Cobb Question

[eggrollpiper]

I think I'm burning up my cobbs since I started not letting cake build up. I thought cake was forming on the upper regions of the chamber wall however I now believe I am burning away the lower portion. It widens and tastes like burnt stuff. I was thinking about using honey inside to build a thin cake. It seems most recemend no cake while others let it build up with success? I found the pipes got nasty that way but at the time I didn't know the baby wipe trick. Any advice/personal experience ?

Btw I'm smoking as slow as possible, packing as loose as possible, drying as much as possible, and tamping as light as possible. More or less but those factors are at their extent for me.. also btw this is w MM cobbs. My old dominion Cobb so far hasn't had this issue.

Finally I wonder if MM will do anything exciting for their 150 anniversary?

 

[mso489]

This seems to be from the way you are smoking, but from your description, I can't see why. Various people have posted their cob pipes they've smoked for many years with no similar problems. It sounds like you are one of the steam-engine puffers, but you explain you aren't. Could you be cooking your cobs with flame-thrower lighters? My cobs cook along forever; I have lots of pipes, but still.... Maybe you smoke all fast and hot burning blends? You smoke a lot outdoors in the wind? There's some detail we're missing here.

 

[mikethompson]

Agreed, all those symptoms point to a fast cadence, but you say you aren't. Hmmm.

 

[workman]

"Most" is still just 5-10 guys on this forum. Maybe you should let them build some cake, even if some other guys don't?

 

[olkofri]

Yeh, as a rule cake is a no-no for cobs. I don't build any cake in them, or in my briars for that matter. I don't worry overmuch about cobs either: they're cheap, i.e. semi-disposable. That being said, either you've got a dud or you're smoking like a steamboat. I have a very fast cadence and my cobs shew no sign of deterioration: my tongue gets cooked before the cobs do.
BTW, I don't smoke my cobs all the way to the bottom. I'm always throwing out the last bits of charred/unburnt toby as dottle.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Is tobacco being burned at the wider portion of the chamber?

 

[olkofri]

^^

Well, that got me thinking, because, aren't cobs' chambers cylindrical? Are there cobs with conical or inverse cone chambers?

 

[weezell]

I let mine build cake and when it gets to thick, I take a pocket knife and ream them out. Never wiped any out and have 2 I've been smoking since the 1970's...

 

[Chasing Embers]

Well, that got me thinking, because, aren't cobs' chambers cylindrical? Are there cobs with conical or inverse cone chambers?

He mentioned a widening lower in the chamber. Even without cake, burning tobacco in a cob will cause the chamber to swell a little.

 

[eggrollpiper]

Yeah the tobacco is burning and the cob as well I think, don't think it's swelling. I do smoke outside mostly and sometimes in wind so that's a possibility. I don't really have a choice about that. Mb I should use a wind cap.

I smoke as slowly as I can and still enjoy it. That's not to say I couldn't possibly actually smoke slower. I'll never win a slow smoking competition and my pipes pretty much always get too hot. I even tried taking three little sips, mb not so little once every 60 seconds and still overheating. I can't puff slower that once a minute. My natural preference is like every 10-30 seconds. I think I need a meerschaum block the size of a brick...

 

[warren]

I thought we were going to discuss Lee J. or Ty.
My cobs are work and recreation pipes for the most part. They are allowed some cake and usually are not in my possession very long or, buried under tools and stuff to be found and enjoyed years after they were purchased. I really do treat my cobs despicably. For me they are disposables, reliable and trusty smokers they may be.

 

[olkofri]

My cadence is one sippuff every 10-16 seconds, and my pipes never get so hot so as to fail the 'cheek test'. Not bragging, just saying. The exceptions are the pipes that have thinner walls and/or the volcano pipe whose walls are thinner atop. My main problem, though, is constant relights: that's what gets them hot real quick.
Dunno which cobs you have. I got the Morgan (natural), the Eaton, the Missouri Pride (natural), and the Legend Flat. The last named is the one with the thinnest walls and it does get on the hot side whilst smoking it.

 

[eggrollpiper]

The one i was smoking today is a natural straight with no plug, possibly missouri pride, with forever stem. I had the stem on a mark twain first that went sour and various $5-$10 ones w and w/o plug w forever stem or regular stem w savinelli filter or charcoal filter, or home made paper filter...

 

[ashdigger]

Cadence is relative. Fast or slow is also relative.
Having said that.....ssssssllllllooooowwww down.

 

[eggrollpiper]

Oh and about the flane thrower lighter, never a torch. I try to use hemp wick otherwise matches or zippo or soft lighter filled w isobutane... the hemp wick helps but in real wind it's near impossible to use..

So I guess I'm the only one burning up my cobbs, that stinks, literally.

I'm gonna try coating w honey or maple syrup I was thinking and let cake build. At one time I had some really good smokes in the cobbs...

 

[weezell]

possibly missouri pride

My favorite cob of the whole line up!...

 

[davek]

If you scrape the cake to bare cob a lot that will happen.
I'm not sure, but I think the "no cake" folks recommend wiping the bowl out with a paper towel after use. I let a cake build on it's own without actually working on it. If it gets too thick I'll ream *without scraping to bare cob*.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I'll never win a slow smoking competition and my pipes pretty much always get too hot.

 

[mikethompson]

I'm not sure, but I think the "no cake" folks recommend wiping the bowl out with a paper towel after use.

we do, and an unscented baby wipe on my meer

 

[ray47]

I use a 40 caliber bore brush on my cobs after each smoke and have done so since I first started smoking cobs many years ago. I'm one those who believe in no cake in my cobs. None of my 50 cobs have ever burnt thru and they smoke great.