First Pipe Experience

[Annixter]

Rather than venting my excitement in the "new pipes" thread, I figured I'd create a new thread. Today I started cleaning my first pipe I purchased as an estate find off eBay. I've never smoked any tobacco product as an addiction (I wholly dislike cigarettes), but I enjoy a clove cigarette once in a while (ahmm, called a "clove cigar" now thanks to bypassing new flavored tobacco laws in the States). I found a great little bar that allows smoking inside (they are licensed as a bar and tobacco seller to allow indoor smoking), and it has a great draft beer list, jukebox playlist, and live blues/jazz weekly. Add an awesome bartender and all around vintage appeal, and it's quickly become my once-a-week watering hole.

This being explained, I've always enjoyed the little pipe tobacco experience I've had, and I don't much like the side effects of inhaling smoke first hand. But alas, the taste and calming effect of a pint of good ale and a clove cigarette once a week is too much for me to ignore, so I'd rather only put smoke in my mouth and secondhand in my lungs than both first and second in my lungs and mouth if I can help it.

I picked up a couple ounces of a vanilla burley blend and a Virginia blend with cleaning supplies from a local tobacconist and bought a $6 Dr. Grabow "Westbrook" brier pipe off eBay. The line was made from the 50s until 80, and judging by the dating info I've found and by the oxidization on the stem, I'm thinking it's a 60s production. The bowl is in great shape, but the stem was heavily oxidized (olive green and tan) and has considerably deep teeth gouges at the bit: hence the $6 price. I honed and sanded down the bore to clean wood and cleaned both the bowl and stem with grain alcohol, a shank brush, and pipe cleaners. The stem was just about clogged with tar, so it took a good hour or so. I don't have a buffing wheel available to me, so I experimented with some automotive plastic headlight polishing compound I had on the shelf. What would you know, with a cotton rag, elbow grease, and 15 minutes, the stem came back almost fully black and polished enough to look acceptable! I now have the stem in the final 24-hour soak in alcohol and the bowl bore and shank soaking in a salt and alcohol mixture. They'll come out tomorrow and rest until my first smoke later this week!

Depending on whether or not I enjoy the endeavor into pipe smoking, I'll be looking for a vintage Kaywoodie in excellent condition because I've read that their vintage pipes are of superior quality while they currently have low resale value.

[Stanley Doble]

When I smoked a pipe my favorite everyday pipe was a corn cob. Cheap, light weight, cool smoking. You need several pipes, do not smoke the same one day after day. At the end of the day clean the pipe and lay it aside.

[H.Herdick]

A corn cob is very common in the States, if I'm not wrong. You can find them in Europe, but is a niche market. Almost noboby over here is smoking a corn cob pipe, although the pipe is very cheap. I did smoke a long time ago a corn cob and discovered, you can taste the (burn) of the corn cob. If you like it, its oke. I didn't like it that much.

In Holland you can buy till now a very cheap pipe like this:



You taste the real tobacco. It is a very good pipe for smoking, what the called in Holland, 'baai' tobacco. But almost noboby is smoking this pipe. Pipesmokers smoke hardly 'baai'.

Still you can buy this 'baai' in Holland:




I prefer the a brier pipe - it doesn't burn that fast as a corn cob but you still taste the brier.

Smoke slowly, take your time. A hot pipe is not good for your pipe aswell as for the taste. You will learn it.

Pipe-tobacco are mostly the best tobaccos. It is a very small market these days, so the pipe-tobacco is maybe the best tobacco you can get. Even better then most of the tobaccos for cigars.

Enjoy it and take your time to smoke a pipe.

[Annixter]

You need several pipes, do not smoke the same one day after day. At the end of the day clean the pipe and lay it aside.

Thanks for the tips. I won't need more than one pipe because I only smoke once a week, so the pipe will have 7 days to rest. I'm planning on a basic pipe-cleaner pass after each use and a good scrub with the stem and bowl separated after every five or six uses.

A corn cob is very common in the States, if I'm not wrong. . . . I didn't like it that much.

You can purchase corncob pipes in most drug stores in the States for about $5, which is probably why people associate it with a common pipe in the States; however, and no offense to those who enjoy a corncob over other pipe material, I don't think it looks very suave to be sitting at a nice bar puffing on a $5 corncob. I've read that corncobs are a good way to try pipe tobacco if one isn't sure if he will like it because they are so cheap and readily available, but with the availability of quality estate pipes online for the same price, I decided to go with a decent brand and get a brier from the start. Thanks for the smoking tips. I've read much about pipe smoking online, along with watching videos, and many people recommend "sipping" on the pipe to keep a nice, slow burn. I'll be sure to update on my progress once I start smoking and ask any questions I might have.

