Germain’s just got the original recipe and has re-introduced the blend. I haven’t tried it yet but those who have say it is quite good.
It is very good. Good quality leaf and decent amount of latakia.
Vepr, a quick observation. If you seek to reduce your snuff intake due to (unspecified) nasal issues, aren’t you concerned about pipe smoke also being an irritant? I agree with the notion that a corn cob pipe is a good way to start, especially since you might lean towards aromatics. May I further suggest that you try the Missouri Meerschaum “Missouri Pride” model; it’s unfinished (no varnish), breathes nicely, and smokes well right from the start.
By the way, to the question of “to inhale or not to inhale”; if you are not inhaling tobacco smoke now, don’t start!
I have a hole in my septum, snuff is a bit difficult to take for me due to this fact. Ofcourse after peeking into my nose after snuffing I noticed that it doesn’t ever go directly on the hole, so maybe the doctors are overreating (I talked about this in a previous thread).
But I’ve come to a point where I’m so tired of being ‘careful’ about everything I do. If my nose gets a bit upset by what I’m doing I can get over that, It’s the stress I can’t get over when I’m without snuff and other gentlemanly pleasures (gentlewoman I guess for me).
We can all try to be health-nuts and not smoke, drink etc. But I don’t really want to live a hundred years as some salad eating fruitcake, I want steak and cheese, wine and snuff…and a good pipe on a cool autumn afternoon!
I have a question, do you use those metal screens in pipes or not?
Did your pipe come with a screen?
I’ve only seen metal screens come in one type of pipe…and it’s not for tobacco…So I’d say no. Though some pipes are made to have little disposable paper filters put into the stem to help with moisture issues. But hey, it’s your pipe. Try it with it and without it. If you happen to like it, use it. You are taking it up to relax, right? So do it whatever way is most pleasing to you.
Since the passage in a cob is rather wide, there is a higher incidence of tobacco bits etc getting sucked through. I personally use a screen (actually 2 wedged against each other- they stay put better that way). Btw, it seems common enough to smoke a few times with the filter, then to throw out the filter never to buy a replacement filter. Although this configuration requires more maintainance, scraping it out occasionally and whatnot- which you can figure out. I’d say that a cob needs more intensive, but less frequent, cleaning. But yeah, whatever calls to you… and it’s not too bad to throw out a $6 cob…
I would stay away from Dr. Grabow or anything else with a removable filter…
Pipes can be messy enough (dirty pipe cleaners,) but when you leave a filter in too long, they are absolutely filthy things to contend with. I was a pipe smoker about 30 years ago.
I would also STRONGLY suggest that you start out with a straight stem pipe. If you are not into corncobs, try a simple straight stem briar. I always liked “Yellow Bowl” pipes.
Aromatic tobaccos often leave a lot of excess gunk in the stem of your pipe. If you have a pipe shop near you, make sure that you check out their own “house blends.”
No matter what people tell you, if you smoke a pipe long enough you will eventually start inhaling. (I was inhaling within a month.)
As far as cancer is concerned, pipes are worse for you than non-filtered cigarettes. Lots of mouth cancer is associated with pipe smoking.
I’ve been pipe smoking for years and I never inhale, and the pipe is what I used to quit a heavy cig habit and I still didn’t inhale.
I never really have felt the urge to inhale a pipe after 15+ years.
Also I’ve heard contrary about the cancer issue. I’ve had the chance to talk with a cancer researcher, he said (paraphrasing here) cigarrettes are definitely bad for you, oral smokeless (I believe referring to American “moist snuff”) is even worse, pipes- not so bad, cigars- they don’t know yet. Also made a statement that cigarettes are more likely to cause mouth cancer than pipes, saying that it may have something to do with the heat. Also a friend was at the dentist, a seasoned professional, who said you don’t get mouth cancer from a pipe.
Indeed… statistically, pipe smokers that do not inhale live longer then NON_SMOKERS… Pipe smokers that inhale live just as long (again statistically) as non-smokers, according to the very Surgeon Generals report that most anti-cigarette documentation is based on in the U.S. That said, you have to balance what is risk vs. pleasure… to each their own.
Concerning screens… none of my pipes (not counting hookahs) ever came with a screen. So, I don’t use them. I don’t even use the filter that MM Corncobs come with. lol…
And yes… I’m an inhaler… I honor and respect those that don’t but I do enjoy it… so I do it… *shrugs*
It seems a little difficult to quantify inhalation in regards to pipe smoking. On one end of the scale you have a dokha type inhale with a hold and on the other you have the unintentional inhalation of second hand smoke. It does not seem practical for a pipe smoker to smoke a regular sized pipe like it was a cigarette. Nor would it be practical to eliminate completely the inhalation of all second hand smoke while smoking a pipe. It seems true that after becoming comfortable with pipe smoking there would be less resistance to inhaling progressively more smoke limited only by smoking cadence. Also true that an intentional mouth full of smoke could be inhaled. I cannot imagine smoking so carefully that I could really say I don’t inhale nor can I imagine inhaling enough to be able to call myself an inhaler. Ultimately I look at snuffing in the same manor. If you think that you are not inhaling then you are fooling yourself and if you are intentionally inhaling all the time then you are crazy. Tell me @darkly are you smoking your bowls full as if smoking a cigarette?
