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costa226

Lurker
Mar 16, 2015
39
1
Hello all! Im fresh out of virtually all pipe tobacco, and with this comes the desire to start researching again everything pipes related. Last time I needed help I came to this forum and you guys helped me pick out a great pipe. It was a sleek black pot style savinelli, great for latakia's. Currently I own 3 pipes. 1 for aromatics only, a small meerschaum, my latakia pipe is the wide mouth pot style savinelli, and my pipe for everything else is a briar Luciano sitter, with a slightly longer and narrower bowl...
Now.. technically you could say that this is all the pipes you ever really NEED. Especially if you smoke only once or every other day. And others would disagree. Regardless, like most I am now looking for more excuses to buy more pipes! However, i'd like to stay in the theme as much as possible to purchase my pipes for certain types of tobaccos. Right now I have 3 pipes for all tobacccos, and id like to break it up further.
Instead of..
Lat pipe

aro pipe

everything else pipe
do something like...
lat pipe

aro pipe

va pipe

va/per pipe

burley pipe

etc.
*Getting to my question, what tobaccos would you recommend getting separate pipes for? How many different categories? ALSO, if you could next to each kind of tobacco category, give what you would consider the perfect type of pipe for it. Dimensions, style, construction etc. As of now, im sure 3 pipes suffice, but if I can get a little better pairings of pipes to different tobacco's down the line, id greatly enjoy that. Thank you!

 
michaelmirza

michaelmirza

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 21, 2015
638
0
Chicago, IL
You don't have it listed here but I've read that Lakeland blends like Ennerdale Flake leave pretty noticeable ghosts, thus calling for a dedicated pipe.

 
metalheadycigarguy

metalheadycigarguy

Lifer
Apr 26, 2012
3,380
5,570
Washington State
You could always get a few corn cobs, and you'll have a pipe for any tobacco you want. Corn cob pipes are great. I love my Missouri Meerschaum pipes, and they're great for any tobacco. At least that's been my experience.

 
janosh

janosh

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jul 1, 2015
170
3
Hungary
Totally agree with the last post. Grab some cobs first before you spend a lot of bucks for briars.

 
judcole

judcole

Lifer
Sep 14, 2011
7,184
33,509
Detroit
Lots of pipe smokers maintain different rotations for different sorts of blends, and there's advantages to that with tobaccos that do ghost.

You've started that with having a bowl for latakia blends and a bowl for aros, both of which can ghost a pipe. If you do smoke VA/pers you might want to consider getting a dedicated pipe for those blends, at least if you smoke blends with more than a whisper of it. (A blend with a whisper of a condiment tobacco - latakia or perique - is best smoked in pipes devoted to the primary tobacco type. MacBaren's Latakia blend has less than 1% lat;I always have smoked that in Virginia pipes, not in latakia pipes. Likewise, Hal o'th' Wynd, if it indeed has perique, has just a whisper, and is a Virginia blend, not a Va/per.)

Burleys and straight Virginias don't ghost; they can certainly coexist happily in the same pipe.

I think the advice you have been given is good, since you are still new to this. Invest in 3 or 4 MMs - I like Country Gents and Mark Twains, myself - and use those for exploring. You may decide that perique is not your cuppa, (it's not mine) and thus not need a pipe for those blends.

As to your other question,the basic rule I always heard was small bowls for Virginias; larger bowls for latakia and aromatic blends. That's worked for me; YMMV.

 
dustmite

dustmite

Starting to Get Obsessed
Mar 5, 2015
262
0
I personally smoke what I got in what I got. I don't mind a bit of latakia carryover in a va/per, etc. I do try to keep a clean cob for sampling new blends, and for a "special" blend, I will buy a new cob so I don't get any flavor but the tobacco. My recommendation would be to get a grab bag from Missouri Meerschaum. Thirty bucks for 10 pipes to smoke whatever you want in.

 
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costa226

Lurker
Mar 16, 2015
39
1
thanks for the advice Jud. i will get a pipe then for perique tobbaccos. my next bulk order contains a few va/per's. i know missouri meerschaum keep being mentioned, but in not too into hem, also money isnt much of a factor. i want something that will smoke the tobacco best, and a pipe that ill have for awhile. what would you consider a good pipe for this?

 
randelli

randelli

Part of the Furniture Now
Nov 21, 2015
914
5
Perique by itself is horrible, trust me on that. If not - refer to my sig below :)
I am a recent convert to cobs. For a straight virginia, or straight burley, or VaBa blend; I would recommend a mark twain or rob roy bowl.

 
cynicismandsugar

cynicismandsugar

Part of the Furniture Now
Nov 17, 2015
773
4
Springfield, Mo
I agree with much of what's been previously written, but I've been known take my dedications to an extreme. So, please, only take this list as one man's (rather obsessive) opinion/habits on the matter.
English (mild): Several styles of pipe

English w/Perique: Several styles of pipe

I also dedicated one pipe a piece to certain styles of Balkan, Scottish, and Oriental blends.

Straight Virginias: Briar calabash

Matured Virginias w/casing: Briar calabash and Pokers

Burley: Bent apple and/or brandy shapes, and corn cobs (I love Burley in a cob)

Cigar Leaf: Bent apple and/or brandy shapes, and corn cobs

Va/Pers: Mostly straight Pokers

Va/Burs: Mostly straight Pokers

Aromatics: Corn cobs and a Meerschaum

I also keep a pipe dedicated for whiskey "hybrids" -- and another pipe specifically for Frog Morton Cellar.
I'm also wanting to figure out some magic matches for blends containing deer tongue, and certain "American" style blends.
Of course, I have "anything goes" all-purpose pipes, but, like I said before, I do have some compulsive pipe dedication problems.

 
mso489

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,459
I don't designate pipes. If I smoked the flavored Lakelands, I'd do it in designated cobs, but I don't consider anything else ghostly enough. Lat doesn't haunt me; maybe I just don't have that sensitive a sense of taste. In a general way, I like complex blends, like four or more kinds of leaf, in bowls of wider diameter, typically pots, authors, diplomats and such. Virginias and Va/Pers seem to go especially well in smaller pipes, small Group 4's, and 3's to 1's. For more simple burley leaf or blends, a deep, less wide bowl goes really well, a briar of that configuration or something like a MM cob freehand. But I'm just not fussy enough to be much help. If I like a particular pipe on a particular day, I'll pretty much pack it with what I'm in the mood to smoke. Piping is free time, so I take a free attitude.

 
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costa226

Lurker
Mar 16, 2015
39
1
really good responses, especially the last 2. i will take your preferences into consideration. in the end of course it depends on whose smoking it, but i know a little science could go a long way

 
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costa226

Lurker
Mar 16, 2015
39
1
OK so using some of the information provide, plus looking for something comfortable for myself to use hands free, as a dedicated pipe for blends containing perique, what do you guys think of this one?
http://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/new/brebbia/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=187840
whats your honest opinion of it?

 
peteguy

peteguy

Lifer
Jan 19, 2012
1,531
908
In my experience you never know how a pipe will truly smoke until you fire it up. Even then it can take dozens of bowls before it starts to smoke well. If you like that Brebbia shape then give it a go. Since you don't like cobs have you thought about estate pipes? You could get a really nice Brebbia for 1/2 of the price of that one or even less if you don't mind doing the internal cleaning yourself.

 
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