Crossing over to pipes

[redneck_toy]

So, I've decided to try my hand at pipes. I placed an order for a couple of MM pipes, one Legend, one Patriot, a pipe tool, and four samplers of tobacco. One pipe is filtered,and one isn't. I figured this would give me experience with both, as I have no idea where to start.
The samplers I bought were three Dunhill mixes, nightcap, early morning, and 965. The fourth is the new Missouri meershaum Missouri pride. I've read that cobs are well suited for a burley blend. I have no idea where to start with baccy, but Dunhill seems to be one of the favorites across the board. Can someone give me a few suggestions as to what to try, be it tobacco, pipes, or whatever? I like earthy, creamy maduros the most with little pepper bite. I've been reading like crazy, but still feel a little lost. Went to the local wallyworld yesterday, and they don't carry any pipe supplies at all. Thought about picking up a dr graybow pipe, as the baccy showed up today, but the pipes are still three days out. Kinda excited about starting. Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

[Superbri22]

So, I've decided to try my hand at pipes. I placed an order for a couple of MM pipes, one Legend, one Patriot, a pipe tool, and four samplers of tobacco. One pipe is filtered,and one isn't. I figured this would give me experience with both, as I have no idea where to start.
The samplers I bought were three Dunhill mixes, nightcap, early morning, and 965. The fourth is the new Missouri meershaum Missouri pride. I've read that cobs are well suited for a burley blend. I have no idea where to start with baccy, but Dunhill seems to be one of the favorites across the board. Can someone give me a few suggestions as to what to try, be it tobacco, pipes, or whatever? I like earthy, creamy maduros the most with little pepper bite. I've been reading like crazy, but still feel a little lost. Went to the local wallyworld yesterday, and they don't carry any pipe supplies at all. Thought about picking up a dr graybow pipe, as the baccy showed up today, but the pipes are still three days out. Kinda excited about starting. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Well first WELCOME to the other side, lol . I am a cigar smoker who started smoking pipes around November of last year. The best advice I can give you is try everything. You will begin to weed out things as you go. As for pipes when I started I must have bought a pipe every week Lol... The ones you purchased are great pipes to begin with and through out so your good there.. Once you go into the pipe world more, you will see that there are so many pipes that are enticing, but what you got is a GREAT start

 

[redneck_toy]

Alright, I just ordered two more cobs. The Cobbit series of pipes looks pretty cool, so I ordered the Shire, and the Elf. Really digging the looks of the churchwardens. Might pick that one up too if these smoke ok. Anyone have either of these?

 

[stin187]

did you jump over to the Newbie Pipe Trade yet? it's a great way to get kicked down the .... I mean to get some help starting out!

 

[redneck_toy]

did you jump over to the Newbie Pipe Trade yet? it's a great way to get kicked down the .... I mean to get some help starting out!

Not yet. I might join in later in the week though.. Thanks for the heads up

 

[Whtwtrman79]

I second the newbie pipe trade, samples of recommended baccys from experienced pipers

 

[plumber1965]

Welcome to the dark side.......... Cobs are great. Of the three baccys you bought I absolutely love the early morning pipe baccy.

So emp in a cob with coffee. Great start. Trademark @dismaltrade

 

[CVAC085]

Ooooh this is going to be fun....tehehehe.

I'm up to 7 pipes in 4 maybe 5 months. Cobs are a great start. And from a friend, he recommended that they're good to sample different blends before you put them in your more high end pipes.

I love the local shop blends. If you can find them. I enjoy trying to support them more often than the big names.

 

[redneck_toy]

So, the pipes came in this weekend. I've smoked several bowls so far, and I gotta say, I'm hooked. I have a huge learning curve to go through, but have ( for the most part) thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Lesson number one: Tongue bite hurts bad! I decided my first few bowls would be some Dunhill Nightcap. Wrong thing to start out with! From packing the bowl too tight, to smoking way too fast, This stuff will bite the crap out of your tongue if treated too harshly. I'm nursing a sore tongue that feels like I burnt it on some scalding hot coffee. It wasn't horrible when it happened, but the next morning was pretty painful. I'm gonna give the pipes a break for a few days to let my tongue heal up before I start again. That being said, I jumped on Fleabay, and bought a Savinelli estate pipe for my first briar. It's a Savanelli Extra 506. There's not a lot out there on this line, but I do know it's one of their lower end pipes. $28 shipped, I thought, was a fair price, and will post pics when it arrives. Here's a link to the listing,
http://m.ebay.com/itm/301645389815
What should I do first to get this ready for smoking besides a good cleaning?

 

[rdomfoto]

Welcome... bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

I still love my cigars but I find myself going to the pipe with far more regularity

 

[danmdevries]

Welcome to the other side.

For your estate pipe, get yourself a bottle of Everclear and some salt. Look up the pipe restoration threads that were posted last summer.

Join the pipe noob trade thread to get a good sampler.

Stick with it, you'll figure out what you're doing in time. Took me about 6 months, and still get tripped up when I try a new blend or cut.

Even the tongue bite, without really thinking about it, something I've done has all but eliminated that. Dunno what it was. Occasionally still get bit when smoking multiple bowls but has gotten much better.

