Shapes of Things
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Kevin Godbee - Dec 2, 2010
- 6 min read
By G. L. Pease
It’s almost universally accepted that different pipes can smoke differently and taste unlike one another. Much talk about wood sources, curing methods, airway diameters, stem funnels and cycles of the moon as they affect the way our favored tobaccos taste can be found scattered all over the Interwebs, and even, occasionally, in the darkened back rooms of our local tobaconnists’ shops.
But, what about pipe shapes? Many of us develop a preference for a certain shape, or at least a family of shapes. When thinking about the influences that lead me to grab a particular pipe in a given situation, it occurred to me, rather late in my career as a pipeman, to question whether my preference for shape is dictated by the way that shape smokes a certain tobacco, or if my taste for that tobacco was cultivated because of the pipe’s shape. (I’m addressing mostly classic shapes, here, with the idea that most examples of any classic will have fairly similar bowl geometries. For modern shapes, it’s what’s bored out of the wood that we’re interested in for the purpose of this discussion.)
Okay, this all may seem a little Lucy in the Sky, but humor my meanderings; my mind heads off in strange and digressive directions sometimes. This whole thought process actually started some years ago when I "discovered," contrary to widely accepted convention, that I really enjoyed the way Virginia flakes tasted in wide bowled pipes, specifically, in this case, a GBD 9493, the large-headed love child of a classic Lovat and a moderate Pot. At the time, I was working with John Gawith to develop my limited edition Stonehenge Flake, and was exploring the final prototype in every conceivable pipe in order to really understand all the nooks and crannies of the tobacco’s inner workings.
According to almost every pipester I’d ever spoken or corresponded with on the subject, "flake pipes" are generally thought of as small bowled, often with tapered chambers. Getting a group of pipe smokers, however carefully selected, to almost universally agree on anything is never an easy thing, so after hearing and reading this repeatedly, I accepted it as one of those incontrovertible truths – like the idea that sandblasted pipes smoke cooler than smooth ones, which, by the way, also just ain’t so, but that’s another topic.
But, when I filled the wide bowl of that pot, the antithesis of a "flake pipe," with Stonehenge, and lit up, bells rang. The flavors practically exploded, and the smoke was fantastic to the very end.
There are plenty of pipemen who will tenaciously cling to convention, insisting that a small, tapered bowl is best for a flake, or that a large pipe is best for mixtures, and on and on. Clearly, each smoker has developed, over the years, his own preferences, and has acclimated to those preferences. I, on the other hand, had never previously been much of a flake smoker, or a smoker of Virginia blends of any sort for that matter, and therefore had very little internal prejudice to influence my preference. I simply was chasing the experience, and for me, that experience was amplified by smoking this particular flake in a large, wide bowl.
Many more experiments were performed, and consistently, for me, most flakes tasted better, sweeter, richer and more intense in wide bowls. So much for convention. And, it begs the question, are different shapes really better for different tobaccos, or might there be something else at play that has resulted in these conventions?
I’ve known quite a few guys who smoke almost nothing but a single shape, whether billiards, dublins, princes, or bulldogs. Their collections comprise variations on a single theme, with very few deviations. (One friend has a whole collection of saddle billiards, all nearly identical in size and shape.) These smokers will insist that theirs is the shape that work best for them, that delivers what they’re after from their tobacco of choice. (Oddly enough, there are people, too, for whom a single tobacco can satisfy, day after day. Not me. Spice of life, and all.)
From this, it would seem a short hop to the conclusion that they’ve chosen their pipe shapes based on the way they smoke, but I think this deserves a look from the other side of the glass. Most beginning pipe smokers choose a pipe based on its appearance. This is what they’ll learn with, what they become accustomed to. Just as the foods we’re exposed to in our youth influence our tastes, to some extent, for the rest of our lives, these early pipe experiences can affect, even create the pipe smoker’s tastes.
