An Unexpected Usefullness

[mithridate]

A couple of years ago I bought a Missouri Meerschaum MacArthur Classic bent Natural corn cob. It has been most seldom used of my pipes, due to its enormous size and the fact that I feel it quite tricky to smoke pleasantly. I suppose it would require some more good technique than I have. However, I recently had a very pleasant surprise with it.
I have smoked quite occasionally - it has been cold winter in Finland, which doesn't encourage for long smoking sessions. So, bottom of my tobacco pouch had a lot of very small leaves there, dried, moistured with peels of orange, and dried again - maybe you can imagine, but propably you don't want to. I found out they were quite frustrating to smoke with my pipes. I'm not going to go through them all, but let's just say, the tobacco made the draft hole of even the best suitable pipe to stuck. Immediately.
The last pipe I tried with the rest of the pouch, was MacArthur. I poured the tobacco into its vast bowl, and guess what. It smoked very easily, maybe a bit hot, but not too many relights and not any frustration. Sometimes life surprises, and pipes do likewise.
Today, I'm going to purchase some new tobacco.

 

[Jacob74]

I am glad that you have found a good use for your pipe, and am also glad you were able to enjoy a good smoke from leaf that might have otherwise been turned into garden mulch! What type of tobacco do you like best?

 

[mithridate]

Well, I haven't smoked too much different kind of tobaccos. My first try was Clan, which I considered bad. It was kind of ribbon cut. The best I have smoked was Peterson Sherlock Holmes. There is no tobacco store in my home town, and now it is not good time to travel around here, so I must purchase next from a local general store, where there will be not too many options. I think I'll chose Amphora, if they have it.

 

[ofafeather]

That was a great idea! For dry bits of left-overs you can take a little fresh ribbon cut, roll it into a ball and put it into the pipe first. Then you can fill with the dry stuff. You can also put a pipe cleaner in the air and load the bowl. Both with stop the crumbs from getting into the airway.

 

[mithridate]

Thanks a lot. I should have known there always is useful adwice here to be collected. Well, I know better next time I have last dry bits left. By the way, I ended up buying MacBaren Classical loose cut. I guess I have to get accustomed smelling vanilla, and likely my wife likes the smell more than my non-aromatic stuff.

 

[mso489]

I have a very deep-bowled MM freehand (natural finish) that I have found ideal for Tabac-Manil Semois and Five Brothers, that both come extra dry. The deep bowl slows down the burn a bit and provides chamber for extra tobacco for a full-length smoke. Many sizes and configurations of pipes have good uses once your figure them out. General MacArthur would be proud of you.

 

[kcghost]

As they say in the hills "every once in a while a blind hog finds an acorn!"