Best Pipe Shape For Lat Blends

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tarak

Lifer
Jun 23, 2013
1,528
15
South Dakota
What do y'all recommend as a good pipe shape for English blends? Looking at getting one more pipe....need to pick some pipe and might select it based around that...

 

bigvan

Lifer
Mar 22, 2011
2,192
12
I'm not sure a particular bowl shape would add to/detract from smoking latakia blends. Others may disagree. But if you're going to get a new pipe, to paraphrase Jud, buy the highest quality pipe you can afford.

 

sallow

Lifer
Jun 30, 2013
1,531
3,771
I'm not sure a particular bowl shape would add to/detract from smoking latakia blends.

So far in my short time in this hobby, I would agree with this.
I tend to think that burleys smoke best in a quarter bent. I like virginias in a straight pipe. This is just me, and it is a mental thing, a preference, not a physical characteristic of the pipe and tobacco.

 

mustanggt

Part of the Furniture Now
Dec 6, 2012
819
4
I think, from my experience, that the bowls that are larger in diameter and short in chamber depth seem to give a lat blend a better chance to shine. Any other pipe shape will be fine I just think those have more of an edge. I have several bulldog and Rhodesian shapes as well as a Dunhill Banker that are the shapes I am referring to.

 
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briarfanatic

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jul 27, 2013
106
0
I believe that it is not so much the shape, but the size that matters.
I prefer a larger bowl for English blends because they burn faster than Virginias. From pipesmagazine radio show, it has been recommended that smaller bowls be used for simpler tobacco (meaning less overall ingredients, like straight virginia), and larger bowls used for blends that have more ingredients in them (like many English style blends containing orientals, latakia, perique, virginia, kentucky, etc). The reasoning behind this was that due to the number of components in many English blends, you would want a larger bowled pipe so that it is more likely to include all the components of the blend. You are more likely to include all the ingredients and taste what the blender intended. If you used a smaller pipe, it is possible that one of the components would not make it in the pinch or two worth of tobacco that fit in it.
I am a slow smoker. A group 3-4 bowl of virginia will last me almost two hours. The same size bowl of an English will usually last an hour.
As far as shapes, I prefer group 4-5 billiards, bulldogs, and apples for my English blends. The majority of my pipes are straight to quarter bent pipes. In my mind, classic English shapes should be used for classic English blends. Honestly though, try different shapes and sizes and find what works best for you. Some people prefer huge freehands and English blends. I find that for my smoking style I have to puff more strongly on large bowls, and that it takes too long to finish the bowl.

 

gwtwdbss

Lifer
Jun 13, 2012
2,945
16
53
I like a pot shaped pipe with a 7/8" or 15/16" bore. Englishes taste the best to me in a larger chambered pipe.

 

wayneteipen

Can't Leave
May 7, 2012
473
221
My experience agrees with mustanggt and rothnh. I find that English blends taste better in wider and shallower tobacco chambers. Chambers at least 11/16" to 1" work best for me and no more than 1 1/4" deep. I agree that pots do well as do apple and bulldogs with larger chambers. YMMV. Keep in mind that I prefer my latakia toned down and larger bowls tend to do just that. Narrower, deeper bowls tend to intensify the latakia more and more as the bowl progresses. The best thing to do is experiment and find what works best for you.

 

docwatson

Lifer
Jul 2, 2009
1,149
9
New England
Everyone here seems to prefer larger shallow bowls for English blends. I'll go against the grain here. The bowl size and shape doesn't matter for me, it's all in the pace of how I smoke.

Take it slow and easy and I've always had a pleasurable smoke. From group 2 sized Dunhill billiards to Extra Large sized Charatan pipes. Here's where I say YMMV. :D

 

judcole

Lifer
Sep 14, 2011
7,149
32,928
Detroit
I like larger bowls for latakia forward blends, myself. Shape and so on doesn't seem to matter.
Bigvsn already referred to my mantra - buy the best pipe you can afford. :puffy:

 

cigrmaster

Lifer
May 26, 2012
20,249
57,280
66
Sarasota Florida
When I smoked English blends I preferred pipes that were 13/16 to 1" bowl width and a depth of 1.75-2.00". I liked Billiards, Apples, Freehands, Lovats and Dublins. I found that larger bowls gave the different components in the English blends I smoked to open up and become nice and complex. I also had a preference for English blends with Perique. Two Friends Deacons Downfall was a favorite.

 

drcarlo

Starting to Get Obsessed
Mar 31, 2013
156
0
I use pot shaped pipes for Latakia and oriental leaf containing mixtures.

For flakes I choose a pipe with a more narrow bowl, like a canadian style pipe or my Peterson's Barrel.

 

jpberg

Lifer
Aug 30, 2011
2,905
6,545
I can't imagine how a shape would dictate a blend. Find a pipe you like and fill it up.

 

Perique

Lifer
Sep 20, 2011
4,098
3,884
www.tobaccoreviews.com
I think bowl shape effects tobacco flavors in the manner that glass shape impact wine flavors. Specific shapes can concentrate, or diffuse, flavors as appropriate to the blend.
English blends tend to smoke better, for me at least, in wider, shallower shapes: pots, princes, etc. These shapes allow for better commingling of flavors and encourage the full range of flavors to manifest.
Virginia blends, on the other hand, tend to smoke best in taller, narrower bowls that emphasize the natural sugars that characterize the type.
VaPers and VaBurs, somewhere in between.
But all that is just one fellas opinion. A great wine will shine through in any glass, as will a great tobacco in any pipe. And, of course, personal preference should always be the primary consideration.

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
Purely on aesthetic, visual grounds, I like English blends best in Dublin shape pipes of Group 4 or larger. They

deliver flavor well enough in bulldogs and Rhodesians too, but I like the added size for the complexity and

"size" of the flavors. Billiards also do well if the bowl is at least Group 4. I have a really large apple and

bent billiard, and I prefer aromatics in those.

 
Aug 1, 2012
4,587
5,131
I haven't fallen in love with a pot shape pipe's smoking qualities yet and have sold most of the ones I tried. I may just have to try what Roth and mustang suggest and go with a pot shape with my lat blends again and see if I can change that.

 

thomasw

Part of the Furniture Now
Dec 5, 2016
862
24
interesting old thread. i agree with many here that wider bowled shapes tend to give me the best sense of flavour from balkans or english blends, but also I find that these same tendencies afford more delicious smoking with burley blends, too. Pots are great, but so are wider rhodesians and larger bowled dublins. A dream pipe for me is one of Michael Parks' larger Dublins with quality thick walls of briar around the bowl ... like this one below --->
SB_Gi_OvalDublin_1014_3.jpg


 
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