Why do pipes have a personality?

Ancient Chinese Secret....

It's a Zen thing. That's why we wind up with so many pipes. Two holes and a stem; the rest is magic.

At certain times, when the moon is full, and when certain planets are aligned, when magic is allowed to return to the world of mortal man for a short time, the faerie folk come. Among them are the pipe fairies. Like most faerie folk, but not all, they are very small, standing between two and three inches tall. The pipe fairies have always been friendly to mankind, as they know we are a hard working people, working oftentimes from dawn to dusk or sometimes the other way around and finally having a chance to rest and enjoy ourselves at the end of our day. They see how hard we work and they know how important relaxation and the removal of stress is to our lives. Hard little workers themselves, they respect us and understand us, and they genuinely want to see us happy, as friends, even though they only ever watch us from afar. Sometimes they may hide in the shadows between two tins of tobacco among our pipes or from behind a pipe rack smiling as we finally relax and blow rings of smoke toward the ceiling, in a comfortable chair, or in front of a fire. Like most faerie folk they can sense whether we have a good heart, or an evil one, and for those of us they find worthy (luckily meaning most of us pipe folk) they will sometimes reward us. They dress in various shades of brown, blending into a shelf full of pipes and tobacco with ease. So if you see a flash of movement in the corner of your eye, but you look and see nothing, there may be a pipe fairy hiding behind one of your Petersons or Savinellis, or perhaps a Dunhill. On their belts they carry a small pouch filled with a magic dust. This dust will cause even a pipe that has never smoked well before to suddenly become a great smoker. Sometimes a pipe fairy will sprinkle one of our pipes with that dust. And when we light the tobacco and it smokes wonderfully, bringing a smile to our face and a content sigh from our breath, they smile as well, for it brings them joy.
So if you have a pipe that smokes wonderfully, even one that perhaps used to be a dud that you thought you would give one more chance and it suddenly smokes like a dream, there's a good chance you were visited by pipe fairies.

Because we assign it to them, just as we see figures in the clouds.

The wood used to be alive...

Each smoker as his/her own personality, likes, baccy preferences and expectations, when all are married together the resulting experience is different each time until the perfect smoke is found and hopefully repeated, in short.. it's a Zen thing

In all seriousness, I find it has much more to do with the size and shape of the bowl. Let's assume that the tobacco is at an adequate moisture level and properly packed into the pipe. Let's also assume you are a relatively proficient smoker. So the main variables would be a specific blend in a specific pipe. Experience tells me some blends smoke better in some pipes and less so in others. Then am left to observe that, at least in my case, some blends require a deeper chamber to give a chance for the flavor to build throughout the smoke while other blends seem to taste better without that build up. This also may be related to the concentration or strength of a blend. I prefer lighter, all-day blends in larger sized billiards and strong flakes in a shallower bulldog bowl.
The fact is the width and depth of a bowl would naturally affect the flavor and burn of the same blend.
We have pots and stacks for a reason, and that reason is not strictly aesthetic. Each of us makes a pairing decision whenever we put tobacco in a pipe.

Because they get lonely and want you to buy them lots of friends.

Ancient Chinese Secret....

Click to expand...

:rofl:

This is one of the mysteries of pipesmoking that I doubt will ever get an adequate explanation. I have many pipes that 'prefer' particular blends but only one pipe that seems to make whatever blend is smoked in it really sing.
The difficult part is remembering which pipe goes with each tobacco :roll:
Regards,
Jay.

BAH HUMBUG on all the practical, realistic, clinical, and rational reasons...
I say they are pure spirits and transcendent living beings from a parallel universe gifted to us mere mortals by the gods almost entirely for our pleasure if we are faithful enough to these, our beloved friends, to discover the gifts and uniquenesses of their several and plenteous personalities. Mine even talk to me!

We learn to use each of them over time and no two "work" exactly the same way with any particular blend. They emanate tradition and human artistry whether hand made or designed for manufacture. They have architecture and social context. Like old houses and buildings they ring with human thought and activity.