Bowl Material or Engineering?

[hoosierpipeguy]

I answered previously. My priorities for a pipe are fit and finish, drills and how comfortable the mouthpiece is. As long as the briar is of reasonable quality and dried properly, it doesn't impact the quality of the smoke that much. Take the best piece of briar ever found, drill it poorly and make a horrible stem and it will smoke like crap.

 

[Briar Lee]

More ruminations on briar versus boring.

I’ve taken out my trusty electric drill and opened up the airways on many a pipe, but not yet, one Lee.

I own over a hundred Lees, and if it’s stamped Lee, Briarlee, or Pipe Maker, after it’s cleaned up it’s going to be an excellent smoker, every one, no exceptions.

But I can only think of two Lees I own that are dynamite smokers, above and beyond expectations, the best of the best.



Both are 5 pointed gold inlaid star era Lees, the top of Lee’s production.

As said earlier, a truly extraordinary smoking pipe is just pot luck.

But those pipes are usually made, not born. Both those Lees needed extensive reaming and cleaning.

Lee and other pipe makers years ago somehow put an extra cure or process to aid in break in, but what makes briar pipes smoke differently is in the curing of a well selected piece of briar.

Given reasonably good boring and design, and reasonably high grade briar, a pipe still needs a dozen or two smokes to break in.

Only then can you tell if you’ve won the briar lottery.

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

The importance of factors affecting enjoyment of a pipe are:
30% Airway Engineering
30% Tobacco preparation
30% Smoking Technique
10% Pipe Materials

If your draft hole is rough and/or plugged, you're going to have a bad time.
If your tobacco is too dry or too wet, you're going to have a bad time.
If you burn your tongue with every bowl, you're going to have a bad time.

Oppositely, in a blind test no one will be able to tell the difference between "aged briar" or average properly cured briar. You have to find a pipe made of really unsuitable materials before it starts to matter.

Out of the box, Cobs are (usually) still the best pipes on the market (it's usually still good to ream the shank with a sharp drill bit, but that applies to almost any factory briar anyway), the only thing you give up for the price aesthetics.

 

[Hillcrest]

In my subjective opinion based only on my limited experience, it seems to me that the logical answer to @Grangerous' query is engineering first, material second, personal preference third. If the pipe isn't drilled basically correctly it won't work. Bad wood drilled properly is still bad wood and probably won't last. Third, you have to like the pipe whether straight or bent, light or heavy, long or short. The third area is most troublesome until you find what works for you and have the fortitude to stick to it.

 

[Grangerous]

What a Rabbit Hole!



In the end, maybe Chasing Embers has it right in seeking out an open draw and a large chamber?



Maybe Warren is correct—Keep the ones that perform and toss the ones that don’t. But pipes are expensive, should they be a performance gamble?



Maybe Briarlee is correct that sweet briars do exist. Can there be a flavor boost that only a unicorn briar can produce?



Or is @sasquatch correct in pointing out that all sorts of airflow improvements can be made and is an area that the best artisan pipe makers fiddle with? I would hope they would dedicate something toward function over beauty.



@rustiepyles offered that some of his pipes require slightly different packing methods, some favor flakes, some require a more delicate draw — but all can smoke well. —That’s the art I spoke of and a necessary adaptation that most of us suffer in finding what works in our less than stellar smokers. Yet, I’ve never smoked a bad Cob?



@bullet08 offers two profound points: Drilling techniques have improved tremendously in the last few decades, but despite that, the missing ingredient is experience. —Without experience even the best pipe won’t perform for a novice.



@frozenchurchwarden breaks the factors down into neat percentages:

30% Airway engineering

30% Tobacco preparation

30% Smoking Technique

10% Pipe materials.

Is he correct, or should he run for a political office? Even he recognizes the simple Cob as the best bet on the market, albeit not for aesthetics, but performance.



And most recently, @Hillcrest says it’s Engineering first, material second, personal preference third. The third area the most troublesome and requiring much time to find what works for you.



I’m waiting for the boys across the pond to wake up or get home from work to chime in….



What a rabbit hole….

 

[sablebrush52]

Pity the poor British and French pipe makers, producers of crap like Barling, Comoy, Sasieni, Dunhill, Charatan, Loewe, BBB, and GBD with their shitty tiny airways. Pity the millions upon millions of pipe smokers too stupid to know any better. Pity all those incredibly stupid tobacco blenders, like Sobranie, Gawith, Gawith and Hoggarth, Murray's, Gallaher, Bell's, W. O. Wills, who were too incompetent to realize how those shitty small airways were destroying their work, not that they could tell, since they were obliged to test and develop constantly held back by those shitty skinny airways.

