Cob Pipes and the Class Thing

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irishearl

Lifer
Aug 2, 2016
2,297
4,150
Kansas
Have 1 cob-a gift to me from my son over 30 years ago. Rarely smoke it. Smokes OK, not great. As to Samuel Clemens, though, based on available photos, he was a Peterson man. :wink:

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,211
60,657
techie, you can smoke many (probably not all) blends in a cob without diminishing the taste, but classic burley blends do very well, for example PC Russ O.'s Log Cabin, Sir Walter Raleigh Aromatic, and Iwan Ries Three Star Blue. But any blend you have on hand will probably show up nicely.

 

spartan99

Can't Leave
Mar 10, 2017
493
5
Public pipe smoking today is such an oddity, I suspect few people under age 65 have any opinion about the dressiness or otherwise of various kinds of pipe. Any pipe smoking tends to attract a gawk. Some people are kind of fascinated.
Exactly. I was enjoying a bowl at a Caribbean resort, when one of the locals working on staff struck up a conversation and mentioned that he'd never seen someone smoke a pipe outside of black and white films. I've gotten that kind of reaction before, too, like I'd gone whizzing by on a velocipede on the way to the diatomist. As you say, it's the pipe smoking not the type of pipe that draws attention.

 

scooterdoo

Might Stick Around
Jul 18, 2018
64
0
If everyone viewed cobs the same way I do, i.e., iconic, traditional, utilitarian; sure, I'd have no problem smoking them in public. The problem is most people don't view them that way. They see them as antiquated props and you as either a country bumpkin, or far worse, a weiner hipster.
294iVvr


 

davek

Part of the Furniture Now
Mar 20, 2014
685
952
I think cobs are more forgiving in terms of ghosting, so I wouldn't dedicate them to a particular blend.
A cob will ghost, but much of that ghost goes away if you let it sit for a long while, especially if you sit it in the sun. As the corn cob pipe primer says, the big advantage of cobs is that they are so absorbent and they breath.

 
May 9, 2018
1,687
88
Raleigh, NC
They see them as antiquated props and you as either a country bumpkin, or far worse, a weiner hipster.
Yeah...I feel you there, but I try not to worry too much about it. I grow a beard, because I want one. I was was wearing flannel shirts with jeans and boots in high school before "hipsters" claimed it for their own look. I've been accused of being a hipster on more times than I can count, just because I was already this way. Funny how that works. I was actually accused (one time in downtown Raleigh) of being a "Lumber Sexual". Now I don't even know what in the hell that is, but I don't want to know. I mean....Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot? Who does that? Comes up with these labels for people...So, I have just decided I hate labels.
Quit worrying how others see you or your pipe. Having less to worry about is always good.
Always good advice. If I worried about people everywhere perceiving me as this or that all the time, I'd never feel comfortable going out in public. Let them worry about worrying about how you look and smoke your cob, dress how YOU like, do things YOU like, just do you. You're truly the only person that has to live with yourself, so do what makes your ass happy!

 

eggrollpiper

Can't Leave
Jul 27, 2018
378
38
Many good points brought up. As many said, When smoking in public the spectacle of a modern day pipe smokers is itself so rare that a cob adds no pecivable additional judgement to the equation. Possibly smoking a Churchwarden or calabash gourd in public would intensify the judgements passed.

As for class, also I think status symbols and material possessions in general are much less an indicator of class then in the past. And class is defined, I believe through actions mostly, kindness, respect, to some extent speech and the written word, but not so much possessions and fashion.

Anyway, chasing embers, those reverse calabash cobs are amazing, definitely on my wish list after a 5 star natural general.

And the one thing I can say to to the opposition is after a while the natural cobbs which I prefer, get kinda dirty and grungy. For that reason alone I may not smoke one in public or in my nicest clothes. But my smooth mark twain cob with bent spear forever stem I think is quite elegant, sophisticated,

rustic, and red neck all at once and I'd smoke it in the Davidoff lounge at one world trade if the bastards would let me in..

 
Mar 29, 2016
1,008
5,574
For me, cobs are less about class and more about smoking quality and the added "flavors" it imparts. I prefer briar/meerschaum, after that, clay pipes. Cobs are emergency or testing pipes for ghosting tobaccos. Cheap and expendable are their only qualities in my view.

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,211
60,657
virginialover, I think people get off on the wrong foot with cobs. The plastic stems and sometimes under-cured cobs that impart taste contribute to the problem. However, I've had good luck with them. There's never been a flavor problem for me, and while my taste buds are not pristine, they are discerning in their way. I have found ways to improve the cob smoking experience so that I do not remotely consider a good MM or Old Dominion cob disposable. I buy them with acrylic stems or upgrade them with Forever stems and break them in gently so they have a good carbon layer, and voila, they become among the finest smoking tools. I'm not promoting them, just expressing a different experience with them. There are several genres of pipes that I have not taken up, but I try to always keep an open mind.

