Comments on: Survey

By: Scott A. Stultz

Scott A. Stultz — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 20:58:25 +0000

Here’s a different kind of story. Yesterday morning before 7AM, I found myself sitting on the front steps of the General Store on Rt. 30 just south of Dorset, VT, drinking coffee and enjoying a pipeful of a strong Latakia blend while waiting for scones to come out of the oven. I left the pipe sitting on a barrel away from the door while I went in to get a fresh cup and a hot scone. When I walked out, there was a woman just behind me who turned and asked me if it was my pipe, which I affirmed. To my delight, the aroma had transported her into a memory of how men used to congregate and smoke pipes together when she was a child. We talked about moderation and the relaxation and pleasure that offset the health risks associated with pipe smoking. After conversing for ten minutes or so, she revealed that she was a nurse in a general practice in Manchester Center, and declined to give me “the lecture”. It was a terrific start to my homeward bound day on a short trip that was sort of a pipe shop tour.
I’m 54, athletic and in good health, and am fortunate to have an understanding spouse and family who realize that my tobacco pastime is something that I love, and not a habit that they nor I am victim to. One of my 16 year old daughters gets a puff now and again, and I’ve told her that if she’s going to smoke, I’ll teach her to smoke a pipe and to stay away from cigarettes. I’m very interested in finding ways to help stand against the indiscriminate war against tobacco users in our country. It’s a privilege to find a website like this one.
thanks,
Scott Stultz
Marietta, PA

By: Todd

Todd — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 18:46:23 +0000

I’ve only recently started smoking…err..shall I say ‘puffing’ a pipe for a year now. I’m 30 years old, and I started to spending a lot of time thinking about my late grandfather who passed over 10 years now. He was a smoker of hand rolled Bugler tobacco.

The first time I lit up that tobacco, it was an OVERLOADED rush of memories and emotions. Every time I smell it, it’s a great memory.

I then told myself that liking the idea of puffing on a pipe for the aroma and novelty of it all. I don’t actually inhale *insert clinton joke*. I run and cycle approx 30 miles a week and consider myself in good health to ‘justify’ or allow it.

By: Roger Alan Kobus

Roger Alan Kobus — Thu, 27 May 2010 03:00:20 +0000

I have been smoking a pipe for 41 years and also smoke cigars. Used to chew until this year when taxes made it prohibitive. I was fortunate to be able to smoke for several years all the classics that are now gone, like Balkan Sobranie 10, 759 and white, Bengal Slices, Copes Escudo, the fantastic Sobranie Virginias, and many other great tobaccos. I will smoke pipe tobacco no matter what the idiots in Washington D.C. do to tax it, I sell stuff on Ebay to fund my tobacco (and wine/sprits purchases). I finally have some high end pipes that I have gotten at auctions for next to nothing. I just had a bowl of C&D’s Blockade Runner in my Dunhill Shell. Wonderful! By the way, first tobacco I ever smoked was Borkum Riff Whiskey. First non-homemade pipe was a brand new Dr Grabow apple. I believe we pipe smokers are a breed apart, somehow calmer, more reflective. God Bless you all, from Dallas, Texas,
R.A. Kobus

By: Regis McCafferty

Regis McCafferty — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 00:26:33 +0000

In late August 1959, I was in the U.S. Army at Ft. Dix New Jersey, awaiting overseas transport to Germany. And I was broke. Worse, I was a cigarette smoker and broke. All told, I had less than $10.00 and even at the going rate of less than $5.00 a carton, I could hardly afford one. I was scheduled to sail to Germany on what would be an eleven-day trip and the thought of being half way across the Atlantic and out of Camels was one I didn’t want to contemplate.
Thinking I might find a cheaper substitute for my favorite brand, I walked to the PX (Post Exchange or Commissary for the uninitiated) in search of a two cartons for six bucks deal. What I found instead, was a deal on a pipe and tobacco. It was a large Medico pipe and two pouches of Half & Half tobacco for two dollars. I hesitated… I’d never smoked a pipe before, though my grandfather had, and he seemed to really enjoy it. I remembered the aroma of his tobacco and how I liked it. Frugality soon overcame the desire for Camels so I bought the pipe package and two extra pouches of tobacco for .35 cents a pouch.
Whether it was the sea air, the thought of my grandfather smoking a pipe, or pure necessity, by the time we were at sea three days I was a confirmed pipe smoker. That was almost 51 years ago and my love of the pipe has never faded. I’ve devoted much of my adult life to promoting the pleasures of pipe smoking and in the process became the co-founder of NASPC, its past president and now a current board member. Pipe smoking is one of the sublime and supreme pleasures of my life.
Be well,
Regis

By: Doug Scott

Doug Scott — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 16:27:20 +0000

Love the pipe, smoke mostly english and va blends. Couple smokes a day. Have 200 quality pipes of traditional shapes and sizes. One of life’s special pleasures!……Doug Scott

By: marshall jacoby

marshall jacoby — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 04:07:56 +0000

I a collection of 20 pipes of all kinds. Most were purchased in the 1060s. They include some antique German pipes. I enjoy the smell of good pipe tobacco but only smoke 5 bowels most years. Pipe tobacco should be treated differently than Cigs int he law.

By: Fr. Joe Raymaker

Fr. Joe Raymaker — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 19:51:11 +0000

I was influenced toward pipe smoking by an older man I much admired; I was fifteen, as I recall.
I just this week turned seventy-five. I’m not yet sure what blends I like, but I am POSITIVE I don’t like
Perique. I can handle Cajun Black, however. I suspect my preference would be a mix of dark Burley,
bright Virginia, and maybe some toasted Cavendish. The absolutely most pleasant pipe ever was a bowl of Best Brown Flake from a freshly opened tin that was more than five years old.

I hope the revolting tobacco tax bill gets DErailed; if not, Canadian tobacco will soon be cheaper.
If it passes, I plan on buying a bunch on my much-abused credit card, and putting it in the cellar.

blessings, y’all! JR+

By: gary

gary — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:15:35 +0000

Just started pipe smoking about 6 weeks ago. Always loved the aroma and am just learning the ways to keep the pipe lit. Smoke cigars for over ten years; find pipe smoking most relaxing. Too bad we are the targets of all the hate in the world, as if we cause all cancer. My two neighbors and my oldest friend smokes cigars but I don’t find very much pipe smoking out here in Los Angeles. Keep up your informative work.

By: Dave Pearce

Dave Pearce — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 09:07:58 +0000

I have been smoking cigs for 32 years, wow it has been that long, the whole time I also smoked Cigars, the cheapies Swishers, I used to smaoke camel filters @ 3 pack a day. After our beloved Bureaucraps started to target the 3% of us that smoke with additional taxes and more crap in the cigs I started to roll my own with pipe tobacco, since that itme I am down to less than a pack a day, hopfully soon I will be done with them. They are definitely adding addictives to the cig tobacco. Now I have started to smoke a pipe again, started smoking my dads pipes when I was 15 until he found out and have smoked my own off and on since then. I forgot how relaxing they are to smoke in the evening after dinner, I have a sweet tooth so smoking a pipe full of a sweet English aromatic blend satisfies that craving and helps to lose the spare tire also.

By: Colin Rigsby

Colin Rigsby — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:25:34 +0000

I am SICk of Bureaucrates and the Anti do-gooders out there who either want to tax us to death or “watch out for us”. It all spells government control and socialism to me. Reasonable constitutional based taxes and civil control are things that the government is meant for – not Big Brotherism. What is worse, id that these ideals are not just affecting the pipe smoker, but everyone. The conmtrol and taxes will not stop with tobacco. We have to wake up as a nation.