Where can I buy a pipe from?

[Jzero]

<< Interesting, I've had a few Grand Dukes and my only complaint is that I keep biting through the mouthpeice. >>


In all honesty, don't fault Grabow for that problem--Most pipes with vulcanite stems will get bitten through after awhile. Good news is vulcanite is cheap and easily replaceable. I have a few pipes with lucite stems, which is much more durable, but a little less comfortable to hold, but lucite stems cost more.



<< Normally when I get a new one, I'll light it and get it good and hot a couple of times then scrape it down to bare wood and start over to get a good carbon coating in the bowl. >>


That's a fairly common practice with precarbed pipes



<< Granted it's by no means comparable to my Meerschaum but I don't have any problems with them for smoking on a regular basis. >>


Well, pipe smoking is all a matter of taste--if you like it the Grabows, keep on smoking them If you've never tried a better briar pipe, I highly recommend trying one out...the difference can be striking.
But, if you have tried something better and still prefer the Grabows, I can't fault your preference



<< So you like the smell of pipes? You know what smells even better? A woman. Get one of those. Oh wait, considering what Carlin says about pipe smokers, perhaps you don't want a woman. >>


I've got both. Nyah nyah.

 

[speed01]

Jzero, what would you recommend for a better briar pipe? I don't have access to any decent pipe shops so my choice is seriously limited. Also, do you have any recommendations on a tobacco choice for smoking on a regular basis? Right now I'm smoking Middleton's cherry blend and I find that it's not as aromatic and flavorful as I'd like but it is readily available. An apple cherry blend is what I would like to try but I haven't been able to come by one locally.

BTW, I've got both as well and she perfers the pipe

Wait, that sounded better before I typed it. As opposed to cigarettes I mean.

 

[dxkj]

<< So you like the smell of pipes? You know what smells even better? A woman. Get one of those. Oh wait, considering what Carlin says about pipe smokers, perhaps you don't want a woman. Nevermind. >>



hmm, I already have a woman, now I need a pipe and trust me, I want her (not referring to the pipe in the female sense, either)

ok, I'll keep looking around, did anyone give me a good link for a pipe shop on the net (not one for smoking pot either)

 

[Jzero]

<< Jzero, what would you recommend for a better briar pipe? >>


I mentioned a few brands a couple posts back. Take a look.


<< I don't have access to any decent pipe shops so my choice is seriously limited. >>


Ack....it rots when you don't have a shop to go to. It's hard to choose a pipe when you can't actually see it and hold it.
You can find some on ebay, like this...
Vegas Smokes has some Savinelli pipes for $50 or so, but that might be a bit steep for you...I'll look around and see if I can find some good on-line vendors.


<< Also, do you have any recommendations on a tobacco choice for smoking on a regular basis? Right now I'm smoking Middleton's cherry blend and I find that it's not as aromatic and flavorful as I'd like but it is readily available. >>


Eek! Not Cherry Blend! That stuff is more additive than tobacco We've GOT to find you something else! You don't know what you're missing!!!


<< An apple cherry blend is what I would like to try but I haven't been able to come by one locally. >>


Basically these flavored tobaccos fall under the heading of "Aromatics." For some reason I can find them readily in bulk in almost any smoke shop, but they're hard to find in the can. If you go to the Vegas Smokes link above, you'll find a few cherry-flavored ones like Karl Erik 16 and Kapt'n Bester Cherry and Caminetto Barolo, McClintock Black Cherry...unfortunately I've never tried any of those so I can't vouch for how good or bad they are, although they may be worth a shot.

Most of the other tobaccoes Vegas Smokes sells are English tobaccos which contain virginia tobaccoes and very strong oriental/southern US tobaccos called Latakia and Perique. I haven't had anything with perique in it, but I've had latakia blends (Dunhill Early Morning Pipe and Dunhill My Mixture #965), and I think they're great, but you either love of hate those English blends. I say they're worth a shot at least once, but I recommend smoking them in a pipe you don't use much anymore b/c the strong flavor will stay in the bowl and if you go back to something else, you'll still be able to taste the latakia for quite some time afterwards.

