I just want to add a big “HERE, HERE” and thank you to Rigmedic1 and dread’s comments above! I am devoted user of 9mm activated charcoal filters and truly both appreciate and enjoy what they do, for me anyways. I do have a couple of nice non-filter pipes… a Poul Winsløw freehand and a Boswell Wizard, and maybe a couple others. What 9mm filters do for me: they do not affect what I taste at all, and quite frequently, they “smooth out” the overall palate as mentioned above. They do, in my experience, deal with most of the excess moisture that sometimes will make regular pipes gurgle or get you those delightful fetid toilet bowl drops in your mouth. Some of the effectiveness of this is determined by how well the pipe is engineered for filter use. In this respect, I have experienced a huge difference in manufacturers with regard to how well the filter pipe supports airflow and moisture: top-flight best for me > Design Berlin, Vauen, and Stanwell. Least effective for me have been Peterson 9mm versions. I have three of those (in the $200-$400 price range). Each required additional interior drilling and shaping on my part. I will not be buying another from them. Other things filters do for me: they seem to moderate the incoming nicotine, which is fine by me… I don’t smoke pipes for nicotine and basically could care less how much of it I get, as long as I don’t get kicked to the floor by it. And they help me settle my puffing pace to a different more deliberate rhythm. The biggest difference to me between my filter pipes and my non-filter pipes is that a well made regular pipe “breathes” on it’s own, more or less… I LOVE that experience. But with a well-engineered filter pipe, I just settle into a different smoking style that means relighting slightly more often and using a slightly different hand with the tamper. The filters absolutely DO keep a lot of the tissue-irritating nasty stuff out of my mouth. Without the filters, my mouth begins to feel “burned out” more quickly. My voice gets hoarse. And I feel a tightness in my lungs that I do not with 9mm filter use. And finally, I experience no inconvenience whatsoever in acquiring, using, or enjoying pipes with filters. It’s just like throwing in the usual bundle of pipe cleaners and etc when I’m indulging my TAD or PAD.
What I really object to, in the five or so years I’ve been lurking about the forum regarding the filter subject, are the snarky, condescending, condemnational, dismissive, and often downright rude put-downs that more often than not, are dealt out to innocent, brothers and sisters that use filters to good effect. Not that long ago, some of you might remember, a guy here started an anti-filter rant that was longer than this little essay and that amid much stated or only slightly euphemized vulgarity, profanity, and obscenity, dressed down filter users as sissies, losers, idiots, impotent, and etc etc etc. (And god bless aro smokers, who take more frequent beatings than filterists.) As is so often stated here, in English AND Latin in various signature lines, in matters of taste and color, it’s individual… so why not just let everyone be happy in what works for them? I have always striven to maintain an open mind and a “beginners mind” in the Zen sense, towards all things, both in pipe world and the rest of planet. I’ve tried and enjoyed all kinds of tobacco from plugs to ropes and beyond. And all kinds of different pipes and pipe systems. As I’ve settled down to what I enjoy the best, and what really works for me, I truly appreciate those who can respectfully agree to disagree, if they do, or add positive perspectives and dimensions to the discussion. As for the rest of the illegitimate sons of female dogs, god bless them too. I will never disparage them for the ways and means of their own enjoyment. :
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