Most Underrated Shape

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delkhouri

Can't Leave
May 4, 2013
446
22
Columbus Ohio
What do you think the most underrated Pipe Shape is?
Now this isn't what is your favorite shape, but more what shape do you think does not get he credit it deserves.
For me:

The Prince
004-002-9300_1.jpg

I recently picked up this prince. It is my first ever prince that I have owned or even smoked. It smokes wonderfully and is long, light, and has an adequate size bowl. I rarely see artisans make the prince shape and I rarely see anyone talk about the shape. For me it is underrated.

 

freakiefrog

Part of the Furniture Now
Dec 26, 2012
745
2
Mississippi
For me it the Oom Paul. I never thought I'd want one of those "ugly" pipes but after being gifted one I have to say. It hangs well in the mouth, I don't have to worry about knocking it in to anything and the long air hole mean I get a good cool clean smoke.
I'm a convert for the Oom Paul

 

agnosticpipe

Lifer
Nov 3, 2013
3,332
3,413
In the sticks in Mississippi
Not to be a copycat here, but I have always liked the prince shape too and agree, it doesn't get much attention. Maybe because most prince shapes have small bowls? A lot of times though I want a smaller bowl. I have a couple that I smoke stronger tobaccos in, and my wife has a Sasieni prince that she's been smoking for over 25 years.
By the way, your prince is a stunning example of one. I just like the overall graceful shape of the prince, and besides, what else are you going to smoke Prince Albert in? :roll:

 

menuhin

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 21, 2014
642
3
@delkhouri

For the prince shape, instead of thinking it as 'underrated', I myself have the impression that there can actually be many followers of this classic shape, especially from some of the high-end pipe manufacturers.
For me, it can be the poker style pipe shapes: the poker, the cherrywood, the tankard, etc.

They all look very utilitarian, but they do function really well and can be quite robust. And by the way, the late Prince Edward, Prince of Wales was actually very fond of a variant of this shape, the Dunhill Duke. Similar shape from Dunhill also includes 'Don'.
Duke.gif


 

okiescout

Lifer
Jan 27, 2013
1,530
6
These days I would say pots. When I was a boy they were everywhere. Now that I come to think about it though, when I was a boy.... pipes were everywhere. :roll:

 

plateauguy

Lifer
Mar 19, 2013
2,412
18
The prince. I have a couple of them and for some reason, I'm always surprised at how well they smoke.

 

sallow

Lifer
Jun 30, 2013
1,531
3,771
I have an old Ehrlich pot that smokes Virginias really well, so I know what you mean.
I also like the Canadian shape, but most are too long for me. Think lovat but with a different stem.
Somewhere out there is a bulldog or Rhodesian that will one day be in my rotation.

 

forest7

Starting to Get Obsessed
Sep 8, 2014
190
2
Pots are my favorite shape for English blend.

For Prince I might try Bob's Chocolate flake. It will smoke wonderfully.

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
I'd nominate two underrated tobacco pipe shapes, the author and the brandy. The author is some kin to the prince, but a little stouter and usually bigger at the base of the bowl, and a little less round than the apple. To me, they have a quiet elegance and yet are practical. Like princes and pots, they have a good wide chamber and deliver taste from complex blends ably. Brandy shape pipes are cousins to billiards and maybe third cousins to volcanos with that same narrowing at the brim. My favorite brandy pipe is a bent version, the B11 from Peterson, that I like so well I have both the Shannon and Killarney ebony versions. It's a good smoking pipe and a fine sitter to boot.

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
sakoguy, I am so fond of the zulu, of which I have three, that it is hard for me to think of it as underrated, but it may be true. I have Savenelli, Chocum, and Chapuis-Comoy versions. I especially enjoy them for smoking flake.

 

settersbrace

Lifer
Mar 20, 2014
1,565
5
Pot for sure. I have an estate BBB that's small in overall dimensions but it seems to smoke Lat blends forever.

 

blueeyedogre

Lifer
Oct 17, 2013
1,552
30
I have an old Dr. Grabow prince that is a great smoker, I have a Phil Trypus pot that smokes nicely as well. If I was to pick a shape least talked about on here I would say Blowfish or Oom Paul. As for under rated I'm going with the cutty, and condor doesn't count cause we all know his feelings on cuttys. Lol Cuttys are the best pipes I have for cubed Virginia flake.

 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,623
44,833
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
Pots for sure. They're not sleek and purty, tall, slender, or long limbed. Pots are workhorses and will smoke most anything well, and complex English and Balkan blends exceptionally well. The discriminatory attitude against pots means that I get better deals on them in the estate market. Vivre les stupides, who make possible great deals on pots!

 

wyfbane

Lifer
Apr 26, 2013
5,117
3,517
Tennessee
It is sometimes hard to take one's own preferences out of conversations like this... I have loved prince shapes for a long time, but my microcosm of the pipesmoking world may not translate out to the world at large.
Added to that, this site and you yay-who's are 90+% of my pipe smoking interactions so that may not translate out to the smokers at large either.
That being said, the underrated shapes I perceive are:
Pots (until this thread),

Cuttys (more so) and Zulus (less so), and

Oom Pauls.
Authors sell out like hotcakes online these days so they are obviously loved. Everyone and their brother is hot to commission pokers, and Canadians/lovats are like the cool kids at the back of the room. Not overy chatted about, but everyone knows they are good.

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
Remember, there are pots and there are pots. I think the wallflower pots are the ones with straight stems and cylindrical bowls; I have one and think it's great and am flirting with others. But then there's the curvaceous pot such as Sixten Iverrson did for Stanwell decades ago; I have one Stanwell and another pocket pipe by my go-to N.C. carver. These aren't wildly popular, but I think they are generally admired. Still, I love those old cylindrical jobs, even the black blast versions. They are powerful can-do pipes.

 
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