Big Pipes Less Used?

[mso489]

I was trying to figure out whether I smoked particular bowl sizes more often than others.

Small pipe bowls are self limiting. If they suit the time you have, they're great, but they

only hold so much tobacco. However, big bowls are adaptable to any size smoke. You can

fill them to any level, for 15 minutes, or the long hour of rumination. Do you pick up your

big bowl pipes as readily as your Group 3 and 4 size pipes? Or do you steer clear of them

on the basis that you don't want that long a smoke at the moment? This seems useful in

choosing pipes, if you are looking at the more standard Group 4 versus Group 5's and above.

 

[numbersix]

Or do you steer clear of them

on the basis that you don't want that long a smoke at the moment?

I usually do this - but filling a large bowl halfway is a good idea for a bunch of reasons, I think I need to rethink my methods.

 

[boudreaux]

I often don't smoke a full bowl, even on the mid-range styles. I am finding that I prefer billard shapes to others that I liked in the past.

 

[teufelhund]

I personally enjoy smoking my small pipes and take them on the go for a quick smoke. But I do tend to use my larger pipes at home or when I'm not moving about.

 

[kashmir]

I usually do Group 3 & 4 sized bowls. And go through a good number a day. Perhaps I should choose a larger bowl, so as to reduce my burn rate of pipe cleaners. But most of my pipes are Group 4 in size. Good excuse for PAD. Need more pipes to reduce my pipe cleaner expenses. LOL.

 

[cortezattic]

I take the chamber diameter into consideration more than total capacity.

A narrow billiard will smoke slower and cooler than a wide squat bulldog.

Maybe that's why flakes seem to work better in narrower bowls (for me).
I wish someone would give their opinions on what I just wrote,

because sometimes I half-think that it's all in my head.

 

[kashmir]

A resounding yes Cortez on chimneys smoking cooler than pots. Funny thing is chimneys, as a rule, have thinner walls than do pots. I chalk it up to increased availability of oxygen to the combusting ember in a pot over a chimney / billiard. Hence pot needs thicker walls. Best smokers are thick walled billiards and chimneys. Worst smokers thin walled pots, IMHO.

 

[taerin]

I got pipes of all sizes and just fill them up all the way during a smoke, if I want a shorter one, I get a smaller pipe.

 

[gwtwdbss]

I agree Cortez. I mostly smoke flakes so a 3/4 to 13/16 inch bowl diameter is perfect for me. Anything larger and it is not a satisfying smoke for me.

 

[andrew]

I like smaller bowls, as I find big bowls the tobacco gets way to strong towards the end and ashy tasting.

 

[englishdave]

I smoke my pipes mostly at home while I'm sitting. I smoke very slowly, so my large bowled pipes can least a couple of hours or more.
I don't worry about it. I often find that if I set them down partially smoked they light up and taste just as good or better. Often, they will be waiting for me in the morning. I suppose this is a form of delayed gratification technique.
If I know I'm going to be traveling, I tend to favor my smaller pipes. But I try to make sure my pipes get smoked in some reasonable order, so that they all get some rest, and they all get some love.
That being said, my future pipe acquisitions will tend towards smaller bowls, and billiards or apples, which I have come to love as I progress towards whatever bizarre definition of the "perfect" smoke I am slowly defining...

 

[igloo]

Try too imagine a Nording freehand loaded with flake ,that's like what. 1/2 a tin . :D

 

[brdavidson]

Im gravitating towards smaller pipes right now, I'm taking Kashmir's advice and clenching more so small and light arefor me. My favorite right now is a Rattray's straight panel billiard that is exceptionally light.

 

[smokeystover]

I tend to favor group 3 and smaller group 4 pipes for weight as much as length of the smoke. I can always reload and have another bowl in a smaller pipe. The few larger pipes I have get smoked very rarely. It seems to me that constantly filling a larger bowl, say a group 5 or 6 billiard, half full or less changes the ratio of diameter to depth, and makes it smoke like a smaller pot.

 

[zack24]

I was talking to Tim over at JH Lowes today about adding a couple of new sizes of chamber drills- he was saying that most of the pipe guys in the US are drilling almost everything to 3/4 or 13/16. Very little over that size...

 

[trailspike48]

I have many sizes of bowls in my small but growing collection. I find the only pipe that doesn't get used regularly is a large Ser Jacopo, and I tend to avoid it due to the weight not the capacity. I believe it over 90 grams and is good for a two hour smoke when filled.

 

[rigmedic1]

I have to agree with Cortezattic, tall narrow bowls for flakes. That being said, for my daily drivers I like a Group 3 or 4, and tend to avoid the super big bowls these days. Those pipes tend to be heavy, and my nicotine tolerance is too low for a single sitting with a group 5. I mostly admire my big ones in their display case. Now, for DGT they can be useful. :wink:

 

[cigrmaster]

I smoke mostly group 4 and 5 sized pipes with a few smaller 6's in the mix. I do have a couple of 3's for a shorter smoke but since I have plenty of time to smoke, don't reach for them that often. There are times when I want a real long smoke and fire up my 6's, it all depends on the mood. I always fill my pipes to the top so that I have a nice even cake at all times.

 

[joshwolftree]

I smoke my larger pipes at home or on long road trips, and have a full rotation of small bowled pipes for work when I only have 20 minutes at a time for smokes.

 

[erichbaumer]

I've started clenching alot more lately, so my churchwarden and larger pipes (briar calibash, large carbed pipe) see much less use than before. I've really been turning more to straight billiards and my fullbend Wellington and Peterson.