Here's a short article by Bob Tate who shares his opinions on sorting through the piles of advice offered to pipe smokers.


http://pipesmagazine.com/python/pipe-smoking/reading-between-the-lines/

Interesting read and some valid points especially about judging a blend based solely upon the recommendation of another individuals taste buds. Conversely, I enjoy smoking my pipes more than I seem fuss with them. I smoke three bowls out of the same pipe before I rotate to the next one. I don't clean the pipe between smokes and I find that they all always smoke just fine. Perhaps all is OK because I'm almost exclusively an English blend smoker. My pipes all handle latakia and there is never any goop or dottle left in the bottom of my bowls. This would probably not be the case if I smoked aros and had wet dirty bowls after each smoke. I have come to the realization that the blend loaded into a pipe more than the ritual of smoking it requires the smoker to maintain his "equipment" to a greater or lesser intensity. Years ago, a guy carried a pouch of a single blend in his back pocket and smoked it in the same pipe all day long. Today, we all have racks full of pipes; first we choose a different pipe and then a different blend for each smoke from a selection of ten or twenty or more blends that we keep in a jar. Times certainly have changed.

Mr. Tate is obviously deranged. It's crazy talk. If an expert tells me that a virginia blend, say, tastes best when you're hanging upside down from a tree limb, then, dammit, I do it. Ditto for flinging myself over a cliff or in front of a speeding train. Mortals should have no fear; your thinking has been done for you.

I do smoke other pipes reasonably often. But I smoke one pipe just about everyday, sometimes as many as 5-6 times a day since I got it at Chicago last year.

Very astute observations and common sense advice. Not by the individuals cited, but the author. But he did forget one of the most "factual" pieces of advice you hear today, "... only PERFECT, ARTISAN pipes will smoke well, all the rest , eh!" We ALL ascribe to THAT one

Great article with plenty of commonsense.Pipeman1947

Great article, though it all goes without saying--"experts" in an area such as pipes are usually just the gassing on of proud old men, but there can be some helpful clues buried (deeply) in their advice once in a while.

I especially laughed at the tales of the B&M ignorance. I swear folks working retail do that shit on purpose just for fun. I know I did.

WOW!!!!! Look at al that Cobseye grain ALL around the bowl and that varimagated finish. I really like the Arkansanite hand cut bit !! You HAD to have paid dearly for THAT one

Good natured ribbing only goes so far gents.

Good article, but I take slight issue with this:

Quote:

The ‘Expert Pipe Smokers’ I am referring to is, the people who say; “I have been smoking a pipe for so many amount of years and I have all of this knowledge and this is how you are supposed to smoke a pipe”. In my opinion, the individual person finds their own way to smoke a pipe. If you enjoy smoking a pipe the way that you smoke it, you are doing it correctly. Once again, that does not mean the so called ‘experts’ are wrong, because they are not. They are enjoying their pipe smoking as well.

If you're smoking one way and enjoying it, but all the experts say you should smoke another way, I think you should at least give the expert-approved way a try, and not just once but say for a week: you might find that you enjoy your pipe even more that way. If not, fine: go back to your preferred way; but at least give the expert-approved way a trial.

Who is right?

Over the years, i've developed a simple and preferred method. Try different techniques and then use the one that works for you. Whether it comes from a Master or not, if it works for you and you enjoy your smoke - then it works...