Perhaps what they end up preferring is a result of the habit of smoking the shape they were originally drawn to for purely aesthetic reasons. If a guy likes, and therefore starts off collecting and smoking princes, he’ll acclimate to the way they smoke, to the flavors they deliver, and that will likely end up being what’s right for him. If he smokes mostly a single type of tobacco in those pipes, he’ll probably ultimately come to think that this is the right combination. Hand him a tall smokestack billiard, or a dublin, with its tapered bowl, and he’s in new territory; it will certainly be different (that’s where we started, right?), and since we tend to be creatures of habit, difference isn’t always a good thing, even when it is arguably better.
But, when we open our minds to new possibilities, those differences can offer up a wonderful adventure. Prior to my GBD pot/Stonehenge experience, I’d been a dedicated small-bowl guy, preferring pipes with a U-shaped bowl of about group-3 to group-4 proportions. It’s what I’d gotten used to, what I liked. Suddenly, there were new possibilities on the horizon. I found myself chasing different shapes, different sizes, and exploring different tobaccos in them. It’s been, and continues to be an amazing journey, and my pipe smoking experience is richer for it. For me, finding those perfect combinations of pipe and tobacco is one of the greatest joys of the pastime.
Going back to the "flake in a small bowl" convention, can we really draw any conclusions about what shapes are best for what tobaccos? Probably not. The fact is, pipe smoking is a deceptively complex system that incorporates both physical and mental components. The tobacco chamber geometry and the design of the airway, the feel of the pipe in the hand, the way the smoker packs and puffs the bowl, mood, and even the weather conditions all have their influence, and relatively small changes can result in a major impact on the final experience. What works for one may be a dismal failure for another. (I’ve often said that if you ask 100 pipe smokers the same question, you’ll get at least 100 different answers, and they’re probably all right.)
The lesson, for me, that began with a single flake/pot experience is simply this: Just because something is traditional, found repeated on the lips of the crowd, or written in the voluminous codex of Conventional Wisdom, doesn’t mean it’s going to be true for you. Break with tradition. Chop that mixture into powder, and smoke it in a clay. Cut your flake into cube-cut. Try something new. There might be something really exciting waiting behind a door you’d never thought to open.
Your turn.
-glp
Since 1999, Gregory L. Pease has been the principal alchemist behind the blends of G.L. Pease Artisanal Tobaccos. He’s been a passionate pipeman since his university days, having cut his pipe teeth at the now extinct Drucquer & Sons Tobacconist in Berkeley, California. Greg is also author of The Briar & Leaf Chronicles, a photographer, recovering computer scientist, sometimes chef, and creator of The Epicure’s Asylum. |
Written by Kevin Godbee
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Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 634! Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Warren Ertle. Warren is an extremely accomplished musician with a PhD in music. He started early as a percussionist in sixth grade. Later his grandmother got him a cheap Casio keyboard which he taught himself to play. He started playing in blues bands in high school, and has been a pianist with jazz big bands for years. Even though he was already a professional musician, he took his first real piano lesson when he enrolled in college with his studies in classical music. He is of course a pipe smoker. At the top of the show we will have an Ask the Tobacco Blender segment with Jeremy Reeves. Jeremy is the Head Blender at Cornell & Diehl, which is one of the most popular boutique pipe tobacco companies in the USA.
