How and Why to Smoke Nose Warmers?

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hawke

Lifer
Feb 1, 2014
1,346
4
Augusta, Ga
I'm keen on the look of a thick small width chamber shorty and tempted to buy one. Ive not had any experience really with these short Nose Warmers. Seems to be contrary to what I have liked in pipes. Canadians/Lovats and even Churchwardens have been best to me. Any dry smoking pipe or gimmicks that cool the smoke. Homemade Bamboo shaft pipes have pleased me with their drying effects. A Calabash gives some interesting results. I just don't care for a smoke after it gets hot. I'm thinking that the Nose Warmer will deliver a more heated smoke and increase the chance of tongue bite.
How do you guys smoke one?

What are its attractions to you?

 

oldreddog

Part of the Furniture Now
Sep 4, 2014
923
6
I have one nose warmer, a Viprati, I bought it because I liked the look of it and it goes with my small face ha ha.

I don't notice the increased heat though.

 

anarchisthermit

Might Stick Around
Aug 31, 2015
91
1
Just smoke them slow and easy. The heat of the smoke entering your mouth is not significantly different than that from a full length pipe. When smoking a full length pipe,feel the stem and shank. Unless you are puffing like a freight train, you should not feel any increase in temperature. This means very little heat is being radiated by the stem and shank.

 

deathmetal

Lifer
Jul 21, 2015
7,714
32
I used to spend hours trimming my nose hairs. Now... they're magically gone well before reaching the visible stage. Thanks, nosewarmers!

 

warren

Lifer
Sep 13, 2013
11,717
16,293
Foothills of the Chugach Range, AK
I smoke mine as I do all my pipe. Except for a slightly dimunuative size it is no different, burn chamber and bit. It's bent, provides a quick, tasty smoke and has a sterling wind cap. What's not to like?

 

bigpond

Lifer
Oct 14, 2014
2,019
13
Short answer: there is no difference in the cooling capacity of the stem between a nose warmer and a long canadian.
Long answer comes from http://www.neatpipes.com/blog/built-for-comfort-a-short-history-of-the-chubby-style/&id=7
The Thermodynamics of Chubby Pipes
So let’s assume you’ve come this far and are intrigued by the idea of chubby pipes: you like the notion of comfort over conflict, you like the idea of cool-to-the-touch pipe bowl walls, you like the look of fat stummels, you like the “Shazam! Ain’t that different?” sensation. But you’re still afraid of one thing: won’t short pipes smoke hot? Isn’t that why Canadian pipes have long stems? I myself was worried about this self-same problem once upon a time, and I can assure that It Is Not So. But what you really need is an authority, an Auctoritas to school you, so I put in a call to my Pipe Sensei, Mr. Rainer Kockegey-Lorenz.
Rainer works for one of those big strange corporations who do sci-fi things like optimize industrial minerals and implode the molecular structure of various fungi to refract flame retardant polymers. I think this has something to do with saving the world (he’s always fuzzy on that pont), but it has certainly enabled Sensei RaiKo (as he is known by his disciples) to live a pipe-and-tobacco-filled life. Here is what he wrote to me—completely uncensored, as per Doc Irwin’s instructions (“the truth will set you free”):
SENSEI RAIKO: It is in fact hard for puny mortals like yourself to believe that a 600°+Fahrenheit fire which enters the oral or mouth cavity (which is bounded laterally and in front by the alveolar arches [containing the teeth], and posteriorily by the isthmus of the fauces) at a distance of less than 100mm (or 4”) can arrive as cool smoke. You of course are under the polar yet equally absurd delusion that a 180mm (or 7”) long-shank Canadian would by its very length deliver a cool smoke. In both suppositions you are wrong wrong WRONG.
In point of scientific fact, the coolest place (depending on your particular puffing habits of course) is where the smoke enters the airhole. Now imagine (if you can) the small volume and cross section of the air hole to the bit area on a pipe and you automatically have the answer: it cannot appreciably cool in the space of those 80mm (or 3”).
There is of course literature available on such things, studies which have placed thermocouples at different sections of the shank and stem, but I think they are way above your cognitive ability. But with assistance you may understand Robert F. Winan’s excellent chapter “Reflections on Tobacco” in The Pipe Smoker’s Tobacco Book (1972), pp. 58-62. As you can see from the graph below, the temperature profile of the smoke at less than 70mm (or 2 ½ inches) behind the bowl—[in other words, the exact length of the new Chubby Saddle Billiard’s shank!—ed. note] ranges from 85° to 118° F with an average temperature of 96°. This is less than your body temperature, Charles. Do you begin to get the picture or shall I use finger paints?
TEMPERATURE PROFILE OF PIPE SMOKE ENTERING THE MOUTH
It’s always astonishing to non-scientific morons (such as yourself) to realize that the smoke temperature arriving in your mouth is at nearly human body temperature—as Winan says, “if coffee were served to you at this temperature you could gulp it down without hesitation and then complain about being served tepid coffee” (60).3 What “bites” is not the heat of the smoke, but mainly the alkalinity of the smoke in your tobacco.
CHARLES: So the short shank doesn’t figure into how hot the smoke is?
SENSEI RAIKO: What have I been saying?

