“Seasoning" a bowl

[sdsmusumeci]

My grandfather was adamant that each pipe have its own tobacco. He argued that this allows for the bowl to season properly, and that it afford the best smoking experience because the tobacco’s characteristics have been set in that particular bowl. I’ve done this with two of my favorite pipes, and the results are true to form. I use a corn cob and/or a meerschaum to try new tobaccos. If I love a particular tobacco, I buy a pipe for that tobacco.
Just wondering what your thoughts were (or if anyone else has a similar philosophy)?

 

[Chasing Embers]

I have a few blend specific pipes, but for the most part, the majority of my pipes are genre specific, i.e. pipes that I smoke similar blends in.

 

[phil67]

I've worked out a very detailed and scientific equation for when I choose a pipe and a tobacco. I call it the GS Equation.
Grab it / Stuff it
Then again, I don't smoke aromatics except an occasional bowl of Bagpiper's Dream.

 

[freakiefrog]

I only smoke Aromatics in my Meerschaum's and smoke heavy Latakia blends in a couple the rest are for VaPer's. Like right now I've been breaking in my new Bing's Favorite with a really light VaPer. It'll more than likely be my VA and VaPer pipe from now on. I don't know that I'm sensitive enough to pick up any ghosting but I know people that say they can. I know this I don't smoke heavy aromatics in anything but my meer's just in case..

 

[sdsmusumeci]

chasingembers--thanks for the post. That sounds like a good strategy.

 

[griffonwing]

I used to have 1 pipe for 1 blend. I had a Ser Jac that was Mac Baren Vanilla Only, and another Jac that was Mac Baren 7 Seas Royal Only, and a couple Stanwells, one for Charing Cross, other one for HH Vintage Syrian.
I have since moved my Vanilla Jac to include & Seas Royal, another aromatic, and it will be my aromatic pipe. I cleaned out my other Jac to be an English/Balkan blender and OMG, Skiff and Squadron Leader in that pipe is most wonderful!
The best thing about having Genre pipes instead of Specifics, is that it allows a much greater freedom for rotation. I now have 3-4 pipes for my aromatics, and 3-4 for lighter english blends, and a few for my heavier, earthy balkans.
The only pipe that I have for a specific blend is by big Butz Choquin red rusticated calabash. The only tobacco that it has ever smoked is McClelland Christmas Cheer 2011. I can't imagine any other tobacco for it.

 

[griffonwing]

Also, having a "genre" pipe instead of a "specific" allows you to taste the differences of the tobacco in different pipes. For example, you may have purchased a Savinelli billiard for Black House, and come to find out that it draws much more flavour when smoked out of a Peterson bend dublin.

 

[zekest]

I have dedicated a blend to a pipe, but never a pipe to a blend.
Whenever I have Dunhill Elizabethan it is always in a Peterson Kinsale XL13 Rusticated Bulldog, or a Rossi Lucca Rusticated Bulldog (EX) (8510).
Both pipes can and will be used for any other blend.

 

[billypm]

A lot of my pipes are "dedicated by default". Once I have a truly fabulous smoke in a briar I almost always reach for that same pipe again when I'm in the mood for that same tobacco. I had the BEST bowlful of Wessex Campaign Dark Flake in my Dunhill Canadian one day a few years ago, so now when I want that tobacco why would I reach for any other pipe?
That being said, most all of my pipes are genre-specific. Briars are for Va and/or burley (some overlap there), meers are for Latakia blends for the most part, and my two Falcons are for Condor and Lakelands.

 

[sablebrush52]

I stick with genre specific. That said, when I encounter a pipe that seems to offer a better smoke with a specific blend I'll return to that pipe when I want to smoke that blend.

 

[mso489]

This one pipe for one blend approach isn't my way of going, but I think it is one of those personal

smoking styles that probably gives a good deal of pleasure to those who do it. It seems a little

obsessive compulsive to me. No one wants to trade around pipes with tobacco that heavily ghosts

the bowls, but relatively few blends do. However, I'm sure I have all kinds of little quirks and ticks

about smoking that make me happy but are fundamentally irrelevant. I am absolute about only

lighting my pipes with matches. I associate my best Virginia blend experiences with small Group 4

and smaller pipes, and complex English blends with large Group 4 and larger, and so forth. So if

it adds to your smoking enjoyment, I say, it's a fine way to go.

 

[phred]

I've been dedicating pipes to general types (Va/Pers, Latakia blends, Aros), as I don't have the funds to go one pipe per blend while I'm still exploring... :D
I did find that smoking a new blend in a pipe that I'd been breaking in with Prince Albert had me thinking that the new blend reminded me a lot of Prince Albert... Switching to a fresh cob gave me a better idea of what the blend actually tasted like, and confirmed my opinion sticking with types is not a bad idea, at least while I'm learning, so as to avoid confusing the flavor profiles of widely different blends.

 

[seagullplayer]

Folks that sell pipes sure like that strategy. :D
I have given this some thought, I know my grandfather only had a couple of pipes, in fact only one that I know of. So all the tobacco he smoked was in that one pipe. But as long as I knew him he only smoked one brand.
I think that may be true of a lot of our forefathers that had limited access to different blends and limited assets for numerous pipes. So by default it was one pipe per blend...

 

[sdsmusumeci]

This is good stuff. Thanks for all the advice.

 

[blueeyedogre]

I have a peterson meer that is only used with Virginia flakes. The rest of my pipes are for whatever is in one of my two pouches.

 

[easterntraveler]

Thank you. I have often thought how to taste a blend with out tainting my bowls. Never thought of using my meer to do this.

 

[fluffie666]

A dedicated pipe to a particular blend is a great idea if you have the cash to do it lol. I think one of my life quests is to have at least two pipes dedicated to each of my favorite tobaccos. At this point I would need about sixteen blend specific pipes to pull that off. For now though, life affords me to break my pipe rotation down into VA pipes and English blend pipes. I'll let you guys know when my rich and aristocratic dreams have taken a foot hold lol!

 

[anthonyrosenthal74]

I can understand genre specific pipes, but I could never afford to buy a new pipe for every blend.

 

[derfargin]

Smoke what you like and like what you smoke. Tack on whatever way you choose to do so.

 

[boilermakerandy]

My go to for seasoning bowls is Lawry's. Good stuff that makes everything taste better.