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The journey begins...

Audi_kraut

Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2011
Messages
600
Sar and I have been friends for awhile and we both learned quite a bit about cigars together throughout the years. He recently mentioned he wanted to give pipe tobacco a shot and though we've thrown it around a few times before. I guess this time it was for real. I started researching pipes and was mostly looking for a budget friendly solution. I'm a fan of DIY projects so I picked up a Savinelli Aligator off of eBay for cheap.
 
A week later I have a nice shiny pipe that I'm about to break in today. The work it required was pretty straight forward and it looks like a great beginner pipe. I'm more than willing to help anyone else through the process as I got all of my knowledge from pipe forums and youtube. Reamed, salt treatment, lots of cleaning, and a nice polish then buff.
 
Before...
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After..
[sharedmedia=gallery:images:10776][sharedmedia=gallery:images:10777][sharedmedia=gallery:images:10778][sharedmedia=gallery:images:10779]
 
I think you did a great job on your first restro. The pipe turned out awesome.
 
Have you chosen your first tobacco to smoke in it yet?
 
Great job on the pipe! When I smoked a pipe years ago, I really enjoyed my Savinelli. 
 
Thanks for the kind comments. I met up with Sar this evening and picked up some bulk Cobblestone. Went to Rice Village with Elton and managed to get a decent burn going on my second bowl. The first bowl was an epic fail (too tight). Looking forward to smoking it again tomorrow. Still on the fence about the Cobblestone as I'm sure my poor technique effects how it burns and tastes.
 
Great job on the restoration! Feel free to hit me up if you have any questions or if you're looking for some stuff to sample!
 
Nice job with the restoration! I've been trying for several months to get into pipe smoking with little success until I got a Danbark. It's surprising how much the pipe makes a difference.
 
wkoti said:
Nice job with the restoration! I've been trying for several months to get into pipe smoking with little success until I got a Danbark. It's surprising how much the pipe makes a difference.
 
Agreed, the Big Ben starter pipe I got cost more than Audi's Savi but ended up having a cheapo stem that tasted chemically. So now I gotta wait while it gets sent off for restemming and hope that it fixes the problem. In the meantime Audi's gonna get a good head start on me but hopefully he'll have some good tobacco recommendations by then! 
 
sar127 said:
 
Nice job with the restoration! I've been trying for several months to get into pipe smoking with little success until I got a Danbark. It's surprising how much the pipe makes a difference.
 
...but hopefully he'll have some good tobacco recommendations by then!
 
Speaking of recommendations... I've been smoking Cobblestone all weekend and while it is pleasant, I am looking for something with a bit more kick to it. I've managed to get a good burn from my pipe after experimenting with some packing methods and drying the tobacco. But it definitely felt like it was lacking.. almost too smooth, too mellow. 
 
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