Share Your Best Pipe Memories

[americaman]

One of my favorite things about reading Tobacco Reviews is that you will find stories of smoking experiences that often transport you to that moment, as you can relate to them and picture yourself in that moment, smoking a pipe. Since it’s Christmas time I figured it’s a good time to gather around and share some of our best memories with the pipe.

One that stands out to me is from when I was living in Northern California with a back porch over a creek in a forested area. You would see deer, turkey, and I even saw a river otter twice. It was my first year of pipe smoking and I would sit out on the back porch smoking my pipe and enjoying the serenity. One day I decided to crack my tin of Frog Morton on the Bayou that I had bought on eBay after McClelland closed. The blend seemed so perfect for the location, as it often felt like being on the Bayou back there.

When I opened the tin I was greeted with that wonderful smell of McClelland Virginias, Latakia, and perique. It smelled perfect to me. I let it dry a bit, and lit a bowl in my Peterson Aran Rhodesian. The aroma was incredible, and the moment lined up in such a fitting way. I also remember reading The Hobbit illustrated book while smoking through the tin, which further led to that being perhaps one of the most enjoyable tins I have ever smoked through. I will never forget the memories from that place.

 

[daveinlax]

All my favorite memories involve sitting in smoke filled hotel rooms surrounded by my pipe buddies some who have left us for the pipe show in sky. I miss them!

 

[warren]

Waist deep, drowning flies with a cob smoldering away. Or, being handed a nice check while sipping a briar. Either is near the top of the list.

 

[EssJaySea]

I was considering starting a similar thread, but limited to this year.

My most memorable smoke for 2021 was on my birthday, at a small state beach north of Los Angeles. I took the day off, and got there right when it opened at 8 a.m. -- for one of the better summer swells this year. I got nearly 90 minutes of surf all by myself in overhead waves. The sets, breaking much farther out than I'd ever seen at this particular spot, were a solid 8 to 10 feet. That first session was my best one of the year, and probably of the past couple of years.

In between two sessions, I smoked a couple of bowls of Kramer's Father Dempsey in my rusticated Viking -- a good sturdy pipe to take along for some time alone. For a whole bunch of reasons, it was an important day to spend alone, with my own thoughts and memories, and the pipe was the perfect accompaniment.