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marcel

Might Stick Around
Feb 25, 2015
72
0
I've recently developed a fascination with big pipes and by big I mean pipes with a chamber diameter over a 22mm and a deep chamber depth. I've read that these larger pipes are not particularly suited for Virginia flake but do better with Balkan or English blends and I'm guessing aromatics. How many of the forum members here have such a pipe and what kinds of blends do you smoke in them? And how long does it take you to smoke it?

 

redpanda

Starting to Get Obsessed
Sep 11, 2015
286
1
I have found Macbaren HH Old Dark Fired to taste best in such a pipe. Also my Sav 320 ( although not as deep) gives great taste to latakia blends ( germains special latakia flake is one example)
Alex

 

hextor

Part of the Furniture Now
Sep 20, 2015
642
6
I bought my dad a freehand corncob and the chamber is big, he likes aromatics and I smoke the pipe with burley cake, I thing any type of tobacco like cakes or coins its hard to smoke on it because it turns of on me half way through and its hard to relight, but ribbed cut its more easier because it tends to burn more evenly, and my dad lasted 1 hour and half smoking a big pipe.

 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,248
108,346
It's all subjective to the individual. I have a fair number of some fairly huge pipes, and rules for bowl size and tobacco pairings aren't necessarily written in stone. This II S freehand is dedicated to Erinmore Flake. I can fold and stuff two full flakes into it and get around two and a half hours of smoke time.
http://pipesmagazine.com/members/chasingembers/album/picture/18356

 

lifesizehobbit

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 23, 2015
913
386
I have a Sav 703 KS with a 21.8mm bowl, and a Neerup with a 21.08mm bowl; I reserve them for my Aros because the larger chamber seems to let the cased tobacco breathe better without gurgling or bitter taste. I typically use my smaller bowl pipes for various English blends.

 

marcel

Might Stick Around
Feb 25, 2015
72
0
Two and a half hours of smoke time! I'd have to schedule that on my calendar, which wouldn't be a bad thing.

 
I have several large pipes, especially in the Ardor Giant range. I have some dedicated to Virginias, and yes larger diameter pipes opens up the bass note of the Virginias. But, usually I will smoke them in narrow pipes. And, the other giant pipes I just smoke Latakias and stronger burley blends. I find that larger pipes for burley blends doesn't give me the spins as soon as a narrow pipe does. Go figure. So much in this hobby is based on counter-intuitive solutions to issues.

 
Mar 1, 2014
3,646
4,916
Make sure to listen to the interview with Rich Esserman for more detail on actually smoking large bore pipes.

http://pipesmagazine.com/blog/radio-talk-show/the-pipes-magazine-radio-show-episode-127/
I've taken some carving burrs and expanded the bowls on a few pipes (a few Nordings, a few cheap Vauen pipes, and a lots of Cobs). It can be hard finding large bore pipes at a reasonable price so I think that modifying ordinary pipes to a wide bore can be a much better solution. From what I've seen factory pipes never go under 1/8" wall thickness so I just make sure to keep that as a minimum, but a pipe with the right shape will leave lots of wall at the rim even with a 1" inner bowl diameter.
There's certainly nothing wrong with a Savinelli 320 though, and the quality and design of my Savinelli Trevi 320 is very good (I only have one or two nitpicks). It's just a little short for my taste so that's why I went and took some Churchwardens and bored them out.
1" is the widest I've taken any pipes recently. Honestly I think a 7/8" (22mm) bowl can be better in a lot of circumstances because it burns more evenly, at just over 1" my widest pipes do burn unevenly more often than others. It's a high maintenance smoke. Though now that I'm sitting here thinking about it, having never tried any wider makes me want to give it a shot just for the challenge.

The Sav 320 is a shallow bowl, which I've come to prefer because my mouth is too sensitive for a long smoke. With deep bowls I just fill it up halfway with carbon pellets (available for just a few dollars a pound on Amazon) and that gives me whatever bowl depth I desire. I can't comment too much on extended smoking times.

 

shutterbugg

Lifer
Nov 18, 2013
1,451
21
I enjoy smoking a pipe for 15-20 minutes at at time tops. It tastes like crap relit hours later. And half-filling a bowl it's a PITA to draw a flame down into it. Plus a large pipe is less comfortable to clench. So I got rid of all my large-bowled pipes.

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
My extra large pipes include a Johs semi-rusticated half-bent apple that is easily a Group 6 and a strange Italian pipe I bought from Iwan Ries that I bought as a house pipe but is unstamped. Both good for English, Balkan, and other mullti-leaf blends, and really pretty good for burley blends, either heritage blends like PC Log Cabin or variants like Semois. Part of this is taste. Some who have only a moderate interest in burley or Lat might not like extra big bowls of those. I think big bowls don't deliver huge taste but are more about unfolding a wider range of tastes. They don't hammer you with heavy taste (to my perspective anyway) but just give you a bigger "orchestra" of flavor.

 

carbonmated

Starting to Get Obsessed
Dec 5, 2015
246
1
https://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/new/savinelli/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=196653
I picked one of these up 2 weeks ago and it has proven to be a great smoker for English blends. 3/4 full it lasted 2 hours and 10 minutes, it was a really nice relaxing smoke.

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
carbon, my wife gave me a Savinelli Hercules Oom-Paul for Christmas which is surprisingly light weight, with a good large, but not huge bowl. It is perfect for Semois, both thick cut and medium cut, which my wife also supplied. These are commendable smokers and have no filters.

 

sparrowhawk

Lifer
Jul 24, 2013
2,941
219
My Nording giant is one of my favorites, and I often fill the chamber and smoke it all day, a bit at a time when I'm at work. Great plateau and Nording's trademark "melting" effect mixed with rustication and huge flat bottom make it ideal for on-again, off-again smoking that lasts all day. The dark walnut stain makes it look like a big slice of chocolate cake.

 

halfy

Starting to Get Obsessed
Mar 6, 2014
245
6
I used to have an ODA Dunhill and a Strambach calabash with a 30mm bore. They smoke ok... The biggest pipe I own now is a Ingo Garbe large bent brandy with a bowl about 21x40mm in size. I prefer to smoke 3 nuns in it.
Now I seldom pick a pipe larger than group 3. Even a 18x30mm bowl would give me a cool and flavorful dry smoke of over an hour. Those smoking qualities have very little to do with size. It's how you smoke it and how the makers have done with the engineering. If a small pipe smokes bad, either you don't know how to puff gently or the maker was incapable of making a great small smoker, which actually is much more difficult than making ordinary sized pipes.

 
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