If you have access to usenet groups, look up alt.smokers.pipes. There is a huge number of resources there. There is a poster there who runs a program called "Pay It Forward." In order to help new smokers or people who don't have access to try out different pipes and leaves, he runs a clearing house where people send him good pipes and tobaccos that they have no need for and he sends them on to people who have need for them.
The people on ASP will also be able to point you in the direction of good on-line vendors and may even know of a pipe shop in your area.

 

[speed01]

Thank's for the tips. I've tried one Dunhill blend that I didn't particularly care for, I found it a bit harsh for my taste. And I've tried McClintock Black Cherry but didn't care for the bite. Normally, when I try something new it goes into the Meerschaum, If I like it in there then I get a new pipe and try it there. If I don't care for it, I smoke it in the old pipe. I find Cherry Blend to be very good in the Meerschaum but that's not a regular smoking pipe and it loses a lot in the Grabow.

dxkj, sorry for running over your thread. It's not often that something not computer related comes up that I actually have an interest in.

 

[dxkj]

speed01 hehe feel free, Im reading and learning as well... my second question after "what is a good, affordable, beginner pipe" would have been "what should I start with to smoke in it"

 

[dxkj]

hmm, hey jzero, this could be an ok site

http://store.yahoo.com/pipes-cigars-tobacco/greatpipun50.html


Linked


any recommendations among these blokes?

 

[Jzero]

<< I've tried one Dunhill blend that I didn't particularly care for, I found it a bit harsh for my taste. >>


English tobaccos might not be for you then...although Dunhill blends are fairly well-known for being very harsh and seem to have more nicotine then a lot of other blends. Something from Davidoff or G.L. Pease might be nicer for you. Pease's blend called "Haddo's Delight" gets raved about almost daily on A.S.P. even by people who don't usually like latakia. It's very mild, I hear.



<< I find Cherry Blend to be very good in the Meerschaum but that's not a regular smoking pipe and it loses a lot in the Grabow. >>


I've heard meerschaum pipes tend to bring out the casing flavors of aromatic tobaccos. I actually haven't gotten any! I need to go get one or thirty....
Why isn't it a regular smoker, though? The more you smoke them, the better color it turns Although you shouldn't smoke any pipe more than once ever couple days...



<< my second question after "what is a good, affordable, beginner pipe" would have been "what should I start with to smoke in it" >>


Aromatic blends are usually the way to start because they are lighter and less complex. Most beginner smokers think those English blends taste like sweatsocks and a lot of old-timers think so, too. It took me about a year to get started on English blends and I like them more and more. I doubly like them because after awhile I became almost desensitized to flavorings like cherry and rum, etc. Now, if I've been smoking an English blend and one day throw in some cherry, I can really taste the cherry because it's so different from the latakia in the English stuff.

Anyway, if you have access to a smoke shop, they usually have a lot of bulk tobaccos in jars. Go in and sniff at all the ones and grab a 1 or 2 ounces of a couple that smell good to you. Many shops will even let you light up a bowl on-the-house. I know the Little Taste of Cuba shops in New Hope and Princeton always welcome people to bring their pipes in and try anything they have out.
If you don't have access to a pipe shop....there's not a lot you can do except buy some smaller tins of things that sound good to you in descriptions and reviews and just hope you get something you like.
The Cherry Blend that speed01 smokes is available in most drug stores along with Captain Black and a few others. CVS actually has a store-brand line of tobaccos that isn't half-bad. These aren't the greatest tobaccos but they're pretty cheap and you can get a feel for a few different flavors.
And, of course, if you can get on usenet's alt.smokers.pipes, you could probably get a boatload of recommendations in just a couple posts.



