Burley Blends and Bowl Size

mso489 · Sep 7, 2014

I'm smoking Old Joe Krantz, the C&D Burley blend, in a Peterson Killarney Rhodesian 999 P-Lip,

a pipe that unfolds a good Va or Va/Per, loose or flake, like a champion, but this burley blend

tastes limited and more bland. In a bigger bowl with a fishtail bit, OJK expands and performs

like the big flavor it is. Is it the small bowl, the P-Lip, the shape bowl, or what? I'm a burley

lover, and I thoroughly appreciate good new burley blends from C&D, GL Pease, and others, but

maybe I have to be more mindful of what pipe I use.

doctorthoss · Sep 8, 2014

I think most tobaccos are somewhat sensitive to the pipe they are smoked in. There really isn't any guarantee that a certain size or shape will smoke a particular type of blend well, but I do go by some loose rules-of-thumb. I feel that Vas and Va/Pers do best in small to medium sized bowls. Burlies and Engish/Balkans, on the other hand, tend to favor large briars. Burlies, especially, seem to do well in large briar pipes (except for the few burley flakes, which I treat like a VA). Old Joe Krantz is definitely a blend that requires a large bowl, in my opinion, as are Epiphany, Bald Headed Teacher, Carter Hall, etc.

pitchfork · Sep 8, 2014

I wonder if it isn't the P-lip that's the problem. I regularly smoke OJK, Haunted Bookshop and MOrley's Best in smaller pipes and enjoy them immensely. I only have one P-lip and I find it really restricts the flavor.

mso489 · Sep 8, 2014

sparks, I wonder if the smaller pipes from the days of yore reflects the fact that smoking was omnipresent,

so pipe smokers pretty much carried their pipes in their mouthes and didn't want a large pipe leveraging

against their teeth. A possible factor in those early, small pipes.
pitchfork, good point about the P-Lip. I find it delivers nicely on English blends with some Lat as well as

Va/Per. I'm not sensitive to ghosting, so switching off isn't a problem for me. The P-Lip does direct the

smoke to the roof of the mouth, so it may not deliver optimal flavor. But some smokers want mostly

P-Lips. Different strokes.

cosmicfolklore · Sep 8, 2014

I have explored a few different C&D blends recently, and I noticed on Haunted Bookshop and Poplar Camp, that I tasted the Virginias more in a tall narrow (.6 diameter) pipe. But, when I switched to a pot shaped pipe, I got more of the big burley flavors.

I also notice on Virginias, such as Virgina #1 that I get more of the bitey tingle that I enjoy in a narrow pipe, whereas in the wider bowl, the flavor deepens with less of the acidic tingle.
On some of my pipes, I also think that the actual briar thickness affects the flavors. In my thicker walled pipes, such as some bulldogs and a few others, they really mellow out the flavors also. Whereas, my thin walled dublins of the same chamber sizes really tighten up the tingles, making the tobacco taste brighter.

seanv · Sep 1, 2018

Reviving an old thread. I have smoked only one bowl of haunted bookshop. I have two ounces to sample. I tried it in a thick walled, narrow and deep bowl. I will try it in a wider shape and see if there may be any differences. What do you guys prefer for your burley blends?

cosmicfolklore · Sep 1, 2018

I don’t notice any difference at all in how “thick” the walls of the chamber is. For me, it is merely the width of the actual hole that matters. Ummm, except in women. : puffy

:

mso489 · Sep 1, 2018

One comment I'd add to this post from several years ago is that single-leaf burleys and variants, like Tabac-Manil Semois thick and medium cut, and Five Brothers seem to me to do nicely in deeper bowls, stacks and Oom-Pauls for example, to slow down the burn a little and hold enough to accommodate a drier faster burning leaf. A MM cob freehand with the deeper bowl also does burley nicely. In a medium bowl of medium depth, the bowl is over rather soon. Also, a Forums member sent me (to my amazement) a Ferndown smooth bent billiard with a deep bowl, along with a package of Semois he throughly disliked; the pipe is perfect for this burley variant, not too broad a bowl with plenty of depth, a perfect pairing.

bouwser · Sep 1, 2018

I would like to add how nice it is when a pipe and a particular tobacco blend really sync. The flavors really sing, the burn is perfect, and the experience is perfect. Rare moments that are appreciated.
I had smoked some VAs in a Rhodesian I acquired. It really didn't do so well. I thought I'd try some MM 965 at all the sudden the pipe had met it's match (pun intended). I think that pipe might be meant for English Blends.

PaulTheScandinavian · Sep 2, 2018

I prefer smoking my Vaper flakes in taller small-to-medium chambered pipes, usually Fold&stuff or in lightly broken form.Burley flakes go well in larger opening conical shaped pipes,but yes sometimes they may tend to get harsh past mid-bowl if the bowl size is too spacious.

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