What Happens When You Have A Super Large Bowl?

frozenchurchwarden · Sep 6, 2014

After searching many hours for a pipe that fits my general desires, and has a bowl wider than 1"(ID), I finally gave up and bought some blocks and stem material.

Now that I'm the master of my own destiny (including lathe, buffing wheel, and decent knowledge of power tools), how easy is it to ruin a pipe with a chamber that's too big?

Is there a good reason that I've never seen a colonial era clay pipe with a large bowl?

I can imagine it may very well just burn more tobacco at the same time instead of less, not significantly altering the experience, but I can't help but think that it would be particularly useful for aromatic blends, and maybe even good for flakes since each puff is spread over a wider area, thus making it that much easier to gently "sip" rather than stoking the cherry into a rage.

Of course you might just end up with a giant raging cherry instead anyway.
Is a 1.5" bowl just universally a bad idea or are there possible benefits to making a pipe that large?

blueeyedogre · Sep 6, 2014

Boswell often makes monster size pipes. I have a few big bowl pipes for long drives and camp fires. I would lean more towards a 1" or 1 1/4" bowl with a deeper chamber but I tend to go for large eggs over big pots.

antbauers · Sep 6, 2014

I've wondered this myself. My pipes with larger diameters smoke english and oriental blends well. But I've never used a bowl bigger than 1" diameter. I am also curious about bowls larger than this and their performance.

sablebrush52 · Sep 7, 2014

What happens with a super wide bowl? A super delicious smoke, that's what. I have several Barlng pots with chamber diameters well in excess of an 1" and they provide a terrific smoking experience for complex blends that you want to have simmer and expand. If you are partial to complex English and/or Balkan blends, get yourself a large pot. The flavors will expand in the chamber.

sablebrush52 · Sep 7, 2014

In my opinion there is no reason to buy a small bowl or a pipe with a small bowl diameter.

Hi gigger,
Here I must respectfully disagree. While I love my big ol' pots - I have a family era Barling 352 on its way, the biggest pot they made, with a bowl diameter of slightly more than 2" - I find that some Virginia flakes develop better flavor in smaller bowls and a different chamber proportion than that of a pot. The pot is a workhorse and will make many blends sing, but no one shape or size fits all blends.

northernneil · Sep 7, 2014

+1 Sablebrush. I love my smaller chambered pipes.

As to the original post, I do not have much experience with anything wider than .8", so cannot offer any good advise there.

philobeddoe · Sep 7, 2014

If you want a really big honking bowl, Ashton has made some monsters, I saw several for sale at the Columbus show recently. The bowls were bigger than my fist, and I'm a big guy, I'd say each bowl would easily take 1/4 of a tin of tobacco! I didn't measure inside diameter of the bowl, but they were the biggest smokeable pipes I've ever seen.....I saw a Charatan the size of a little league bat many years ago, I believe it was a display piece showing what was possible and was too big to actually smoke though.

ravkesef · Sep 7, 2014

Ardor makes large bowls, but again, don't overlook Boswell where you will also find very large bowls of excellent quality at very reasonable prices. Their tobaccos are also great.

frozenchurchwarden · Sep 7, 2014

-ravkesef
Ardor makes large bowls, but again, don't overlook Boswell where you will also find very large bowls of excellent quality at very reasonable prices. Their tobaccos are also great.

Do they put any large bowls on "normal" pipes?
I had a quick look through their inventory and the only pipe with a bowl wider than 1" cost as much as my lathe (yes it was a cheap lathe, though more small and inexpensive than cheap).

frozenchurchwarden · Sep 7, 2014

It's is actually becoming a pet peeve of mine. From the start I've liked long pipes (keeps the smoke away from your face), and it seems like long pipes almost universally carry a hefty premium, especially once you add a big bowl.

I did a bunch of reading on Ashton and Ferndown pipes yesterday, I absolutely love everything I see, except that anything that appeals to me is at the top end of the price range.

mso489 · Sep 7, 2014

Plan on keeping it in hand. I wouldn't put the stress on your teeth. And leave plenty of

time to smoke it, once packed, or plan on relighting it through a major part of the day or

night. I have two or three really large-bowl pipes, and when you have a long pipe smoking

conversation, those are the pipes to choose. Tiny pipes (Group 1 and 2) also have good uses,

so I have some of each, along with all the medium bowls.

sablebrush52 · Sep 7, 2014

Hi Frozen,
I feel your pain. But you're looking at large pieces of top quality briar, which sell at a premium to the makers, and the associated costs of manufacturing, including the skill and labor of a carver, overhead, distribution, etc. Bottom line, more expensive to make, more costly to purchase new.
You should be able to find what you want, eventually, in the estate market, for substantial less than a new pipe.

tbradsim1 · Sep 7, 2014

8B3D8B42-B6D8-43ED-9768-152C21A401B8-2465-000004850AE926CD_zps918be91c.jpg

. Like this one, lit it at start of the 2nd half of Saints game and still going, Moritti that I had Floyd bore out.

tbradsim1 · Sep 7, 2014

Avatar Pipe

frozenchurchwarden · Sep 7, 2014

And here I thought it was the camera adding a few pounds on that Briar.

Nice pipe.
For cheaper briar that accomplishes the same thing, there's a few XL Rossi's at Smokingpipes right now that would do the trick, but I've had a hankering to grind some briar anyway (and I need to build a space into the stem for pipe cleaners, which stop gurgle and keep tobacco bits from reaching your mouth).

huntertrw · Sep 7, 2014

"Does my bowl look big to you?"

griffonwing · Nov 12, 2014

I have a large Radice pipe. Its notated with GG Clear 2008. GG is their Magnum size bowl, Clear is the finish type (being smooth and natural colour), and I assume 2008 is the year it was manufactured. I am unsure of its value, however.

It is not as large as that massive Moritti, though.

blueeyedogre · Nov 12, 2014

Most of my pipes are a 4 or 5 but I am always drawn to bigger pipes. Freehands are usually nice deep bowls perfect for a good aro.

petes03 · Nov 12, 2014

I have a few with large bowls (for my taste anyway). The biggest being a nice Charatan pot with a bowl dia. of about 1.1".

That being said, they don't get smoked much. I find that I don't get a very even burn with bowls over .875" dia.

My ideal "butter zone" pipes have bowl diameters of between .720"-.800", and bowl depths of between 1.250"-1.625".

In my opinion, pipes with these dimensions do pretty well with just about any style tobacco you can throw at them.

mawnansmiff · Apr 22, 2016

Anonymous "For another, a pipe too small for the head and face looks rather strange."
Who looks at himself whilst smoking a pipe :wink:
Regards,
Jay.

What Happens When You Have A Super Large Bowl?

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