From: woody <???????????????????>
Subject: Greetings!  I'm Excited to be apart of this fine ~\U  group

Greetings,

As a new member I would like to introduce myself and share a bit of my pipe 
journey thus far.  My interest in pipes began when I was about seven years 
old.  No one in my family smoked, but my Dad read The Hobbit to me.  It was my 
favourite book.  When we finished that I was so excited about the story that 
he also read me the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.  One of my favourite parts 
about those books was the pipes, especially that great big long one of Bilbo's 
in chapter one.  For halloween I was the hobbit that year and also for my 
birthday.  My mom purchased me a corncob pipe for the costume, and from there 
I began collecting.  My grandparents purchased three pipes for me one 
Christmas, I loved the way they smelled (they were used) and I also at some 
point was given one of my great grandfather's pipe racks.  People gave me more 
and more over the years, but after a while, I lost interest in the pipes.  But 
they were always there on the shelf.  A few summers back (I was about 18 and a 
half at the time) I went to Carmel with my parents and my brother.  I saw a 
pipe shop and of course I had to go in.  I had never been in a pipe shop 
before.  Something awoke in me that day.  I saw a churchwarden and I had to 
have one.  It was a lot of money (so I thought at the time) so when we got 
home I looked for a local shop.  I found one and they had a Savinelli 
Churchwarden.  That is how I purchased my first brand new pipe.  Others had 
bought cheap new ones for me before, but this one was extra special.  The 
fellow offered to give me free tobacco with it, but I turned down the offer (I 
was still just a collector.)  He said to me "You're not going to smoke it?"  I 
said no.  He said that I ought to try it sometime because it was really nice.  
I asked him about pipe books and all he had were some free brochures about how 
to smoke them.  I left the shop that day and went home with my beautiful new 
pipe.  But I kept thinking about what he had said.  So I went back and I got 
the little book on smoking a pipe.  I read it over and over again.  I was 
finally so tantalized by the little pictures of people smoking and the how 
there were new worlds of tobacco out there to explore that I just had to go 
back and get some tobacco.  So I did.  It sat around for a while.  I was going 
to have foot surgury and after being exposed to heaps upon heaps of anti 
tobacco propaganda in the public schools, I thought it would be best to wait 
until after the operation to try out this new/old hobby.  The day finally came 
when I was ready to try the tobacco.  I filled the pipe about a third of the 
way up, in the mean time I had bought some low grade pipes and I tried one of 
these out first until I found the perfect tobacco for my churchwarden, and lit 
it.  It was different than I had expected.  I had expected the smoke to be 
really flavourful.  It seemed hot and bland and dry to me.  It didn't smell 
sweet like I had expected it to either.  This was probably because my nose was 
overwhelmed by my tastebuds and I was not used to the flavour of tobacco yet.  
The first few times I would get a horrible soar throat the next day for a few 
days.  But I persevered and this problem passed.  I kept trying sweeter and 
sweeter tobaccos until I ended up with peach and honey(bleach!) I could 
actually taste and smell the sweetness in that one.  But none of the tobaccos 
smelled just like that pipe that I had that smelled so good to me.  I went to 
pipe shop after pipe shop and never did find anything like what was in that 
pipe, but if I did find it now, I probably wouldn't like it.  In my two and a 
half years now as a pipe smoker, I very quickly moved from aromatics to 
natural and english blends which I now favour.  Natural tobacco sweetness is 
so much nicer than sugar or honey anyway, at least to me, though I know some 
people prefer those sorts of tobacco.  But that is what is so grand about our 
hobby is it not?  Every fellow finds his own pipes and tobaccos which he 
especially likes, and it's different and personal for everyone.  As far as 
tobacco reccommendations go, I tend to like the same sorts of blends as Mr. 
Serad in the Trial by Fire section of Pipes and Tobaccos magazine.  The 
Rattrays line has some fantastic stuff.  Three Noggins is especially unique 
and special.  I think that is what I value most, something which is subtle and 
unique that you have to ponder and can't quite put your finger on.  That's how 
that one is for me.  The same is true of McClelland's Archadia.  Deacon's 
Downfall is another that I really enjoy.  There is a local pipe shop here in 
town that has some excellent stuff too.  It's called Rich's Cigar Store (I am 
currently going to school in Portland Oregon so that it where it is located) 
and they do phone orders.  For a really excellent sweet smelling all natural 
tobacco, you can't go wrong with their Craven Mixture.  Steve Books is the 
blender there and he has been doing it for over twenty years.  I always love 
talking to Steve when I go in there.  They have another one called Dark Navy 
Flake which I really like.  It's an all natural black virginian tobacco.  I 
think I like that one even better than Rattrays Dark fragrant.  If anyone 
wants the mailing address for Rich's let me know and I'll submitt it.  If you 
have kids, especially boys, be sure you read them the Hobbit and The Lord of 
the Rings at a young age, or even an older age.  They are great storys and 
they portray very beautifully the virtues and delights of good pipes and good 
tobacco.

-David Wood

[A charming story, David! Thanks!]


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