Want to buy or sell something? Check the classifieds
  • The Fedora Lounge is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

Adding a Pipe to your Wardrobe *Parody*

Xopher

A-List Customer
Messages
433
Location
Pennsylvania
Are you trying to add that little extra element of class and maturity to your style? Try pipe smoking. Pipes can do wonders in helping everybody notice those cool $800 engineer boots you just ordered from Japan. What better way to draw onlookers eyes to your ultra custom shuttle loom woven fabrics, and hand sewn vest? Give your 24 month wait list leather 1920s jacket that subtle aroma of wisdom and weathered world weary experience. Here is everything you need to know on how to get started with your New-Old world lifestyle.

No actual characters were harmed in the filming process

Parody Warning

 
Last edited:

Talbot

One Too Many
Messages
1,855
Location
Melbourne Australia
In my youth it was common for men to smoke pipes. What I recall most was the rich and varied aromas, they were not unpleasant like the cigarette smoke of today.
 

shadowrider

One of the Regulars
Messages
258
Location
Italy
As a 40 yr pipe smoker I stopped watching when you lit your Maple hardwood pipe with a cardboard match.
What do you recommend for lighting? I normally use two short wooden matches, one after the other. Sometimes wax matches.
I have a briar-wood pipe and a corn cob pipe, and usually smoke the latter. I see corn cob pipes as disposable, because they usually don't last me more than a cople of months:they develop a hole at the bottom. I am probably overheating it, but I think that's kind of expected with them and they're cheap to replace anyway.
What are your thoughts on lighting with a regular Zippo lighter?
Haven't picked up pipe smoking for too long and any word of suggestion is welcomed!
 

totallyfrozen

One of the Regulars
Messages
250
Location
Houston, Texas, United States
ab73767266fd60e27dd74504e5cd46b9.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Messages
17,536
What do you recommend for lighting? I normally use two short wooden matches, one after the other. Sometimes wax matches.
I have a briar-wood pipe and a corn cob pipe, and usually smoke the latter. I see corn cob pipes as disposable, because they usually don't last me more than a cople of months:they develop a hole at the bottom. I am probably overheating it, but I think that's kind of expected with them and they're cheap to replace anyway.
What are your thoughts on lighting with a regular Zippo lighter?
Haven't picked up pipe smoking for too long and any word of suggestion is welcomed!
While you are learning try using strike anywhere wooden kitchen matches for your char light. After the tobacco swells up & goes out, tamp it back down & use another kitchen match for your first relight. After that relight any further relights become easier should the tobacco go out (and it will) & you can use a lighter but stay with kitchen matches while you learn. The number of relights you will experience is largely dependent on the tobacco you smoke & how you pack the bowl. If you are having a lot of relights leave an amount of tobacco to fill a bowl out on a paper towel for about 30 min before you want it or learn how to rub it out between your thumb & index finger as you pack the bowl. It will help it to light easier & you will have fewer relights.

A good quality made corncob pipe will have a hardwood plug cored into the bottom of the bowl. I don't know what brand of corncob pipes are available where you live but look for the hardwood plug from the bottom of the bowl when buying a pipe. Corncob pipes should last several yrs & not just a couple of months. If you are burning thru the bottom in just a couple of months your pipes don't have the hardwood plug & you are smoking them too fast & too hot.

The old flip lid Zippo lighter is fine once you learn some basic techniques to pipe smoking; the plastic disposable Zippo lighters, not so much. You always want a lighter with a soft yellow flame. For pipes stay away from the torch type cigar lighters.

The single most important thing & it takes time to learn is how tight to pack the bowl. As you are learning error on the side of packing too loose rather than too tight. Tamp the tobacco in lightly, don't push or cram it into the bowl.

Good luck!
 

Xopher

A-List Customer
Messages
433
Location
Pennsylvania
Well Id have to say I started this thread only in half jest. I picked up pipe smoking only about a week ago and through my extensive searches on Youtube discovered this stereotype character and thought Id play with it.

I cant rightly say why I picked up pipe smoking...just the sense of nostalgia it gives me. Reminds me of my grandfather and I quite like the system of it. The rituals you have to do to get it ready and smoke it and the like.

I am however very worried about becoming addicted so I think I may switch over to the herbal blends with no tobacco, However I have heard many pipe smokers claim that it is difficult to get addicted to pipe smoking, unlike cigars or cigarettes. They also claim you are less likely to get cancer with pipe than the other tobacco options. Im not sure the validity of these claims. I would sure like to hear your thoughts.
 

tropicalbob

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,954
Location
miami, fl
My advice would be to just enjoy it. Half the people I hear these days complaining about the merest trace of smoke are probably dying of stress-related anxieties. All part of the modern puritanism.
 

tropicalbob

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,954
Location
miami, fl
Check out the photos on page 217 of "The Non-Shorpy Web Allstars" thread on the "Hats" forum. Besides hats, what do all the guys have in common? Pipes. And they all look happy.
 