Soon now, supposedly, our neighborhoods will shift from grinning pumpkins, skeletons in various assortments, and zombies dashing about to pretty reindeer, angels, and flashing lights illuminating homes with sparkling stars and laughing, scurrying Santas. But, lest we forget, there is the turkey season, fancy pie aromas wafting from kitchens, and a national pardon of a big Tom Turkey. Remember, now, that only one of these holiday personalities is a pipe smoker. And that is the hefty, bearded fellow in a bright red suit sitting in a sleigh with a herd of deer hitched up and ready to streak across the globe, bringing tidings of joy and many presents. Ok, the scene is set for the next couple of months, right? So, before we get too far off the beaten path, let’s just take a deep breath of fresh autumn air, shall we? Ahh. That’s better, isn’t it? What’s got the Pundit in a snit is not all the Halloween spooks who came a-jostling for candy. Or the wild turkeys gobbling in the backwoods or all the fuss and feathers over the big one—Christmas. No, it is that we might need to take note of all the little things that mean so much to us. Like a good sunrise (seriously, Pundit has not gone all Pollyanna.) Mayhaps we need to appreciate more of what we have than what we have not. Or something like that. Like, a good pipe in the morning with coffee as the dawn brings us coolish weather now that we have flipped the calendar to autumn. But it also brings beautiful leaves that have become a spectacle of technicolor in the wind. It is the little things. The rereading of an enjoyable book and finding something you did not see or learn in the first go-round. Or a stunning phrase you commit to memory with the re-read, while smoking that favorite pipe. And you notice a superior puff that just seems to be different. It’s in the air and the seasons of meaningful little things. It’s aromatic! Or perhaps it is that sense of satisfaction knowing and appreciating you made it to another day. With the world in a kind of rinse-and-repeat history, reminiscent of a Shakespearean play, it is perhaps a good moment to remember some of Pipedom’s philosophers whose cogent thoughts brought light to clear a path in the mists of confusion and confounding opinions. Ok. No gloom and doom. Just some down-home thoughts. Think of times in the past when history was running off the rails. It took our pipe-smoking thinkers (the mind workers of the world) to speak of better pathways to more light. Think for a moment, with a pipe in hand, these wizards of the world and word: Albert Einstein, J. R.R. Tolkien, Mark Twain, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Edwin Hubble, Bertrand Russell, C. S. Lewis, and Jean-Paul Sartre. All learned and enlightened. They offered wisdom instead of storms of meaningless roads to nowhere. All while smoking their pipes! Maybe especially with the help of their pipes in the art of thinking and philosophy. Recall the words of Mr. E=MC2 when he said, “I believe that pipe smoking contributes to a somewhat calm and objective judgment in all human affairs.” Amen and amen! Dealing with world-rattling events takes a calm and objective view of things, to the Pundit’s way of summing it up. You just don’t go messing around with quantum physics without a calm and objective approach, methinks. Or as the extraordinary physicist Robert Oppenheimer said after he and a team in the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos Labs developed a way to split atoms into bombs during World War II. “I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds,” said Oppenheimer referring to the development of the first nuclear bombs dropped on Japan. It must be pointed out that Oppenheimer was more of a cigarette smoker than a pipe smoker. Nonetheless, pipes were part of his personality. Now, if you have read some of the great authors of the past and present, their pipes were always nearby. Reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle can be a three-pipe problem at times. S. Lewis and Jean-Paul Sartre require time with your pipes to reflect on the existential problems and solutions these authors provide in learned novels and other narratives. Or take Edwin Hubble and Bertrand Russell, philosophers of another world. Pipes are required for reading. The quantum lode of ideas Pundit is attempting to sort out is that our pipes are relaxing and stimulate our thoughts and creativity. Especially in these last months of the year. Many times Pundit has had that light bulb flick on while smoking my beloved pipes. And friends in Pipedom, it ain’t easy to turn on the lights in Pundit’s rock pit head. Now it’s time for a quote from a Pipe Smoker of the Past. Shelby Foote was born Nov. 17, 1916, in Greenville, Miss., and died June 27, 2005, in Memphis, Tenn. A fact is not a truth until you love it—Shelby Foote. A parting thought: It is said that famed Southern author William Faulkner carried a packed pipe in a coat pocket wherever he went. That’s one effective way to deal with workday conflicts and confusion. A calm and objective judgment in our everyday human affairs, as the quantum man said.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 633. Our featured guest tonight is Jon David Cole. JD is the Owner/Tobacconist at The Country Squire in Jackson, MS, and the accompanying online store. We’ll have JD and Brian talking about what’s new at the store and in the business in general. At the top of the show, Brian will discuss tobacco growing, what happens to the leaf, and provide updated information on where tobacco is being gown today. Tobacco production originated in the United States and we were once the #1 producer. It’s quite different now.