Now take a moment and ask yourself, how plausible does that story seem to you?

I like the engineer's observation at the beginning of this thread. My father was an engineer, world class, and to his surprise, world famous within aerospace and aeronautical engineering. There's a story behind that, but this isn't the place to tell it.

However, I'm used to how engineers think, and was trained to think in that manner. So I'm less likely to prefer mystical answers to concrete ones. Back to the subject.

It's not a plausible story.

It's also to some degree, pure and unadulterated bullshit.

Charatan used a 4mm bore for its straights and a 4.7 for its bents. That's from Ken Barnes, who would know. That is not a narrow draft hole. Wide airways are not a new invention. Barling varied its airways depending on model. So did others.

So maybe those centuries of pipe smokers, makers, and tobacco blenders weren't merely clueless idiots.

Seems possible.

I like the traditional draws.

I like the contemporary "open" draws.

There's a difference in feel, and sometimes there's a problem with some fine traditional cuts and open draws because the tobacco bits can suck right down the airway and into my mouth, so I don't use my artisan pipes for those cuts.

If you're looking for turbulence free, buy a Piersel. You get a truly uninterrupted airway from the chamber to the slot.

The rest of the pack does a very good job of compensating for their more traditional methods of construction, so you can make do with their offerings.

On the topic of moisture content, wide open VS traditional airways, drying down the Virginias improves their flavors for me. Airway theology makes no appreciable difference to me in that respect.

There are blends such as Dunbar that I like better in a larger bowl, which is why I commissioned the "Big Ass" Jack Howell. It also smokes just as well in my 1906 large Barling bent billiard. Too bad the 2021 and 2022 Dunbar is crap compared to earlier years. But that's a different topic.

On the subject of dedicating one pipe to one blend, the reason for it is that the pipe becomes "seasoned" with the esters and oils of that blend, which in turn reinforces the flavors of that blend when smoked in that pipe. I've done this and it absolutely works.

Frankly, I'm too lazy to want to clean that many pipes a day. So I've given up that final 5% of the flavor experience.

Why, in all of this, isn't the stem design and airway transition into the slot, part of the conversation? Maybe the engineer wasn't a top of the line engineer.

That's it from me, one person's observations FWIW.

 

[CoffeeAndBourbon]

I get that.

My best mate at university was very much into hi-fi and had a most indulgent mother.
I remember seeing his new set-up for the 1st time (1970)
Transcriptor turntable, Quad amplifier and Quad electrostatic speakers.
He spent what seemed like an eternity fiddling with the equipment.
Then even more time placing a chair in THE "optimum" position.
Then turned on the equipment and looked at me expectantly

I said "you haven't put a record on !"
His answer was "Can't you hear - there is no hiss, crackle or pop and rumble"

He was into the specs and minutiae
I just wanted to listen to music

Quad electrostatic speakers are amazing! I listed to some once....

 

[fireground_piper]

The importance of factors affecting enjoyment of a pipe are:
30% Airway Engineering
30% Tobacco preparation
30% Smoking Technique
10% Pipe Materials

If your draft hole is rough and/or plugged, you're going to have a bad time.
If your tobacco is too dry or too wet, you're going to have a bad time.
If you burn your tongue with every bowl, you're going to have a bad time.

Oppositely, in a blind test no one will be able to tell the difference between "aged briar" or average properly cured briar. You have to find a pipe made of really unsuitable materials before it starts to matter.

Out of the box, Cobs are (usually) still the best pipes on the market (it's usually still good to ream the shank with a sharp drill bit, but that applies to almost any factory briar anyway), the only thing you give up for the price aesthetics.

A Brylon pipe passed through my hands once on its way to the garbage bin. Be careful, they are out there!

 

[Zeno Marx]

I know I'm in the minority, or so it seems, but I prefer smaller airways, like what was common in the 60s-90s or so.

Several years ago, I picked up a gorgeous, rather largish, Boswell smooth rhodesian that is possibly my favorite all-time pipe in regards to how it felt in my hand. Everything about that pipe was right, from aesthetics to feel to stem width to button...just everything was extraordinary. But, the draw was so wide open that I felt like I was smoking through a McDonald's straw. It was huge. No matter what tobacco I put in it, I could barely taste anything. I had no choice but to sell it. It was a disappointing smoke, every single time. The person who bought it also thought it was perfect, and they specifically mentioned how much they loved the draw. It's how they wanted all their pipes to be engineered.

