Comments on: Pipe Smoking Tips & Tricks

By: James

James — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:15:32 +0000

David, did you ever figure this problem out with smoking your Falcon pipe? I picked up a Falcon pipe used. When I draw through the pipe, hardly any air flows down through the bowl. I could barely light the tobacco and it wouldn’t stay lit. Do you have any suggestions based on your experience?

By: Clay

Clay — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 06:53:41 +0000

if you are looking for a good churchwarden pipe have i got a website for you. Go to http://www.theknarlyknot.com they are based out of the Texas renassance festival but are willing to ship your product to you. I currently own two of there hand carved churchwardens and i couldnt be happier with my purchase. Just tell them Clay sent you.

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:24:47 +0000

I’m new to pipe smoking and I just bought a Dr. Grabow Omega. I can’t get the stem off. It seems pretty tight. I’m sure I could get it off if I really exerted some pressure but I don’t want to break it. Should I just pull really hard or try to twist it out?

By: pipeman

pipeman — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 13:43:23 +0000

One thing I haven’t noticed in these posts is keeping up good oral hygene practices if you smoke a pipe. Like any hobby that ‘leaves a residue’, cleaning up afterward is part of it. If you build wooden boats for a hobby, you don’t walk around covered in sawdust and smelling of polyester resin, so if you smoke a pipe there’s no reason to have brown teeth, a yellow moustache and a tobacco “hum” that precedes you by twenty paces. A quick brush of the teeth or a piece of chlorophyll gum and a face wash after a pipeload gives a couple benefits: if there is any risk from the residues, it is greatly reduced by minimizing the contact-to-skin time; and if there’s any resistance from those close to you (emotionally AND physically) this will also reduce that as well.
Happy guilt-free puffing!

By: pipeman

pipeman — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 04:39:45 +0000

In Scotland they almost always have their scotch with a splash of plain spring water (no fizzy soda, no ice please!), so that’s how I learned to enjoy it. They said that drinking it ‘neat’ numbs the palate.
To start off with, try a nice blended scotch like Teachers. A good single malt to start with is Glenmorangie (rhymes with “Orange-y”). But whatever you drink and smoke, make sure you do what YOU like, never mind the rest of us!

By: pipeman

pipeman — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 04:31:10 +0000

Well said, sir!
Relaxation is all about the ritual, and that’s a lot of the attraction to the pipe. I always look forward to my 45 minutes or so at the end of the day (I’m a 1 pipe a day man)when I can choose the pipe, lay out the tobacco (smelling the aroma the whole time -mmm)packing, lighting and finally enjoying the sweet cool beginning smoke, the nuttier middle of the bowl smoke, and finally the tangy final 1/3 to the end.
You can’t beat it.

By: pipeman

pipeman — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 04:17:47 +0000

Hi all, it’s great to see a forum with such a fine common interest (without the odd wacko comments of course!)
I have a plain bent stem Dr Grabow and a corncob “Missouri Meercham”, and love them both, cheap as they are. The tips on packing and lighting are really helpful here- it’s added about 10 minutes to my ‘bowl time’, and using smaller puffs to ‘just keep it going’ is a great way to keep the smoke cooler.
My Dad smoked a pipe, and he would never use a metal scraper in it- he always sharpened the end of a soft stick or a Popcicle stick to scrape it when needed - and a twig with a burl end on it would be the tamper. Sais that if you scratched the Briar it could cause a hotspot and burn-thru.
Keep sharing your comments and just ignore the idiots-don’t even reply to them!
50 yrs old and going strong in Phoenix…

By: Smokerwannabe

Smokerwannabe — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 23:01:53 +0000

After reading all the posts above I can see the value of corn cob pipes, they are cheap and you can use one per type of tobacco. I’m a brand new smoker and just ordered about 16 types of tobacco to test them out. Smoking all of them on the same pipe will probably not be a fair test, and buying a $30 pipe for each one isn’t realistic. I think corn cobs are the way to go to give each a fair test. Also corn cobs are great if you are smoking away and a friend decides he wants to try to smoke your blend, just let him have a $3.00 corn cob pipe! I did order two pipes, one briar and one walnut, but plan to use these on all of the tobaccos, for convienience. But I’m sure it will skew my interpretation of each type of tobacco, especially smoking a straight english after an aromatic.

I’m getting my first tobacco and pipes tomorrow in the mail from P&C.com, I’m really looking forward to my first ever pipe smoking experience!

By: josh

josh — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 01:09:52 +0000

Im 27 yrs old and have just bought my first pipe and starting trying to smoke it yesterday lol….i really enjoy the taste/smell of my new pipe as well as the relaxation i get from it…..i have read the above tips and news feed but any personal tips for keeping this thing light would be helpful….also i do not inhale the smoke but have noticed after smoking my tounge stinging, is this normal or am i doing something wrong?

By: Ivan

Ivan — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 01:57:25 +0000

Hello there!…

It has been about one month I started to smoking pipe. On my 30’s that’s interesting. I’m not a common smoker, but I always had this interest of good tobacco and watched my great grandfather and my grandfather smoke pipes and always got my attention. Now after i turned 30 years old I started this delicious and relaxing hobby, and, approximately one month of smoking pipe, I can say I’m enjoying this the way it should be.
Happy Pipe Smoking to everyone!
Greetings from Puerto Rico

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