at first I was reading this as someone sliced your tires. Glad to hear that's not the case.

I usually inflate to 5 psi, then 20 psi, then 40, checking to make sure the bead of the tire is seated evenly each increment. Once I've hit 40 and it looks good, I feel pretty safe about inflating the rest of the way.
I've had 2 pinch-flats while changing a tire: both from not being as careful as I should have with the tire levers while putting on a new tire that was really tight.