I thought this could be a nice follow up to Prairiedruid's thread, "What Blend Have You Discovered This Year?"
Along with trying new blends and finding new favorites throughout the year, many of us I'm sure have also discovered new pipes. Maybe just a shape, maybe a brand, maybe a material such as clay, meerschaum, or morta. So again, as with Prairiedruid's thread, with 2017 coming to a close, what new pipes have you discovered over the past year?
I found a few that took me out of my comfort zone and I'm quite pleased with them all. First, it was about this time last year I think that I purchased my first Savinelli 320. I found that these pipes in photos just didn't really appeal to me at all, but I had heard so many great things about how well they smoked that my interest was very much piqued despite that fact. As it turns out, for some reason the shape in many instances just isn't very photogenic. But in person, the shape is actually quite lovely and feels great in the hand as well. I don't believe a shape makes any difference in how a pipe smokes, but I do believe the chamber size does, and I can attest that complex blends such as balkans, englishes, and some aromatics truly do sing in a 320 with it's quite wide drilled chamber. I have a couple 320s now and they deliver great flavor and a wonderful smoke every time. And I always make sure to look for 320s when I'm browsing pipes online because I fully intend to purchase more.
Another pipe I discovered this year is both a brand and a material. I purchased for first L'Anatra this year which was also my first olivewood pipe. This one was quite a large rhodesian shape, well made with beautiful wood. I rather like the little silver duck head ornament on the stem but I've heard opinions vary on those. It's a heavy pipe, definitely not one I'd clench (I rarely clench anyway), but it smokes very well and is a joy to look at with its "oil on water" grain.
I've never been a fan of straight billiards and in fact have only a few straight pipes anyway. Two of which were Moonshine deviled eggs, and a little Diebel that Fnord gifted me years ago to help me round out a decent rotation when I was still very new. I love that Diebel, by the way. Smokes like a dream. I just couldn't bring myself to ever ever buy a straight billiard. They just looked too blah to me. But no XL90's or anything else I could really bring myself to like in the 2017 St. Patrick's Day lineup by Peterson forced me to go outside my comfort zone for something else. Not wanting to break my yearly tradition since 2013 I reluctantly chose a 106... yeah a total run of the mill typical billiard. Basically I just kind of said screw it and snagged the pipe whether I ended up liking it or not. I'm pretty glad I did that, as it became a favorite of mine once I had it, and I now have two 106 with another on the way. That one I'll be sure to post here once it arrives because I basically spent the better part of this year trying to find one and the shape was quite illusive in the line I was trying to find.
And that's all for me unless I remember something else. ::
Along with trying new blends and finding new favorites throughout the year, many of us I'm sure have also discovered new pipes. Maybe just a shape, maybe a brand, maybe a material such as clay, meerschaum, or morta. So again, as with Prairiedruid's thread, with 2017 coming to a close, what new pipes have you discovered over the past year?
I found a few that took me out of my comfort zone and I'm quite pleased with them all. First, it was about this time last year I think that I purchased my first Savinelli 320. I found that these pipes in photos just didn't really appeal to me at all, but I had heard so many great things about how well they smoked that my interest was very much piqued despite that fact. As it turns out, for some reason the shape in many instances just isn't very photogenic. But in person, the shape is actually quite lovely and feels great in the hand as well. I don't believe a shape makes any difference in how a pipe smokes, but I do believe the chamber size does, and I can attest that complex blends such as balkans, englishes, and some aromatics truly do sing in a 320 with it's quite wide drilled chamber. I have a couple 320s now and they deliver great flavor and a wonderful smoke every time. And I always make sure to look for 320s when I'm browsing pipes online because I fully intend to purchase more.
Another pipe I discovered this year is both a brand and a material. I purchased for first L'Anatra this year which was also my first olivewood pipe. This one was quite a large rhodesian shape, well made with beautiful wood. I rather like the little silver duck head ornament on the stem but I've heard opinions vary on those. It's a heavy pipe, definitely not one I'd clench (I rarely clench anyway), but it smokes very well and is a joy to look at with its "oil on water" grain.
I've never been a fan of straight billiards and in fact have only a few straight pipes anyway. Two of which were Moonshine deviled eggs, and a little Diebel that Fnord gifted me years ago to help me round out a decent rotation when I was still very new. I love that Diebel, by the way. Smokes like a dream. I just couldn't bring myself to ever ever buy a straight billiard. They just looked too blah to me. But no XL90's or anything else I could really bring myself to like in the 2017 St. Patrick's Day lineup by Peterson forced me to go outside my comfort zone for something else. Not wanting to break my yearly tradition since 2013 I reluctantly chose a 106... yeah a total run of the mill typical billiard. Basically I just kind of said screw it and snagged the pipe whether I ended up liking it or not. I'm pretty glad I did that, as it became a favorite of mine once I had it, and I now have two 106 with another on the way. That one I'll be sure to post here once it arrives because I basically spent the better part of this year trying to find one and the shape was quite illusive in the line I was trying to find.
And that's all for me unless I remember something else. ::