But seriously, check into the noob trade thread

 

[CVAC085]

I saw someone post how they refer to their bowl packing...I don't remember who posted it or the exact way of doing it, but I'm going to try my best with my terrible memory. 3 layers of the bowl, be very gentle on the bottom layer, 2nd layer in the middle be little firm, 3rd layer at the top press hard enough to give it a nice pack. BUT always make sure you can move air through it or it's been packed too tightly. In that case, just take out the baccy again and do it over. Can't tell you how many times I did it like that, but I somehow had fun just sitting and playing with the baccy too. And from personal experience, don't tamp down the baccy too hard. Do it gently or you'll plug it and have to poke through to get air flowing again. Sometimes, I noticed the baccy was too wet too.

 

[StogieNinja]

A week in and already have five pipes? lol, you have PAD something awful!

Two tips that have helped me more than just about anything else:
1. Sip, don't draw. I wanted big, full mouths of smoke and flavor like a cigar gives, but that's not how the pipe works. Smaller sips will keep the smoke cooler.
2. Tamp while puffing. Took me a while to figure this out, but after you have it lit, tamp down while drawing to help flatten the top of the bowl and get the cherry down into the tobacco a bit. This greatly helped my burn and ability to keep the pipe lit.

The vets may have conflicting info to give... probably listen to them over me

 

[CVAC085]

Two tips that have helped me more than just about anything else:
1. Sip, don't draw. I wanted big, full mouths of smoke and flavor like a cigar gives, but that's not how the pipe works. Smaller sips will keep the smoke cooler.
2. Tamp while puffing. Took me a while to figure this out, but after you have it lit, tamp down while drawing to help flatten the top of the bowl and get the cherry down into the tobacco a bit. This greatly helped my burn and ability to keep the pipe lit.

The vets may have conflicting info to give... probably listen to them over me

#2 I figured out the other day and believe it or not maybe 1 relight through the rest of the bowl which was still pretty full!!!

 

[redneck_toy]

A week in and already have five pipes? lol, you have PAD something awful!

Two tips that have helped me more than just about anything else:
1. Sip, don't draw. I wanted big, full mouths of smoke and flavor like a cigar gives, but that's not how the pipe works. Smaller sips will keep the smoke cooler.
2. Tamp while puffing. Took me a while to figure this out, but after you have it lit, tamp down while drawing to help flatten the top of the bowl and get the cherry down into the tobacco a bit. This greatly helped my burn and ability to keep the pipe lit.

The vets may have conflicting info to give... probably listen to them over me

Yes, I'm OCD to a point. Lol. My wife just shakes her head at my obsessions.
I think the cigar smoking is the biggest drawback to learning a pipe. I too, am used to big, full mouthfuls of thick smoke. I smoke pretty fast anyways, a typical toro sized stogie MIGHT make 40 minutes if I slow down. It's an exercise in patience with piping. I can see me having a dozen pipes in six months. Best part of pipes is it's a fraction of the cost. (Tobacco wise anyways) Maybe my stogie collection will finally start growing.

 

[CVAC085]

Yes, I'm OCD to a point. Lol. My wife just shakes her head at my obsessions.
I think the cigar smoking is the biggest drawback to learning a pipe. I too, am used to big, full mouthfuls of thick smoke. I smoke pretty fast anyways, a typical toro sized stogie MIGHT make 40 minutes if I slow down. It's an exercise in patience with piping. I can see me having a dozen pipes in six months. Best part of pipes is it's a fraction of the cost. (Tobacco wise anyways) Maybe my stogie collection will finally start growing.

I find that the pipe smoking is cheaper. But like you said tobacco wise. Pipes well it depends on your budget and what you like. There's a facebook group: Corn Cob Nation and it seems like most of the members only smoke corn cob pipes. Some of them are awesome looking designs too. They're pretty reasonable in price too.

 

[StogieNinja]

... I smoke pretty fast anyways, a typical toro sized stogie MIGHT make 40 minutes if I slow down...

HOLY MOSES. That is fast.

You might find the pipe to be just your thing. Cigars seem to benefit from slow draws with time in between puffs, whereas (in my limited experience) the pipe seems to do best with frequent small sips.

 

[CVAC085]

...And make sure you have plenty of extra pipe bits as well!!! Usually every on-line order I put in to P&C, Smoking pipes, 4Noggins etc, I'll buy 2 or 4 more just to have them in case I find a new pipe I like and buy.

 

[Shlippy]

The tongue bite tends to go away after a few weeks of smoking, usually. I think you naturally develop a cadence that works for you.

 

[K Williams]

If you like maduros, try McClelland Dominican Glory Maduro, NYPC Jack's Shanty, GL Pease Key Largo.

http://www.pipesandcigars.com/search/?q=maduro&t=Pipe+Tobacco

http://www.pipesandcigars.com/pipe-tobacco/73176/nypc-jacks-shanty-cigar-leaf-blend/#p-117545

For Missouri Meerschaums, my current favorite is the Mark Twain (after seeing a post from @thedismaltrade ), with the Country Gentleman being a close second.