Shapes of Things
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Kevin Godbee - Dec 2, 2010
- 6 min read
By G. L. Pease
It’s almost universally accepted that different pipes can smoke differently and taste unlike one another. Much talk about wood sources, curing methods, airway diameters, stem funnels and cycles of the moon as they affect the way our favored tobaccos taste can be found scattered all over the Interwebs, and even, occasionally, in the darkened back rooms of our local tobaconnists’ shops.
But, what about pipe shapes? Many of us develop a preference for a certain shape, or at least a family of shapes. When thinking about the influences that lead me to grab a particular pipe in a given situation, it occurred to me, rather late in my career as a pipeman, to question whether my preference for shape is dictated by the way that shape smokes a certain tobacco, or if my taste for that tobacco was cultivated because of the pipe’s shape. (I’m addressing mostly classic shapes, here, with the idea that most examples of any classic will have fairly similar bowl geometries. For modern shapes, it’s what’s bored out of the wood that we’re interested in for the purpose of this discussion.)
Okay, this all may seem a little Lucy in the Sky, but humor my meanderings; my mind heads off in strange and digressive directions sometimes. This whole thought process actually started some years ago when I "discovered," contrary to widely accepted convention, that I really enjoyed the way Virginia flakes tasted in wide bowled pipes, specifically, in this case, a GBD 9493, the large-headed love child of a classic Lovat and a moderate Pot. At the time, I was working with John Gawith to develop my limited edition Stonehenge Flake, and was exploring the final prototype in every conceivable pipe in order to really understand all the nooks and crannies of the tobacco’s inner workings.
According to almost every pipester I’d ever spoken or corresponded with on the subject, "flake pipes" are generally thought of as small bowled, often with tapered chambers. Getting a group of pipe smokers, however carefully selected, to almost universally agree on anything is never an easy thing, so after hearing and reading this repeatedly, I accepted it as one of those incontrovertible truths – like the idea that sandblasted pipes smoke cooler than smooth ones, which, by the way, also just ain’t so, but that’s another topic.
But, when I filled the wide bowl of that pot, the antithesis of a "flake pipe," with Stonehenge, and lit up, bells rang. The flavors practically exploded, and the smoke was fantastic to the very end.
There are plenty of pipemen who will tenaciously cling to convention, insisting that a small, tapered bowl is best for a flake, or that a large pipe is best for mixtures, and on and on. Clearly, each smoker has developed, over the years, his own preferences, and has acclimated to those preferences. I, on the other hand, had never previously been much of a flake smoker, or a smoker of Virginia blends of any sort for that matter, and therefore had very little internal prejudice to influence my preference. I simply was chasing the experience, and for me, that experience was amplified by smoking this particular flake in a large, wide bowl.
Many more experiments were performed, and consistently, for me, most flakes tasted better, sweeter, richer and more intense in wide bowls. So much for convention. And, it begs the question, are different shapes really better for different tobaccos, or might there be something else at play that has resulted in these conventions?
I’ve known quite a few guys who smoke almost nothing but a single shape, whether billiards, dublins, princes, or bulldogs. Their collections comprise variations on a single theme, with very few deviations. (One friend has a whole collection of saddle billiards, all nearly identical in size and shape.) These smokers will insist that theirs is the shape that work best for them, that delivers what they’re after from their tobacco of choice. (Oddly enough, there are people, too, for whom a single tobacco can satisfy, day after day. Not me. Spice of life, and all.)
From this, it would seem a short hop to the conclusion that they’ve chosen their pipe shapes based on the way they smoke, but I think this deserves a look from the other side of the glass. Most beginning pipe smokers choose a pipe based on its appearance. This is what they’ll learn with, what they become accustomed to. Just as the foods we’re exposed to in our youth influence our tastes, to some extent, for the rest of our lives, these early pipe experiences can affect, even create the pipe smoker’s tastes.
Perhaps what they end up preferring is a result of the habit of smoking the shape they were originally drawn to for purely aesthetic reasons. If a guy likes, and therefore starts off collecting and smoking princes, he’ll acclimate to the way they smoke, to the flavors they deliver, and that will likely end up being what’s right for him. If he smokes mostly a single type of tobacco in those pipes, he’ll probably ultimately come to think that this is the right combination. Hand him a tall smokestack billiard, or a dublin, with its tapered bowl, and he’s in new territory; it will certainly be different (that’s where we started, right?), and since we tend to be creatures of habit, difference isn’t always a good thing, even when it is arguably better.
