Pipe Smokers!

From the frequent mentions of pipe smoking I've come across, I thought it may be appropriate to start a thread for us pipe smokers.

What kind(s) of pipes do you smoke?
What filters (if any) do you use? Are you aware of any natural, chemical free pipe filters?
Do you enjoy aromatic pipe tobacco or simply loose "cigarette" tobacco?
Are you a puffer? Inhaler?
Do you strive to smoke the most natural tobacco you can find? If so, which brands do you prefer?

Just thought I'd throw out a few questions to get the conversations going.

I started out with a Missouri Corncob pipe and some Captain Black tobacco (pretty standard start up set). I now have moved on to a Dr. Grabow straight stem Grand Duke (typical step up from the corncob).

Though I've enjoyed a few custom smoke-shop blends of pipe tobacco, I'm going to start experimenting with flavoring my own tobacco. I recently purchased a pack of American Spirit loose tobacco which I'd like to flavor with a little local whiskey. Has anyone else ever mixed or cured their own tobacco?

I've only started smoking a pipe within the last year and it is amazing where my mind goes while standing outside puffing on it. Maybe this has nothing to do with tobacco but I never find myself replaying movies or TV shows or pondering meaningless pop culture questions. I'm always almost instantly plunged into soul matters that effect my family, close friends, and myself. Rarely do I ever feel like I've wasted my time after smoking a full bowl. It seems like I've accomplished something or at least gotten to the bottom of an issue after, for lack of a better word, meditating on it almost involuntary while puffing away. Does anyone else seem to have this happen to them as well? I've spoken to one friend who has these similar experiences and calls this mental state "Pipe World". I like that name :)

I have just recently switched from cigarettes to a pipe. I was just trying to find a more natural tobacco to smoke, but the guy sold me on a pipe. Don't know much about it, and I'm having trouble getting a steady burn, but I like it so far. It feels alot better than the big brand cigarettes I was smoking before.

I have purchased a pipe yesterday... allready smoked 6 fillings

In other words, I don't even have 24 hours of experience with pipe smoking.

As with cigarettes (I smoke Pueblo tobacco), I try not to smoke any tobacco with non-organic additifs. So I went into the store and asked for something non-aromatised... and ended with Erinmore Balkan, an English mixture (or rather Irish mixture), a blend with a lot of Latakia tobacco . Yay.

My next tobacco will probably be something with a lot of virginia tobacco (which is much milder than Latakia) and whiskey flavor.
I also intend to find purely organic pipe tobacco.

Do you enjoy aromatic pipe tobacco or simply loose "cigarette" tobacco?

Click to expand...

I only smoke pipe tobacco in my pipe, since cigarette tobacco is not cut broadly enough for pipe smoking. It burns too fast, and a filling will probably only take like 10 minutes, whereas with pipe tobacco, you can smoke for an hour at least per filling (of course depending on the size of your pipe, cut of tobacco etc.).
As far as I know, most non-aromatic pipe tobaccos are so called "english" mixtures. These are very strong due to their high amount of Latakia... and as far as I know Latakia is actually grown in hell! The Latakia part in the blends is also the reason why some tobaccos have such an aggressive smell.
The question is where to find a good non-aromatic tobacco without Latakia, if anyone has an idea, please tell me.

Are you a puffer? Inhaler?

Click to expand...

Pipes, Cigars, Cigarillos: Puffer
Cigarettes: Inhaler

What filters (if any) do you use? Are you aware of any natural, chemical free pipe filters?

Click to expand...

I don't use any filters. There are 2 reasons. The first is, I think of myself as a tough guy who doesn't need any (you might call that dillusional thinking). The other reason is that to me personally, it is a way to show respect to tobacco to smoke it in it's most natural way possible.

Does anyone else seem to have this happen to them as well?

Click to expand...

Yes, strange enough. I used to smoke cigarettes for nearly 10 years now. And there was never anything meditative to it. A week ago, I smoked a cigar (Romeo y Julieta, Puritos), and I became very relaxed and centered. It was really a meditaive state I was in. I have suffered from something one might call schizophrenia; so I have had a lot of noise in my head over the last few years. While I was smoking this cigar, I was as calm as only on rare occasions before in my life, one could nearly call it a state of non-identification with my proplems.
This was also the time that I read a lot of stuff on what the C's have to say about tobacco. Also, it is known that a lot of mentally ill people use tobacco as self medication. There are whole studies about the use of nicotine as self medication (90 % of schizophrenia patients are smokers).
To me personally, cigars or pipes are more meditative than cigarettes, due to their ritualistic character. It's a whole art to smoke them, and also it takes an hour. To me, cigarettes are more a manifestion of my greed, and pipes and cigars really a kind of meditation or prayer.

