Smoking pipes/tobacco.

Here's a similar thread from just a while back:

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=206253

 

I have two words in response to that question: mouth cancer

 

I do not smoke cigarettes, I think they are foul, disgusting, and wrong. That said. I have less of a bias against pure tobacco smoking. It is a complicated setup though. I have smoked hookah plenty in the past, pure tobacco flavored with molasses. I have smoked cigars before, and I have smoked pipe tobacco.

The thing is. Tobacco, on its own, really isn't THAT bad. When you look at cigarettes, which have so many added elements, literally poisons, literally added nicotine. When you look at inhaling cigarette smoke versus puffing tobacco smoke through a cigar or pipe. You are far less likely to have serious health problems.

That said. You can still get mouth cancer, or maybe throat cancer. Any and all smoking isn't purely healthy. But, pure tobacco, lightly enjoyed recreationally(not addicted), is just that. A lightly enjoyed recreational thing.

You might want to just go down to your local tobacconist, be friendly, ask for some advice, some input. every tobacco shop I've been to has had friendly and receptive tobacco enthusiasts that wil help you out.

It's weird that I'd make this post, since I am pretty much against smoking. But, pure tobacco, really isn't all that harmful, if you've already made up your mind to smoke, you might as well go with something that is less likely to make you addicted and kill you.

 

I've smoked a pipe for about twenty years. I've tried nearly every brand in every flavor but the best tobacco that I've found is Captain Black Gold. Don't even bother with the other blends.

I wont smoke a blend that burns my tongue and I like a very mild flavor.

I'll bet you'll like the corncob better than the briar. They smoke much cooler than briar.

You need more than one corncob because they have to dry out between uses. Not a prob because they'real cheap. I buy them 12 at a time on the display card for a couple of bucks each.

 

Peter Stokkebye's Luxury Twist Flake. It burns hot, so beware of tongue bite, but it smokes nicely, smells like vanilla, and tastes pleasant. No additives, no preservatives, no flavoring, just well aged and blended Virginia tobaccos.

 

I would just find a healthier recreational activity... i'm an x smoker of 13 years and i really feel this is the best advice i could give you on the subject... but i know how it is. I just wanted to add my 0.02$..... Peace

 

It's not just cigarettes. Pipe tobacco is full of additives. Here's an example...

http://www.gallaher-group.com/products/iframer.asp?iframe=table1&product_type=PIPE

Whether smoking them is harmful is debatable and the tobacco companies have a vested interest in generating evidence that it's not. I smoked for years and have chosen not to take the risk.

 

Everything good kills you. I've just decided to look past that at this point in my life and do what's fun and enjoyable.

I smoke a pipe occasionally. I have a smallish "Italian Club" tobacco pipe made in the Czech Republic that I quite enjoy using. We have a great little tobacco place called "Thomas D's" here, and I buy all my pipe accessories there. I'd suggest that you go to a tobacco shop, service is unparalleled. They're really helpful and they throw in all sorts of free stuff when you buy tobacco or a pipe. I usually buy the stuff that they have in bulk. Alot of people say that's the "bad" stuff, but it tastes/smells great, and it's about $3.00 for a 2 oz. bag which lasts me a while. I've also had Captain Black Royal, which is also good and can be found in grocery stores/mini-marts. Stick with Cavendish unless you're a former cigarette smoker, then a Burley tobacco will be better for you. I was never a fan of cigarettes, so I smoke Cavendish. Aromatic, tasty, and slow burning. Smoking a pipe is an art, you have to do everything just right to bring out the flavor.

My approach to smoking my pipe is much like someone might approach fine liquors or wines. It's enjoyable, the smoke tastes good. I don't smoke that often. Not even every day, sometimes I'll go weeks without it. But a couple of my good friends and I have a kind of "pipe club" when we get together every few weeks and smoke our pipes. It's good times. In a world where everything else kills me anyway, I'm not too worried. I don't inhale often either, which reduces (but doesn't eliminate) potential health risks.

If you do a little research, pipes are the safest way to smoke. They also happen to taste the best. I used to smoke cigars way more often, until I realized they were worse than ciggies, even when you don't inhale.

