After 20 years of cigar smoking, I've "hit the wall". My old favorites disappoint and the "new" cigars I've tried just aren't doing it for me. The only cigars I have in my two coolers that I have a desire to smoke are the Bucaneros, Diesel U.H.C.'s and the R.P factory selects mad. torps from Famous but I won't buy any more of those as they've jacked the price up from $57.00/20 to $77.00.

So, I thought I'd give the pipe another shot. In 1968, I bought a GBD 357 curved bulldog and owned it until around 1974 when I ran over it with a Caterpillar 950 front end loader and turned it to dust. Every bowl was a dream with that pipe and I'd smoke 2-3 bowls a day through it. I did buy a few more pipes to give the GBD a rest but none of them ever gave me the smoke the GBD did and one of the extras that cost quite a bit, never delivered a good smoke.

I tried several different blends way back then and settled on Sir Walter Raleigh as it smoked very well in the GBD and was readily available where I lived (in the sticks).

A few weeks ago, I bought a MM cob at our local store and it smokes pretty darned good. I was disappointed to see GBD was no longer in business but, thanks to ebay, I have a curved bulldog GBD I bought for $33.00 on the way that is similar to the one I owned. I know the odds of it smoking as good as my old GBD are pretty slim but thought I'd give it a try.

I got a "Weber" curved bulldog off ebay the other day, cleaned it up and it smokes pretty darned good for a $13.00 pipe. I've got a low cost ebay Meer coming as well. Probably a mistake but I have 7 days to send it back if I don't like it.

I bought some SWR as I enjoyed it 40 years ago. It seems a bit courser, "clumpier" and wetter than I remember but smokes pretty good. I may have to dry it out before filling a bowl. Our local shop has a good selection of pipe tobacco so I've been trying different blends and having a good time.

So, it looks like this pipe thing might work out. I'll cut way down on my cigar smoking and save some bucks which always scores points with me (and my wife.)

WyoBob
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Hey Bob, good to see you in the pipe forum.
Look on ebay for good deals on a Savinelli's. The ones I have smoke good.
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Welcome Back! I'm glad pipes are turnig into a nice new (ish) haven for you! I too got into pipes when the cigars that I was smoking became uninteresting. I have since then returned to cigars, but I do smoke pipes occasionally!
It is a great idea to check out what blends your local B&M carries. Some of my favorite pipe tobacco has been a house blend from my B&M.
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I got my ebay, GBD 549 bulldog cleaned up and am smoking the first bowl. So far, so good. As I smoked SWR in my original GBD (357 Prince bulldog, rusticated) 40 years ago, that's what I loaded in this pipe. I hope this one turns out to be equal to my old one. I'll be a happy camper.

WyoBob
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Enjoy the adventure, hope your new GBD becomes a lifelong friend.
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The GBD now stands a chance of lasting a long time. I no longer operate Cat loaders:-) I'm going to keep looking at ebay for a spare, though, just in case something happens to this one.

WyoBob
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What does GBD stand for? or is that just the name of the pipe? Can we get pics??
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I bought my first one around 1968 at Cliff's Smoke Shop in Lincoln. It was a #357 Prince, black, rusticated and the one that caught my eye in the shop. I wish I could remember what I paid for it. As I remember, it was kind of pricey at that time. I haven't seen one exactly like it in my search online.

Here's the one I bought:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...view=all&tid=0

Just in case there's some piper's who haven't seen this site (this page has a history of GBD): http://pipedia.org/index.php?title=GBD

WyoBob
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You might want to check out this thread...

Newbie Sampler Trade for Pipe Tobacco
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