I have a question for those among us who have a fair amount of experience smoking cobs and meers. I keep six cobs in my accumulation of pipes, the rest being briars. I absolutely love the way the cobs smoke, but by the time they get to the point that they're perfectly seasoned to my liking, they're all used up and ready for the trash heap. It takes a couple of months to get a cob up and running the way I like them.
A perfectly seasoned cob is one where the tars have so permeated the bowl that they start leaching out the sides and bottom, and the exterior of the bowl actually becomes sticky while smoking. When the pipe gets to that point it has the sweetest aroma when cold, and when I smoke it the experience is as good as it gets, on par, and sometimes better than my best briars. Which brings me to the subject of meers: will a meerschaum pipe exhibit similar characteristics over time? I'm not looking for a sticky bowl exterior of course, but instead I'd like the pipe to become so saturated with tars over time that it will have a sweet aroma when cold and provide a similar smoking experience to my near-death cobs.
I know that meers are porous and color over time, and that coloring comes from the absorption of tars. So to that extent I would think that meers would similar to cobs in that regard. However, I've never seen a meer that looked very dark (admittedly I've not seen many of them), so I wonder if they will eventually absorb as much tar as a cob? To sum it all up, I'm looking for a cob-like smoking experience from a pipe that I don't have to replace regularly. Would a meer be a good choice?
A perfectly seasoned cob is one where the tars have so permeated the bowl that they start leaching out the sides and bottom, and the exterior of the bowl actually becomes sticky while smoking. When the pipe gets to that point it has the sweetest aroma when cold, and when I smoke it the experience is as good as it gets, on par, and sometimes better than my best briars. Which brings me to the subject of meers: will a meerschaum pipe exhibit similar characteristics over time? I'm not looking for a sticky bowl exterior of course, but instead I'd like the pipe to become so saturated with tars over time that it will have a sweet aroma when cold and provide a similar smoking experience to my near-death cobs.
I know that meers are porous and color over time, and that coloring comes from the absorption of tars. So to that extent I would think that meers would similar to cobs in that regard. However, I've never seen a meer that looked very dark (admittedly I've not seen many of them), so I wonder if they will eventually absorb as much tar as a cob? To sum it all up, I'm looking for a cob-like smoking experience from a pipe that I don't have to replace regularly. Would a meer be a good choice?
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