Cob pipes: The why's

[bigvan]

I was in agreement with the overall opinion of the group. That is until Wolfscout's "Sometimes people have more money than they have sense" comment. The inference here is that anyone who spends more money than he does is somehow 'senseless'.
I gotta disagree with you there.

 

[fred]

The Missouri Meerschaum Cobs are good Pipes. For me, they excel with Burley blends, which the majority of drug store blends are made of. Cobs seem to thrive on neglect and will last for years. Inexpensive and readily available, they don't strain the budget and are a good smoke, once you break them in. The Cob is the only Pipe that I've never had a problem with gurgle since they are so absorbent. Having said that, I'll also add that I prefer the ones with the thicker bowl walls and the hardwood dowel insert in the bottom of the chamber. The Cob really has a lot to offer any Pipe smoker.

 

[pipetrucker]

Cobs smoke well and are inexpensive. I always keep a few of them on hand as "work pipes". If one happens to get broken while working you aren't out much like breaking a Peterson or other more expensive pipe. I also find that burley seems to smoke especially well in a cob.

 

[cortezattic]

In this life you get what you pay for. :lol:

Implied criticism notwithstanding, the opinion of a man with John (tiltjlp) Patton's discriminating taste in tobacco

weighs heavily in favor of your trying a cob at least once. Personally, I think they're ass-wipes. :rofl:

 

[hobie1dog]

Personally, I think they're ass-wipes

OUCH 8O

 

[rigmedic1]

I thought about this... Buying a fresh cob to sample new tobaccos with. Took me three different pipes to find one that I liked the Angler's dream in. Yeah, it would add a few bucks to the cost of something new, but it is far cheaper (and lazier) to buy a new cob then to freshen up a briar or buy another one to get a good clean taste. There is a B&M nearby that does this for their customers.

 

[lonestar]

Cortezattic was abandoned in a cornfield at an early age... The trauma has obviously left some scars, even all these years later.

It didnt help matters when he was abducted by aliens as a teenager, again in a cornfield.

When his first wife left him, it was during a barbecue (on his birthday!) while he was eating corn on the cob.

When he lost his job (at the corn factory), he went to work for awhile running a Harvester in Iowa, until the accident which took his left leg and half his manhood. It seems an abnormally large ear of corn (the kind used for making cob pipes) had jammed up the harvester. When he got out to remove the stalk, he forgot to take the tractor out of gear. At that point, he had lost nearly everything.

He was living for a time in an old tarpaper shack, in Southern Ontario, with a Salvation Army blanket for a bed and a wood burning stove. He couldn't afford wood, and couldnt cut any on one leg, so it was the heat of dried corn cobs that kept him alive the first winter. At one point, he did consider whittling a corncob to replace the empty walnut shell with a turkey feather stem that he was using for a pipe, but before he had a chance, the stove overheated in the night and that pile of dried up corncobs finally took away everything he had left in life.

I shouldn't need to point it out, but Cortez is a bit biased when it comes to corn of any kind, and especially pipes made of the stuff.

Dont let that keep you away though, Corncobs make fine and manly pipes.

They will bring you good luck, and lower your cholesterol (*when smoked at least twice weekly as part of a well balanced rotation).

Some even say corncob pipes are an aphrodisiac. I wouldn't know as I am already blessed with a strong libido.

It couldn't hurt anything though.

I saw a documentary once on traditional Asian Medicine. Apparently, if you grind a corncob pipe and ferment it in rice wine, it is a well known cure for a wide range of diseases and will encourage muscle growth, bone strength and increase overall vitality.

I highly reccomend them.

 

[marmal4de]

lonestar :rofl:

 

[spartan]

@ lonestar
Best Post of the Month. :clap:

 

[philip]

I only have a few pipes.. I'm just starting my collection. The cobs are good when I want to give my briars a rest.

 

[brewshooter]

If one happens to get broken while working you aren't out much like breaking a Peterson or other more expensive pipe.

Boy, I wish I'd thought of this sage advice last weekend, see my broken stem repair thread for further details. From now on, anytime I'm smoking AND doing anything else other than lounging around, it's going to be a cob every time!

 

[yoru]

I prefer clays to cobs myself. . .both cheap -- though clays are more fragile, both offer very neutral flavour bias, and both are absolutely utilitarian.
It just so happens, however, pipe smoking isn't about utilitarianism -- what you can afford is what you can afford and all -- but everyone should have a little bit of everything at some point is my philosophy (not saying I'm right or nothin', but take it for what it's worth).
Of course if you think it IS about utility, then I condemn the purchase of anything other than a clay or a cob. Because briar just doesn't come cheap. Granted, neither do the best clays (usually more like shatter-resistant porcelain), but cobs and tavern/civil-war clays sure do.

 

[scotrob]

cobs don't need the (sometimes) prolonged break-in period that new briars require, but from an aesthetic point of view, i go for briars every time....i like to smoke something that I know looks good; doing so makes me feel good about myself (like wearing a favourite jacket perhaps)....somehow I would feel self conscious with a cob too; in Europe in particular they are less often seen..here, no-one looks twice at me when I walk down the street with a briar in my mouth, but if i had a cob there, I think people would be amused and wonder why I was trying to look like Popeye

 

[creekspecter]

I have a dozen and a half cobs to go along with the briars, clays, meerschaums and McQueens I have haunting my office. I could go for more than two months without coming back to the same pipe. Yet, yet... I always seem to have a cob going. Enthusiastic second to the statement that OTC blends smoke great in a cob. I also find that aromatics do very well in cobs. I'm sure that the rest of my cellar would perform well in a MM, but I have to use my meers and briars for something.

 

[baronsamedi]

:rofl: at lonestar. Cortez was traumatized by "Children of the Corn" at a young age. My MM Legend is my go-to all around utility and walkin' around pipe. I've smoked it on a roof, on a boat, in other countries, in a box, with a fox and in a house with a mouse. I have an unclearthur stem for it and it's never far from hand. I also have a Great Dane Egg that smokes like magic. They have a clean smoke comparable only to my actual meerschaum and always will if taken care of. They are great to smoke right out of the box as well as fun and cheap to collect. Why Not have a cob?

 

[lonestar]

Baron, I didnt want to air all of Cortez' dirty laundry.

But I'm pretty sure Children of the Corn played a part in it as well.

 

[dongreyface]

All this talk about cobs and now I really want to smoke mine. It sucks that it's downpooring here and I can't smoke inside. Not to mention this thread has given me a little CPAD.

 

[cortezattic]

:rofl: Hoo-boy! Rough crowd here! Creative, but rough! :clap:

 

[mike68]

I now have 4 cobs since I started smoking a pipe in early July. The most recent is a Great Dane(egg) and for what it's worth, I'm not sure I could find another pipe in ANY price category that would smoke better. Of course, if you appreciate wood and grain patterns and a well shaped bowl for it's artistry then yeah, briar is more suited for that..but for pure smoking, I think a cob is an enormous bang-for-the-buck!

 

[lonestar]

Cortez, sorry to have to put it all out there like that.... I just didnt want new smokers thinking there was something wrong with cobs. I had to point out it was just something that was wrong with you :rofl: