Choosing Your First Pipes

Corn Cob Pipes

Choosing your first pipe can be a difficult decision. Pipe smoking doesn’t need to be an expensive hobby, especially not at first. One options I suggest in the video is going with corn cob pipes at first. These are an excellent choice for those new to pipe smoking as well as seasoned veterans.

Basket Pipes

I also discuss “basket pipes” and “estate pipes.” Basket pipes can be a good deal once in a great while. Some times these are pipes made by a quality manufacturer but there are too many aesthetic flaws to sell under the brand name. More likely, they are cheaply made and won’t yield a good smoke.

Estate Pipes

Estate pipes are often a good choice. Buy your estate pipe from someone reputable who has already cleaned it. While estate pipes can be a bargain, they are often an unwanted pipe from someone’s pipe collection – pipe smokers don’t often sell their best smokers. That is something to keep in mind when buying estate pipes.

Buying Pipes on eBay

If you know what you are doing, you can find great pipes on eBay and competitive prices. I wrote a guide with tips to help you sort out the better auctions from the potentially problematic auctions. Check out my guide, the Pipe Buying Guide for Online Auctions. If you are new to buying estate pipes or new pipes on eBay this guide is bound to be helpful and compared to the cost of shipping a pipe back to the seller or being stuck with a dud it is a worthwhile investment.

Rather than wade through all the “stuff” that ends up on eBay categorized under “pipes” give Nothing But Pipes a try. I set this site up to filter out much of the junk auctions and organize the pipes in various ways, such as by brand, price range, and when the auction is closing.

I discuss these thoughts and more in the video.

Contents of the Pipe Smoking 101 Video Series:

Pipe Smoking 101 Videos – Introduction to Pipe Smoking

This video introduces a 7-part series with tips and how-to’s on smoking pipe tobacco.

Things You Need For Pipe Smoking

Pipe smoking requires more than just a pipe and tobacco. I provide a list of the other things you’ll need that will be essential when exploring pipe smoking.

Choosing Your First Pipes

In this article and video I provide some advice and information on choosing your first pipes when new to pipe smoking.

Choosing Your First Pipe Tobacco

Some thoughts on navigating the endless selection of available pipe tobacco blends. Those new or experienced with pipe smoking will find some worthwhile tips here.

How to Fill Your Pipe With Tobacco

Filling a pipe properly is a challenge for those new to pipe smoking. In this video I show you a trick that has helped many learn to fill their pipes perfectly.

Properly Lighting Your Pipe

How to properly light your pipe. Pipe smoking is much easier if you start of the bowl right. Here I demonstrate with video how its done.

More Tips On Pipe Smoking

Some of the pipe smoking topics I touch on in this video include not puffing too hard, pipe smoking cadence, tamping, tongue bite, and keeping your pipe clean and dry.

Tongue Bite

Tongue bite is one of the few unpleasant things about pipe smoking. I tell you about its causes, how to avoid it, and how to treat it in the video.

The Air Pocket Method – Filling Your Pipe

A video demonstration of a great alternative way to fill your pipe. This one works well with flakes and provides a great smoke.