Pipe Forum: new members (introduce yourself)

[PCG]

I'm really new here, actually i was trolling google having recently gotten into Pipe smoking, i love it though i try not to do it too often. (the old lady worries) Quiet honestly I'm a once a week kind of a guy. I love my pipes (owning three now) and i'm looking to add more to the rack. I figured this was a good place to start for information and picture sharing.



Thanks

PCG

[IHT]

Originally Posted by PCG

i love it though i try not to do it too often. (the old lady worries)

worries about what?

you should tell her two things.

1) pipe smokers live 2 yrs longer than non-smokers (on average, studies show).
2) the largest and longest (118,000 ppl, over 39 yrs) 2nd hand smoke study didn't show but a minute increase in heart disease and cancers and called it "inconclusive". i've got a link to this one somewhere, and i'm sure pipe smokers are even more "inconclusive" since they don't inhale toxic tobacco (differences between pipe and cig tobacco processing).

[PCG]

Originally Posted by IHT

worries about what?

you should tell her two things.

1) pipe smokers live 2 yrs longer than non-smokers (on average, studies show).
2) the largest and longest (118,000 ppl, over 39 yrs) 2nd hand smoke study didn't show but a minute increase in heart disease and cancers and called it "inconclusive". i've got a link to this one somewhere, and i'm sure pipe smokers are even more "inconclusive" since they don't inhale toxic tobacco (differences between pipe and cig tobacco processing).

I shall do that right now, thanks!

[uncballzer]

Originally Posted by IHT

worries about what?

you should tell her two things.

1) pipe smokers live 2 yrs longer than non-smokers (on average, studies show).
2) the largest and longest (118,000 ppl, over 39 yrs) 2nd hand smoke study didn't show but a minute increase in heart disease and cancers and called it "inconclusive". i've got a link to this one somewhere, and i'm sure pipe smokers are even more "inconclusive" since they don't inhale toxic tobacco (differences between pipe and cig tobacco processing).

Hey, do you happen to have the links to those studies handy? They would come in quite useful for a couple of my friends who continuously haggle me

[IHT]

here's the one about the largest 2nd hand smoke study.

there are two sets of "conclusions", i suggest reading both.

her's snipit from one:
"The results of the California CPS I cohort do not support a causal relation between exposure to environental tobacco smoke and tobacco related mortality, although they do not rule out a small effect. Given the limitations of the underlying data in this and the other studies of environmental tobacco smoke and the small size of the risk, it seems premature to conclude that environmental tobacco smoke causes death from coronary heart disease and lung cancer."

edit:
here's a link to the article that mentions pipe smokers live an average of 2 yrs longer than non-smokers.
http://www.reason.com/news/show/29471.html {damnit, just read the online version, and it's shorter than the one in the book - so it's a couple paragraphs short of when he talks about the study}.

or, read page 19 in his book, "in search of pipe dreams".

okay, i'll transcribe without my backspace key, so sue me for not being perfect.

There was in interesting longevity study conducted in Pennsylvania during the 1960s and early 1970s. According to the magazine The Compleat Smoker, an organization called No Other World conducted the reasearch with the assistance of regional chapters of the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association and the Northwestern Pennsylvania Lung Association. "In the study, pipe smokers attained an average age of 78 -- two years older than their non-smoking male counterparts." In other words, the typical pipe smoker in the study lived longer than the typical non-smoker. I believe this says a great deal about secondhand smoke -- that its dangers are grossly exaggerated. It also says a great deal about the benefits of pipe smoking to reduce stress.

amazing that they did the study with the assistance of those organizations and still came up with the fact that pipe smokers lived 2 yrs longer than non-smokers.

[RJpuffs]

Hello fellow pipe smokers! I'm new, both this forum and to the wonderful world of pipes. I am glad to find this oasis of smokers amidst a world gone mad in abstinence.

I have spent half my life smoking, of course the "other" mainstream tobacco product. The early years were spent hiding from rabid anti-smoking parents and sneaking puffs, the later years hiding from my rabid anti-smoking wife and sneaking puffs. But, corny as it sounds, I always smoked for the flavor - not the addiction. I smoked when I wanted to (and could get away with it), rather than the usual I-need-a-hit routine.

By some strange alignment of celestial objects, the wife suggested I try smoking a pipe last December. The words had hardly left her pretty lips before I was tearing down the road in a cloud of dust, and screeched to a halt in front of the local tobacconist - which by some fluke happens to be right around the corner.

Now this is a not a small town, but apparently there are only two such stores here - both owned by the same guy (and therefore have identical stock). But in any case, there I stood in awe afore a wall filled with wondrous looking pipes. Over trots the young sales-kid, probably not old enough smoke himself, to show me the wares. Now I happened to know a little about these things, with ol' uncle "V" who was a pipe smoker who taught me how to clean a pipe when I was a wee pup (so he didn't have to). "These are made from mahogany and oak ..." he begins. Huh? Aren't pipes from the briar patch? "No, they are briar coated, the black stuff inside". Oh dear. He moves on the pretty white pipe carved like some Greek-God head, "Ivory ..." he quips.

