Why Some Pipes Deliver More Nicotine

[Briar Lee]

This evening I fired up a huge Marxman on my back porch Virginia Slices and halfway through a glorious bowl I started getting a mild case of hiccups. Oh, glory, I was glad. Me and Vitamin N go back over fifty years.

The same pipe yesterday made generic Smoker Friendly Black Cavendish a nicotine rich experience.

It can’t be the tobacco. The same stuff in other pipes doesn’t give that nicotine rush I crave.

And all my Marxman pipes deliver more nicotine than Lees or Kaywoodies.

I’m the one doing it, subconsciously, rewarding myself by puffing exactly right to release more nicotine. It’s a well known phenomenon among filter cigarette smokers, and the do gooders outlawed labeling them as Lights or Ultra Lights.

I think it’s because the sponge soft Algerian briar Bob Marx used is a better insulator. A Marxman simply doesn’t get hot to hold. It’s sort of like smoking a small thermos bottle.

Somehow, I can control the temperature of the ember just right to release more nicotine, and I think the flavor is way better as well.

But am I puffing easier, and making a lower temperature or does the insulation in the bowl walls help retain heat, and I’m burning the tobacco a little higher temperature?

I suppose it could be I’m so proud of my Marxman pipes made in downtown New York City by old craftsmen that causes it.

But I think it’s the briar. It’s repeatable.

Any thoughts about this?

 

[Scottmi]

Fascinating!

 

[didimauw]

If it's a straight pipe, the nicotine can make its way directly to the brain. Bent pipes, sometimes the nicotine gets lost on its way out, and probably turns around and goes back into the pipe.

 

[Cloozoe]

I'm certain you've got it backwards; I've sorted all my pipes in terms of briar hardness by use of my proprietary Briar Hardness Tester™ and the amount of nicotine passed through the stem into my mouth, as measured by my (also proprietary) Nicotine Quantification Device™, and determined definitively that while it correlates precisely with the hardness of the briar, it is the harder briar that allows the most nicotine throughput. I performed the test three times with all eighty one of my pipes and the harder the briar the more nicotine, with no exceptions along the eighty one pipe array, doubtless as a result of less nicotine being absorbed by the harder material.

 

[Sigmund]

If the perception is accurate and there is more nicotine Id attribute it to airway and technique. If those pipes are actually drier and cooler the the smoker may be taking in more smoke per given period of time. There are so many variables and no empirical evidence here that it is really anyone’s guess.

I make saxophone mouthpieces and the same sort of theories fly around about material and methods in musical instruments. Some of it makes sense. Some of it is not at all supported. Some of it is madness.

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

Giant dish of lasagne and a 32 oz root beer first?

 

[telescopes]

Madness…

 

[makhorkasmoker]

I have noticed I do seem to get a stronger nic hit from certain pipes—usually my smallest cobs and a clay. I don’t know why but the difference is big enough that I find myself reaching for those pipes when I need a jolt

 

[Cloozoe]

...seem...

It seems to me that all the pretty young women are looking longingly at me these days. I mean even more than they used to.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I wrote out a response... and hit delete instead of "post Reply." Wrote out a second, and did the same. Then a third time. It's really hard expressing how wrong someone can be without giving even an inkling of insult.

 

[El Capitán]

I wrote out a response... and hit delete instead of "post Reply." Wrote out a second, and did the same. Then a third time. It's really hard expressing how wrong someone can be without giving even an inkling of insult.

Insults are the true sign of intelligence. They can be witty or down right mean lol.

On the thread: I don't think it's as much the pipe but the tobacco and inhaling method.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

They can be witty or down right mean lol.

I try my best to be witty without being mean, but it really depends on the recipient's intelligence also, as to whether they "get it" or get offended.
I also prefer to make my humor with a touch of self deprecation, putting the butt of the joke back on myself, but also... intelligence. Some people just want yes or no answers, because they can't think very deeply.

I don't mean ol' Briar Lee here. Just the forum in general.

Heck, there have been times I thought that I may have insulted the poster, only to have a few people post for the first time in the thread that they were offended, ha ha. Being funny can be dangerous.

 

[telescopes]

On the thread: I don't think it's as much the pipe but the tobacco and inhaling method.

Those are my thoughts as well. Plus, Marxman pipes generally are not small bowled, but generally medium to large.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

It could be, however, that a pipe fits your smoking style so well, that you are able to slow down enough to absorb more nicotine as your smoke. But, that is less the pipe doing that, than it is your smoking style.
Other pipes may just be more difficult for you to smoke, due to your smoking style.

 

[telescopes]

Having lived in the hill country of rural Missouri for a time, I always thought a lot of what I saw and heard down there could probably best be explained by the water.

 

[telescopes]

It could be, however, that a pipe fits your smoking style so well, that you are able to slow down enough to absorb more nicotine as your smoke. But, that is less the pipe doing that, than it is your smoking style.
Other pipes may just be more difficult for you to smoke, due to your smoking style.

+1

 

[Cloozoe]

Insults are the true sign of intelligence. They can be witty or down right mean

A gentleman never insults anyone unintentionally

Attributed to Oscar Wilde, probably incorrectly. And here you thought we at the pipesmagazine forum had a monopoly on incorrect

 

[macaroni]

Good thread-amusing and thought provoking without being provocative
kindly,
mike

 

[verporchting]

Yeah, about that … I just can’t.

 

[canucklehead]

I'm certain you've got it backwards; I've sorted all my pipes in terms of briar hardness by use of my proprietary Briar Hardness Tester™ and the amount of nicotine passed through the stem into my mouth, as measured by my (also proprietary) Nicotine Quantification Device™, and determined definitively that while it correlates precisely with the hardness of the briar, it is the harder briar that allows the most nicotine throughput. I performed the test three times with all eighty one of my pipes and the harder the briar the more nicotine, with no exceptions along the eighty one pipe array, doubtless as a result of less nicotine being absorbed by the harder material.