The joys and bothers of pipe smoking

The Topic: While I’m not smoking my pipe as a write this — rather feeling the high of a nicotine loaded cigarette — I want to do a bit on pipe smoking.

The Experience: Now, I don’t want you to get the feeling that I am just a guy who sits on his bum smoking and writing all day, so I better tone down the tobacco posts for a while. Perhaps I’ll write about cigars later in the month after a breath of fresh air, hmm?

Pipe smoking is almost a lost art today. In my lifetime, I have only seen one person smoke a pipe as a child — who, I cannot recall. All I remember is an old man with a oxygen tank on an old farm… the type of guy my father did work and favors for. He seemed so happy, striking a match, lighting the contents of his old corncob pipe, (perhaps it was briar, I simply can’t remember) puffing away. I suppose it’s stereotypical to assume only old men and English majors smoke pipes — as you will soon find out, the pipe is still alive and well as it has been resurrected by a younger generation.

I’m 19, I smoke a pipe. That may strike some as being odd. I will tell you now I have yet to fully enjoy the experience for one reason or another. It begins when you pick your pipe… it seems there are an infinite number of them. Corncob, briar, meerschaum and clay to name a few. My pipe is made of briar, the root of a tree that grows in the Mediterranean region of the world, i.e Italy.

The second task is to pick a tobacco — what a challenge indeed. Aromatics is what comes to mind, a type of tobacco that gives off the aroma of what it is flavored with (coffee, cherry, fruit etc.) I found myself filling the bowl with a blend of tobacco flavored with coffee. The taste is nothing like it — but the aroma while smoking is sweet and pungent.

Filling the pipe is not an easy task, as you need to precisely pack the tobacco or it will never burn properly. It is best to use gravity — filling the pipe to the brim, pack it half way with a tamper (in my case is a small metal bolt.) Fill it again to the brim, and pack it another half until the bowl is 3/4 full. Again follow the step above one last time.

Lighting the pipe is never to be done with a liquid fuel lighter like my beloved zippo. Instead you should use a wooden match. Toast the tobacco, then tamp. Light again and enjoy.

As you can very well see, pipe smoking can be very time consuming. The bowl may last 45 minutes to over an hour. Remember to never inhale the smoke, rather taste it.

If you missed it in my last post about smoking “Why do I smoke?” I’ve made available a free copy of M. J. Barrie’s book “My Lady Nicotine“

Smoking is something that brings people together. In a book I recently read on the topic: A punk looking kid with green hair, tattoos and piercings can be seen talking to a well rounded gentlemen at an event. At a glance they seem to have nothing in common except for what each of them carries — a pipe. Even though they come from diffrent backgrounds, they both can be seen puffing away, laughing and discussing their favorite topic: Pipes.

Until next time…