Well there’s nothing like a touch of the plague to usher in the changing season. Leaving the airport just when the first advertisements for all things pumpkin spice began to appear—lattes, muffins, shampoos, trash bags, and myriad other concoctions—so, too, my ability to breathe freely disappeared. The unfortunate side effect of losing one’s sense of taste and smell for weeks is the utter inability to enjoy tobacco. Not that I consider myself an expert on anything but my own tastes, but be forewarned that this review was made with mildly impugned sensory equipment. Just when a comforting pipe was most needed, its comfort was denied. Be that as it may, the road to recovery found me limping along on one lung this past month, trying to wrest the particulars of two blends on offer from Sutliff: the latest 175th Anniversary blend, Silver Quarter, as well as their spooky seasonal Maple Shadows II. Silver Quarter is a new style on offer from Sutliff, their first coin-cut blend. Naturally a Virginia-Perique, it is enhanced with a traditional core of black Cavendish. In the tin it holds much promise, with a lightly bready and very woody, if ever-so-slightly sour, aroma. After some time acclimating to air, the bouquet softens further and offers hints of the burley with some chocolaty notes wafting through the more dominant dry grassy aspect. The tin art is of a coin-style bas-relief bust, presumably of a founding Sutliff brother, à la The Old Boss On the reverse of the tin we find the blend’s description: Reflecting on Sutliffs 175 years of tobacco excellence, we came across a brand that embodies true value, SILVER QUARTER. This name pays homage to Sutliffs roots, the legacy of two brothers who popularized pipe smoking in the burgeoning mining society of San Francisco. We celebrate this heritage with a coin cut composed of the finest African Virginias, complemented by a core of Perique and Black Cavendish. The tin notes are, forgive the pun, on the nose for a good VaPer blend: mild tart sweetness peeking out from behind dried hay and slight chocolate undertones, with a lightly tannic finish of weathered oak. It is always a joy to prepare a coin cut, my preference being to put a few in my palm and vigorously warm my hands together to fully break them apart. These well-formed discs pack and light easily, and smoke with little prodding to the end of the bowl. For technical points it scores well—it smokes light, and it’s easy to tend the ember. While it gets sharp after a few quick bowls, pacing should be heeded to easily smoke down to the heel without inviting bite. Of the flavor, though, I am left a bit wanting. There are tart and high notes aplenty, but very little of the lemony citrus I would anticipate, as well as scant midtones; they tend more toward the red wine-vinegary and sour. The flavors are muted, also, lacking the sweetness and piquancy of other marques—the small measure of Perique tickles the nose now and again with peppery hints, and there is a smidge of a deeper sweetness to be found in the Cavendish from puff to puff, but overall it lacks some dynamism. The Virginias, to my palate, come off a bit on the dry side, and here they dominate the blend. The aftertaste and mouthfeel are neutral, again evincing more of the dry, woody, tartly tannic end of the spectrum. The blend has plenty of polish, but not enough depth or richness (*yet) to make it a standout. Here, comparisons are inevitable: Luxury Bullseye Flake has more sweetness, both from its Virginia as well as its Cavendish, and a better finish; Davidoff is similar but with a pronounced umami that is absent here; as for Escudo, I haven’t had any fresh tins lately so it would be unfair to compare. While it rates as a solid, fairly mild smoke, particularly to lovers of the genre, it does not surprise with any exceptional flavors. To be fair, all the boxes have been checked for the blend to benefit from some real aging, and it would be worth checking in on this after a couple of years sealed away. I’ve set half my tin aside to sample again in a month or two, in case I’m merely suffering from the lingering effects of parosmia, and will amend this review in that case. Maple Shadows II, on the other hand, made up for the weeks of sniffling and sneezing I’d endured. Offered in a full 8 ounce tin with delightfully spooky Halloween art, it’s (hopefully) enough to last through the season. Somehow I had missed this last year, so it’s a real pleasure to get