New to Pipes

[Matt Wall]

Hi guys,
I'm obviously really enjoying smoking cigars and have picked up a hell of a lot of information of all types of cigars (the only think I feel I lack is experience of all brands and also going to a herf, but those will come in time I'm sure); anyway I've found that cigar smoking is obviously an expensive hobby so I'm thinking about dabbling in pipe smoking but with cigars being my main interest. I guess it's the same way of smoking a cigar but just less expensive and with more faff.
I've read a lot of articles and videos about how to pack, light and smoke a pipe and all the different types of tobaccos but I find nothing really beats personal experience. I'm just wondering what generally everyone's favourite blends of tobacco are? I've heard of things like Latakia, Burley, Virgina, Orientals, Balkan, Aromatics etc but I've yet to read anything about what tastes are what. It is very easy to read reviews of a Hoyo cigar and know very quickly that they are a very light cigar make or read reviews of Bolivar and know that they are much stronger, but I don't know what the equivalents are in tobaccos? Is Virgina/Oriental/Latakia more light like a Hoyo or more heavy like a Bolivar? Can you mix different types of tobaccos together in thirds to get a more transition cigar-like experience?
How do you store tobaccos btw? I've seen photos of sealed jars of tobacco but is a Boveda pouch needed to keep the humidity the same in the jar?

Sorry if it's a lot of questions to answer but this forum is full of great and helpful so I thought I might as well start my journey here
Thanks everyone,
Matt


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[TonyN]

No need to use bovedas matt to store your pipe tobacco ,as long as you use something that's air tight for example
douwe egberts coffee jars they come in different sizes.
As for pipe tobacco I would start on the ones they sell loose by the ounce that way if you don't like the blend you haven't wasted your money
start off with the aromatics and go from there to stronger ones that contain latakia
I myself don't like the latakia smells a bit like tarmac having said that there are a lot of pipe smokers that prefer it in their blends.

[Paulie2876]

I just bought a cheap wooden pipe last week and have the same dilemma, so I went on to our sponsors site where you get the option to buy a 10g sample. So I have six samples that arrived today. As it is a new pipe I have to break it in so I have started with a half bowl today of a non aromatic blend, I will use the same blend the next time for another half bowl and so on until I work my way up to a full bowl and the bowl is broken in. For my aromatics I have a meerschaum corn cob pipe ordered to try them, as apparently you don't have to break them in and you can smoke different blends without tainting the bowl, so I have researched, maybe some of the pipe smokers will correct me( fingers crossed) if I am wrong. I decided to go this way mainly because I don't want to spend a lot of money in case I don't like the pipe experience. I bought a wooden pipe by ash that was ?9.25 from eBay and the corn cob was under ?6 from eBay as well.

[TonyN]

Started out the same way as you paulie many years ago by buying loose pipe tobacco and a cheap ?10 briar pipe
here I am today still puffing away.

[Paulie2876]

Started out the same way as you paulie many years ago by buying loose pipe tobacco and a cheap ?10 briar pipe
here I am today still puffing away.

it just seemed the obvious way to go for me, I did enjoy the taste of the tobacco, I tried alsbo black to start with and it wasn't too bad. Would I be correct with my assumption of the corn cob pipe?

[TonyN]

Your correct in what your saying paulie Cobs don’t break-in really just become seasoned and will taste better after a few bowls.

[Paulie2876]

Cheers Tony

[ValeTudoGuy]

Pipes are very different to cigars, they are a very rewarding hobby that takes a little more input from the user. So don't expect a comparable experience as it really isn't alike.

A corn cob is by far the best starting point in my opinion and jam jars are great for storage. I would however reccomend not starting with highly aromatic tobacco. I would perhaps go for a straight Virginia and work from there. Alternatively another way to tackle starting is perhaps go for an over the counter product like St Bruno or Condor and they are fairly readily available.

GQ Tobacco is IMO the best Pipe and Pipe Tobacco retailer around the UK and they do samples too.

Here is a great resource for the info you want on the types of tobacco and I have come back to this same resource over and over.

http://pipedia.org/wiki/Pipe_Tobaccos

If you get into pipes, send me a PM and I will sort you out a sampler package.

[Matt Wall]

Thanks for the help guys, really appreciate it So is this smoke the same density as cigar smoke or is it more airy? I've noticed in a lot of videos people are almost constantly smoking their pipe whereas when I smoke a cigar I usually take a draw once every minute, do I need to be puffing away a lot more often with a pipe?
Thanks for the help getting started in regards to the sampler VTG, that's very kind of you; once I'm set up I'll let you know
I think I might get some airtight jars from ikea or somewhere like that for the tobacco


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[ValeTudoGuy]

Thanks for the help guys, really appreciate it So is this smoke the same density as cigar smoke or is it more airy? I've noticed in a lot of videos people are almost constantly smoking their pipe whereas when I smoke a cigar I usually take a draw once every minute, do I need to be puffing away a lot more often with a pipe?
Thanks for the help getting started in regards to the sampler VTG, that's very kind of you; once I'm set up I'll let you know
I think I might get some airtight jars from ikea or somewhere like that for the tobacco


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Smoke density really depends on the specific tobacco as does the regularity of your draw. One BIG consideration for pipes is tongue bite. If you draw too much you get the tobacco so hot it will burn your mouth, keep going and you can physically damage your pipe.

Its hard to give specifics with pipes, it really does just take practice and you will find what works for you in time..... You kind of reach a zen.

I got packs of 8 jars from Asda for ?2 or something like that, it was quite a while ago. Though perhaps just get a packet of tobacco to begin with to make sure that pipes offer what your after... You can think about long term storage later as nothing with pipe tobacco is really as critical as cigars and the tobacco/storage is generally much cheaper.

[butternutsquashpie]

this guy. he gives good advice on pipes.

[RDBM]

Pipes are very different to cigars, they are a very rewarding hobby that takes a little more input from the user. So don't expect a comparable experience as it really isn't alike.

A corn cob is by far the best starting point in my opinion and jam jars are great for storage. I would however reccomend not starting with highly aromatic tobacco. I would perhaps go for a straight Virginia and work from there. Alternatively another way to tackle starting is perhaps go for an over the counter product like St Bruno or Condor and they are fairly readily available.

GQ Tobacco is IMO the best Pipe and Pipe Tobacco retailer around the UK and they do samples too.

Here is a great resource for the info you want on the types of tobacco and I have come back to this same resource over and over.

http://pipedia.org/wiki/Pipe_Tobaccos

If you get into pipes, send me a PM and I will sort you out a sampler package.

Never been a pipe smoker, always loved the smell of a pipe though. Never knew how much was involved in it.

[Matt Wall]

Thanks VTG you obviously know a lot about pipes, thanks for sharing. I've heard of this tongue bite thing, does it happen a lot? I don't really want to smoke if its unpleasant every time I smoke; is it do with moisture in the pipe?


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[cj121]

Marc's the man And his tongue bites

[TonyN]

I find that mild pipe tobacco can cause tongue bite, just remember matt any pipe tobacco you smoke wether mild medium or strong
will burn hot and taste harsh is smoked at a fast paste.
Packed too loose it won't stay lit too tight you'll have a job keeping the tobacco burning.