promised pics of my newest purchase.

i went out to the local store, and grabbed some pipe cleaners, to atleast get started cleaning the pipe out, and lo to my surprise, the person whos booth i purchased it from had already done so, i dont have to clean it so i loaded some tobacco, (prince albert, local store sells it and half/half) and lit it up, i must say, the biggest challenges i have that i noticed, now i by no means am saying i am good, is one, DONT INHALE, and 2, dont puff so fast. but i dont feel the need for a smoke just yet.

Packing the pipe can be a problem if you don't do it right. I usually sprinkle some tobacco in the bottom then layer it, LIGHTLY tamping as I go. You don't want it packed tight or you won't be able to light it or keep it lit. When I first light it I do so in a circular motion to get all the tobacco on top, then I tamp it down with my pipe tool. I then relight it to keep it lit.

If you can, try to find a local tobacconist or at least one in driving distance. Chances are they'll let you sample some of their brands so you can find what you like.

John

By the way, the pipe looks good. If you find you enjoy it you'll want to get some more so that you can rotate them. If funds are low this is where the corn cob (Missouri Meerschaum) comes in handy. Smoking the same pipe over and over will sour the pipe, so you'll want to let them rest between smokes. There are some who go to the extreme and have a pipe for each day of the month but you don't have to do that...unless you want to.

John

when i was younger i used to hang out in a tobacco shop in winchester va, then later on, before i got married i was sitting around in one in harrisonburg, but alas, both of those shops closed down, i do know of one in harrisonburg, but i do not know how educated about pipes the store is, i am gonna run in there tommorrow and find out. one thing i remember from those days was some of the older gents, pipes smokers, used to say that packing a bowl was a learned skill.

the shop where that came from had quite a few more, and again the prices are farily reasonable, at least i think so, i found a half bent billiard there also for about 12 bucks, i think that will be my next one.

Packing the pipe properly is important. If you're smoking a flake tobacco there can be a bigger learning curve.

There's a tobacconist here in my city that's been in business since the 1940's. One of the original owners still works there. His son who was killed in an auto accident made their own line of pipes, which was my first. They blend their own pipe tobacco also which is my go to smoke. His grandson is now taking over and hopefully will stick with the pipes. I spent a Saturday there smoking my pipe and sampling their tobaccos. Hopefully you can find somewhere like that so you can find what you like.

John

i hope to check out the one place in town that i think i can get the service i would like, i stopped at this one discout tobacco store the other day, and lo and behold they really specialize in hooka's so that store is more geared to the college students in harrisonburg, darn JMU