some in my candy bucket this year. As the chilling winds of autumn draw eerie prattle from contorted, deciduous limbs, we find ourselves possessed by the spirit of the season. Bewitched by a dissonant charm, we’ve created Maple Shadows. In a season that is defined by the unlikely harmony of treats and frights, we’ve joined the enchanting sweetness of maple with the earthy spice of Dark Fired Kentucky for a smoking experience that captures the senses with an otherworldly fusion of flavor. This may be the best aromatic blend Sutliff’s ever made—and they make a ton of them. First off, it’s not overbearing in the least—quite the opposite, it is also one of the more restrained aromatics they’ve ever made, with a clear but very light topping that melds oh-so-well with their choice Kentucky added to the mix. Opening the tin, the sweet maple is up front and center, but so too is the must of fallen leaves, bready pie crusts, and a crackling fire in the hearth—a perfect invocation of Herbstdüfte in a can. Packing best in an open and capacious bowl, the flavoring is subtle, and recedes to the background while puffing. With a sweet coffee or tea to accompany, the aftertaste of the maple is reinvigorated on the palate […]
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 632. Our featured guest on tonight’s show is the host of the Pipe & Tamper Podcast, Mike Murphy. Brian and Mike will have an extended chat revolving around the days before, during and after the Las Vegas International Pipe Show. We will hear about their travels to the show and the anxiety of Hurricane Milton bearing down on Florida at the same time while running a show and not knowing if your house is going to be there when you get home. In the end, the show went great and our homes survived, although many others in Florida were not so lucky. We’ll have clips from the show, and shoutouts to other podcasts and vlogs that were broadcasting from the pipe show.
Vegas Baby The show started out strong on the 14th floor hospitality suites hosted by the Vegas Pipe Show and Smoking Pipes as well as room hopping to carvers, estate sellers, and vendors to pre-game for the festivities. If you’re interested in what that looks like I’ll refer you to last years pipe show round up. I circled with Brian Levine to get the totals in comparison to last year: This year’s show numbers: 108 Exhibitor tables, 445 attendees, 3,250 Raffle Tickets, 100ish dinners, 172 Rooms in the Hotel. Last year, by comparison, 107 exhibitor tables, 425 attendees, 2,200 raffle tickets, 104 dinners, and 175 rooms on Friday and Saturday nights. We were at capacity, basically, when it came to vendor tables and the dinner, so there is no physical room for growth at this point except for attendees. That said, we filled that smoking lounge to the brim. New Carvers Spotlight Garret Woo (Pipes by Woo) How long have you been carving? Garret: I’ve been carving since 2021, and I’m guessing your next question is probably how’d you get started carving? James: Yes. Garret: In 2021 I took a break from my full time job – that included machining and assembly work and I thought maybe it was time I made something that I would like and I started looking at youtube and Instagram and putting together my shop. I did struggle on the stems to start and there was a lot of failure at the beginning. James: How many pipes have you made so far? Garret: I number my pipes, so I just finished up 186. James: What is your favorite shape you’ve been making? Garret: I really dig Canadians and pipes with longer shanks and lovat Canadian blends. I like to play with different shapes of stems on the longer shanked pipes. The billiard would be my go-to shape but I want to learn more techniques on freehanded shapes. I like to put brass and copper adornments on my pipes with my machining background it helps. James: What is the craziest thing you’ve seen at this show? Garret: The first thing that comes to mind is the table over there with C-Pipes with the shapes and the size and petiteness and the intricate details they did. You can check out what Garret is working on by going to his Instagram. Stefan Cashwell James: how long have you been carving? Stefan: about 3 years. James: What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen at the show? Stefan: The Adam Davidson pipe with the clear shape and the bamboo—I don’t know if it’s 3D printed or what, but it’s amazing. James: What’s your favorite shape to do? Stefan: That’s