Only one pipe?

A pipe can be pretty robust and some people today, many of years ago only smoked one pipe daily. Just smoke it, clean it and care for it.

If on a budget, grab cobs. They smoke well and are easily customized if you are so inclined. You can grab a bag of whats called "seconds" from Missouri Meerschaum that are great smokers just slightly off for various reasons so they wont sell them at full retail price.

The cob you do have might taste funny if it has a shellac finish. I have this issue with them but after a handfull or two of smokes, its gone.

I too can taste a cob when I smoke them. I usually don't much mind, because it's just a mild, grass/ hay flavour. Like breathing in a barn. Is your cob Missouri Meerschaum brand? If, so you can be sure you're safe.

And if your money is that tight, I'd worry about picking up couple more cobs before briars. Get a rotation going of 3-4 Missouri Meerschaum Legends- That way you can at least dedicate them to blends so you aren't tasting Peach Cobbler with your Nightcap. Later on, I'd start building a collection of estate Dr Grabows and Medico and such. Plenty of great workhorse pipes on eBay for the money.

Welcome to the Patch. Good advice you are getting on the MM cobs.

JMHO, buy a Jake Hackert cob - great quality & low price

Welcome to the patch. I think what's already been said is spot on. If money is tight, get some more cobs or the bag of seconds that has been mentioned. That'll give you a bit of rotation.

But keep smoking out of that cob until then. There's no hard and fast rule. However I'd give it a run through with the pipe cleaner after each smoke.

As has already been mentioned, it wasn't long ago when many people had one pipe and smoked all day.

Thanks for all the advice guys. Very helpful. and ill keep that in mind Ron thank you.

What situation is that?

Wheres a good place to buy pipes? Is ebay or amazon okay? I was looking at nordings on P & C, pretty pricey.

I was actually going to say, hanging out here and making friends is a good idea.

Your probably tasting the end of the shank that extends into the bowl on MM cobs (they do this to prevent burnout, coating the bowl bottom). Once that is burnt away, your cob experience will improve.

In briar, the Rossi Vittoria line has decent smokers at $42.00.

It took me a while to build a good rotation of pipes. I've got some really nice brand name briars that are really good smokers yet I smoke my MM cobs as often as any other.

When new, MM cobs have a vegetable taste for the first few bowls. Then there's the hardwood stem that protrudes into the chamber that gives off a woody taste.
When I get a new MM cob and smoked a bowl until I taste the hardwood, I add a little more really dry tobacco and really fire it up to get the protruding stem smouldering. After 2-3 of these treatments no more woody taste.

With what I now know, I would have bought several MM cobs to start a rotation. 
Then you're covered and can start looking for bargain briars at your leisure.

There was also a thread on Chinese made Roadtown briars here. [Sorry, don't know how to link] I've bought six of them. They're going for really cheap and they're actually not bad smokers.

I recommend new pipers stay away from Ebay until they know pipes.
It's hard to find a good pipe at a good price there.
It's almost impossible to do that if you aren't experienced in pipe basics.

If buying new: MM cobs, Morgan Bones, and Rossi Vittoria pipes are all good choices for under $50.

If buying estate pipes: pipe forums and smokingpipes.com are less risky than Ebay and social Media.

Some pipe smokers only smoke cobs.

Nothing wrong with that

Cobs are good pipes.

oh wow. This has been a good thread for you. My Morgan bones is a great pipe.