<< any recommendations among these blokes? >>


Hmmm...I can't tell for sure. It's kind of disturbing because the manufacturer's logo is typically on the side of the shank that faces you with the stem pointing to the right, which is also the side you typically photograph (See here and here is a closeup of how they're usually pictured).
So it's hard to say because we don't really know the brands or anything...almost makes you wonder if they don't want you to see the logo because you'd realize it's not worth as much as they're asking...
Also, if these are seconds or rejects of name brands, they may have puttied holes and other imperfections...they'd still smoke ok, but they wouldn't be worth as much. The ones for $19.99 and $24.95 are probably cheap enough that even if they are noname junkers, you'd still get a decent value. The Mexican one for $32 might also be good. When I was in Mexico I bought a no-name pipe from a local and it's very decent. I think I paid about $30 US for it.

Your best bet is always to find a smoke shop and really look over the pipes and find one that you like in your price range. They often have a "bargain basket" with seconds like I mentioned above that make great pipes to start out with. They're usually $20-$30 for anything in the basket. I've gotten some real nice pipes that way.

 

[Jerboy]

Someone care to summarize the difference in these between pipe and standard cigarette?


Smell

health effect

 

[Jzero]

<< Someone care to summarize the difference in these between pipe and standard cigarette?


Smell

health effect >>



Seeing as 99% of mass-market cigarettes are loaded with non-tobacco "fillers" and artificial chemicals to increase addictiveness, the difference is black and white. Cigarettes smell like cigarettes.
Pipe and cigar smoke is entirely different. These tobaccos are 100% just tobacco. Flavored tobaccos contain natural essential oils. Nothing artificial. The only cigarette I know of that can make the same boast is American Spirit.
Hence, when it comes to smell, the smell of fine pipe tobacco is very light and sweet. In fact, cherry tobacco SMELLS more like cherry than it tastes like. If you can't tell the difference between real tobacco and cheap mass-market cigarettes by the room aroma, you must have no nose.

As for health effect, we don't need a brat like you to know that tobacco smoke is bad for you. Although I will say that since the average pipe smoker smokes a lot less tobacco than most cigarette fiends, they are a lower risk. Since they don't inhale, the risk of lung cancer is fairly minimal, and since the tobacco doesn't come in direct contact with the mouth and lips, you're less susceptible to those forms of cancer than cigar smokers and chewers. Sure, you're still putting yourself at some risk of mouth, throat or lung cancer from it.
But woopdeedoo. It's a fine enough art to justify the potential risks, and if it doesn't seem justified to you, well there's a reason you're naysaying here, now isn't there? Nobody's holding a gun to your head forcing you to smoke anything, so don't worry about it.

 

[dxkj]

hmmm, having trouble finding the usenet group asp, but i dont use usenet, so maybe thats why.... any suggestin jzero?



tobacco is bad for you? hmm first I heard of that

 

[Jzero]

<< hmmm, having trouble finding the usenet group asp, but i dont use usenet, so maybe thats why.... any suggestin jzero? >>



I dunno how to use Google Groups...you need to register to post. I'm sure it's easy.
But here is the link to the group from whence you can read all the posts even without registering:
alt.smokers.pipes

YOu can get it through Outlook Express but you need a news server. Your ISP might provide one, but the settings are specific to each ISP.

 

[dxkj]

thanks JZ


here is another site I found in my pipe browsing.... anything decent here? How are Calabresi pipes compared to GRabow?


Cigarleaf.com

 

[incallisto]

<< hmmm, having trouble finding the usenet group asp, but i dont use usenet, so maybe thats why.... any suggestin jzero?

Hey dxkj

I recommend Dunhill pipes and Ashton Celebrated Sovereign tobacco.

 

[Caminetto]

May I suggest an estate (pre-smoked) pipe on Eday. They can be cleaned and sterilized with high proof alchol and you can find an excellent smoker for half the price, or less, than a new one.

 

[Jzero]

<< How are Calabresi pipes compared to GRabow? >>



I've got 2 Calabresi. They're very good value, IMO.
Caminetto offers good advice, too. You can clean up a decent used (estate) pipe pretty cheap...poke around on the *bay some

 

[dxkj]

ok, I got into the usenet group and threw up a post for help, I'll stop bugging the OT forum, thanks for your help guys

 

[MrHelpful]

Do they give you complimentary tongue scrapers?

