Why do you prefer a squat bowl?

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newfie

Starting to Get Obsessed
Aug 19, 2015
210
0
Shearstown, NL
What frozen said.
Plus it is generally accepted that short wide bowls are better for a complex tobacco where a tall narrow bowl would be better for tobaccos like FVF. I have found this to be true, at least, in my opinion

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
A more shallow bowl with a wider inside circumference is good (as mentioned by an earlier post) for more complex blends, and with flake or plug, it needn't be a particularly short smoke, since a lot of flake or plug burns longer than loose tobacco. Also, a more shallow bowl often makes a good pocket pipe, portable in a jacket or shirt pocket. I have a hand-carved squat pot/tomato shape pipe with a short thick stem that is my idea of pocket pipe perfection, just nifty. My go-to carver (you have to go to him because he doesn't sell online) pulled this out from under the counter at the state fair and recommended it, like it had my name on it. I shopped his whole exhibit and then bought the one he recommended.

 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,252
108,356

Me either. Most of my collection are at or around two inches deep. I can smoke them on and off throughout the day, or play leisurely and enjoy a couple of hours of me time.

 

johnnyreb

Lifer
Aug 21, 2014
1,961
612
A more shallow bowl with a wider inside circumference is good (as mentioned by an earlier post) for more complex blends, and with flake or plug, it needn't be a particularly short smoke, since a lot of flake or plug burns longer than loose tobacco.
Good reply mso. Anyone doubting that wisdom read what Greg Pease says about smoking Gaslight in a small bowl before loading up that 2" deep bowl with it. The same thing could probably be said for ODF in a 2" bowl.

 

johnnyreb

Lifer
Aug 21, 2014
1,961
612
I would say my BW Freehands are close to a 2" depth, maybe 1.75 - 1.8125", I really don't know. I know you said you go back to a bowl & relight it throughout the day. I personally don't like to do that. I enjoy my ODF in a group 1 - group 2 size pipe with about a flake, flake & a half & start with a fresh bowl each time. Same thing with coins; I fold about 3 coins at a time in the same group 1 - group 2 pipes. They will still give me about a 50 min smoke or so.

 

philobeddoe

Lifer
Oct 31, 2011
7,405
11,579
East Indiana
I have several pipes with shorter wide bowls, but it's only because I happened to like that particular pipe on the day I bought it, it has nothing to do with smoking chatacteristics. I don't go in for all of the matching a particular tobacco to a bowl shape, many people believe that it gives them a better smoke if they smoke such and such tobacco in such and such style pipe but I'm not one of them. I dedicate pipes to certain styles of tobacco based on which tobaccos they smoke the best. I have different shapes in each category of tobacco, I have found no correlation between bowl shape and tobacco style.

 

fishnbanjo

Lifer
Feb 27, 2013
3,030
63
One of my favorite classic shapes is the pot something you don't see very often by artisan makers, I love the clean look and wonderful smoking qualities and as mso stated a larger diameter brings out more complexity in the smoke with certain tobacco's one way to see this is smoke the same tobacco in different size pipes you own and I'll bet one of them is better than the others, cheers.

banjo

 
Jan 8, 2013
1,189
3
Typically I prefer a larger one, as I like to sit without anything dangling in the water. Those Iraqi squatting bowls are rather uncomfortable...

 
Mar 1, 2014
3,646
4,916
I have plenty of 2" deep 1" wide bowls, but I fill them up with carbon pellets before loading tobacco. I mostly just wish they were shorter.

 

deathmetal

Lifer
Jul 21, 2015
7,714
32
Wider = tobacco burns a range of ribbons at once, so you get a mix of flavors; thinner = tends to burn in layers.
I second the notion that squat bowls are better for flakes if you do not have two hours at your disposal! A deep pipe sipped responsibly goes through a medium load of 3P in over an hour, compared to fifty minutes for a squat one.
A squat pipe full of a tasty English delivers a full sensory assault as the flavors meld. Delicious. Try it with "Nightcap" too!

 
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Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,252
108,356
I would say my BW Freehands are close to a 2" depth, maybe 1.75 - 1.8125", I really don't know. I know you said you go back to a bowl & relight it throughout the day. I personally don't like to do that. I enjoy my ODF in a group 1 - group 2 size pipe with about a flake, flake & a half & start with a fresh bowl each time. Same thing with coins; I fold about 3 coins at a time in the same group 1 -group 2 pipes. They will still give me about a 50 min smoke or so.
I cube cut ODF and load it gravity fill in a Wade. Get about a 2 1/2 hour burn. I don't care for relights on ODF either, so my leisurely "me" time is reserved for that pipe/tobacco combo, or an Oliva Maduro and a glass of Glenfidditch.

 

maxpeters

Can't Leave
Jan 4, 2010
439
20
philobeddo, I agree. I don't dedicate a pipe to any particular type tobacco. And I have quite a few different style pipes. I've tried to see if there was any difference in bowl shape and tobacco type the past, and I couldn't tell. Maybe I'm just not sophisticated enough to notice .
Bango, I agree with you about the simple pot. After 31 years of smoking a pipe, it's one of my favorite shapes. The Rodney Dangerfield of Pipedom. Doesn't get much respect any more , but it always delivers for me. I wish I had more of them.

 

brass

Lifer
Jun 4, 2014
1,840
7
United States
I have a half dozen pots and when shopping, pots catch my eye more than other shapes. I have yet to associate shapes and blend families one way or the other. Some of my pots handle flakes well, others not so much much.

 
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