I really hope some other pipe smokers will join in this thread and share info about good tobaccos without additifs :)

In these hard times, with all this smoking-is-bad-for-you BS, it's allways nice and recomforting to talk to reasonable people about smoking!!!!

How was stonehenge build? I don't know. All I know is that Avalon was hidden behind veils of mist... think about it ;)

Advaita

Stones said:

From the frequent mentions of pipe smoking I've come across, I thought it may be appropriate to start a thread for us pipe smokers.

What kind(s) of pipes do you smoke?

Click to expand...

I'm having a briar pipe.

What filters (if any) do you use? Are you aware of any natural, chemical free pipe filters?

Click to expand...

Not yet, so far.

Do you enjoy aromatic pipe tobacco or simply loose "cigarette" tobacco?

Click to expand...

Aromatic tobacco is indeed more enjoyable and makes one more addictive, then just plain tobacco. I tested it, cause I got a pipe with additive-loaded-tobacco on Christmas and sometimes I mix these two tobaccos together. What I'm wondering if it would be possible in a simple way to create a flavored tobacco myself, that means to find ingredients without additives.

Are you a puffer? Inhaler?

Click to expand...

Rather unconventional for pipe smoking: inhaler, cause I like to get the nicotine.

Do you strive to smoke the most natural tobacco you can find? If so, which brands do you prefer?

Click to expand...

I do mainly, I only like to finish off the tobacco I got as a present.

It's the only additive-free pipe tobacco I'm aware of at present: image virginia tobacco from Planta (_http://www.tobaccoreviews.com/blend_detail.cfm?ALPHA=I&TID=3182), this tobacco is maybe a little bit try when buying but the only additive is water. Nonetheless not organic.

Stones said:

What kind(s) of pipes do you smoke?

Click to expand...

I have two myself. One is a smoke shop special for $25 that is briar and made by Medico and has paper filters. The other is a Chacom which I believe is also made of briar and has no filter. It has a laminated marble style finish to it and it cost more but it smokes much better than the other one. Only down side is it that the bowl doesn't seem to hold as much. I picked it up in France and was trying to attach a small pic of it but apparently I forgot how.

Stones said:

What filters (if any) do you use? Are you aware of any natural, chemical free pipe filters?

Click to expand...

Like I said the one pipe uses paper filters but they don't seem like much more than rolled up paper and I change em every week.

Stones said:

Do you enjoy aromatic pipe tobacco or simply loose "cigarette" tobacco?

Click to expand...

I started off with AS cigarette tobacco by the can but I have found a place online that grows chem free organic tobacco so I've been ordering there now. I have been ordering the aromatic bags of roll your own and just stuffing them in my pipe but some are still a little strong so I have been blending different types lately to smooth out the flavor.

Stones said:

Are you a puffer? Inhaler?

Click to expand...

Inhaler. Much like Legolas I like to get as much nicotine out of it as I can.

Stones said:

Do you strive to smoke the most natural tobacco you can find? If so, which brands do you prefer?

Click to expand...

All the time. With all I've learned about tobacco I'm very careful as to what I put in my pipe nowadays. When I used to run low I would just zip down to the smoke shop and pick up a can of AS to hold me over but I don't even like doing that anymore. This website I get from is called Custom Blends and unfortunately they only sell tobacco in my state but they grow their own natural and chem free so I've been trying an assortment of flavors from them.

Thanks for the thread btw! Maybe we'll get a pipe smoking emo con out of it one day!

Sorry for ask this here but may I make cigarettes with pipe tobacco?, the thing is that I don't like much tobacco smell I prefer cigarette smell and I what to roll my owns, the problem is that I don't find cigarette tobacco without additives but could find it for pipe. Anybody has tried this? I'm new and I am doing some test if smoking is benefical for me or not.

Anybody has tried water pipe??

Galaxia2002 said:

Sorry for ask this here but may I make cigarettes with pipe tobacco?, the thing is that I don't like much tobacco smell I prefer cigarette smell and I what to roll my owns, the problem is that I don't find cigarette tobacco without additives but could find it for pipe. Anybody has tried this? I'm new and I am doing some test if smoking is benefical for me or not.

Anybody has tried water pipe??

Click to expand...