^ not a thread crap

 

[dxkj]

hmm, no I dont think so, but i should check

 

[ravanux]

<< That depends on what exactly you're going to be smoking out of that pipe >>


Exactly!!! Head Shops!!!

 

[dxkj]

I blew a smoke ring today!!!!

I had some cigars leftover from our celebration of the end of the semester and tried to blow a smoke ring based on instructions on that one usenet, and it worked! hehe

<--- idiot at heart

 

[Jzero]

<< I blew a smoke ring today!!!!

I had some cigars leftover from our celebration of the end of the semester and tried to blow a smoke ring based on instructions on that one usenet, and it worked! hehe

<--- idiot at heart >>

Gratz! haha somehow I can't get that to work...although I did spot your posts on A.S.P. Welcome

 

[Perknose]

Jzero, a quick question, if you please. This is going back way too many years, but what I strongly remember from my pipe tamping days is that the better the blend smelled to others while being smoked, the worse it tasted to me. It's just a fragment of a memory from a time long passed, but, any inherent truth in that?

Also, saw your profile: Trenton Makes, The World Takes.

Finally, don't know if your immensely knowledgeable tastes extends to cigars, but there used to be (and probably still is) a cigar store down at 3rd and Market in Philly that had virtually everything, and then some, at the very best prices.

It was/is just a run down, cavernous store front (fit right in in the neighborhood) with bare, worn, warped wooden floors with no frills temp and humidity controlled glass display cases -- no signs, no full color come ons, no furniture, no nothing -- but they had it all -- straight from the Philly docks or trucked up from Miami.

Anyway, thanks for your informed contributions to this thread. As a old friend of mine never tired of saying, "You can't beat a man with the facts".

 

[Jzero]

<< <STRONG>Jzero</STRONG>, a quick question, if you please. This is going back way too many years, but what I strongly remember from my pipe tamping days is that the better the blend smelled to others while being smoked, the worse it tasted to me. It's just a fragment of a memory from a time long passed, but, any inherent truth in that? >>



I've heard a lot of people say that, and I've experienced it myself. In fact, when I first started smoking a pipe I was surprised and how much different it tasted as opposed to how it actually smelled. Not that it was a taste I didn't like, but it sure seemed different. And while most people in the room seem to like smell of fruity aromatics like cherry, etc, I find that the English tobaccos with latakia in them taste a lot better, but anyone else in the room is more likely to say they don't like the smell than with an aromatic tobacco.
The folks on alt.smokers.pipes often comment about how they can only get out the English tobacco when the significant other isn't around



<< Also, saw your profile: <STRONG>Trenton Makes, The World Takes. </STRONG> >>



LMAO! I wonder when that bridge was build....seems to me that the world has by now taken all that Trenton ever made!



<< Finally, don't know if your immensely knowledgeable tastes extends to cigars, but there used to be (and probably still is) a cigar store down at 3rd and Market in Philly that had virtually everything, and then some, at the very best prices. >>



I think that's the first time I've ever been referred to as having "immensely knowedgeable tastes!" heheh Thanks
I smoked cigars fairly often before I started pipe smoking, and I still grab a cigar every once in awhile. I never really got "into" cigars enough to try to learn about them as much, though. Although, that's an awesome tip...I'm going to have to wander down there and see what I can find.
I've also spotted a decent-looking cigar shop which is on the right-hand side just after you get into PA from the Tacony-Palmyra bridge. I keep meaning to stop there but I usually only go by late at night.



<< Anyway, thanks for your informed contributions to this thread. As a old friend of mine never tired of saying, "You can't beat a man with the facts". >>


It's been great fun. I can't claim that I know all the facts, though...I've only been doing this for 2 years

 

[dxkj]

yup, I talked to bear and he is sending me a pif or something like that, I also got directions to a few online sites that have pipes on sale, 50% off, etc.... they've been lots of help already, the topics get updated slowly though when your used to AT