ENJOYING YOUR NEW TOBACCO PIPES……………………………..

Congratulations! You now have a new friend (Your New Briar Pipe!). Please treat your Briar Tobacco Pipes as your would your other dear friends, and your friendship will last a lifetime! Yes—FRIENDS ARE FOR LIFE, as so it is with Tobacco Pipes, as well. You are now a part of a brotherhood of pipesmokers that go back a few hundred years! In fact, the briarwood burl your pipe is crafted from, may be over a hundred years old! Indeed, good things are worth waiting for, so let’s get down to the basic and get started the RIGHT way to smoke a pipe—For the Noble and Worthy purpose of Your Enjoyment and Pleasure!

They’re three things to positively ensure you get the greatest pleasure from your new
Briar Pipes:

• The selection of a suitable Pipe for You.
• The use, care and proper cleaning of your new pipe.
• The selection of quality tobacco, that You like.

If you do these three things the RIGHT way---you will really enjoy your new friend!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

YOUR CHOICE OF A NEW BRIAR PIPE

Your comfort with the shape, style, finish, weight and balance, and “feel” of your pipe will determine, in most cases what pipe you will like the best. There are many factors that you may consider, to help you with your choice of Briar Tobacco Pipes, but please do not feel overwhelmed, because if it’s the right pipe, you’ll probably feel very good about it to begin with, if you know WHAT to look for:

--Look for a good quality pipe that you can afford.

--Look for a Tobacco Pipe that has enough wood on it to absorb heat and moisture, but is balanced well, and has a comfortable bit.

--Look for a Tobacco Pipe free of shellacs, varnishes, filters, or large “putty-fills”, and wood that has no “grain pattern”.

--Your new Tobacco Pipe should be well balanced, comfortable in your mouth as well as your hand, have a fine grain pattern around the bowl, with a minimum amount of flaws, no filters or varnish, and have either a smooth, sandblast or rusticated finish.

A tip: A smooth naturally finished Tobacco Pipe with a fine grain all around the bowl, with a minimum of flaws will cost more.

Another tip: There is a group of pipe shapes that are called “classic”, which include Bents, Billiards, Bulldogs, Dublins, Pots, Princes, Apples, Pokers, Canadians, Churchwardens, Lovats. Each of these ancient shapes has a history to it’s name, so thus are they deemed “classics” from the old days. Today, we call them standard shapes. There are also “Freehand” pipes of great beauty,created one of a kind, one at a time, by the imaginations of very talented pipemakers—of which, you may be interested. Variety is one of life’s pleasures, and so it is with pipes!

SMOKING AND TAKING GOOD CARE OF YOUR NEW BRIAR PIPES

Only fill your pipe with the amount of Tobacco that you have time to smoke, and don’t pack it too tightly, or you won’t be able to get a good draw from the pipe. Re-pack if you need to. Relax with your pipe and ALWAYS REMEMBER TO SMOKE SLOWLY AND PUFF GENTLY. Give yourself a rest, if this seems like too much work—because IT’S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HARD WORK—it’s supposed to be a form of relaxation and pleasure!

Light your Tobacco Pipe evenly, gently press down the scorched shreds of tobacco with a “pipe tool” and relight as necessary. If you’ve been puffing a while, “fluff out” the loose ashes with the pipe tool, gently press down on the tobacco, and relight. If the pipe collects moisture (this is normal), and you hear or feel a “gurgle” in the stem, use a pipe cleaner to dry the stem, ensuring you a cool, dry smoke, and a sweet pipe!

To avoid “tongue-bite”, use fresh, quality tobacco, don’t drink or eat while smoking, don’t puff fast, and gently press down the tobacco in the pipe at intervals throughout the smoke, and use pipe cleaners to dry the stem during the smoke, when needed.

Tip—When you’re done with your pipe, never put it up dirty. ALWAYS fluff out the old ashes and unburned tobacco, dry the stem out with pipecleaners, and give the pipe a day’s rest to further dry out, and wipe off the stem with a soft cotton cloth. Keep your pipes in a place where they can get air, and won’t get broken.