It depends on the cut of the tobacco, cause normally pipe tobacco is much rougher than cigarette tobacco, so rolling gets a little more difficult, especially at the beginning. But I tried it and it is possible. :)

Galaxia2002 said:

Sorry for ask this here but may I make cigarettes with pipe tobacco?, the thing is that I don't like much tobacco smell I prefer cigarette smell and I what to roll my owns, the problem is that I don't find cigarette tobacco without additives but could find it for pipe. Anybody has tried this? I'm new and I am doing some test if smoking is benefical for me or not.

Anybody has tried water pipe??

Click to expand...

Some of my happiest memories are of my Dad smoking a pipe on the front porch. ;)

If you live in the US Galaxia, its tough to find a decent hooka. (water pipe) People are very ignorant about them, and it could get you in unintended trouble, depending on where you live. I've heard from people who do have them that its the smoothest and nicest tasting way of smoking, but I've never tried one myself.

The few times a year I do smoke we use whatever we have...sometimes its 'flavored', sometimes not. I don't like cigarette tobacco for pipe smoking, and don't know how it would work in reverse.

Gimpy said:

Galaxia2002 said:

Sorry for ask this here but may I make cigarettes with pipe tobacco?, the thing is that I don't like much tobacco smell I prefer cigarette smell and I what to roll my owns, the problem is that I don't find cigarette tobacco without additives but could find it for pipe. Anybody has tried this? I'm new and I am doing some test if smoking is benefical for me or not.

Anybody has tried water pipe??

Click to expand...

Some of my happiest memories are of my Dad smoking a pipe on the front porch. ;)

If you live in the US Galaxia, its tough to find a decent hooka. (water pipe) People are very ignorant about them, and it could get you in unintended trouble, depending on where you live. I've heard from people who do have them that its the smoothest and nicest tasting way of smoking, but I've never tried one myself.

The few times a year I do smoke we use whatever we have...sometimes its 'flavored', sometimes not. I don't like cigarette tobacco for pipe smoking, and don't know how it would work in reverse.

Click to expand...

Although in big cities in the U.S. there is a bit of a Hookah-Bar craze in the past year or two. Sometimes you have to sit in the outside part of the cafe depending on local regulations.

The problem with hookahs is that the tobacco used, shisha, is typically loaded with flavor enhancers and molasses. You're not just smoking tobacco. Their are a bunch of other additives to consider.

I finally figured out I was packing the tobacco too tight. I just loosely push it in now and it burns much better, and not too hot like I've heard happens.

Heimdallr said:

The problem with hookahs is that the tobacco used, shisha, is typically loaded with flavor enhancers and molasses. You're not just smoking tobacco. Their are a bunch of other additives to consider.

Click to expand...

That's the issue I had with mine. Why would I want to smoke sugar with my tobacco? Anyway I tried smoking ryo tobacco in the hookah and it was way harsh even with the water (which is suppose to cool it down) so I eventually gave up on it. I went out and bought a pipe and I've been good ever since.

Stones said:

What kind(s) of pipes do you smoke?

Click to expand...

My first, cheap, and as-yet only briar pipe.

Stones said:

What filters (if any) do you use? Are you aware of any natural, chemical free pipe filters?

Click to expand...

None.

Stones said:

Do you enjoy aromatic pipe tobacco or simply loose "cigarette" tobacco?

Click to expand...

I've had some pipe tobacco without artificial flavoring - want it clean - but now use plain "raw tobacco". (otherwise typically used for rolling)

Stones said:

Are you a puffer? Inhaler?

Click to expand...

Inhaler - the nicotine is essential, and to simply puff would to me be a waste.

Stones said:

Do you strive to smoke the most natural tobacco you can find? If so, which brands do you prefer?

Click to expand...

Yes - now I use a non-branded tobacco got from a local tobacco shop. I ask them for their "raw tobacco", and get a zip-able plastic bag of it (with the obligatory "health warning" sticker slapped onto it, but otherwise nondescript), quite cheaply (1/5 of the price of pipe tobacco) - no additives, very nice aroma and flavor, not too fine-ground, good moisture level, and quite strong in nicotine.

I generally have a number of short, quick smokes of this tobacco each day. (the nicotine level makes the smoking rather quick by necessity) I also have other "raw tobacco" that must be manually ground, but it is quite weak compared to this other kind.

anybody know if Drum tobacco for cigarettes could be considered additive free?? I didn't found a reliable information about this brand but some people says that is not artificial flavored and additive free.