Out of my entire collection of pipes, there are less than ten that get the vast majority of use. They are mostly LJ Hearts. LJ’s pipes smoke the best out of any in my collection – that’s why they get smoked the most. I’m not a pipe collector, I’m a pipe smoker.
I’m also not a pipe rester. Each of my pipes has its own personality, blends that go well with them, and their own feel. I’m happy to kick back with one of my heavier pipes while I’m watching a movie, but if I’ll be at work on the computer, I’ll go for a lighter one as I’ll be clenching more. So, each time I smoke, I pick a pipe that’s best for the occasion and the blend I have in mind.
This means I’ll often end up selecting a pipe that I just smoked the day before or even earlier that day. For some in our hobby, that is heresy. “Pipes need days of rest between smokes or they’ll go sour!” warn the pipe resters. Pipe resters encourage you to build your collection large enough that you can always pull a pipe off the rack that has been left alone for a week. I think this leads to too many new pipe smokers filling their racks quickly as possible with cheap, poorly made pipes that don’t smoke well. My advice is to spend all that money on a handful of quality smokers that you’ll be able to enjoy, rather than a rack-full of duds that’ll always be well rested.
I can’t imagine looking at the calendar and saying to myself, “Ok, its that Savinelli’s turn, that’s the pipe I have to smoke right now.” Blech! But that sort of system seems to bring comfort to a number of pipe smokers, and if that’s the case, God bless them. More power to ‘em. Whatever winds your clock, and all that. Some folks just like the ritual of it, and that’s great.
But for those considering the question of resting pipes for the first time with an open mind, I can suggest that any regimen of resting pipes is not necessary whatsoever. Yes, that’s right – now take a deep breath – you don’t have to rest your pipes.
I’ve read books on pipe smoking, talked with tobacconists, and discussed the matter with countless other pipe smokers on the internet, and they all disagree with me. But I have proof. I’ve experimented. I’ve tested their hypothesis. I smoked the same pipe, multiple times a day, for months on end, with no rest, and nothing more for cleaning than a pipe cleaner or two each smoke. The pipe didn’t rot, go sour, turn foul, begin to stink, make tobacco taste funny, or suffer any other malady. In fact, that pipe is my best smoker.
They have suspicion and mythology. I have evidence. By the way, so did all those old-timers you saw that smoked the same pipe until it broke and they had to go to the drug store and buy another. They didn’t have the internet to tell them their pipe stunk I guess.
“But I like a clean, cool, dry smoke.” my pipe resting friends protest. So do I! You don’t have to rest your pipes a week to get it. One guy, after hearing my disagreement with the cult of pipe resting, even tried telling me I’m smoking the wrong tobacco! He reasoned that being I must like a pipe that is horrible, foul, and reeking of stale, putrid tobacco juice, I should smoke fuller, stronger blends. That gave me a good chuckle. I enjoy a wide variety of blends, thanks.
That just shows how fervently its adherents cling to this belief, which probably had its beginning as a clever marketing gimmick aimed at selling more pipes. The guy who came up with that idea could probably sell cow manure to a dairy farmer. Ever hear the one about the guy who went about blowing a whistle all the time?
“Why are you blowing that whistle all the time?”
“To keep the elephants away.”
“But we don’t have elephants around here.”
“See! It works great!”
With all due respect, that’s what the pipe resting zealots sound like – the guy who blew the whistle to keep the elephants away. I’ve stopped blowing the whistle, and I haven’t been trampled by elephants yet.
Subscribe
