If it is a briar pipe, before you smoke it, wet your finger and dampen the bowl. You only do this the first few times you smoke it. You start with only a small amount of tobacco in the bowl and smoke it slowly not building up too much heat. each time you smoke it it will get better. After a few bowls the pipe will get broken in and you can go to full bowls. When the bowl is finished tamp out the used tobacco ash and turn the pipe upside down to let it cool and dry out. being upside down the bowl will hold the moisture a little longer helping it to season. There are so many blends you will want to try, but let your nose be the guide. In a good tobacco shop, Pipes and cigars, and not a pot shop, you will find all sorts of loose flavors. You can blend them to your liking. I was a big fan of Staghorn and honey clover. It was a woodsy and sweet blend. I would on occasion pick up some Paddy's Irish or straight Burley tobacco, usually around St Patricks day. i both smoke a pipe and carve briar ones when I am out to sea. It is far more convenient than cigars because most of my pipes are shaped to sit upright, and I could lay them down on the counter while working on charts or doing other things on the bridge. The pipe would not go out for a while and I did not have to worry about the ashes all over the place or burning holes in the charts or counter tops. I rotated pipes throughout the day as my whims dictated. I have had many including Mereschaum(white chalky pipes). They are a bit different to smoke but are well worth the price as they absorb a lot of the liquids while you smoke and keep a nasty drop from coming up the stems. They also color as you smoke them from the tobacco staining from inside and get a wonderful look to the outside which some carvers take advantage of to make them have a wonderful appearance. By your tobacco by the ounce or several ounces once you have found a blend you like. Then get yourself a glass jar with the rubber seal around the lid and load er up. You can put a small humidifier button in the jar lid and keep the tobacco fresh. When you smoke Mereschaum or handle it do not handle it with bare hands or let friends touch the bare pipe it will discolor bad from the skin oils. I have a small cloth glove I wear on my holding hand. Hold the pipe from the stem if you have to use the other hand. The stems are usually Lucite. You wil need a few pipe cleaners, those fuzzy wiry things, a pipe nail, it looks like a short fat roofing nail with a flattened shaft for scraping old tobacco out of your pipe and a wide head for pressing it down on occasion while smoking. I prefer Cedar matches for lighting as Butane is not good to inhale. I hope that helps!