 
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You of course are under the polar yet equally absurd delusion that a 180mm (or 7”) long-shank Canadian would by its very length deliver a cool smoke. In both suppositions you are wrong wrong WRONG.

Ha ha, I noticed this long ago with my churchwarden. And, it amazes me how a claim that "long pipes smoke cool" persist with absolutely no noticeable evidence. There is a lot of passed along claims about pipes that I just don't see any evidence of, such as factory stem button slots verses a hand carved slot. I have blown from the bowl out the stem, so I could see if the slots distributed the smoke any differently, and no it doesn't. However, I like the "feel" of a handcarved button in my teeth, if it is done in a way that fits my teeth. But, claims by pipemakers that these buttons distribute the smoke differently on the tongue is just a sales pitch, IMO. There are other claims out there, but this is a thread about nosewarmers. So... anyways, I don't own one. Ha ha, sorry, I just felt compelled to post that in response to Bigpond's.

 

brass

Lifer
Jun 4, 2014
1,840
7
United States
I had exactly the same concerns as Hawke when I recently purchased a BriarWorks Icarus stubby . I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the pipe smoked as well and as cool as my Savinellis and Stanwells. (That is a high compliment to all)
I agree with Cosmic that much of the handed-down down pipe and tobacco wisdom is fallacious. I don't feel like getting into the middle of a firestorm so I won't mention specifics. But I do think Myth Busters could extend it's run by a season focusing just on pipe and tobacco lore.

 
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aldecaker

Lifer
Feb 13, 2015
4,407
42
Why? For me, because they're short and handy. Easy to clench and hard to bang into stuff if you're smoking while active instead of just sitting.

 

hakchuma

Part of the Furniture Now
Jan 13, 2014
793
80
52
Michigan, USA
My nose warmer is the only pipe I take with me while walking the dog. I don't notice much of a difference either. Just smoke as normal and pay attention while smoking until you figure it out just like any other pipe.

 
Dec 24, 2012
7,195
456
I love nosewarmers for all the reasons given. In fact, I just bought another yesterday. At first I thought that the smoke would get in my eyes more, but I haven't found that to be the case.

 

condorlover1

Lifer
Dec 22, 2013
8,051
27,177
New York
I have a few 4' 'cutty' pipes like that and I have never had issues with smoke in the eyes but then I would sometimes smoke a clay that I had busted with only a 3' shank.

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,455
I have a 4 3/4" pocket pipe, sort of a tomato-pot with a thick shank and saddle stem. It's a nice cool smoker because it has a little heft, though it's small. I don't get any overheating feel, either from the smoke or briar. This is a hand-carved Jerry Perry, a N.C. carver who lives in Colfax.

 

hawke

Lifer
Feb 1, 2014
1,346
4
Augusta, Ga
I'm certainly going to try a nose warmer even though I do have some pipes which heat up faster and enter into that hot smoke arena quicker that's scares me. Maybe there is a "all in your head" deal to this, but the fact is "I" don't like the smoke coming from a hot core as much as the freshly lit bowl(first few hits). It a personal preference maybe. I may be confusing things with the "dryness" of the smoke. If combustion creates moisture then its possible that's what I'm noticing.
However, allow me to throw a monkey wrench into the mix for the scientific end of this for discussion.

Reverse Calabash Provide Cooler Smoke

 

hawke

Lifer
Feb 1, 2014
1,346
4
Augusta, Ga
Well Ive got a Nose Warmer! In fact Ive had it for a while. A YelloBole PUG. I tossed it around a bit, took it to work for the quick smoke from time to time but the stemm had a bad hole in it which I tried to repair. It didn't come out very well and the stem also loosens up sometimes. So I just put it in that cardboard box with the rest of "those".
Well I picked it up again today and decided to chop off the hole section and form a new button, so now I have a Nose Warmer to try out. With my own "Hawke's Arabian Fire" blend it works just fine, no heat issues any different to other pipes.
As Purchased:

2ppzi1l.jpg

Shorter Stem:

xlxrau.jpg


 

winton

Lifer
Oct 20, 2010
2,318
771
I find that nosewarmers smoke just like other pipes. I am a little concerned about long stem pipes, since I have been known to be clumsy. Actually, I just like the shape of a nosewarmer.

 

phxrock

Can't Leave
Aug 18, 2014
348
29
I have a half a dozen Briar and some MM cob nosewarmers. I use them while I am working. They fit in my pocket and are not noticed if they sit on the console of my Cab. I smoke these mostly because I have times I don't have the time for a larger bowled pipe. With my job I can't smoke while I am driving so these work out. I get a good smoke in 15 to 20 min.

 
Oct 30, 2015
4
0
I have a Fischer billiard with a "bite proof" stem: one of those odd two hole affairs (looks like a pig nose). Well, one of the holes is what bit deformed and I can't get a cleaner through it. Therefore I have to pull the stem off mid smoke if I hit a particularly wet spot. Anyway, out of curiosity I smoked a few puffs without the stem at all, and have subsequently tried on other pipes. It's true, even with my mouth on the briar, less than two inches from the chamber, there is no noticeable difference in the heat or quality of the smoke. At least as far as I can tell

 
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