New Pipe Smoker With A Question? Ask an Old Fart

[Nick]

WOw okay, books can be written on all of these topics but i'll give it a shot to help.

1. Depends on moisture of the tin when you open it but generally it takes a few months to dry out depending on the tin construction. Tins with metal lids will dry quickly.

2. Yes or no, its personal preference. Most people let a pipe rest for at least 24 hours b/t smokes. Some people cant because the only have 1 or two pipes.

3. This is huge- consruction (all parts of the pipe), materials, time, reputation, and quality are just a very few things that influence price, also hand made vs. machine made or mass produced. Stanwell, peterson, and savinelli are a couple companies tgat make very good machine made pipes from 50 bucks up to a couple hundred for the special editions. Then there are the hand carved pipes from artisan carvers. There are thousands of these guys out there making pipes of the workshops in all corners of the globe; I wont even name any cause theres a ton. You definitely get a well made pipe from the hand carvers and for the most part they are worth the money, but you can pick up a stanwell for fifty bucks and may smoke just as good.

4. Yes house blends can be worth a ****. Most places let you sample in the store which is nice to find what you like. Also buy tins online cause theres much better deals. If you pay 20 bucks for two ounces online then you got raped.

5. Cobs are a great place to start. You dont have to dedicate pipes to every tobacco but you can get ghosts from previous tobaccos. If you smoke a heavy latakia blend then a virginia you will taste the latakia from before.

6. Dont use a torch, it can scorch bowls easily. Just use a bic or matches.


a great site to use is pipedia.com, you can find almost anything you need.


I dont think I answered you very well but this is tough on my phone and it should point you in the right direction. check out pipedia.com