When You Get a New Pipe?

[EvertonFC]

I know that forum is fairly split on the concept of dedicating pipes. For those of you who do dedicate pipes to a specific blend or blend type, how do you determine what a new pipe is going to be dedicated to? Is it by shape? Do you smoke a handful of favorites through it, to see what it's best with? What is your process? Thanks.

 

[proteus]

Bowl size and experience only sometimes and most other times I just smoke the tobacco in it. I think any pipe can work with any tobacco so long as you learn the pipe and how it likes to be smoked with that tobacco.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I set out a few tins in a circle around the pipe, and whichever one it goes to, I scream and run out of the house.

my pipe dedications are based on stereotypes which work for me. Tall skinny ones for Virginias, and wide bowls for mixes like latakia, and my largest pipes for bold burleys. I do have many that aren't dedicated. And, yeh, sure, and tobacco can be smoked in any pipe... but something just feels wrong about putting a latakia in a tall stacked pipe.

 

[Pipeoff]

When I buy new I coat chamber with diluted honey to build up cake . Smoke to bottom with half loads. As far as dedicating to a type of blend, I like gosting something like home blending. Exception I found that a stack works better with firm cube cut that takes up a lot of space

 

[Scottmi]

Seredipity. Usually try a few tobaccos and some will work (burn, taste) better in a pipe than other shapes. shape and size and draft are the keys it seems. I can guesstimate ahead of time for shape if a blend will want a wider bowl (for example) than others so that is an initial guide, but the proof is in the puffing.

 

[Lumbridge]

Mostly by the chamber dimensions. I prefer smaller bowls for latakia blends and flakes, bigger bowls for burleys and aromatic blends, etc. It's almost entirely arbitrary.

 

[yanoJL]

Seredipity. Usually try a few tobaccos and some will work (burn, taste) better in a pipe than other shapes. shape and size and draft are the keys it seems. I can guesstimate ahead of time for shape if a blend will want a wider bowl (for example) than others so that is an initial guide, but the proof is in the puffing.

Me too.
I always start with a Virginia blend for about 10 bowls or so, and then move into experimentation from there. The idea being that I can do a basic "break in" with a Virginia and not have to worry about an unpleasant or overwhelming ghost. Plus, I really enjoy Virginias.

 

[RustiePyles CPG]

All of my pipes are dedicated to to pipe tobacco.

 

[OzPiper]

Information overload !
Information overload !

 

[FurCoat]

First thing I do with a new pipe is clean it like I would an estate pipe. Then I dedicate it to a genre or blend depending on chamber dimensions.

 

[bullet08]

This is why it's important to keep all the bones from Bojangles or KFC. One word. Augury.

 

[Gimlet]

I've given up buying pipes assuming they'll be dedicated to certain blends. I buy a pipe because I like it and then experiment and gradually find out what smokes best in it.

Size and shape has a bearing, mainly from a practicality point of view, but the characteristics and qualities of the briar are a big factor and an unknown one until you get going.

If a favourite blend just isn't working in a new pipe, I'll give it a deep clean, sterilise with spirit and let it thoroughly dry out then try something else.
In fact, I think it pays to chop and change because it's through happy accident that you often find perfect pairings. I've been perfectly satisfied with smoking one blend exclusively in a certain pipe and then for one reason of another (maybe because I've run out of rested pipes) I've tried it on something new I've just bought and been blown away with how much better suited it is to the new blend.

 

[TheIronMonkey]

My choices for dedication vary. For blends that have pipes associated with the tobacconist, I try to pair that pipe, i.e., a Wilke pipe for Wilke tobacco; Barclay-Rex, Drucquer & Sons; Blatter & Blatter blends in their respective pipes. Sometimes, it’ll be a tongue-in-cheek connection: Cornell & Diehl Pegasus in a Longchamp Pony Hair leather wrapped pipe or War Horse in a Ferruccio Savinelli Figural Horse pipe for the equine link. Sometimes, I’ll commit a Savinelli blend to a Savinelli pipe; same for Peterson (although several I have were really Dunhill blends earlier)—or in the instance of the Peterson 4AB, Wilke No. 515 because it was the blend Basil Rathbone smoked in that pipe in several Sherlock Holmes films.

I used to loosely associate finishes with types of tobacco: light for Virginias, dark for Englishes. I’ve reached a point where I’m beginning to dedicate pipes to specific blends rather than genres of tobacco because I have enough pipes to do so.

This is all mutable, though, and subject to change if I feel like it.

 

[renfield]

I’ll just smoke whatever is in my current rotation, usually VaPers or Burley blends. I usually avoid Lakeland’s until later. The pipe might become dedicated but that would be after it’s broken in and depends on what it did best.

 

[shanez]

 

[El Capitán]

View attachment 259832

Used that once and the pipe now smells of brimstone.

 

[Chasing Embers]

how do you determine what a new pipe is going to be dedicated to? Is it by shape?

By what the look of the pipe reminds me of. Chamber dimensions haven't changed the burn rate or flavor of a tobacco in my experience.

 

[filmguerilla]

I don't really try to match shapes to blend styles, but I do have a system. Cobs for aro's, Bones for Lakelands, and Briars for everything else. Sometimes I'll like a tobacco well enough to outright dedicate a pipe to it--like a Bones calabash that I use just for Gawith 1792. But I've never noticed much difference smoking, say, an English in a bent bulldog vs. a billiard.

 

[RudyG]

Staying away from anything that might ghost a new pipe such as aromatics or a heavy latakia blend, I smoke numerous different baccys and make a note of what I like best.

If nothing lights me up then I try the aromatics and latakia bombs that I enjoy.

The list dictates what category I put the pipe in. I have pipes for aromatics, oriental blends and latakia baccy.

 

[sardonicus87]

I do dedication on briars. How I choose though is based purely on aesthetics. For example, my Chacom Champs-Elysées (871 bent apple) just looks fitting for English/lat blends to me.

The way I dedicated is the looks match the flavor, kind of in the same way that "sad music is blue" or "happy music is yellow" or "angry music is red". That's the entirety of it for me.