Messages
17,536
I am however very worried about becoming addicted so I think I may switch over to the herbal blends with no tobacco, However I have heard many pipe smokers claim that it is difficult to get addicted to pipe smoking, unlike cigars or cigarettes. They also claim you are less likely to get cancer with pipe than the other tobacco options. Im not sure the validity of these claims. I would sure like to hear your thoughts.
Not wishing to get into some big debate I'll keep this short & to the facts, leaving opinions out of it.
  • When smoking pipe tobacco (cigars also) the smoke is not inhaled into your lungs like cigarette smoke is. When you smoke a pipe you puff the smoke in & out of your mouth, or "sip it" as it is called. The flavor of the tobacco comes from sipping.
  • You will absorb a small amount of nicotine thru the tongue, roof of your mouth & nasal passageway when smoking pipe tobacco. Therefore there can be a slight risk of developing Peripheral Artery Disease over a long period of time.

  • However cigarette smokers who take up pipe smoking in an effort to quite cigarettes are rarely successful because they do not get enough nicotine from pipe smoking to satisfy that addiction. They must find other means to break that nicotine addiction. On the other hand long time pipe smokers who have quit for various reasons do not have problems with nicotine addiction. Some are members of this forum; perhaps they will weigh in.
  • There is a slight risk of developing mouth cancers over a long period of time, thought to be caused possibly by the heat from the pipe stem.
  • Pipe tobacco (and I believe cigars & snuff) in the US is now under the control of the FDA. The FDA is concerned about these products attracting young users thru adding flavoring to the products. That does include the so called aromatic pipe tobaccos. Aromatic pipe tobaccos will often have a pleasant aroma called "room note" but rarely taste like that aroma. The FDA did pass new legislation (to take effect in the future) against certain tobacco products brought to the market since 2000, but some of that new legislation has recently been rescinded.

  • Just like eating red meat or riding motorcycles; all things in moderation. I am a living personal testament to the fact that riding motorcycles has done me more harm than pipe smoking.
 

shadowrider

One of the Regulars
Messages
258
Location
Italy
While you are learning try using strike anywhere wooden kitchen matches for your char light. After the tobacco swells up & goes out, tamp it back down & use another kitchen match for your first relight. After that relight any further relights become easier should the tobacco go out (and it will) & you can use a lighter but stay with kitchen matches while you learn. The number of relights you will experience is largely dependent on the tobacco you smoke & how you pack the bowl. If you are having a lot of relights leave an amount of tobacco to fill a bowl out on a paper towel for about 30 min before you want it or learn how to rub it out between your thumb & index finger as you pack the bowl. It will help it to light easier & you will have fewer relights.

A good quality made corncob pipe will have a hardwood plug cored into the bottom of the bowl. I don't know what brand of corncob pipes are available where you live but look for the hardwood plug from the bottom of the bowl when buying a pipe. Corncob pipes should last several yrs & not just a couple of months. If you are burning thru the bottom in just a couple of months your pipes don't have the hardwood plug & you are smoking them too fast & too hot.

The old flip lid Zippo lighter is fine once you learn some basic techniques to pipe smoking; the plastic disposable Zippo lighters, not so much. You always want a lighter with a soft yellow flame. For pipes stay away from the torch type cigar lighters.

The single most important thing & it takes time to learn is how tight to pack the bowl. As you are learning error on the side of packing too loose rather than too tight. Tamp the tobacco in lightly, don't push or cram it into the bowl.

Good luck!
Thank you sir!
 

Edward

Bartender
Messages
24,737
Location
London, UK
Regarding using a zippo lighter, look out for the Zippo model with the specific insert for a pipe - there's a big, round hole in the 'windshield' bit at either side, and you hold that horizontally over the bowl. Much more effective than a regular zippo. My personal preference is a gas lighter with a specially designed, angled flame. Matches are nice for that old-school feel, but a discomfort in the posterior at most outdoor occasions where I tend to light up.
 

Tiki Tom

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,157
Location
Oahu, North Polynesia
Many years ago... Okay, many decades ago... I was posted at a small listening station in a remote corner of Turkey. There was not much to do on base or in the nearby town. Me and my buddy, Jeff, took to regularly sitting on top of the hill and smoking pipes as we discussed world events, history, and philosophy and watched the roving electrical blackouts in the town below. Haven't smoked a pipe since (although I do smoke a good cigar about once a month or so.) But to this day, whenever I catch a whiff of Borkum Riff, it takes me back to those days.
 

tropicalbob

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,954
Location
miami, fl
I was having lunch at a Cuban eatery the other day when a couple of older men lit up their Havanas, which until recently were unobtainable in this country. All the older folks became very nostalgic, talking of the old days.
 

-30-

A-List Customer
Messages
443
Location
TORONTO, CANADA
"Matches are nice for that old-school feel, but a discomfort in the posterior at most outdoor occasions where I tend to light up."

My Book and Ephemera-dealing,
Hat-wearing,
Pipe-smoking,
History Buff,
and all-around Nice Guy friend, who I usually would meet a Toronto's St Lawrence Sunday Antique Market,
always keeps a store of wooden matches, tucked into the left side of his hat band;
just another Trademark of his, being George.

Regards,
J T
 
Messages
17,536
I used to "belong" to a cigar club/lounge type thing for the camaraderie, poker night, watch TV sports, etc. I even kept a locker there. There was a member who I noticed would always have a cigarette going along with a cigar regardless of the activity. I learned later that he was trying to quit cigarettes but wasn't getting enough nicotine from cigars alone, & apparently couldn't break that nicotine addiction from cigarettes.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
107,031
Messages
3,026,767
Members
52,533
Latest member
RacerJ
Top