Well, It's Official

[FireTom]

As I'm sure some of you know I've been over on the cigar side for almost a year now.
I thought I was doing a good job of avoiding the slope on this side of the hill, until recently that is. I just bought a cheap MM Eaton and smoked my first bowl today.
Seeing that I'm just now dipping my toes in the water here on this side I wanted to make it official before I just started popping up in some of the threads over here asking stupid noob questions again.

Sent from here.

[Emperor Zurg]

Please tell me your first bowl wasn't some tasteless, goopy aromatic.

Nice tamper btw...

[FireTom]

Please tell me your first bowl wasn't some tasteless, goopy aromatic.

Nice tamper btw...

Well, my two choices were Stanwell Vanilla or Ole Shenandoah Barrel #76.

I haven't gotten around to buying any pipe tobacco yet and a buddy at work gave me a couple bowls worth of each to get started.
I went with the #76 and I'm so noob over here I don't even know if it's a tasteless goopy aromatic!
I found it to be much milder than the cigar tobacco that I'm used to and a bit "corny" which is apparently to be expected from the new pipe.


Sent from here.

[FireTom]

Oh, and that's not a tamper that's my first edition handcrafted trial cigar nubber.
not sure why that turned out sideways.

My current tamper looks a lot like a siding nail.



Sent from here.

[Nature]

Perfect! Welcome to the pipe side. A whole new world to explore.

[Emperor Zurg]

Oh, and that's not a tamper that's my first edition handcrafted trial cigar nubber.
My current tamper looks a lot like a siding nail.
Sent from here.

Ahh, looked like a pick/tamper. I guess if the handle was the right size it still could be. Golf tees work good as cob tampers too.

Haven't tried those tabaccos (there's just too many to try them all) so I can't say if they're goopy or not. I generally steer clear of cavendish based aromatics anyway because to me, cavendish tastes like nothing (ymmv on that) - that and they're usually sticky and soaked with PG. I don't care for that either. With a new cob I'd recommend a good English blend like Dunhill Nightcap or Early Morning Pipe. There's enough flavor in those to blow past the flavor-stealing properties of a new cob. For a certified non-goopy aromatic, I really like Drew Estate 7th Avenue Blonde; plenty of flavor, especially in the first half of the bowl, and very little PG.

Oh and welcome to the slope!

[Lostmason]

Welcome to this side of the hill, Either of those make a fine tamper
or in a pinch I've used an unsharpened pencil also.You're right in
expecting a bit of corn taste untill you get a good char in your cob
but then that cob will be great for almost any blend you want to try.
I'll 2nd the Nightcap, that's a great blend for the transition from
cigars. If you can, try Old Joe Krantz, strong flavor and a medium nic
hit.

[penna stogey]

Congrats, its official....

[Bruck]

Since this resurrected thread seems to have diverged to tampers... Pretty much anything with a flat end that doesn't melt or burn, and isn't otherwise toxic will work. When I'm out in the woods, I usually just snap a twig off of the nearest branch and use that.

The late father of a friend of mine had a good system. He would get a round disposable lighter (as opposed to the usual bics with the elliptical cross-section) and tamp with the non-business end of that. He also would walk around with a smouldering pipe in his front pants pocket. Not sure how he did that without burning himself or the pants, but then again, maybe he did

[Emperor Zurg]

I often tamp with either end of a chapstick tube. If you've tamped long enough or hard enough to actually melt the plastic, you've way overdone it with the tamping. You're not trying to plunge a drain you know.