Weird, or Normal???

[NeroWolfe]

OK, friends.......I have been a pipe and cigar smoker since the early 1970's. I have many, many, many bowlfuls to my credit. But, I have noticed something that I never noticed before (or if I did, I was not very observant). I am curious if others have observed this:

I went away for 5 days on a road trip, alone, in my pick-up (a "smoking-allowed" vehicle), having to run some errands out-of-state, see some people, stock-up on some necessities, chill-out a bit from my better-half, etc., etc. Like an idiot, I left with a bunch of cigars BUT ONLY ONE pipe (but plenty of a few different Virginia tobaccos)! Now, I am very anal about letting my pipes rest, rotating them, etc. I generally will not smoke a pipe more than twice in a day, and many times only once, and then it rests for a week or more (yes, I have TOO many pipes that I can choose from all day long!!). So here I am on this trip, smoking one pipe (a Karl Erik smooth Dublin, 1/2 bent, maybe 10 years old, well smoked and fully broken-in, with a nice layer of cake), smoking Davidoff Red (Virginia Flakes) and McClelland 5100 bulk. And what happens??? As I smoke the pipe, bowl after bowl, the taste gets better and better!! I was doing maybe 4 to 5 bowls a day, cleaning very well with pipe cleaners, and swabbing the bowl with a pipe cleaner after smoking. By day 3, it was unbelievable, the pipe was incredibly tasty !!! I know Virginias are high in sugar, etc., but even so, this was a revelation to me. I am now rethinking my rotation / resting phenomenon, and considering staying with one pipe per day, and going with 3 to 5 bowlfuls, before I rest the pipe for a week or so.

Anyone else observe this phenomenon???

 

[LIPIPE]

Interesting revelation. I don't smoke straight VA's but more burly based and VA based Lat blends. I used to only smoke a bowl before cleaning and resting my pipe. More recently I've switched to smoking three to five bowls in the same pipe each day and then rotating to the next pipe. My smoked pipes rest in a dedicated cleaning rack until there are between 6 to 10 pipes waiting to be cleaned. I have been enjoying sweet smokes with no problem due to the pipes not being only smoked once and then immediately cleaned. I've decided to become very relaxed with regard to ritual and more concerned with focus upon the pleasure of spontaneity with regard to pipe smoking. I now grab a pipe in the morning smoke whatever blends hit my fancy and stick with the pipe throughout the day. Cleaning my pipes is a chore, and I do it assembly line fashion when I have the time and enough bowls to justify doing all of them at the same time.

 

[Mikem]

I will smoke the same pipe quite a few times a day (usually English blends). There have been several occasions (usually on a four day fishing trip) that I have used the same pipe day after day. I have had no "ill" affects on the pipe and it did seem to enhance the blend IMHO.

 

[docwatson]

Personally I find the pipe tastes better with 3 or 4 bowls smoked through it in one day, then I'll rest the pipe for a week. The blend doesn't matter to me as long as it's the same blend for the day. What ever floats yer boat I guess.

 

[ruraldean]

I smoked a single pipe several times a day for several weeks with absolutely no ill-effects. All I did was use a couple of pipe cleaners after each bowl.

I'm going to replay the experiment with an eye on the taste - I didn't notice any improvement in the taste first time, but I wasn't looking for any either.

 

[flytyer]

I usually smoke at work and several times I forget to put a fresh pipe in the pouch I use to take with me , so end up smoking the pipe for days at a time. I beleive most blends keep getting better when smoked out of an unrested pipe. This has happened several times and I never gave it much thought until reading your post.