 
Mar 29, 2016
1,008
5,574
My mind is as open as it needs to be and once it's made up, there's no coming back. Life's too short to waste it on cobs :nana:

 

cosmicfolklore

Moderator
Staff member
Aug 9, 2013
35,539
83,091
Between the Heart of Alabama and Hot Springs NC
I could care less about why someone else likes or hates what someone else smokes. Making it a class issue? I don't think I see that very much on the forums, except when someone says that they don't like cobs, a cob fanatic may make it a class issue. But, I don't think I have ever heard someone call it "white trash" or the like.
I have seen where cob fanatics will bring down a thread asking about expensive pipes, many times. "Just buy a cob," over and over... A few years ago it happened so much that Walt Cannoy had to step in and give a great dissertation on why putting down fine handmade pipes and suggesting disposable cheap pipes in a pipe forum was uncalled for. It did well in curbing some of the cob fanaticism for a while.

If you don't like expensive pipes, fine, then ignore conversations about expensive pipes.

But, like I said, I haven't seen it in a long while.

 
Mar 29, 2016
1,008
5,574
My best Virginia smoker is a GBD Prehistoric I paid 20 Canadian bucks for. I'm presently on vacation overseas and I could easily pass up for somebody "with money" but guess what, that ugly GBD is the one I smoke the most. I think that class is a mix of money and education but most importantly of how you feel and present yourself in your surroundings.
I just think that cobs have a limited usefulness and that briar is more practical, my mind is made up from personal experience. Having an open mind is very important and so is to discriminate between good and bad or good and evil which I think is actually more important. Making a definitive choice has become taboo nowadays, luckily as I'm aging, I developed strong likes and dislikes, it keeps life on the simple side.

 

writingraav

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jul 11, 2018
235
579
I have quite a few cobs. Once fitted with an acrylic stem they are consistently good smokers. I usually have one or two in my regular rotation among my briars that make up the preponderance. It is Meerschaums that I can't stand.

 

bnichols23

Lifer
Mar 13, 2018
4,131
9,558
SC Piedmont
Said it before, say it again: "Cobs is good. Meer is good. Wood (usually) is good. Briar is good. Plastic is bad. I like cobs. I just like briar more."

 

jonasclark

Part of the Furniture Now
Aug 4, 2013
757
415
Seattle
Autumnfog, I think I know why corncobs might have a rep as marijuana pipes: cheap Chinese-made ones are available on eBay, and the sellers (who likely don't really understand the ins and outs of tobacco use vs. other use) proudly supply them with "free screens!" (metal screens used in the bottom of weed pipes). They may have gotten popular as such because they're cheap, can be bought online in bulk, come with screens, and don't obviously say at a glance "I'm smoking a possibly illegal substance."
I say fie on those who malign the Missouri Meerschaum! The ones from China are garbage, but MM still makes a quality product. As for appearance, I think their 1909 catalog says it best, even as to their current production. Quote: "...within (this catalog's) pages will be found representations of cob pipes that will suit every taste---the most commonplace and the most fastidious---the heavy, substantial pipe for the everyday hard smoker and the "chic" pipe for the occasional genteel smoker..."
Me, I like my corn cob pipes vintage, fancy and different:

pBVKVha.jpg


 

fishnbanjo

Lifer
Feb 27, 2013
3,030
69
I love cobs but with respect to their owner the only cobs of interest to me in the photo by jonasclark is the top left and 2nd up,from the bottom on the left, just my opinion.

banjo

 

davek

Part of the Furniture Now
Mar 20, 2014
685
952
Autumnfog, I think I know why corncobs might have a rep as marijuana pipes: cheap Chinese-made ones are available on eBay
I'm old enough to have smoked Mexican pot in the '70's. At that time cobs were the thing. Not so much now I think, although I wouldn't know for sure. Maybe it's a carryover.
I was visiting my ladyfriend when she was having knee surgery early this year. Smoking was prohibited on campus at the hospital and I was relegated to a kind of lonely bus stop on a busy street. Kicked back, smoking my cob, and two kids walked by and stopped. One said to the other, "Wow, look, it's an old corn cob pipe! Is that a corn cob pipe, mister!" It was hilarious. I felt like a display in a museum. Other kid nudged the speaker while I was laughing and he apologized. I asked "For what?" and we had a laugh.
Think it was the pipe period, though. The cob just added a homey gestalt.

 
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