But, when we open our minds to new possibilities, those differences can offer up a wonderful adventure. Prior to my GBD pot/Stonehenge experience, I’d been a dedicated small-bowl guy, preferring pipes with a U-shaped bowl of about group-3 to group-4 proportions. It’s what I’d gotten used to, what I liked. Suddenly, there were new possibilities on the horizon. I found myself chasing different shapes, different sizes, and exploring different tobaccos in them. It’s been, and continues to be an amazing journey, and my pipe smoking experience is richer for it. For me, finding those perfect combinations of pipe and tobacco is one of the greatest joys of the pastime.
Going back to the "flake in a small bowl" convention, can we really draw any conclusions about what shapes are best for what tobaccos? Probably not. The fact is, pipe smoking is a deceptively complex system that incorporates both physical and mental components. The tobacco chamber geometry and the design of the airway, the feel of the pipe in the hand, the way the smoker packs and puffs the bowl, mood, and even the weather conditions all have their influence, and relatively small changes can result in a major impact on the final experience. What works for one may be a dismal failure for another. (I’ve often said that if you ask 100 pipe smokers the same question, you’ll get at least 100 different answers, and they’re probably all right.)
The lesson, for me, that began with a single flake/pot experience is simply this: Just because something is traditional, found repeated on the lips of the crowd, or written in the voluminous codex of Conventional Wisdom, doesn’t mean it’s going to be true for you. Break with tradition. Chop that mixture into powder, and smoke it in a clay. Cut your flake into cube-cut. Try something new. There might be something really exciting waiting behind a door you’d never thought to open.
Your turn.
-glp
Since 1999, Gregory L. Pease has been the principal alchemist behind the blends of G.L. Pease Artisanal Tobaccos. He’s been a passionate pipeman since his university days, having cut his pipe teeth at the now extinct Drucquer & Sons Tobacconist in Berkeley, California. Greg is also author of The Briar & Leaf Chronicles, a photographer, recovering computer scientist, sometimes chef, and creator of The Epicure’s Asylum. |
Written by Kevin Godbee
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I learned the Virginia break-in trick from a veteran pipe smoker, a medical doctor in fact, who taught me to always break in a new pipe with Virginia because of its ability to rid a new bowl of any lingering baddies and thereby prepare it for just about any sort of future tobacco blend you throw at it. His choice was McClelland’s 5100 Red Cake. That’s because Virginia tobaccos (along with burleys, perique, and Cavendish) play such a significant role in today’s blends. In olden times, pipe smokers pulled out a pouch of pure burley, loaded up, and smoked through the day. Today’s blenders are magicians, true chefs of tobacco blends. Now the Pundit is no tobacco blender, but I’m at least smart enough to abide the advice of veterans. If you’ll allow me to linger on the topic of blends, I’ll share with you by way of the Chicagoland Pipe Show that Virginia slices are a good choice when breaking in tobacco blends as well. And dear reader, […]
This cellar-diving kick is really paying off, considering the time and effort that went into stocking the coffers with tobacco meant to be enjoyed with some age on its side. This month’s candidate for review is a tin of JackKnife Plug dated 6th April 2011, among the first production runs of this blend from the New World Collection. Having done a release review for it and its fraternal twin JackKnife Ready Rubbed back in 2012, and seeing as this tin is just reaching its eleventeenth birthday, it seems a fitting time to revisit what Mr. Pease hath wrought. Opening the tin with no small amount of anticipation, one can really appreciate the way patience can pay off with tobacco. The aromatics release with a whoosh of pressure, itself an immensely satisfying sound while peeling back the lid. The scents fill the air immediately, strong and sweet tones that flood the entire room: up front, the rich bitter sweetness of a Terry’s Dark Chocolate Orange, baker’s chocolate; developing over some time with nuances like rich mulched earth, brand new leather shoes, a phenolic tinge reminiscent of Dettol or pine tar, and an underlying meatiness of a lightly-charred steak. Over the course of a couple of weeks making my way through the tin, the aroma tempers down to a more familiar chocolate-covered cherry cordial with layers of parchment and a briney umami saltiness like soy or Worcestershire sauce. It’s tempting, with all this chocolaty aroma, to take a bite out of the brownie-like bar of tobacco, a feeling I’m surely not alone in contemplating. The presentation does however invite closer inspection of the tobacco, such a tangible thing when in bar form. This 11-year-old plug is only lightly dusted with the whitish ‘sugar crystals’ often found on aged Virginia blends, and