You make a point with the unintentional inhaling. Although in my case, I only smoke a pipe very carefully, consciously, deliberately, often in relative solitude and outdoors. I think I wouldn’t enjoy it as much if I was smoking on “automatic pilot”. However I still smoke some ciggies, which may make it easier to seperate the two if you get what I’m trying to say.
I would like to discuss this a bit further if the thread bearer dose not mind. I have never smoked cigarettes but I unlike President Clinton have inhaled the unmentionable. I would think that there is a threshold for smoke that once having been broken becomes easier to pass. More so while being an active smoker I would think the habit of having smoke beyond that threshold would make it difficult to keep inviolate. Also to discuss the case of smoking carefully, consciously, and deliberately. This seems to me a slight contradiction of the purpose of smoking. As relaxing as smoking can be this attitude may prevent such pleasure. As I smoke more myself I find that becoming enveloped within the smoke even to the point of getting a little smoke in my lungs has been very fulfilling. Not to say that there is any careful, conscious, or deliberate inhaling going on but for me neither effort is being made. Although there is a natural gag reflex that is becoming increasingly lenient towards smoke in the lungs. Which is why I would think that cigarette smokers would automatically inhale more smoke perhaps without even knowing it.
@ all non-inhalers: I take it that, when you are “drinking” an alcoholic drink, you just swirl around every sip in your mouth and then spit it out?
No, I tend to swallow me alc! To me pipe smoking is just like smoking a good strong cigar, it’s (imo) just not meant to be inhaled, and with a strong cigar there can be consequences to inhaling: coughing, possibly puking, getting to heavy of deposits (tar or whatever) settling in your lungs. To me there’s a line, some people cross it casually, I very rarely do. Kind of like snuff, which goes in my nose and then gets blown or spit out, which has certain flavorings and such added to it I can accept being in my nose, but I try not to get it and those substances deeper in my body. Pipe tobacco also (maybe not always, but often) has certain substances added to it for flavor, regulate moisture, perhaps something as preservative etc, that I don’t want in my lungs- so I don’t inhale it. It’s ok if such things don’t bother you, but they bother me. Typically I won’t inhale any tobacco (even cigs), that have anything but water added (with the very rare exception- twice in several years shisha). This is just how I personally feel about it- part of my philosophy, if you will. Also I get a lot of flavor from my tongue without inhaling. Is it really hard to believe that some are actually carefull not to inhale and simply get used to smoking that way.
Please don’t take this as an attack or anything, I’m just trying to state my case to the non-believers. I don’t hate them for not believing some of us…
@ Mr.O, it’s clear that you don’t know me yet!! I love to stir things a bit.
I would actually like to be able to smoke my pipe without inhaling but find it difficult. I do not inhale every puff but I have to take one or two deep draws, especially just after I’ve lit my pipe. Funny thing is when I smoke a cigar, I don’t inhale.
You are quite right, the taste of the tobacco on the tip of my tongue is what I really enjoy. And, of course, letting the smoke escape via my nose. So, for a “fresh” pipesmoker my advise will be to not inhale at all. Once you’ve taken to the habit, it’s very difficult to come off it again.
It wasn’t just you Pieter, but yeah, I was a little unsure how serious you were being. I know that when I’ve accidentally inhaled a puff off of a cigar I’m definitely aware of it, cough, cough. I realized that I forgot to mention that some times I’ll smoke ryo tobacco in a dedicated cob, stone, or brass, an in that case I inhale. And I’m contemplating getting hooked up with a medwakh and dokha, which I plan to inhale if I get started. Also I’ve only rolled up pipe tobacco a few times, mostly as a teenager. I had a friend who started smoking cigars to give up cigarettes, then found himself inhaling those, and switching to a pipe, which evidently worked for him in the end. Maybe I’m lucky not to have the pipe inhaling compulsion. But when I finish a pipe or cigar I usually need to chase it with a cig, so I kind of understand.
Strong, stout blends like Irish Flake and Old Joe Krantz are pretty strong. I wouldn’t think you’d want to inhale those in a pipe. OTOH, mild stuff like Prince Albert and Carter Hall are pretty inhalable. My older relatives used PA as RYO. Just a theory.
But it’s all mind over matter, no?