Hi Eusebius,
Welcome to the forum. I didn’t hear the radio show that you mentioned.
I replied to the topic of Rusticated and Sandblasted Bowls Giving a Cooler Smoke last night on another forum. My reply may address your question (at least in part). I edited a few lines for clarity.
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I agree that the finish doesn’t make a cooler smoke. Smokers make heat, not the pipe. A car radiator or CPU heat-sink increase surface area to more efficiently dissipate heat just as sandblasts and carves do and that’s the difference. Pipe smoking is all about heat dissipation.
You make a very good point about the chamber temperature (being necessary) but I’d state it as retained heat that affects the taste of the tobacco. Of course every smoker’s technique is different and there are other variables like the cake and briar and, naturally, taste buds.
If you could have two (2) pipes, say large thick walled billiards, that were exactly the same in every detail (you know this to be impossible), the sandblast pipe, would retain less heat than a smooth based on mass and surface area. A few general examples in my experience.
The extra retained heat of the smooth pipe will warm yet unburned Virginia tobaccos bringing out the sugars for a sweeter taste. The larger the briar mass the more pronounced the effect. Think of a brick oven.
That same extra heat (smooth pipe) subtly changes the flavor balance in Latakia mixtures, not always for the best. The orientals and latakia seem to taste better with less retained heat and I find that sandblasts smoke these mixtures more true. Think of roasting (sandblast) or over roasting (smooth) nuts.
Thin walled, smooth pipes do very well with Latakia type mixtures because they don’t retain a lot of heat.
Carved (rusticated) pipes smoke between smooths and sandblasts but closer to the latter. Sandblasting removes soft wood, exposing the grain contour while carves remove briar randomly, retaining some soft wood that slows (slightly) the dissipation of heat.
Your mileage may vary.
Regards,
Pete