Another time, just last year, I picked up an estate pipe from a reputable seller, and before they sent it, they asked if I wanted them to open up the draw, because it was "old school" and not what people prefer these days. I raced to reply, "No! No! Please, no!" They were surprised. From what I could tell, it was common for buyers to ask them to open the airway. Since then, I've been a little wary about picking up estate pipes from my old preferred makers because I'm always left wondering if anyone has drilled them out to modern preference.

 

[sablebrush52]

I know I'm in the minority, or so it seems, but I prefer smaller airways, like what was common in the 60s-90s or so.

Several years ago, I picked up a gorgeous, rather largish, Boswell smooth rhodesian that is possibly my favorite all-time pipe in regards to how it felt in my hand. Everything about that pipe was right, from aesthetics to feel to stem width to button...just everything was extraordinary. But, the draw was so wide open that I felt like I was smoking through a McDonald's straw. It was huge. No matter what tobacco I put in it, I could barely taste anything. I had no choice but to sell it. It was a disappointing smoke, every single time. The person who bought it also thought it was perfect, and they specifically mentioned how much they loved the draw. It's how they wanted all their pipes to be engineered.

Another time, just last year, I picked up an estate pipe from a reputable seller, and before they sent it, they asked if I wanted them to open up the draw, because it was "old school" and not what people prefer these days. I raced to reply, "No! No! Please, no!" They were surprised. From what I could tell, it was common for buyers to ask them to open the airway. Since then, I've been a little wary about picking up estate pipes from my old preferred makers because I'm always left wondering if anyone has drilled them out to modern preference.

I'm totally in agreement. I want my Britwood to be exactly as it was made. It doesn't need "improvements".

 

[Hillcrest]

with their shitty tiny airways

Thanks ! Now I know how to phrase what I prefer and want in a bent !! Also, I just assumed (perhaps incorrectly) the stems were included when discussing draft holes and airways ... isn't that part of how the smoke gets to its final destination ??? Thanks ... shitty tiny airway ... gotta remember that !

 

[Hillcrest]

I prefer smaller airways,

You are not alone !! I do too !

 

[Grangerous]

I have only one Chacom pipe that actually does have a tiny, shitty airway. Nice looking pipe, I don’t smoke it.

Most of my old factory Stanwells, Parker’s, BBB’s, Kaywoodies (with stingers) Grabow’s, 1956 Dunhill, Savinelli’s (no filter) have tighter airways than more recently purchased (new) Rossi, Peterson’s, Savinelli (9mm) etc.

Aside from the Chacom, I don’t have any issue with smoking the older pipes. I smoke burley. My tobaccos, Pegasus, Granger, OJK are not moist to begin with and I find it easy to enjoy a 30-45 min smoke and still have dottle to dump and very little moisture. — most all of my pipes are classic, straight billiard and I’m certain that helps. I like to pass a pipe cleaner mid bowl. — My cobs, are wide open and offer a great smoke, as do my more recent pipes with more generous airways.

I have pipes I consider workhorses. The Rossi for example. The Peterson Aran. A Sav 111 —I reach for these because they’re easy smokers. Not because the briar imparts any added flavors. They just offer better burn characteristics than others and so they remain near and therefore smoked more often. Briar is beautiful. But I don’t consider it magic. My cobs taste better for burley. Lighter, easy to clench, easy to smoke, I like easy.

 

[Briar Lee]

——I have pipes I consider workhorses. The Rossi for example. The Peterson Aran. A Sav 111 —I reach for these because they’re easy smokers. Not because the briar imparts any added flavors. They just offer better burn characteristics than others and so they remain near and therefore smoked more often. Briar is beautiful. But I don’t consider it magic. My cobs taste better for burley. Lighter, easy to clench, easy to smoke, I like easy.

I respectfully dissent.

For fifty years I’ve loved pipes, all of them.

Tomorrow I see where a high condition Pipe Maker medium Bulldog will arrive in the mail, only $16.

(To borrow from a recent excuse, if it’s not Leeish it’s Lee-ish. )

Briar is magic. It has to be magical.

For centuries men smoked meerschaums if they had the money, and clay pipes otherwise, and home made cobs.

Then, according to legend, a traveling nobleman broke his meerschaum and to replace it, the first briar pipe was born. Whether true or not, there had to be the first briar pipe, somehow.

