Guide to Pipe Smoking
Opening Thoughts: None of the information in here is especially original or ground breaking. Most of it is common knowledge to pipe smokers, but I try and deliver it in a way in which newer smokers can explore and learn on their own without being overwhelmed with information. All of the guides I first discovered told me how to smoke, and never explained the why’s or rational behind it all. I hope you all enjoy this short read as well as pipe smoking in general. Thank you!
BEGINNER BASICS
I want to start smoking, what do I need?
You need a pipe, an ignition source, tobacco, and a tamper, as well as pipe cleaners for cleaning the pipe afterwards. Question: What kind of pipe should I get? What matters in a pipe? As a beginner, stick to familiar materials, briar, corn cobs, and meerschaums. Get something that fits in your budget and that you like. The shape, size of the bowl, bend in the pipe, as well as other aesthetic and practical features can be figured out later. Don’t over think your first pipe.
What kind of tobacco should I get?
You should get 3 different types of tobacco. An English, a Virginia or non-aromatic, and an aromatic blend. Keep in mind that any blend from these styles will not represent the whole of the style, but it will give you variety and allow you to figure out what you like and don’t like.
What should I use to light with?
Any soft flame lighter or matches will work. There is a lot of information about thermodynamic about lighting a pipe and what not, but at the end of the day, pick something you like. I use a variety, depending on where I am and the conditions. Stay away from hard flames or torch lighters because they can burn through the wood.
How do I smoke?
You must first pack your pipe, then light it, and enjoy! Seriously though, there are lots of different packing methods, but the easiest for a beginner is to fill the bowl, tamp or push the tobacco to the half way point, fill again, tamp to the ¾ mark, and then heap the tobacco over a bit and tamp to completely fill. Light it once, the tobacco will rise, tamp it down, light it again and you are on your way. Sometimes you will need to re-light many times, and other times you will only need to relight a couple of times for the duration of the smoke. Tamp the tobacco and embers down as you smoke, try every 5 minutes or so to begin with, and try to keep the top of the tobacco level so that it smokes evenly. The point is to keep the ignited embers close to fresh tobacco. You will also want to keep in mind that you should not be inhaling any smoke. Simply puff the smoke by drawing it into your mouth and blowing it back out. Some people can’t understand how this is possible, just try it with a liquid.
What do I need to do for aftercare?
When you have finished smoking, use the shovel side of the tamper to dump the dottle or leftover bits of tobacco, out of the bowl. Run a pipe cleaner through the stem, from mouth piece to the inside of the bowl. Then wipe the inside of the bowl down with a pipe cleaner by bending it in half. Please note that not all pipes will be able to accommodate the pipe cleaner making it through the airway in one shot. Take the stem off after the bowl has cooled and finish cleaning. Do this after every smoke. You can smoke the pipe again after about an hour or two of rest. The bowl has to dry out, and contrary to popular belief a day of rest is not necessary, it was a marketing trick to sell more pipes about 50 years ago.
Is smoking bad for me?
Yes, yes it is. Pipe smoking has been shown to have much fewer negative effects than almost any other kind of habitual smoking, but it still has its risks, do not take my word for it, though. I am going to depart from my comrades here and I will not link to any studies or statistics about smoking, there are decent amounts of information out there, most of it done in Europe, so research it yourself to fully understand the effects. Otherwise I could just be cherry picking studies I’ve found and be feeding you bad information, but you should talk to medical physician about the health effects if you are concerned.
ADDITONAL LINKS:
DrScience11 guide to to Tasting Tobacco.
The Reddit Tobacco Review Archive
Trusted etailers (USA): Pipes and cigars, cupojoes, 4noggins, Smoking Pipes…
Trusted etailers (international):
http://sikaritalo.fi/catalog/rekisteroidy.php and
http://cigarworld.de/ , Smoking Pipes ships to Australia and does not charge Australian tax for orders below 250g of tobacco. 4noggins ships to Canada discretely. Note: I need the communites help with this section, anything else I should add?
Terminology:
Estate Pipe: A pipe form a previous owner, typically smoked. These pipes can be excellent values, but need to be cleaned inside and usually outside as well.
Ghost: a flavor left behind in an estate pipe or even one of your own pipes.
Tamper: a tool to push the embers and tobacco down inside of the bowl.
Bit: The non-wood portion of the pipe, usually black, which enters your mouth.
TAD & PAD: Tobacco acquisition disorder and pipe acquisition disorder. These will become self explanatory in time, or maybe not, but they typically mean that someone has gone overboard on buying pipes or tobacco.