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I'm jumping to the darkside. First pipe! Any Tips?

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So I've finally jumped into the darkside :vamp: and bought a starter pipe kit (nothing too fancy). It arrived today so that means I'll take my first crack at some Sutliff PS Golden Age,Sir Walter Raleigh and Captain Black Cherry to start. I love cigars on the medium-full side and I'm also open to trying new blends too. What great blends would you guys suggest for a pipe newbie?
 
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If you are interested there is a BOTL pipe newbie trade that would be a great starter with some good blends. I can't seem to link it currently but should not be too hard to find. This may be a way to try some blends.
Will do that! Thanks


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I followed a guy on youtube that goes by the name StogieFarts.....yes farts lol. He has some short videos from beginning to end called pipe smoking for beginners. I had to watch them 2 or 3x to finally get the hang of everything. Plus at my local B&M, there's a manager who is the pipe guru. He pretty much schooled in pipe smoking 101. And he also blends some of the tobacco that is sold there. I walked in with 2 ounces of aromatic vanilla and smoked that in my starter pipe. Then as I got speaking with him, he actually let me try some of the aromatic toasted Cavendish and vanilla, plus threw some of my vanilla in it as well. Made for a real nice blend. Walked out with some more baccy and a new Savenelli pipe as well.

Best bet, IMHO, get samplers from B&M, on-line retail or trading with fellow BOTL's. There probably isn't a bad pipe baccy out there. It's like cigars, we all have our personal preferences.
 

Cigary43

Just Another Ashhole
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Been smoking pipes for 40 years off and on and regretted buying cheap pipes....they don't enhance the experience but rather buy a pipe that is a proven product. You want to get something that isn't going to promote a 'hot smoke' or tongue bite as that will cause you to lose interest in the hobby quickly. I like Savinelli, Peterson and a few others and one can catch these on sale for less than $100....it's worth it because they will last you almost a lifetime if you take care of it.
 
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Been smoking pipes for 40 years off and on and regretted buying cheap pipes....they don't enhance the experience but rather buy a pipe that is a proven product. You want to get something that isn't going to promote a 'hot smoke' or tongue bite as that will cause you to lose interest in the hobby quickly. I like Savinelli, Peterson and a few others and one can catch these on sale for less than $100....it's worth it because they will last you almost a lifetime if you take care of it.
And not just your own lifetime.

For me, the biggest draw to finding estate pipes (besides the obvious cost) is that I get to take something that an artist made 40 or 50 years ago, restore it to it's original glory (or close to it) and enjoy it for years and years myself. These days, as someone else pointed out in a thread a while ago, we take much better care of our pipes these days so it wouldn't be unheard of that a well-made pipe today was still usable 100 years from now. Oh, so keep those boxes and papers that came with your new pipe.
 
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