Cobs and Briars

[Swampfox]

Lately I’ve been noticing that my cobs are harder to keep lit and smoke hotter than the couple of briars I have. I like the taste I get from the cobs slightly better. This is recently developed problem. I’m packing and tamping the same. Should I be drying the tobacco longer for cobs?

 

[solideogloria86]

Lately I’ve been noticing that my cobs are harder to keep lit and smoke hotter than the couple of briars I have. I like the taste I get from the cobs slightly better. This is recently developed problem. I’m packing and tamping the same. Should I be drying the tobacco longer for cobs?

I've never heard this complaint. It's usually the opposite. Are you allowing cake to build in the cobs, because you shouldn't.

 

[Simmerdown☕️]

I experience the opposite, briars tend to get warmer than ?s for me. However, I rarely ever smoke a bowl ? these days…I kinda sip and take my time. I also don’t think you need to dry your ? any longer for a ? than ?. That said, I’m not sure why the ? is hotter than the ? for you?️

 

[burleybreath]

Cobs need to rest once in a while, although I do often abuse them by overuse. That tends to make them funky and less than they should be. Do you rotate them with, say, three or four others? (No idea why they would get hot, other than the usual culprits. Seems weird.)

 

[mso489]

Yes, the original post is contrary to what we usually hear. Cobs smoke cool and are easy to keep lit and often burn the whole chamber of tobacco with no diminishment of flavor and produce only white ash. This is my experience with them over decades. Making them burn hot is pretty rare. The ease of keeping them lit is exemplary. I just don't know what you're doing. It's like saying your Volkswagen bug is imperiling your life by being overpowered. That's just a joke, but I'm having trouble visualizing what you're doing. I guess just more practice and better technique will bring these benefits to you.

 

[Grangerous]

Cobs generally provide a cooler, dryer smoke. I reach for mine often when I don’t want any fuss. — I seldom want any fuss.

 

[Swampfox]

In my research I have also found my problem to be odd. I know they are supposed to smoke cool and for a while that was my experience. I do have 7 and rotate them daily. If I do smoke more than once a day I change pipes.@mso, I’m not sure I know what I’m doing either. Actually I fairly certain of it ?I’m sure it’s operator error just not sure why. I didn’t have this issue when smoking aromatics? I keep them lit better now than a year ago but just find my briars stay lit easier and longer (I just started smoking briars). I think I just need to slow down?

 

[Swampfox]

They do smoke dryer for me.

 

[captpat]

Not everyone has the "typical" experience. I'm never able to smoke to a white ash, there's always a fair amount of dottle around, in, and under where the stem penetrates the bowl. Nevertheless, I enjoy smoking my cobs. My advice is don't worry about it, enjoy the smoke.

 

[mikethompson]

I experience the opposite, briars tend to get warmer than ?s for me. However, I rarely ever smoke a bowl ? these days…I kinda sip and take my time. I also don’t think you need to dry your ? any longer for a ? than ?. That said, I’m not sure why the ? is hotter than the ? for you?️

This reads like some of those books my kids have.

 

[Simmerdown☕️]

This reads like some of those books my kids have.

I use all the s I’ve available. ?️

 

[newbroom]

Is the heat in your smoke or on the bowl? If it's in the smoke you're making steam. Clean it and dry it out.
Smoke like you know how.

 

[mso489]

A proposed title: The Childrens' Book of Tobacco Pipes. That one would surely get banned from school libraries, which is a good way to sell copies otherwise. What kid wants to read a book that hasn't been banned? I think I was in middle school/junior high when I picked up a copy of Steinbeck's "East of Eden," which is about a man whose mother became a prostitute, definitely adult subject.

 

[JOHN72]

My experience with the cobs is that it gets wetter than a briar pipe. The cob has to be left to dry longer than a briar pipe. While the briar pipe, for me, is easier to smoke several times, because the moisture does not penetrate as easily as it penetrates a corn pipe. In the end, in a corn pipe, a dry or very dry tobacco is more suitable. It is true that the smokes are juicier and fresher, the tobacco tastes more real, cleaner. But it is also early because the only briar pipe I have, is very new and does not have a thin layer of cake, and at the moment it gives me a bitter taste, since the walls barely have some cake. That is my experience of smoking a corn pipe. In short, corn pipe let it dry as much as possible and add a dry or very dry tobacco. I still have a long way to go before I can know how to smoke a briar pipe, its aroma, its taste etc. The cleaning advantage is better in a briar pipe, you can wash it with water, not a corn pipe, because its walls absorb the humidity very easily. So I only clean corn pipes with 96º alcohol. This is my humble opinion. I hope it helps you.

 

[Swampfox]

My advice is don't worry about it, enjoy the smoke.

Always have to remind myself of this, not just pipes either. B

 

[Swampfox]

Is the heat in your smoke or on the bowl? If it's in the smoke you're making steam. Clean it and dry it out.
Smoke like you know how.

Both. I believe the last line holds the answer.

 

[Swampfox]

Thank y’all for the responses. I think it’s just technique and cleaning issue. After thinking on it some more it only happens in my smaller bowl cobs. I think I’ve started smoking those too fast. I like cobs and look forward to years of experimenting with them.

 

[Beers 'N Briars]

I do love my cobs, though I smoke my briars a little more frequently. Probably around a 60/40 split. I had this problem with only one of my cobs, and it was a smaller bowl that had no hardwood plug in the bottom. Bowl would expand until it started cracking along the kernel lines. Filled them in with a little Elmer's glue, and it works fine, but I don't hit it as hard or as often as my bigger cobs with a hardwood insert. Never had a single issue with them. I don't use filters and change all my standard bits to Danish ones on my cobs. Don't know what bearing that may have, but cobs are cheap enough to experiment, so try a few different things, and as always YMMV.

 

[burleybreath]

After thinking on it some more it only happens in my smaller bowl cobs.

I was wondering about that. I don't even bother with the smaller, cheaper cobs. I don't think I've smoked one in thirty years. They have their place, but they're...inferior. Yes, I'm a cob snob. So sue me. ?