As for the pipe, here are the before and after pictures. It took 12 hours in an alcohol bath yesterday, then a good scrubbing with brushes and picks, and then another 12 hours in an alcohol bath overnight to get the thing clean, as it was pretty well packed with gunk. Its now drying out for a couple days before I use it, but it came out nice enough for a $6 estate pipe with which I feel comfortable being seen in public. It draws very well with no abrasive taste, so the cleaning did its job. I just hope the stem lasts long enough for me to get an feel for whether or not I want to spend the money on a higher grade pipe.



These photos came out with a blue tint to them--just to clarify.

[H.Herdick]

Somebody made scratches on the bowl to look it a bit like a straight-grain - as far as I can see on the pictures, it is not a straight-grain. But I can be wrong. Nevertheless it is for sure a good pipe.

Don't clean the bowl that much - it is good to have some charcoal inside: makes the tabacco less wet (absortion), so the pipe will burn much better (and doesn't sound like a 'water-pipe) and the brier doesn't burn so fast, so you can enjoy your pipe for years and years.

If the charcoal is to thick, please clean the pipe, otherwise there is a possibility, the bowl can burst.

Please smoke gently - if the pipe is not burning, re-light. It doesn't harm the taste, like it does by a cigar.

[Mark B.]

Always enjoyed a good pipe smoke over cigarettes and cigars....the aroma is sooooo much better....and it just looks cooler...IMHO

[Annixter]

Somebody made scratches on the bowl to look it a bit like a straight-grain - as far as I can see on the pictures, it is not a straight-grain. But I can be wrong. Nevertheless it is for sure a good pipe.

On the Westbrook line, the tooling/carving on the pipe was done at the factory in a "wire finish" process to give it a rustic look. From the info I have found, "Full grain stummels were selected for WESTBROOK production. Flawless stummels often were smooth finished. Slightly flawed stummels often were carved." The brier quality for the Westbrook line whether smooth or wire finished is supposedly quite decent for the retail price and used market prices, comparable to Dr. Grabow's more expensive lines.

As for the chamber, I wanted to take it down to clean wood since I was giving the pipe a layman's refurbishing and because it had uneven cake. I plan on building up an appropriate cake barrier, so I won't be reaming unless the cake gets excessive. I've been told to scrape the bottom of the chamber after it cools after each use, cover the opening with my thumb, shake the ash around to distribute it on the chamber walls, and then dump out any remaining ash. Doing so is supposed to build an even cake. Is this trustworthy advice for keeping a nice cake while keeping the airhole clear?

Mark B., agreed. I think smoking tobacco is a bad practice in which to indulge health-wise, but if one's going to do it, a pipe has some nice benefits as far as the quality of tobacco, smell, taste, and lung health (that's a maybe) go that many other forms of smoking lack. Also, I'm a straight-razor shaver and enjoy the process, and like shaving I find the pipe smoking regimen intriguing when I see pros do it with such ease and alacrity.

[Annixter]

Had my first smoke at the bar tonight, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I smoked the vanilla Burley blend, and it was refreshing, delicious, and relaxing. I got a little tongue bite at the start, but I believe it was from getting the tobacco lit and also from the salt-alcohol bath. I'm told that it can take a bowl or two to clear out any aftertaste from such a cleaning. However, after three minutes of relaxed drawing, the bite went away and left a nice smooth smoke.

My lesson for the day was that tamping down the tobacco every now and then is key to keeping the pipe lit and a nice gentle burn going. I now have a wonderful fragrance drifting about from my mustache that I obviously couldn't smell while smoking, so not only do I get to enjoy the taste but now the lingering fragrance that bystanders got to smell while I was smoking. I do believe I'm hooked on a weekly pipe smoke!

[Stanley Doble]

Don't clean the pipe too much, you want the "cake" to build up in the bowl. It protects the bowl and makes the pipe smoke better.

If you clean the pipe regularly with a pipe cleaner and scrape the bowl once in a long while that is all you need.

I also found it easier to keep a pipe lit if the tobacco is on the dry side. Smokes cooler too with less bite. Tobacco as bought is way too wet for me.

You may also find the stronger the tobacco the easier it is on the tongue. Some of the sweet tobaccos aimed at beginners are very harsh.

[Stanley Doble]

H Herdick my grandfather came from Groningen and he smoked a clay pipe. The pipe was white when new but after some use it turned color and a picture came out on the side. They used to be a cheap pipe you could buy by the dozen and throw away when they got dirty. Haven't seen a clay pipe in 50 years.

I agree the cob pipe tastes funny at first but it breaks in after a few bowls and tastes the same as any other pipe, but cool and fresh.

One of my favorite tobaccos was Amphora Black Cavendish. The Dutch make some fine tobaccos.