SELECTION OF A TOBACCO THAT YOU LIKE

Your chances of enjoyment of tobacco will be the best, if you try different kinds of QUALITY tobacco. A good place to start is with the personalized advice and experience of a professional tobacconist. If that’s not convenient for you, I suggest trying Naturally flavored tobacco, becoming familiar with different ones, identifying what you like or don’t like about each, and then arriving at a “mixture” that gives you the flavor level, burning qualities, smoothness and taste THAT YOU LIKE!

If you choose to go this way, be aware of “Base” tobaccos, and “Condiment” tobaccos. Too much salt and pepper, or spice on food is NOT good, and so is the same true for Tobacco Mixtures. Only you may decide what you like!

You also may wish to go the “easy” way, and try the prepared mixtures and blends that are offered, Natural and Artificially Aromatic.

Tip—Naturally flavored tobaccos burn cleaner, with less residue in the pipe, than do Artificially Aromatic tobaccos, and tobaccos that are matured, will smoke smoother than those that are not.

Tip---Coarse cut tobacco is better for people who smoke fast, or outdoors, because it burns slow.

Finely cut tobacco is better for people who smoke real slow, and indoors.

“Flake” tobacco, can be fresher, longer, and smoother, because of compression and maturity, and be prepared coarse or fine by you, as you like it, by rubbing it out in your hand.

Tip---Try to be consistent with what pipes you enjoy with your different tobaccos, if you enjoy more than one blend or mixture, I recommend to smoke a single tobacco in a pipe reserved for that tobacco. The flavors will develop over time, as will your knowledge of what you Best Enjoy about your favorite tobacco blends. Some people enjoy different tobacco mixtures at different times of the day or evening; variety, again being a positive influence on your pleasure.

I Sincerely Wish You All The Best Your New Pipe Can Give You,

And I Hope You Will Enjoy Many Hours Smoking The Same

---Cherished “Old Friends” Just Get Better As The Years Go By,

Your Pipe And You, Your Tobacco and Flame….

-----Eric Whitaker

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the book "The Book of Pipes and Tobacco" by Earl Ehwa, Jr...........
"The initial approach to pipe smoking may be a baffling affair because of the great number of pipes available in varying shapes, finishes, and materials. When a new smoker sees a broad selection of pipes, he may assume that each of them has a completely different set of smoking qualities from the others. This is not true. Inner bowl designs are the same in many pipes which differ in outward appearance. If a smoker is dealing with high-quality, well designed pipes, almost every one will provide a good smoke.

The new smoker should not spend a lot of money in the beginning. Only the most essential articles - a pipe, tobacco, a tamper, and cleaners - need be purchased. one can then learn how to smoke properly and become accustomed to using these basic items without the confusion that results from having too many "tools." Also, if one finds after an interval that he does not enjoy a pipe for one reason or another, he will not have ventured a large amount."

"...Breaking in a pipe, whether done mechanically or "in person," is a very important process in properly preparing your briar for a lifetime of smoking enjoyment and is not something that should be rushed. I will always remember back during my earliest pipe smoking days in college when I conducted a unique experiment involving trying to get an instant cake on a pipe. I had not yet learned that there were pipes other than the cheap drubstore variety and I had grown disgusted with the harsh bitter taste of the breaking-in process. I had experienced with the two pipes I already owned. Therefore, upon purchasing yet another heavily lacquered, red colored filter pipe (it wasn't so much that I was a slow learner - it was just that in those days I didn't know any better and obviously, I did not have this book to read), I packed my new briar full of a coarse Burley tobacco, fired it up with a packet of paper matches, climbed into jy 1954 Austin-Healye four-banger and roared down the highway for about an hour holding my red-hot glowing pipe out the window to "properly" break it in within a record time. At about 70 miles an hour the smoke was pouring out of the mouthpiece like a steam engine! At the end of my experiment I confidently brought the pape back into the roadster and looked at what I expected would be nice charred, evenly smoked bowl. Insteat, the pipe looked like it had been created in Dr. Frankenstein' lab; the entire exterior finish of the pipe had bubbled and cracked and the pipe itself had burnt completely through at the heel. At #3 for the pipe and ten cents for a packet of tobacco, it was a relatively inexpensive lesson for me, even in those days, but it taught me something I have never forgotton: to this day I will not smoke a pipe in an Austin-Healey."

To be continued.