a tough question. I think they’re all the same shape, but what’s fascinating is that Dublin, volcano, and blowfish are all the same depending on how you turn them. Playing with that, with all its variations, is a lot of fun. My favorite accent to use is also horn; it’s finicky, but it’s a great accent on pipes. You can check out Stefan’s work on his Instagram. Science: Meet Pipes I chatted with Chris from the San Diego Pipe Club; he started off doing stem replacements for estate pipes but also improved the airflow. James: How are you doing 3d printing? What is the thought process? Chris: It’s a 3D-printed pipe with a briar insert. The design is a calabash meets a Peterson system meets a metal Falcon/Kirsten radiator style. It is a bottom draft smoking bowl like a radiator like those metal pipes. The inside chamber is a calabash. The stummel and accent rings in the stems are all 3d printed. The insert is briar, olive wood, or I have the potential to use meerschaum as well. This idea came about through the San Diego Pipe Club, wanting to see if we could 3D print a pipe and being curious about the technology; I have a printer and design ability, so here we are. James: What’s the type of plastic you’re using? Chris: It’s all PLA plastic, a renewable potato starch plastic that is food-safe. The stummels are printed with a plastic that has wood in it 40% wood fiber, bamboo, rosewood, ebony, redwood, and walnut are the woods I’m printing. For the accent rings I just got a new material that I’m printing that has 40% copper, so its real metal that you can sand, and polish the same as wood filament. The stems are 3d printed as well. The concept is renewable and cheap from a production standpoint, with the ability to make a very high quality smoking pipe based on the experience. By combining the calabash system pipe and bottom draft hole and using 3d simulations to see airflow, I can see where I’m having eddies and ripples in my current, and see where my moisture and all the particles are dropping back out from a vapor to a liquid. Most people who have tried these say the stems are clean, and they don’t even have to run a pipe cleaner afterward because everything collects at the bottom. Chris has also been experimenting with color-changing plastics so you can see the hotspots. Chris said he was able to use this to slow down his cadence, which, of course, could mean you could get a slow-smoke training pipe to teach yourself to perform better. If you’re interested in learning more or want to check one out, you can contact him on Instagram: Copper Beard Pipe Works The Negative Space The show was buzzing about one specific pipe, which had everyone guessing how it was made. I chatted with Adam Davidson briefly about it. James: How did this idea come to fruition? Adam Davidson: Smokingpipes.com had an expo back in August open to all of the makers they carry. The theme was to make a pipe utilizing bamboo. Given that the last time we had the expo I made a smooth Almond with three bamboo shanks, […]
Oh! YOU ICONOCLAST!
(I’ll have to give it a try. tee-hee.)
Great article Greg!
This is one of the great things about pipe smoking; how the same exact tobacco will taste differently in different pipes.
It can keep pipe smoking new and fresh because you can always try different combination’s of tobacco and pipes to get a different perspective of that particular blend.
Sometimes it can be very, very subtle. But other times it can grab you by the shirt collar and shake you around a bit and make you say WOW!
Dear Greg: As always your comments and observations are enriching. I appreciate your example of thinking outside the conventional box. After all, the MOST important part of the art of pipes and their smoking is the individual enjoyment and relaxation one gets. In the grand scheme of things, I think it is most important, over everything else, for the pipe smoker to enjoy the pipe, tobacco, and method which gives maximum enjoyment. Thanks and cheers.
Stephen Spring
Thanks, gents. We’ve all got to find what’s right for us. It’s just part of the pleasure!
Thanks Greg. You are absolutely on target with this issue. So
much of the Pipe Experience is the discovery of personal preference,
where experience is the best resource. We tend to promote what we find
enjoyable, which is our nature. Traditional wisdom often reflects this.
It’s not a bad idea to listen to it, but always evaluate what you learn
based on your own experiences.
