A Life Changing Decision of Sorts

cigrmaster · May 4, 2013

I have come to the conclusion that I need to dedicate some of my pipes to my Virginia/Burley/Kentucky blends. I am smoking Solani Silver Flake, Stonehaven, Old Dark Fired, Irish Flake, Univesity Flake and Navigator which are all in the above category. I have been smoking all of those in my VA flake pipes and while they all taste great, I am thinking they might taste even better if I dedicate some pipes to them. Since the University is topped with plum, I am going to dedicate a couple of pipes to that one exclusively, because I do think it does leave a little ghost behind. The Navigator while topped with rum has such a light touch of it, I don't think I will need to dedicate pipes to that exclusively.
So now the big question is, which pipes do I use, this is going to take some real thinking on my part. I am going to have to make a list now to keep track of which pipes are my va, vaper and vabur ones. So does anyone else dedicate pipes to vabur's or do you think I am nuts?

misterlowercase · May 4, 2013

You ain't nuts!
I have a pipe dedicated to Stonehaven and it does enrich the whole experience,

I recently had a bowl in one of my more "general" burley pipes and the effect

was very noticeable of just how much better the dedicated pipe tasted,

it's a true V conical-bowl dublin.

matchstickman · May 4, 2013

I often smoke Virginias and pure burleys in the same pipe with no ill effect. It has come to my attention that a lot of blends claiming to be all Virginia have a portion of some burley in them anyway, I dont think it hurts anything. There are people who like to dedicate pipes in different ways, and I adhere to that to a certain extent. I never put VA in any of my Latakia pipes, and vice versa. I used to put aromatics in my VA pipes but aromatics are restricted strictly to corn cob pipes now. I think the main difference between you and I is that you smoke the same tobaccos on a regular basis where as I rarely smoke the same tobacco twice. Seeing as how you know all these blends intimately, I would be curious to hear how the flavor is affected in dedicated pipes. If you should continue to go forward with this, Id like to hear your findings.

chubbster · May 4, 2013

Harris
My Larry Roush is dedicated to FVF. I can't begin to tell you how great every so for smoke is out of that pipe. I am a firm believer that some blends, mainly Va, benefit from a dedicated pipe. I can imagine that having a dedicated pipe to certain blends will only benefit your smoking, given that you have enough pipes to do so.

flyguy · May 4, 2013

cigrmaster,

I have sensitive taste buds also and it was a must to separate-out my pipes for different blends. Unfortunately, that means buying more pipes! 8O

piperl12 · May 4, 2013

Harris,
Not only do I not think your crazy I think that this is a very thoughtful and methodical process that shows you are trying to get the very best out of every smoke. Let us know if it makes a marked difference for you. I might just follow suit. Of course that is a good excuse to buy a few more pipe lol was looking for an excuse!

bobpnm · May 4, 2013

Harris, as new into this as I am I notice that Latakia blends don't play well with Virginia blends when you smoke VA after having smoked a Lat blend. Like a lot of new guys I was skeptical of all the talk of dedicated pipes. I'm a skeptic no more. I'm following the lead of you more experienced guys and finding that what you are doing makes sense. Of course, it means I have to buy a lot more pipes. Darn! I hate when that happens! :D

tennsmoker · May 4, 2013

Harris: I think you are right about dedicating pipes to particular blends. I don't do that, but I do want to mention what an oldtimer told me once: when starting with a new pipe, you first should smoke a Virginia as the first couple of bowls. You can go from Virginia to an English later, but you can't break a pipe in with an English and then go to the Virginia and expect not to have a ghost or two running around.
Don't know if that makes sense or not, but I have always stuck by that, and it seems to work. But, then, I smoke Vas, Vapers, Vaburs, English, Burleys, etc., in all my pipes.The only thing they are deidicated to is tobacco. However, they are all broken with with a straight (as straight as can be, that is) pure Virginia.

cigrmaster · May 4, 2013

Thanks for all the suggestions and opinions guys. I do dedicate my Lane Era Charatan Dublin to FVF because of how well it smokes it. I am thinking of dedicating one of my Rad Davis Lovats to Stonehaven because the last 4 times or so, I have smoked it in that exclusively and it does taste great. I am currently smoking a bowl of Univesity Flake in an older Upshall Apple and it is performing really well so I will dedicate that one for a while. I have 21 blends that I smoke on a regular basis and another 4 that I smoke once in a while but do cellar quite a bit of it. I really don't have enough pipes( 38 I smoke on a regular basis) to dedicate them all to specific blends. I am thinking of dedicating 5 pipes to the Vabur's to start and see how that goes.

ssjones · May 4, 2013

Wow, 21 blends is quite a mix! I do have one pipe, a GBD Prince dedicated to OGS (pretty much the only VA I smoke).

gwtwdbss · May 4, 2013

I suggest you give your collection to me and start smoking your rotation from fresh Rad's to see what fits. :lol: In all honesty that is a tough one and I am too novice to offer solid advise. Best of luck though. I would love to hear what you come up with. Please keep up informed as to what works best for you.

salewis · May 5, 2013

Up to a year ago I smoked on latakia blends in all of my pipes. A year ago I began smoking mostly straight Virginia blends, why I waited 25 years I do not know. Converting a exclusively latakia pipe to a Virginia pipe only takes about five or six bowls. It is a good practice to thoroughly clean the converted pipes with an alcohol product first and ream the bowl if is thicker than a nickel. Once cleaned and reamed it only takes a few bowls to convert between one type of tobacco and another type.

mso489 · May 5, 2013

I might become more enlightened, but right now, I want to be able to choose a pipe, and then a tobacco, without

any restrictions. It would bother me to have designated pipes for certain tobaccos. Luckily, with my willful

attitude on this, I'm not much bothered by ghosts. Should that become a problem, I'd have to do major cleaning

and label sections of my racks. This is my five hundredth post; now that really has me worried!

pitchfork · May 5, 2013

That's an interesting idea, Harris. The only dark-fired blends I regularly smoke are Irish Flake, Triple Play and some Lakelands, but the Lakelands have their own pipes. So it's just the two blends for me. Still, I find the Triple Play leaves a ghost in my VA pipes, so dedicating a pipe might be a good idea for a couple of reasons. I've been looking to try the Solani burley flakes and the MacB Dark Fired anyway, so I think I'll try dedicating at least one pipe.

cgrd · May 5, 2013

Since the University is topped with plum, I am going to dedicate a couple of pipes to that one exclusively, because I do think it does leave a little ghost behind

This may be a good time to pick up a bottle of Slivovitz (Distilled plum brandy) to use for cleaning. Although there's no reason to not drink it too. Just plan on 3 drinks...the first one makes you say "Why?". The second one makes you say "Ok.", and after the third you say "More!"

john218 · May 5, 2013

Harris, let us know how this works out.
It sounds like a good idea to me.
I am starting to dedicate most of my pipes to Va/Vapers and English Blends and putting the English blend and Va pipes in separate racks. Have you thought of keeping track that way?

cortezattic · May 5, 2013

So does anyone else dedicate pipes to vabur's or do you think I am nuts?

I think you're nuts -- not sayin' that it's a bad thing. :lol:

...we are all diseas'd

And with our surfeiting and wanton hours

Have brought ourselves into a burning fever,

And we must bleed for it...

-- Shakespeare (2 Henry IV, iv:1)

A Life Changing Decision of Sorts

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