Does anyone smoke Pipe?

[precious007]

I gave up pipe for a while

it's too much tedious work.... to fill it up... clean them all the time... plus

all the tobacco I smoked was so rough on my throat I was coughing all day long, lol

[Nvr2Stond]

I smoke a pipe, do not smoke tobacco tho. I have a glass bowl that was blown by a friend of mine, its a wicked nice piece. Will try and get a picture up sometime in the near future.

[Ansel]

I gave up pipe for a while

it's too much tedious work.... to fill it up... clean them all the time... plus

all the tobacco I smoked was so rough on my throat I was coughing all day long, lol

I would say that out of all the forms of smoking pipe smoking can be one of the healthiest forms of smoking in my opinion and that's coming from someone who realy enjoys a cigar. Not sure how or why but i seem to inhale cigars slightly deeper which is not good, and i notice this, with pipes though with me that is not the case.

I think snus and a few (or however many i like) pipes a day is what the doctor ordered. Which is a shame as i have a stash of cigars in the cupboard...

Saying that, i don't enjoy the pipe tobacco people rave about - i smoke a supermarket brand that's a bit aromatic... and this seems to go against all advice but i've bumped into a few elderly pipe smokers in the street and they smoke the same blend so it can't be all so bad.

Persevere... in my opinion it's worth it. It took me about a year of on/off pipe smoking to enjoy it and find my way with it. I just use a £30 medium sized bowl pipe... it's nothing fancy as it's a bit of a workhorse. Good luck.

[Langdell]

I would say that out of all the forms of smoking pipe smoking can be one of the healthiest forms of smoking in my opinion and that's coming from someone who realy enjoys a cigar. Not sure how or why but i seem to inhale cigars slightly deeper which is not good, and i notice this, with pipes though with me that is not the case.

I think snus and a few (or however many i like) pipes a day is what the doctor ordered.

I agree with your theory. I've smoked a pipe for over 20 years (mind you, I was young when I started!). I started snusing about four years ago and have used snus to (1) cut down the amount of my pipe smoking (on the theory that smokeless tobacco, especially snus, is better than burning tobacco, even in a pipe) and (2) enjoy tobacco where smoking is not allowed, which just makes life a lot more pleasant overall. Last year I had a physical, with heart and lung functions checking out excellent. It's funny--doctors and nurses who don't get the difference between pipe and cigarette smoking are always amazed to learn that I'm a "smoker." (But I have to admit, the dentist doesn't see it quite the same way.)

[Ansel]

Yep, they are the two reasons i snus too Langdell. I like that pipe in the photo you have on your signature by the way.

[Langdell]

I like that pipe in the photo you have on your signature by the way.

Thanks! It's just a cheap basket pipe, which is mostly what I buy. I just keep an eye out for good looking ones when I visit the tobacconist and add to my collection when I spot one.

[Darwin]

Shoot. One used to see baskets of cheap pipes in drug stores and supermarkets. No more obviously. I had half a dozen over the years that smoked great and cost all of a couple bucks each. Of course that was 30-40 years ago. Briar pipes, the non ultra pricey types anyway, are still good bargains even all these years later. The briar supply, which was very stressed a couple of decades ago must have recovered considerably now that so relatively few still pursue the habit. Takes a Mediterranean briar plant a hell of a long time, decades at least, to form a root knot with tight enough and even enough grain to serve as raw material for pipe blanks. Over the years many types of artificial material have been tried with few if any ultimately measuring up to briar, or meerschaum for that matter.

[Langdell]

You do still see the basket pipes at most tobacconists. Though the prices are more like $20-$30 these days, still good compared to the costlier pipes--and smoke the same (if you select carefully). But I have noticed in recent years a general decrease in the quality of briar used to make the basket pipes. I mean cosmetic quality, not smoking quality. Seems like I used to be able to easily find many basket pipes with a smooth finish and few cosmetic blemishes. More recently, the selection is usually mostly of pipes with a sandblast finish (used because the briar a particular pipe is made of has lots of cosmetic imperfections) or pipes that have a smooth finish but several noticeable imperfections. I think that's because briar still is in somewhat of a short supply.

[Darwin]

I've read that pipe smoking has had a small renaissance in the last decade or so but I'm sure the percentage of the population that smokes a pipe is a very tiny fraction compared to the situation half a century ago. There may be supply issues today but that could be because of a number of other factors not directly related to briar supply per se. A commodity market as small as that of pipe briar could easily be upset by small variations in harvesting rates in briar growing areas. In a market so small that yearly production would not likely strain the capacity of a single semi-truck a missed harvest, a local blight, political unrest, or a single producer going out of business could affect the supply for years. Briar could well be in somewhat short supply right now but you'd never know it by the vast array of new pipes on offer via the web. Old pipes, sometimes called estate pipes, are still widely available which is hardly surprising since briar pipes are about as indestructible as any biologically based product could possibly be and so they survive in the millions.

[precious007]

I would say that out of all the forms of smoking pipe smoking can be one of the healthiest forms of smoking in my opinion and that's coming from someone who realy enjoys a cigar. Not sure how or why but i seem to inhale cigars slightly deeper which is not good, and i notice this, with pipes though with me that is not the case.

I think snus and a few (or however many i like) pipes a day is what the doctor ordered. Which is a shame as i have a stash of cigars in the cupboard...

Saying that, i don't enjoy the pipe tobacco people rave about - i smoke a supermarket brand that's a bit aromatic... and this seems to go against all advice but i've bumped into a few elderly pipe smokers in the street and they smoke the same blend so it can't be all so bad.

Persevere... in my opinion it's worth it. It took me about a year of on/off pipe smoking to enjoy it and find my way with it. I just use a £30 medium sized bowl pipe... it's nothing fancy as it's a bit of a workhorse. Good luck.

i've been a cigarette smoker.... and can't really puff on a pipe every 5 minutes .... I need some practice.... however inhaling pipe makes me cough pretty bad

[Ansel]

You should practice, it shouldn't make you cough... do not inhale too deeply - certainly not into lungs. Check out PipeFriendCHS on YouTube for advice/tips. For me personally i 1) catch my breath first, 2) inhale into mouth then 3) breath out nose... then repeat from 2)

This works for me.

[Ansel]

(and that is using very small puffs at a time, but often)

[Darwin]

Good grief. Inhaling pipe smoke, other than the occasional accident, just has to be a bad idea--no filter at all between you and the much more dense and aromatic pipe smoke. I could never handle it even back when I was also a heavy cig smoker.

[Ansel]

Good grief. Inhaling pipe smoke, other than the occasional accident, just has to be a bad idea--no filter at all between you and the much more dense and aromatic pipe smoke. I could never handle it even back when I was also a heavy cig smoker.

Definitely! That's a no-no that would make it one of the worst forms of smoking.

[LincolnSnuff]

I just finished a nice bowl of G.L. Pease Westminster in a Savinelli billiard. I do occasionally choose to inhale pipe smoke, but I do it via the "French inhale" method (draw smoke into mouth, slowly let it seep out, and breathe it in through the nose). At most, I smoke about one bowl per day and if I choose to inhale it is maybe one or two puffs. I find that it adds another dimension to the flavor and helps me profile the tobacco a bit better. I agree though that it would be a terrible habit to get into regularly. I look at pipe smoking as my reward for not smoking a pack of cigs every day. The flavor and ritual of pipe smoking is soooo much better than cigs or even cigars in my opinion. Mmmmmm latakia....