Hi, Greg,
I have to admit: I’ve been smoking flake tobaccos in medium- to large-bowled pipes for years, with great pleasure. Thanks for an interesting, educated take on this question!
I have around a hundred pipes of every conceivable shape and size. I’ve always just bought a pipe because I fancy the way it looks rather than because I need more pipes with a certain size bowl, or length of stem or whatever.
Now, I only smoke one tobacco, a blend I make up of different over-the-counter blends- but what makes me choose a certain pipe or other is how rich I feel, or how much tobacco I’ve got in stock.
If I’ve just taken delivery of a pound or so of tobacco, I celebrate by filling one of my big-bowled pipes. I love the ample volume of smoke I get, plus that the bowlful will last for several lightings.
But when tobacco levels are running low, I switch to a pipe with a little bowl, and limit my consumption by just having little short smokes.
I love my blend in whatever pipe I smoke it!
Cheers!
The late PeterWD christened me potboy because of my liking of that under appreciated shape (in the Industrial Age in Britain, a potboy carried the pots of beer to foundry workers and tended to the slag under the iron pots wrapped in a wet sack),
I bought my first one – a ’62 Dunhill root – because no-one wanted that shape and it flew under the radar but since then I’ve collected Barlings, Talismans (Barling second), Weingotts, more Dunhills and even a Peterson meer.
They smoke flakes exceedingly well but where they really score over a narrower bowl for me is in smoking “English” mixtures (see Neill Archer Roan’s articles in Passion for Pipes):
http://www.apassionforpipes.com/neills-blog/2010/10/31/how-and-why-chamber-geometry-impacts-tobacco-flavor.html
http://www.apassionforpipes.com/neills-blog/2010/10/28/finding-that-magic-fit-between-pipe-and-tobacco.html
The pot used to be a well kept secret but a friend of mine spilled the beans (hint – think GBD and Castello 55!).
Thanks Greg. Your article caused me to take a fresh look at my pipe collection. I noticed that, over the years, I’ve gathered a wide variety of bowl and stem styles that suited my evolving tastes at time of purchase. Now, they are all considered cherished friends but each with a his own distinct personality. The subtle (or not so subtle) differences keep the relationships fresh. You consistently offer new perspectives that are always appreciated.
Another good article and many thanks.
I’ve always believed that trying new pipes, from carvers, companies, shapes and so on, and tobacco blends can only increase the enjoyment of pipe smoking.
For me the adventure continues.
I’m with yo Gregg on the volumnous combinations of pipe shapes and tobaccos. I feel that on any given day anything smokes great in a couple of Dad’s pipes. Dad quit smoking about 20 yrs ago and turned over some things to me. A couple of my favorite are two Wally Franks; a bulldog and a zulu/dublin shaped thing. Smoking that zulu as we speak! Now, I’m thinking that these pipes that I am still smoking are so well seasoned that tobacco can’t help but be wonderful,on any given day. Is it the nostalgia? Is it that fact that they were Dad’s? Is it that they are Wally Franks and are known to have been really decent everyday smokers?
At the same time a newer $100 or more or less, pipe with a few months on it may be just as fantastic. Why? Because it’s newer and fresh? Who knows? I believe that it’s the mindset of the pipester on any given day!
Completely off topic. Sorry Gentlemen haven’t bought my first pipe yet but love the look of the pipe in the picture above with the compass in it! Looks like some sort of billiard with a medium size bowl and flat finish. I think I need one. Can the author or anyone else know what it is? Thanks.
Well, I agree with Greg. I recently began experimenting with different shaped pipes or more correctly bowl shapes for different tobaccos. Normally I smoke English/Oriental blends, & i find pipe size and shape doesn’t make a lot of difference to a blend I like. But with my occasional flakes a small pot type, or cube shaped bowl, (Neil Archer article), does really seem to do the job and open up the flavor.
But I also find that an English/Oriental with a substantial Virginia base is also improved by the cube shaped bowl.
Maxim
http://www.pipe2smoke.com