[bluesbassman]

At the very early (first 3 or so) blind levels, I'll open limp 22-88 from UTG or UTG+1. The blinds are small and there are still enough bad players to give me sufficient implied odds to hit a set. Sure, I may need to fold to a big raise, but that actually doesn't happen very often, since most players aren't going to try to steal the small pot with a marginal hand.

If I'm in MP or later position I'll usually open raise all pairs at the early blind levels. Once the blinds get bigger, I'll either open raise or fold small pairs, depending on the particular hand (i.e. 22 vs 77), my position, and my read of the table, etc.

So I guess the short answer to your question is yes, it's still reasonable to open limp small pairs from EP (utg, utg+1) at the early blind levels. At least imho.