New to pipes as of a year ago. I've smoked cigars off and on for years, but my mind has always gone back to that day in 11th grade when someone left their pipe tobacco at the country club I worked at. I turned it into the manager and when no one claimed it after 30 days, I asked if I could have it. My mind was fixed on the pipe I knew dad had stashed in his end table. My best friend and I had no idea what we were doing when, while we walked the train tracks, and packed the pipe. I vividly remember the dusty taste (dad was not a pipe smoker but wanted to be a long time ago) and the tongue bite. But the smell of the smoke drew me in. Jump ahead 25 year and I have finally picked up pipe smoking as a hobby. I don't like cigarettes and cigars make me a little jittery. But a good pipe... ahhhhh. I can sink into a chair and my mind actually "sighs". I have a house pipe from the local tobacconist as well as a Savinelli that I rotate between. My taste is expanding and I feel as though there is an entire world to be discovered.