If you’ve decided you’d like to try pipe smoking, the first thing you’re going to need (in addition to some good pipe tobacco) is a nice pipe. There is a vast selection of tobacco pipes available today, from cheap and cheerful corn cob pipes, to beautifully carved briar and meerschaum pipes that can cost hundreds of dollars. To make matters more confusing, pipes made from all these materials are available in many different shapes and sizes, with different stem lengths and bowl types. So, how do you narrow down the selection and choose your very first pipe? That’s the question we’re going to answer in this post.

Choosing Tobacco Pipes Online

Well-stocked tobacconists that carry supplies for pipe smokers are becoming rarer nowadays but there is still a very good selection of tobacco pipes for sale online, including those you can find right here at Paykoc Pipes! So, if you search for ‘tobacco pipes near me’ and you don’t get many useful results, there’s no need to panic as you can find what you need online. When buying your first pipe, we recommend considering the following factors:

• Material – To narrow down your choice, it’s best to settle on a material first. Are you after a traditional briar or meerschaum pipe, or would a corn cob pipe suit your needs better? Corn cob pipes are the cheapest option but they are not as durable as briar. Meerschaum pipes can be just as durable as briar but they are also quite fragile so if you’re planning to smoke your tobacco pipes outside, you might want to rule out meerschaum for now. On the other hand, if you’re planning to relax with a pipe in your favorite recliner after dinner, a nicely carved meerschaum could be just the ticket.
  If you’re not sure whether pipe smoking is really for you, a corn cob pipe is an ideal introduction to the hobby that won’t set you back very much. However, if you prefer the traditional look and want to maximize your enjoyment of flavor when trying new tobaccos, a briar is what most experienced pipe smokers would recommend. And with decent quality briar pipes available for as little as $35, it still won’t cost you a fortune to get started if you opt to go the more traditional route.
• Size – If you’ve spent some time browsing the selection of tobacco pipes for sale in various online stores, you’ll probably have noticed that they come in many different sizes. And it’s not just the size of the bowl that varies: there are different stem lengths to consider too. To make things simpler, it’s probably best to rule out pipes with very long stems, known as churchwarden pipes, when you’re shopping for your very first pipe. If you go for a normal length stem, you can focus your attention on bowl size for now. Generally speaking, the larger the bowl, the longer the smoke. A small bowl may take enough tobacco for a 20-30 minute smoke at most whilst the largest bowls can easily hold enough tobacco to last you well over an hour. Unless you’re looking for a pipe that you can use just for smoke breaks at work, we’d suggest choosing something in the middle: an average-sized bowl that will probably give you 45 minutes or so. And don’t forget, you can always put the pipe down and relight it later so there’s no need to worry about having to finish a bowl in one go.
• Shape – Briar pipes (as well as meerschaum and corn cob) come in many different shapes, each with its own name. The most popular shape is probably the billiard: a pipe with a straight stem and a straight bowl, either at 90 degrees to the stem or canted forward slightly. You’ll find hundreds of billiard tobacco pipes for sale, in a variety of sizes, all of which can be used with any kind of tobacco you might like to try. Other popular shapes include bulldog, Dublin, Rhodesian, apple and poker pipes. Whilst some tobacco aficionados may argue that certain bowl types are more suited to certain tobaccos, this is not something you should really worry about when choosing your first pipe. When you have more experience, you may prefer to smoke pure Virginia tobaccos from a pipe with a narrow tall bowl and Latakia blends from a shorter, wider bowl but for now, we’d focus on choosing a shape that you find pleasing to the eye. If you have no strong preference, a plain billiard is as good a place to start as any.
• Price – This is a difficult factor to provide meaningful advice on as everybody will have their own idea of what represents value for money when it comes to buying tobacco pipes and everybody’s budget will be different. However, what we can say is that even if you have unlimited funds at your disposal, spending hundreds of dollars on your very first pipe is probably not a good idea. Until you’re sure that it’s something you’ll be doing for years to come, we recommend sticking to more wallet-friendly tobacco pipes that will allow you to enjoy the hobby without worrying about how much it’s costing you.

SHOP CORN COB PIPES

A final note: briar pipes have a break-in period so you won’t get the very best flavor from them straight away. Corn cobs have a break-in period too but it’s much shorter normally. Now go choose your first pipe from our online collection!