It's your life, your choice. I enjoy my pipe at this point in my life and I'm not giving it up.

 

Same here. I've invested a good bit into pipes and tobacco a couple of years ago. I really enjoy a good blend, particularly a lightly cased VA or VA/burley blend, but my pipe smoking has waned over the last 2 years or so.

Without arguing the dangers of any tobacco, I'll make a few recommendations as others have. Start off small, visit a tobacconist, and see if you can get samples. There are many tobacconists online if there isn't one in your town. You will undoubtedly get the best customer service in a tobacco shops with few exceptions. A lot of pipe smokers start off with heavily cased cavendish blends that end up tasting awful after you've tried a few VA's, burleys, or latakias with little casing. I prefer tin blens such as Mac Baren's (not MacBaren) Navy Flake, McConnell Navy Cavendish, and GLP Barbary Coast among others.

You also need to keep up a pipe, you should start with a cheaper briar to get to know how to take care of it (building a "cake," etc). Improper care can result in a cracked pipe, even moreso with a lower quality pipe. You'd also need to keep it clean, meaning running pipe cleaners through it regularly. It is somewhat high maintenance, but can be just as enjoyable if you get into the hobby.

 

Yes, I forgot to mention that. For your first 6-12 bowls, pack the pipe only halfway, and loosely. Don't pack heavy and dense. You have to build your cake. After those "break-in bowls" you can begin to pack heavier and more dense.

And clean your pipe, otherwise it can get pretty nasty.

 

Just to be clear...the argument isn't really about getting a "few extra years" for most. It's about how you spend those last few years. For many, old and boring is sitting at the house thanks to an accelerated decrease in lung capacity.

Wanna smoke? Fine. Join the club. But please don't think that you're Ernest Hemingway for doing so.

A-pack-a-day,
Mike

 

I started last March, a pipe a Sunday afternoon. It has evolved into about six pipes a week, and never, ever more than two a day (and that is very occassional).

I try and stay away from blends with a ton of nicotine. I've never smoked a cigarette, but the day after I smoked a really high nicotine blend, I woke up craving a cigarette. I gave that blend away, and stick with the stuff that won't leave me too addicted.

If you start smoking pretty often, you should try and go a week without it. I do that once every other month or so, and if I don't crave a pipe like crazy, I feel like I can go on and continue, knowing that I can stop whenever I want.

The key for me is a decent pipe that doesn't smoke wet, a fairly stiff English blend (preferably with more Orientals than Latakia), and pipe cleaners. Pipe tools are dumb, in my opinion. I pack with my fingers (not too tightly), tamp with the butt end of a Pilot V7 pen (usually I'm reading when I smoke), and light with wooden matches most of the time.

People say you need all of this crap to smoke a pipe, but it isn't true. I have five pipes, but that's just because I can't really spend my money on bass gear anymore (dorm life). My bass rig is perfect for now, so instead of spending a few hundred dollars a year on that, I spend $80 every two or three months and get a new pipe. I recommend getting different brands of pipes, and moreso, different sizes. I've got three mid size pipes, one that is probably a group 2 (on Dunhill's scale), and then one that would hold its own with an Ardor Giant.

Talk to your tobacconist about what your tastes are like, and I recommend starting with a mild English blend. Aromatics are messy to learn on, because they burn so wet (most of the time). I just plain don't like aromatics, though. After a while, get yourself a nice Virginia flake and puff really slowly. They are heavenly.

 

It's pretty easy to get pure pipe tobaccos. Shisha(for hookahs) is 100% pure tobacco with practically no tar and very low nicotine + molasses for flavoring. Don't inhale, just puffing, occasional recreational use. Nothing wrong with that, it's hardly addicting(I have seen a couple people get hooked on it, but everyone else I've known to use it has never had any dependency issues, not even a little bit)

So, I have more experience with hookahs than pipes, but I have been to tobacconists, there are plenty of additive-free tobaccos, and even when there are some additives, it ain't rat poison. ya know?

 

I have a friend who is really into the hookah its an interesting after dinner custom with almost its own culture to the smokers.

 

aw man, I thought this was gonna be a *wink wink* *nudge nudge* "tobacco pipe thread, oh well...