Pipe Smoking - Where to Start?

If you're looking to take up a weekend pastime, you can't go far wrong with the relaxation offered by pipe smoking and the fulfilling outdoor exercise and creativity provided by gardening. And it's so easy to combine the two.

Is there really any better way to spend time than sitting in your well-cultivated patch, tilled by your own hands (and suitably shielded from the outside world with a ruddy great hedge), drawing on a gently glowing bowl of aromatic leaf? Surveying your lands, satisfied by your efforts, you'll certainly look the part. Perception management they call it.

Expert in any field

As our good friends at EA Carey once told me: 'A pipe held just so in the mouth qualifies the owner to be classed as an expert in any field.'

Retreat

If you think it looks like 'Western man' has finally 'decided to abolish himself' and 'educated himself into imbecility', as Malcolm Muggeridge once put it, it might be better to retreat from all the troubles of the world by absorbing yourself in such simple pleasures.

I'm not saying you should shirk from your daily dozen, mind. Mens sana in corpore sano and all that.

New to pipe smoking?

If you're new to pipe smoking, EA Carey offer some great advice in this short video:

Starter pipes for the time poor

How to choose your first pipe? You probably don't want something too big or that will take too much of your time to begin with.

The small and lightweight pipes from the Carey 10 Minute range, such as the Carey 10 Minute Quarter Bent Billiard (below), are good 'clenchers' and perfect for beginners and those wanting a short smoke.

Carey's Little Gem range, such as the Carey Little Gem Full Bent Apple (below), provides a similar service; but, as they are smaller, these pocket-sized pipes are handy for stowing in the patch pocket of your grey herringbone tweed jacket when you're on the move.

The 10 Minute and the Little Gem ranges are available in a number of shapes and finishes from EA Carey.