Tobaccos?Pipes?Ghosts?

John, I am from the camp that dedicates all my pipes to either specific categories, i.e Virginia Flakes, Virginia/Perique Flakes and Virginia/Burley flakes all the way to specific blends in certain pipes. When I reach for a certain blend, I want to be able to taste everything that blend has to offer. If I was to smoke one of my VA flakes in a pipe that was previously used to smoke an English blend, there is no way I am going to get all of the flavors of the VA flake, the ghost of the English will affect the flavor.
Now when I find a magical combination of a certain blend matched to a certain pipe, I will continue to go that route. For example I found that my Lane Era Charatan Dublin smokes Samuel Gawith Full Virginia Flake incredibly well so I stick with it. Now if you are going to dedicate pipes, you will need a bunch of them. There are plenty of guys who do not dedicate and they are very happy, there are just as many who are like me who do dedicate, it all depends on what you are looking for in your pipes and tobaccos. As with all things pipes and tobacco there are no set rules. Try dedicating and see if you can taste the difference.

I have several pipes dedicated to very specific blends. A pipe for Old Dublin, one for Orlik Golden Sliced, one for Blue Note, and a few others. I also have some pipes that I use for trying new blends, but they're dedicated to categories. One for English blends or my primary blends, one for aromatics, one for VA, VAper, VAbur blends. And some cobs that I smoke some crossovers in.
Some folks can smoke whatever blend out of whatever pipe. If you're smoking an English, you're probably going to get a flavor left behind from the Latakia. I recommend at least putting certain categories of blends into certain pipes.

Sean said

I recommend at least putting certain categories of blends into certain pipes.

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Ditto. Major categories for me would be:

• Latakia (and fire-cured leaf like McClelland Royal Cajun)
  
  Lakeland
  
  Aromatic, and blends strongly flavored with, for instance, deertongue
  
  Virginia and or with some combination(s) of Burley, Perique, Oriental

I should point out that some folks actually like playing with the effects of ghosting, so it's not always a bad thing.

I did that with a deertongue blend and discovered that most (all?) blenders use about 1000% too much deertongue.

In vanishingly small quantities, and given sufficient time to meld, deertongue makes tobacco a heavenly experience.

I have to say, that dedicating specific pipes to Virginias and separate pipes for my English blends has made a huge difference to my enjoyment of VA dominant tobacco. This in conjunction to a change in how tightly I pack my VAs has led to some sublime smokes.
I am not an aro smoker, although I'd like to start exploring high quality aromatic tobaccos. I think I'll keep aros to my (soon to arrive) meer.
-- Pat

Apparently I'm of the roth school. I don't detect ghosting. It seems if there is any leftover Latakia in a pipe,

and Latakia seems to be the prime offender for "ghosting," it doesn't bother me. Therefore, I don't designate

pipes. This simplifies my pipe smoking life considerably, which I think is good.

Any pipe that I've smoked heavy amounts of Latakia or Orientals in has always retained a lingering flavor. And I can categorically say that I don't think Dunhill Flake would taste as good in a pipe that typically smokes Black House.

I dedicate pipes for latakia blends, VA blends and aromatics, with no further specification. I have found however in moving a couple from one category to another that the effects can be interesting. A former latakia pipe used switched to aros gave them a more substantial tobacco flavor and took the edge of the sweetness, and an ex-aro smoker loaded with a young VA/Per blend smoothed it out quite a bit. Neither of those transitions are supposed to "work" without somehow exorcising the ghost, but they smoke fine for me.

I totally agree -- if a puffer smokes a lot of heavy latakia blends, by all means, I also recommend dedicating pipes to your latakia blends.

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Yes.

Regarding Lakelands, in my experience, even one bowl of Lakeland will ghost the hell out of a pipe. Sure, it can eventually dissipate, but this likely will take a long time.

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And yes again.
I only want to taste what I'm smoking. I've put different blends in different pipes before and it just doesn't do anything for me.