That first briar pipe smoker had to really need a good dose of nicotine to get past the break in.

Only after a dozen or so smokes, did he say Geezus, I want more of these!


If there had been any chance of any real substitute for real briar, we could still buy these:



Briar imparts a flavor to the smoke when the pipe is new.

It never quits.

 

[sablebrush52]

Then, according to legend, a traveling nobleman broke his meerschaum and to replace it, the first briar pipe was born. Whether true or not, there had to be the first briar pipe, somehow.

The actual origin of the use of briar is lost to time, but historians of this stuff believe that experimentation using briar probably dates to the late 1830's or early 1840's. By the late 1840's briar was in use in France and began to make its way to other countries, with England becoming a prime market by the early 1850's. My own researches on Vulcanite turned up a reference about using it for pipe stems around 1851, or maybe it was 1853, but no later than that, and briar is mentioned in one of those recommendations.

 

[Briar Lee]

The actual origin of the use of briar is lost to time, but historians of this stuff believe that experimentation using briar probably dates to the late 1830's or early 1840's. By the late 1840's briar was in use in France and began to make its way to other countries, with England becoming a prime market by the early 1850's. My own researches on Vulcanite turned up a reference about using it for pipe stems around 1851, or maybe it was 1853, but no later than that, and briar is mentioned in one of those recommendations.

And to add, whenever briar arrived it utterly and completely won out, for making pipes.

The heath tree is rather a shrub. Pipes are only made from the burls on the roots, not any other part.

The heath tree must be fairly old, to produce a good burl, and then that burl must be cured, dried, and then preferably aged.

And it must come from poor soil on the rim of the Mediterranean, no place else.

Then it gives off a distinctive briar taste, usually unpleasant, until the heat of the ember somehow cures out the briar completely.

My thought is vulcanite was used to make a bit more durable than briar to bite on, and easier to fabricate than drilling a long briar shank.

After years of smoking, I started leaving only the slightest bit of carbon in the chamber, not a cake “the thickness of a dime”.

The flavor of that heat cured briar, is adding something to the smoke that only Mediterranean briar can,,,

Or else they’d use something else better.

 

[warren]

I'm not sure how one can dissent with the personal observation of another, even respectfully, when dealing with a purely anecdotal observation.

That being observed, I prefer Meerscham because it is taste neutral to my palate, when enjoying a quiet pipe at home. When working outside, briar is my preference as it will take abuse, again, taste neutral to my palate,. Cobs are the pipe of choice when in my float tube as they cause little discomfort as I sometimes watch them float out of sight. They are also taste neutral to me. All of which in unarguable. Purely personal experience.

 

[georged]

I have a pipe (Dunhill 483) with a "quill" stem whose airway is the size of a pencil lead: .110"

I also have one that's at the high end of the "Rick Newcombe range": .169" from chamber to the funnel.

Both smoke great.

I also bought a new "average sized airway" pipe that simply, absolutely, and without question refused to smoke worth a damn. It would NOT stay lit one puff after retracting a lighter's flame.

Because it was new, and I liked it's aesthetics a lot, I refused to let the matter rest.

After finally conceding defeat to the "I will NOT stay lit!" thing, I straightened the stem (it was a bent) and opened both the shank and stem airway to .169" (4.3 mm). Which, for a small pipe, was proportionally huge.

The result? It smokes great. As good as any other I own.

The morale of the story is clear: How a pipe smokes is an individual, combinatorial-factors thing that's complicated enough that no firm rules apply. Good smoking pipes are where you find them (or, make them via adjustments/modifications).

 

[Briar Lee]

I can’t remember being too young to not always keep Cromwell’s Plea in the back of my mind.

—
“Is it therefore infallibly agreeable to the Word of God, all that you say? I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken.”–Oliver Cromwell, letter to the general assembly of the Church of Scotland (3 August 1650)
—

Whenever I question myself that there is no rational reason one briar pipe should smoke better or worse than another one except for the construction of it, I take out this fifty or so year old Kaywoodie Magnum.



I bought that horrible, wet, hot smoking pipe in a flea market about thirty years ago as new old stock, and no amount of trying can get it to smoke well. Pipes like that almost killed Kaywoodie.

I had another Kaywoodie Magnum the duplicate of that one, and it was an excellent smoker, in spite of that hard poly finish.

I sold the good one, and kept the bad one to remind me, that briar matters.

Or at least I think so.

 

[warren]

Or at least I think so

And that is your reality/truth. Good on you!