Clan Cob Unite!

[gervais]

Had MM not gone headshop, they'd probably be the only pipes I smoked. Easily as good if not better than artisan briars or meerschaum. I need to see if there are any unheard of domestic producers of cob pipes.

Have they really gone that direction?!

 

[BlueRidge]

Have they really gone that direction?!

Cornabis Archives - CornCobPipe.com

corncobpipe.com

seems so. when they first started releasing "upscaled" cob with acrylic stems several years back it was a good money maker for them. seems they're branching out further idk

 

[gervais]

Cornabis Archives - CornCobPipe.com

corncobpipe.com

seems so. when they first started releasing "upscaled" cob with acrylic stems several years back it was a good money maker for them. seems they're branching out further idk

Good marketing move on their part, considering that cannabis is the new tobacco.

 

[Don_Muertos]

Missouri Meerschaum developed a special, hybrid corn working with the University of Missouri’s agricultural department. It’s all they use.

At the Missouri Meerschaum factory in Washington there’s a fascinating exhibit about the special corn they contract.

It has to be harvested on antique corn pickers like my father used.

It’s shelled at the factory and the corn is sold, maybe today to bourbon makers, but traditionally to local farmers.

Then the cobs must age in the attic for at least two years.

The special hybrid produces a vastly superior cob for pipes. The grains are smaller, which makes for tighter “grain” in the cob, and there is more cob than corn compared to other varieties, and the cobs are tougher.

If ever visiting St. Louis the Missouri Meerschaum factory is a worth while side trip.

Breaking Down Missouri Meerschaum Pipes • Missouri Life Magazine - https://missourilife.com/breaking-down-missouri-meerschaum-pipes/

I've got an old machinist/mold maker I owe a visit to in the Ozarks. He's always talked about his families tractor collection in Washington. I can go study early American steam & hotbulb engines, shoot Krag riffles (smoothest action ever), and now, tour a museum that all the Clan Watts/Clan Lingman Oakies (large well establish families in the region) will be stoked on. A room full of giant men wearing overalls with a tobacco cud and no one spitting I'd pay just to get the pictures.

Thank you for that information.

 

[Don_Muertos]

Have they really gone that direction?!

Cornabis and they are quietly supporting their young folks in making concentrated liquid for non-analogue pipe smoking. Purity is a cross to bear. Business that stay in business adapt or become absorbed.

 

[Don_Muertos]

Good marketing move on their part, considering that cannabis is the new tobacco.

While I am a seasonal consumer of non tobacco combustibles. It's certainly not a good tobacco substitute. My bed time moves up 2-4 hours and I get a nap time if I'm too heavy handed with the old walnut.

 

[BlueRidge]

Good marketing move on their part, considering that cannabis is the new tobacco.

I for one can't wait to buy a dime bag of burley from Estus two hollers over to keep that opspec!

 

[The Clay King]

Thanks for the tip. I can’t really compare. I never use filters. For me clays are in another universe/dimension, they are so different. I will say: I smoke clays with larger bowls and I never have trouble with them getting too hot. The bowl is usually just warm. If want to really understand a blend, taste all I am capable of tasting in it, I reach for a clay

@makhorkasmoker I only smoke clays

 

[gervais]

@makhorkasmoker I only smoke clays

Can you give us who have never tried clay a comparison to say, meerschaum? If you have experience with meers, of course

 

[mortonbriar]

Briar, cobs, meer and clay...oh and a cherry wood on occasion.

 

[The Clay King]

Can you give us who have never tried clay a comparison to say, meerschaum? If you have experience with meers, of course

@gervais I've only ever smoked a non clay pipe on 3 occasions, all of which were with briars.

 

[Coreios]

I prefer Briar but I still smoke my Emerald cob.

 

[gervais]

@gervais I've only ever smoked a non clay pipe on 3 occasions, all of which were with briars.

OK thanks! Clearly your experience with clays must be very positive. I'll have a try one out for myself. Are they as fragile as I have been reading about?

 

[Servant King]

At home, I'm almost exclusively a briar guy, but when I'm out and about with the horse, or playing golf, it's cobs all the way. I had a close call with my SMS claw meer out in the forest, and I made up my mind that day to never risk such a catastrophe again.

I've got a workhorse of a MM Country Gentleman that I've used for the last year, and it's wonderful. I also have a MM mini-cob--great for express-lane (10 mins. or less!) smokes in the bitter cold. Lastly, waiting patiently for its turn in the queue is an unsmoked MM dagner cob, which I don't plan on using until the Country Gent's time is complete.

So if my horse spooks, (it's rare, but not unheard of), I drop the cob and it breaks, no biggie. $12 loss. But a briar...that would NOT be good. Glad to have my Country Gent!

 

[burleybreath]

Much as I've indulged in briars--and more recently, meerschaums--it wouldn't cause me a great deal of distress if the higher grades of cobs were the only pipes in existence. Then again, I could say the same for the other two.

Make sense? I don't think so, but maybe. As a proud mental defective, I'm entitled to my opinion.

 

[UB 40]

Have they really gone that direction?!

Take a look at their website.

 

[Don_Muertos]

@gervais I've only ever smoked a non clay pipe on 3 occasions, all of which were with briars.

Dedication is more admirable than a collection.

 

[UB 40]

OK thanks! Clearly your experience with clays must be very positive. I'll have a try one out for myself. Are they as fragile as I have been reading about?

After all it’s clay.

 

[The Clay King]

OK thanks! Clearly your experience with clays must be very positive. I'll have a try one out for myself. Are they as fragile as I have been reading about?

@gervais I've broken more than a few in the last 5 years...
Broken 2 so far this year; one of the Sealed Knot re-enactors I met at Nantwich showed me how to tap the ash out of a clay pipe without breaking it. He says just tap the pipe gently on the back of your hand and don't touch the side of the ashtray like I did when I broke my clay...

 

[The Clay King]

After all it’s clay.

@UB 40 I've lost count of how many I've broken; I broke my first clay and I've broken 2 so far this year...
I haven't just broken the pipes, I've broken a New Year resolution...
A re-enactor I met in Nantwich showed me how to tap the ash out of a clay pipe without breaking it; he says just tap the pipe gently on the back of your hand and the ash should fall out.