Hi Martin – thanks for your enquiry. The metal ‘filter’ is a more subtle type of system, which is really only there to cool the smoke as it passes through the shank. It doesn’t remove tar, etc, so you should get the full flavour of any tobacco you smoke but at the cost of less effective actual filtration. I hope that helps…

Hi Martin – thanks for your comments. As you have already noticed this is a very broad pastime (my preferred word for it!) with a huge amount of personal preference involved and a bewildering amount of choice. I believe pipe smoking will achieve what you are looking for if you give it the time and attention it needs – it is great to fire up a bowl and spend a little time reading or just contemplating. I find a smoke in my hammock smoothes out the kinks from a rough day no end!Just start somewhere would be my view – if you can stretch to one of our Budget Starter Kits then that will ensure you have all the basics you need (if not then budget about £25-£40 for the pipe alone), and then from the sounds of it you’ll want an Aromatic tobacco, so your best bet would be to go for our mini sampler. It costs about the same as a single pouch of tobacco but will give you the chance to try all of our different ‘sweet’ blends. Smoking a particular type of tobacco won’t harm your pipe – many people subscribe to the ‘one pipe for one particular tobacco blend’ rule but then again many of us can’t afford a new pipe each time we want to try a new blend and it doesn’t seem to cause too many issues! The main thing is to persevere if at first you struggle to find the right technique – it’ll come in the end. I hope that helps…

Hi Martin – we are more than happy to help so ask as many questions as you wish… Regarding how many times a pipe can be smoked, in an ideal world you would probably only smoke it once or twice a day but since many people only have 1 or 2 pipes this doesn’t often happen. As long as you break a pipe in ‘gently’ and ensure it is rested sufficiently such that it is cool before the next smoke there should be no issues. I know people that smoke several small bowls in short bursts which doesn’t allow the pipe to cool at all who have no problems whatsoever. My advice would be treat the texts as guidelines rather than rules, and find a way that suits you!

Hi Chris – we are delighted that you are pleased with your find. Welcome aboard!

Thanks Dimitris, and welcome! We have to wait until May 7th for our fun but hope you are enjoying your day…