[Tishabet]

Yep, no inhale... same goes for cigars. Think about it like a straw going into a glass of liquid; you want to draw it into your mouth and swish it around a little to "taste" then spit it out.

With pipes it's important to learn to pace yourself as well. Too fast and the tobacco will burn hot/wet and taste acrid, too slow and the pipe will go out.

If you do not own a pipe or tobacco, I'd actually recommend a corn cob pipe (keep in mind that I own many pipes, some in the $100+ range). A cob pipe is easy to find (most drug stores will sell them), they're cheap and they don't need much breaking-in before they smoke well.

For tobacco, most non-pipe smokers associate pipe smoke with the smell of "cased" tobaccos, meaning tobacco with flavors added (e.g. cherry cavendish). I personally don't smoke many of these, but they are the easiest to find and the tobacco itself will stay in good condition longer without you having to store it in a humidor or airtight container. The classic drugstore varieties are things like prince albert or captain black. I would recommend keeping an eye out for "half and half" which is also carried in many drug stores, but is less heavily cased so you can taste a bit more of the tobacco. If you decide you're getting into the pipe thing, even very high quality tobaccos are fairly cheap... usually no more than $10-$12 per package. Check out jrcigars.com for their selection... I am personally a fan of McClelland, MacBaren, Rattray and especially Dunhill.

When I pack and smoke a pipe, my procedure is to take the pipe and sprinkle in some tobacco until the bowl is mostly full, then lightly tamp down with a finger. Then I do this two more times, with the pressure of the tamping down increasing so that the last tamp is fairly firm. Then I light the bowl and take two or three good draws. At this point the tobacco often wants to be tamped again... this time I use a pipe tool (or even a steel nail will work fine) to tamp down the smoldering tobacco. Then I relight and smoke at a steady pace until either I am done or the tobacco goes out. I don't recommend relighting after this because the relight will taste bitter.