You really got me going...

[larrysson]

Before too long, you must try a meerschaum! It's fun to experience how a blend will change taste slightly from one material to the other.

[sheppsea]

This thread finally twisted my arm into trying a pipe, just bought two corn cob pipes (a straight and a bent pipe), a pipe tool, a pack of cleaners and six tobacco samplers, all for under ?30, including delivery, not bad! 😀

Now I've just got to break the news to my wife tomorrow morning... (although I think she been expecting it as I have been going on about it for a couple of weeks!)

[ValeTudoGuy]

Good lad! Before we know it, we're going to have a herf's worth of pipe folk here!

[butternutsquashpie]

You really got me going...... all day. and all of the night!
fack.. wrong song eh?

And Chris, i catch you smoking Vanillin, chestnut, or any other flavoured tobaccy in the same pipe that you smoke the other ones, i'll come over there and flog you myself!! (that's the only piece of advice you need from me)
good job though! you'll sure enjoy the habit more when you've only got 20-40 minutes on your hands!

[cj121]

Ooh no, no aros or flavoured for me Jeremy. It'd be a bit like buying Drew Estates Acid cigars and I haven't done that yet The bowl is safe

[sheppsea]

This thread finally twisted my arm into trying a pipe, just bought two corn cob pipes (a straight and a bent pipe), a pipe tool, a pack of cleaners and six tobacco samplers, all for under ?30, including delivery, not bad! 😀

Now I've just got to break the news to my wife tomorrow morning... (although I think she been expecting it as I have been going on about it for a couple of weeks!)

So, I now have the pipe and tobacco, and am sitting with my first ever pipe, a Peterson Sherlock mixture (I had wanted my first pipe to be on a walk through the Peak District yesterday, but it was a bit too wet up there!), not entirely sure if I'm enjoying it (sorry...), I just don't think its as nice as smoking cigars

I will give it a few more tries though as I've read piped need to be broken in - although I'm not sure if that applies to corn cobs, I'm also sure I didn't pack the bowl very well as it keeps going out and the draw is very loose and doesn't produce much smoke so that may well be a factor in it, although I don't think the flavours are as nice as with cigars either

[larrysson]

Sounds like you already figured out what went wrong. Cobs don't need to be broken in, but it still has to be packed right. I agree about the flavours of pipe blends. I like my pipes and blends, but when I'm after a really satisfying smoke, cigars win hands down. On the flip side, there are some really good pipe blends that are tasty indeed. I guess it just depends on what flavours you are after. A good smokey Syrian latakia or spicy perique or mellow virginia ribbon are hard to beat when the mood takes you...

I liked your blog btw, and found a couple of sites I had not visited before on your links. Thanks!

[ValeTudoGuy]

For me It's hard to judge pipes directly against a cigar, I see them as completely different beasts.
For me a cigar is to be given total concentration, it's the star of the show. Now a pipe, well a good pipe session is total relaxation... It drifts into the background and frames the events that take place within the window of time that passed while it burns.

I see a cigar as an event, while I see a pipe as something wholly more soleful.

[sheppsea]

It may also be that I was expecting too much of a cigar experience in that case, I will give it another go tomorrow hopefully and this time won't be so conservative when pressing the tobacco down whilst packing! 😊

I liked your blog btw, and found a couple of sites I had not visited before on your links. Thanks!

Thanks a lot - glad you enjoyed it and found the links! I will be posting again soon, unfortunately I had drafted a long post after not posting for a while and the Wordpress app lost the draft and I haven't been able to face writing it all up again!