peering into the layers from outermost to innermost there is a general uniformity of color and texture all the way through—again, and not to belabor the point, but the color is a rich, bitter dark chocolate-brown that perfectly mirrors the aromas. The composition of this blend is clearly no accident, no haphazard mashing together of leaf. Greg clearly set out with a goal in mind: exploring the breadth and depth of the character that could be created when working with the darling of the pipe tobacco world at the time, dark-fired Kentucky. Dark-fired enjoyed a bit of a heyday with the release of these GLP offerings, as well as a host of others such as MacBaren’s HH Old Dark Fired. Speaking on the composition of JK Plug versus Ready-Rubbed, he notes: The blend is identical, with one small exception. The plug is constructed with a core of brights, and the darker tobaccos surrounding it. This allows the brights, theoretically, to express themselves with more purity in the blend. They’re not under as great an influence from the fire-cured and red tobaccos. Doing this with the [Ready Rubbed] wouldn’t work well, because of the way the tobacco clumps, so the blocks are not stratified in this way. The same tobaccos in the same measures are just layered and pressed for the same length of time, then the blocks are sliced and tumbled. It’s the same technique used for the Old London mixtures. It was also clearly intended with aging in mind; again, in Greg’s own words: When I first designed the stuff, I had no idea what the future would bring. There was certainly no reason to think it would do anything but age wonderfully, but you never know. The plug form causes internal anaerobic fermentation, while the outer layers are still exposed to plenty of air. The other night, I opened an 8-month old tin of the final prototype. The aroma was intoxicating, and the smoke was HUGE. I think it’s safe to say it’s going to age really, really nicely. And quickly. I would have believed the tobacco in that tin to have been 5 years old already. With more than a decade under the hood waiting to prove or disprove this theory, the bar was sliced thin and thick, folded, rubbed, and stuffed into a variety of bowl geometries to tease out its flavors, and the results are resoundingly positive. The verdict? JackKnife Plug has the character and complexion of the heartiest of English blends, while being completely absent of Latakia or Oriental leaf. It ages like a peaty single-malt of the finest provenance, developing layers and depth that belie the relative simplicity of its ingredients. I quickly gravitated toward a wider, open-chambered pipe for tasting, one that I would generally use for English blends, as it naturally accommodated the finer nuances of the smoke—and the smoke is certainly huge. The top of the bowl starts with a piccolo-like overture from the Virginia-Perique nexus, with a peppery nose prominently laying the groundwork for what’s to come—think Shostakovich’s 6th, first movement (in fact, this piece is a good parallel overall; perhaps without quite as much of the bombast of later movements). The sweetness is surprisingly underplayed, however—the Perique quickly becomes a background spice, lending sour notes while falling in step with the harmony of the Virginia’s more leathery tones. The sharp edges are all well-rounded over here; far from being able to bite, this smoke develops a thick, steak-dinner mouthfeel almost immediately, one which lingers for a good while after the pipe is finished. By mid-bowl the full composition really comes together, with the darker smokiness of the Kentucky burley stepping center stage even while some of the sweetness sneaks back in. In fact, for beverage pairings I favor an extra-sweet iced tea or soft drink as personal preference. The umami of mid-bowl builds and builds through to the heel, as the chocolaty and nutty tones segue into barbecue woods and steak char, with a touch of Worcestershire still interwoven from the Perique’s spice. Somewhat surprisingly for such a stout blend, the nicotine does not overwhelm—it’s a solid medium-plus, though, best enjoyed after a meal. While my preference with the plug […]
Oh! YOU ICONOCLAST!
(I’ll have to give it a try. tee-hee.)
Great article Greg!
This is one of the great things about pipe smoking; how the same exact tobacco will taste differently in different pipes.
It can keep pipe smoking new and fresh because you can always try different combination’s of tobacco and pipes to get a different perspective of that particular blend.
Sometimes it can be very, very subtle. But other times it can grab you by the shirt collar and shake you around a bit and make you say WOW!
Dear Greg: As always your comments and observations are enriching. I appreciate your example of thinking outside the conventional box. After all, the MOST important part of the art of pipes and their smoking is the individual enjoyment and relaxation one gets. In the grand scheme of things, I think it is most important, over everything else, for the pipe smoker to enjoy the pipe, tobacco, and method which gives maximum enjoyment. Thanks and cheers.
