Best Peterson Shape for Flakes

Log in

SmokingPipes.com Updates

Watch for Updates Twice a Week

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

Drucquers Banner

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

Status
Not open for further replies.

alexj52

Starting to Get Obsessed
Sep 26, 2018
177
21
I'm a big fan of Petersons, and their recent change in ownership and vows to improve QC has led me to search for a Peterson for my next PAD cure. Right now, my collection lacks what some would call a "flake pipe", which I believe is being rather tall and narrow. So, what would be the ideal shape(s) from Peterson to smoke mainly flakes?

 

alexj52

Starting to Get Obsessed
Sep 26, 2018
177
21
Oh and I would love to hear everyone's favourite series from Peterson as well (i.e. Aran, Fermoy)!

 

irishearl

Lifer
Aug 2, 2016
2,146
3,762
Kansas
alex, I don't find much difference in smoking qualities for flakes across my pipe shapes. As to favorite series, has to be the Sherlock Holmes series with their many attractive styles, though I get them in the Kinsale version.

 

ssjones

Moderator
Staff member
May 11, 2011
18,317
11,068
Maryland
postimg.cc
I would guess that any of these shapes would work well with flakes, they are all relatively small pipes, the Belgique, Tankard or Barrel. Barrel's and Tankard's pop up often on Ebay.

https://peterson.ie/collections/barrel-tankard-calabash

 

jpmcwjr

Moderator
Staff member
May 12, 2015
24,565
27,065
Carmel Valley, CA
Not a shape shifter here when it comes to maximizing pleasure from a smoke. Have a couple of bent billiard Arans which I like, but have a number of fills. They are my driving pipes.
Sometimes smoking flake I stack the bits vertically, and there a wider chamber is the thing.

 

timt

Lifer
Jul 19, 2018
2,844
22,729
I smoke flakes in my pot from time to time and it does just fine.

 

saltedplug

Lifer
Aug 20, 2013
5,194
5,097
Mostly there is lot of hot air expressed about "flake pipes" or pipes that smoke flake well. Pots are frequently said to be flake pipes. What do you mean when you say this? You don't say., nor do you define "better." I begin to think you don't know, otherwise you would say things like the flavors were sharper, more focused or more clear. You would say that they were richer or lingered. But you don't say that either.
Now you have complete freedom over what you believe, and my opinions about your claims have no more validity than if they issued from an oyster. But continuing the metaphor, I think there is something fishy about any claim that supports bowl geometry.
Unless you can clearly say what you mean when you make these claims, or better still replicate them by reference to another smoker's palate that finds the same flavors that you do in their "flake pipe," which is more than likely different than yours, which in and of itself destroys your argument, I would appreciate but can never command, your silence.

 
I prefer a pipe that has more parallel vertical sides to the chamber, so that a flake can be folded and stuffed, as in illustration A. In B, the flake would expand out with heat and become harder to draw as you smoke it. Besides, conical chambered pipes, as in illustration B, are better for rubbed out or loose cut Virginias, because they focus the flavors as the bowl progresses.
:eek:) We've had this discussion, or else I am having Deja Vu. I have more illustrations if you'd like to further discuss bowl geometry and it's affect on flavor? But, in this case it is merely geometry in that the flake fits into the pipe chamber better.

flakepipegeometry4salted.jpg


 

sasquatch

Lifer
Jul 16, 2012
1,683
2,862
I tend to agree - while a pipe 1" wide and 3" deep probably isn't a flake pipe per se (how many flakes can one smoke at once??) just about anything else will work.
The idea that there's a single bowl geometry that would work best for both a 1.5mm cut sweetened flake like Brunello and a coarsely-cut latakia flake like a Gawith .... seems far fetched.
Anything smaller than 5/8" diameter is very small. Anything bigger than 7/8" diameter is pretty big. And just about anything in between there works for.... everything! Flakes too, even.

 
May 9, 2018
1,687
86
Raleigh, NC
Personally, I would agree with cosmic when folding and stuffing a flake. I like to choose one of my cobs that have a definite square shape to the inside of the bowl, when looking at profile. They allow the flake to slip in all the way down to the bottom and below the rim much better for me than one with a U-shape or angled bowl sides. It also allows for even expansion of the flake throughout the bowl as it heats up.
Now this is entirely different when I decide to rub one out, since then it doesn't seem to really matter what the bowl is shaped like to me, it always smokes the same. Just have to make sure I leave enough room for expansion and try not to fill it too tightly.

 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,621
44,832
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
The term "flake pipe" belongs right up there with "left handed tea cup". Find a pipe you like, and put what you want in it. Stuff and fold, cube cut, rub it out, it all works just fine. The marrying that compression has done is undone once you immolate it.
More to the point is is the moisture level when immolated. Don't have that right, the flavors don't come out to play, and it doesn't matter one whit the shape of the sandbox.

 
So... using chamber design in illustration B would just the same as in a chamber shape in illustration A? I am not sure if I am following what you are saying. Immolate, of course refers to igniting it, with a connotation of sacrifice, but what do you mean about moisture and marrying?

Do you mean that the flake expands when lit? ...thus using a conical shaped chamber would be problematic with causing a strained draw, as I tried to explain?

Sorry, words... me no good at sometimes.

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
I've never distinguished between pipe shapes for flake; however, I would say that small pipes can make a full-length smoke, in many cases, out of flake, coin, plug or rope, since they burn a little slower, often times. But big bowls work too. With a big bowl, I'd usually end up coming back later to finish up, and the second half would be every bit as good.

 

ashdigger

Lifer
Jul 30, 2016
11,378
70,055
60
Vegas Baby!!!
Wait, you mean my left handed tea cups are actually right handed coffee cups?
You have issues man!!
I was sitting here minding my own business when, all of a sudden, my left handed tea cups get called out.
Not cool man, not cool.

 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,621
44,832
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
So... using chamber design in illustration B would just the same as in a chamber shape in illustration A? I am not sure if I am following what you are saying. Immolate, of course refers to igniting it, with a connotation of sacrifice, but what do you mean about moisture and marrying?

Do you mean that the flake expands when lit? ...thus using a conical shaped chamber would be problematic with causing a strained draw, as I tried to explain?

Sorry, words... me no good at sometimes.
Compression - as is used to make flakes - enhances the marrying of flavors of the various components. That, and it was also a compact and convenient way to transport tobacco for consumption. Set fire to it and that's over and done with. Too much moisture in the tobacco masks flavors. You know all this.

 
Status
Not open for further replies.