Yes I did roll my eyes and asked for a beginner pipe, read, cheap. So I end up buying a Medeco acrylic bent pipe with its quasi-wood finish. And I did remember the tobacco, which by some fluke turned out to be a decent Cavendish/Burley blend. Home I go and I can see wifey already regretting her words. Scan the Internet for pipe smoking instructions, ah, need a tamper. Find a nice fat headed nail, good enough. Grab the brulee mini-blow torch off the kitchen counter and head to the yard - I was already banished to the great outdoors before the baccy had even been filled. Stuff stuff stuff, pack pack pack. Light, puff, pure heaven! Pipe goes out. Relight, puff, heaven again! Pipe goes out. After a few tries and almost setting my hair on fire, go back inside to revisit the fountain of knowledge aka the Internet.

To cut a ridiculous and long story short, finally figure out how to smoke this thing. Awesome, I loved it. So a couple of weeks of practice and I could tamp it well enough, light it and smoke it through for an hour. That Medeco is cheap, but I'll give it credit for taking my beginner abuse. Learned not to use a blow torch (rim scorch). Learned how NOT to clean the bowl (don't ask). Learned to balance a pipe in the mouth, after dropping it a few times and watching it bounce down a flight of steps head first like Q'bert. Learned about tongue bite, drool, tobacco types, cleaning, sweetening, and so on. Meanwhile the wife seemed to have accepted the pipe, even though I am still banished outdoors - and she sweetly bought me a pipe tool and pipe lighter. Which cost three times what that pipe cost to begin with, but that's love I suppose.

Anyways, it comes into January and I am itching for a "real" pipe. Con the mother-in-law into buying me a good pipe, wife is once again anti-fun and grumbling. I can't buy a pipe here, by now I knew what to look for and all they have here is cheap no-name or defective stuff. Drive to the neighboring state where I find someone who actually knows what a pipe is made from! So I end up justifying the gas and tolls by buying two pipes (see wife grumbling above, multiply by two).

Number one is a Jirsa No.29 bent rusticated horn-like shape. Slightly tapered bowl but the hole is almost dead center at the bottom. Nice light weight, balanced nicely between two fingers (lip simulator). Vulcanite stem snug and perfect fit, but the top half was oxydized green with the bottom half shiny black - but I figured for the price it wasn't bad (about $60 I think) and I could just clean it. I'm still breaking this one in, just went from small loads to a full bowl. A very rich, thick and satisfying smoke (at least on the lower half of the bowl which seems to have broken in better so far). Letting it rest for a day or two is a pain, but until I get another briar ... (see wife grumbling above).

Number two is a small meerschaum classic shape bent. I can't decipher the manufacturer name printed on the fitted case label, but it claims to be solid block. It felt right, very light, surface looked reasonably waxy and slimy on a wet fingertip, no powdery residue, air hole was reasonably centered, and the lucite stem was a perfect fit. This one was about $90 - and boy am I glad I got this! I can't believe the taste, and it really burns perfectly. In two weeks this one has started to color already - since I can smoke it more often than the briar, I'll try to get some pictures up here.

Well its good to be here, and I'll be out in the yard enjoying my new hobby. I have since discovered that I can sit in the shed to smoke so I don't freeze to death waiting for spring to arrive. All I need is to move the TV to the shed and, oh well.



RJ

[physiognomy]

Welcome to CS & the Pipe Forum RJ... You will find a wealth of information & friendly folk here. Glad you found us & nice intro

[RPB67]

Hello and welcome to Club Stogie !

[IHT]

welcome to the board. great intro, nice story.


[SIZE="1"]gonna merge this with an existing thread we've been using for introductions.[/SIZE]

[RJpuffs]

Thank you for the welcome. I don't see too many (or any) pipe smokers in my area. Then again, any smoking activities around these parts bring out the righteous zealots waving pitchforks and burning torches. I suppose the others are hiding in their back yards (or sheds, like me). Now onto the pictures thread, lets see if I can coax my phone/camera to take a decent macro shot of my meer (the Jirsa is resting today).

[ShawnP]

Welcome bro.

Great bunch of guys here at CS.


Shawn

[cigar_040]

Welcome RJ !!

[Mad Hatter]

Welcome to CS pipe forum. Great intro!

[jkim05]

New to the whole pipe thing and a bit overwhelmed...we'll see how it goes though.

[RJpuffs]

Originally Posted by jkim05

New to the whole pipe thing and a bit overwhelmed...we'll see how it goes though.

Myself as well, so welcome fellow newbie. I just discovered the pipe in December. I can light and keep it lit through a whole bowl now, but still screw up the packing/tamping/gurgle every so often. Takes a few decades of practice, I suppose! But the ritual is everything, from setting up through smoking it through cleaning that sucker out.



RJ