Stephen Spring
Thanks, gents. We’ve all got to find what’s right for us. It’s just part of the pleasure!
Thanks Greg. You are absolutely on target with this issue. So
much of the Pipe Experience is the discovery of personal preference,
where experience is the best resource. We tend to promote what we find
enjoyable, which is our nature. Traditional wisdom often reflects this.
It’s not a bad idea to listen to it, but always evaluate what you learn
based on your own experiences.
Hi, Greg,
I have to admit: I’ve been smoking flake tobaccos in medium- to large-bowled pipes for years, with great pleasure. Thanks for an interesting, educated take on this question!
I have around a hundred pipes of every conceivable shape and size. I’ve always just bought a pipe because I fancy the way it looks rather than because I need more pipes with a certain size bowl, or length of stem or whatever.
Now, I only smoke one tobacco, a blend I make up of different over-the-counter blends- but what makes me choose a certain pipe or other is how rich I feel, or how much tobacco I’ve got in stock.
If I’ve just taken delivery of a pound or so of tobacco, I celebrate by filling one of my big-bowled pipes. I love the ample volume of smoke I get, plus that the bowlful will last for several lightings.
But when tobacco levels are running low, I switch to a pipe with a little bowl, and limit my consumption by just having little short smokes.
I love my blend in whatever pipe I smoke it!
Cheers!
The late PeterWD christened me potboy because of my liking of that under appreciated shape (in the Industrial Age in Britain, a potboy carried the pots of beer to foundry workers and tended to the slag under the iron pots wrapped in a wet sack),
I bought my first one – a ’62 Dunhill root – because no-one wanted that shape and it flew under the radar but since then I’ve collected Barlings, Talismans (Barling second), Weingotts, more Dunhills and even a Peterson meer.
They smoke flakes exceedingly well but where they really score over a narrower bowl for me is in smoking “English” mixtures (see Neill Archer Roan’s articles in Passion for Pipes):
http://www.apassionforpipes.com/neills-blog/2010/10/31/how-and-why-chamber-geometry-impacts-tobacco-flavor.html
http://www.apassionforpipes.com/neills-blog/2010/10/28/finding-that-magic-fit-between-pipe-and-tobacco.html
The pot used to be a well kept secret but a friend of mine spilled the beans (hint – think GBD and Castello 55!).
Thanks Greg. Your article caused me to take a fresh look at my pipe collection. I noticed that, over the years, I’ve gathered a wide variety of bowl and stem styles that suited my evolving tastes at time of purchase. Now, they are all considered cherished friends but each with a his own distinct personality. The subtle (or not so subtle) differences keep the relationships fresh. You consistently offer new perspectives that are always appreciated.
Another good article and many thanks.
I’ve always believed that trying new pipes, from carvers, companies, shapes and so on, and tobacco blends can only increase the enjoyment of pipe smoking.
For me the adventure continues.
I’m with yo Gregg on the volumnous combinations of pipe shapes and tobaccos. I feel that on any given day anything smokes great in a couple of Dad’s pipes. Dad quit smoking about 20 yrs ago and turned over some things to me. A couple of my favorite are two Wally Franks; a bulldog and a zulu/dublin shaped thing. Smoking that zulu as we speak! Now, I’m thinking that these pipes that I am still smoking are so well seasoned that tobacco can’t help but be wonderful,on any given day. Is it the nostalgia? Is it that fact that they were Dad’s? Is it that they are Wally Franks and are known to have been really decent everyday smokers?
At the same time a newer $100 or more or less, pipe with a few months on it may be just as fantastic. Why? Because it’s newer and fresh? Who knows? I believe that it’s the mindset of the pipester on any given day!
Completely off topic. Sorry Gentlemen haven’t bought my first pipe yet but love the look of the pipe in the picture above with the compass in it! Looks like some sort of billiard with a medium size bowl and flat finish. I think I need one. Can the author or anyone else know what it is? Thanks.
Well, I agree with Greg. I recently began experimenting with different shaped pipes or more correctly bowl shapes for different tobaccos. Normally I smoke English/Oriental blends, & i find pipe size and shape doesn’t make a lot of difference to a blend I like. But with my occasional flakes a small pot type, or cube shaped bowl, (Neil Archer article), does really seem to do the job and open up the flavor.
But I also find that an English/Oriental with a substantial Virginia base is also improved by the cube shaped bowl.
Maxim
http://www.pipe2smoke.com