GrandadsPipeShop

Choosing your first pipe

Okay, so you’ve decided to step up and claim your spot among men….congratulations!!  Be forewarned, there will be detractors who will attempt to dissuade you by sharing their vast knowledge or opinions of just about everything including the things you should or should not do with your life.

They’ll be quick to remind you that smoking is horribly frowned upon in today's utopian inspired society and anyone besides another pipe smoker will cast you wicked glances and women will shield their children's eyes at all your ugly smokey wickedness!!.

The best nugget of wisdom anyone will try to lay on you will come as they are pulling on their scrubs and in their best Dr. Meredith Gray impression proceed to inform you that smoking a pipe will take ten years off your life…..when confronted with this I generally jump on the long black train with them and admit that I am very much aware that smoking will take ten years off my life, but then I quickly remind them that the last ten years of one’s life usually involves shitty your pants and drooling all over yourself and if possible those are the years I would rather choose to avoid anyway….This usually shuts them up once they realize I don’t give a rats ass about their unsolicited opinions or comments…(My father has smoked two/three packs of lucky strikes, Pall Malls a day for sixty plus years and is still living in his own home today at the ripe old age of 84 yrs old)…...I digress…….back to selecting your first pipe!

First thing you have to know is that in the pipe smoking world there are unlimited styles and classes of smoking tools….you can spend next to nothing or you can spend literally thousands of dollars on a single pipe. Pipes are like women, they come in every shape and size with some  built for performance and others pleasure, but rest assured you will eventually find a handful that can satisfy your every need….Pipes...not women!!

It is my ever humble opinion that your first pipe should be a Missouri Meerschaum better know as a Corn Cob or simply a Cob!! They are incredibly cheap to buy and deliver a cool sweet smoke that almost everyone enjoys. You will have plenty of time, later on, to throw your money away on high dollar smokers that in most cases do no better job of delivering smoke to your palate than a cob but looks a little better doing it, and everyone knows chicks love a big Nording or enjoy a stiff Savinelli!

As a new smoker, you shouldn’t worry about how anything looks at this point because most new smokers tend to stay hidden away from the public eye while they perfect the art of smoking a pipe. I’m not implying that Cobs are an embarrassment, or should not be smoked in public as there are a lot of very respected tobacco aficionados that only smoke Cobs regardless of time, place or company.

If you don’t want to start with a cob, there are literally a million different options for you to choose from and countless online marketplaces that can surely satisfy whatever your taste and budget can afford.

However, I must warn you that buying pipes and searching for the perfect smoker can and will become as addictive as crack cocaine! You’ll start with that single Cob but before you know it you’ll have dozens of briars, meerschaums, or rosewoods pipes socked away in your underwear drawer so the Mrs. doesn’t question you about your new obsession.  You’ll find yourself hiding your billiards, Canadians, bulldogs, and Dublin's in shoes, between linens or behind pictures! You’ll need racks to keep your Savinellis, Wades, Grabow, Nordings, Petersons and Yello’s. Collecting is part of the fun of smoking pipes, just think of them as Hotwheels for Men!!  Have Fun!!