Are cobs more forgiving or am I doing it all wrong?

[thomasw]

As well as giving your tobacco drying time, perhaps try inserting a pipe cleaner into the stem while smoking when you sense moisture or a reduced draw; this will help with the awful gurgling or wet smoke.

 

[seagullplayer]

This is not really to your problem.
But I think more people would pick up pipe smoking if their first pipe was a cob.
For one thing it seems much easier to find a bad briar than a bad cob.
Also your briar may take/ will take some break-in. You will hear folks talk about 20 bowls or more to break one in.

You don't see anything like that with a cob.
I also think that some of the former cigarette smokers on here can attest that it takes a while to get your true taste buds back.