Corn Cob Break In

[Bob the bear]

Cigar Ash and water does work but a stronger formulation is one I got off the net from a person who did some research into the various formulations. 2 parts plaster of Paris. 1 part activated charcoal powder and 1 part normal table salt. (the ingredients are all food safe unlike some commercial fire brick mortar I know has been used in the past) Mix with a little water to make a mud or thinner if you wish to coat the walls of bowls (it does a wonderful job of repairing cracks and hotspots) and it goes very very hard, dries charcoal grey and imparts no taste to new tobacco. The cigar Ash and water formulation tends to be a little softer. Also if you don't smoke cigars... Difficult to get. I believe Aristocob also sells his own formulation as well.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Cigar Ash and water does work but a stronger formulation is one I got off the net from a person who did some research into the various formulations. 2 parts plaster of Paris. 1 part activated charcoal powder and 1 part normal table salt. (the ingredients are all food safe unlike some commercial fire brick mortar I know has been used in the past) Mix with a little water to make a mud or thinner if you wish to coat the walls of bowls (it does a wonderful job of repairing cracks and hotspots) and it goes very very hard, dries charcoal grey and imparts no taste to new tobacco. The cigar Ash and water formulation tends to be a little softer. Also if you don't smoke cigars... Difficult to get. I believe Aristocob also sells his own formulation as well.

Or just use fireplace mortar.

 

[Bob the bear]

I'm a little wary of fireplace mortar. It certainly does work. I'm just not 100 perc sure it ls food safe. Mind you.... Neither is burning tobacco haha ?

 

[Michigan_Bill]

I have a MM hardwood pipe and the shank inside the bowl seems to char a bit, but there doesn’t seem to be any problem. It's a good smoker. There doesn’t seems to be any burning wood taste, either. l don’t try to smoke every last bit of the tobacco, though.

 

[krizzose]

First off, the Charles Towne cobbler is a fine pipe. I generally don't worry about break in too much. Just load your favorite tobacco and take off. Whether flake or ribbon, it doesn't matter to me. You may taste a faint corn like flavor at first but usually after a bowl or two this is gone. The other issue for some is that the wooden stem extends into the bowl. I just smoke the bowl down to the point where I taste burning wood, take a couple more puffs and dump. Over time, at least for me, the wooden shank extending into the bowl burns off. I'm sure others will offer their opinions but this is what works for me.

What he said

 

[krizzose]

I like cobs but the wood at the bottom of the bowl on some seems excessive and annoys me until burned down. Anybody trim theirs back?

I agree, but after 6 smokes or so it always seems sufficiently charred to stop producing that burnt wood taste. That’s the only exception I can think to the “cobs don’t need to broken in” maxim.

 

[Sgetz]

I like cobs but the wood at the bottom of the bowl on some seems excessive and annoys me until burned down. Anybody trim theirs back?

I char mine with a jet lighter. Couple of careful goes and your good to go!

 

[jndyer]

You know what needs to be broken in, the MM old school hardwood pipes. The first few bowls in those pipes are like trying to get a cob shank charred over through the entire smoke. Once you get those first few smokes in, they turn into really nice smokers and are great for fishing and other outdoor abuse.

 

[J-Evverrett]

In my experience, they don’t really have a break in. They smoke well off the rip. They do however, sometimes need a little fine tuning around the airway with a knife. Can’t beat ‘em otherwise. I recently put the higher end C&D bent stem on a bent legend bowl, and it awesome. Much better weight wise for me.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I'm a little wary of fireplace mortar. It certainly does work. I'm just not 100 perc sure it ls food safe. Mind you.... Neither is burning tobacco haha ?

Some use JB weld, wanna give that a go? Once cured it's fine.

 

[Briar Lee]

Quick question on breaking in a corn cob, I'm an English smoker that wants to delve into virginia's and virginia Periques. I recently picked up a Missouri Meerschaum Charles Towne Cobbler, want a pure base with no Latakia ghosting. My question is being as virginias smoke hot, is it a good idea to break in a cob with say Newminster No.400 Navy Flake, or would it be better with a ribbon cut? I have some Elizabethan match also.

All MM cob pipes are made from the same huge stash of aged dried cobs stored in the attic of the factory.

Be extra careful smoking them. Briar is somewhat more heat resistant, and farmers burn corn cobs (sometimes with corn still attached) to heat sheds and garages, even homes. A cob is easy to ignite.

Maybe a briar, a real hard, good example, is good for 10,000 careful smokes and only two or three thousand if you abuse hell out it.

I burned out my first MM cob pipe in a few months, fifty years ago, smoking it too hot.

Today they seemingly last me forever, but in reality, if you get a thousand bowls before you toss that one and buy another, that’s good.

 

[Bob the bear]

Some use JB weld, wanna give that a go? Once cured it's fine.

Nah I'm OK with my pipe mud mix. The smell of burning epoxy composites is not as alluring as a fine Cavendish haha

 

[pantsBoots]

Quick question on breaking in a corn cob, I'm an English smoker that wants to delve into virginia's and virginia Periques. I recently picked up a Missouri Meerschaum Charles Towne Cobbler, want a pure base with no Latakia ghosting. My question is being as virginias smoke hot, is it a good idea to break in a cob with say Newminster No.400 Navy Flake, or would it be better with a ribbon cut? I have some Elizabethan match also.

Smoke whatever type of blends you think you'll be enjoying in the new pipe. If you think it's going to be a Straight VA or VaPer pipe, smoke those through there. Cobs don't require much of a break-in.

Incidentally, I followed some advice from here and successfully de-ghosted a pipe that had had nothing but English and Balkan blends smoked through. After 5 bowls of Burley, I tried a straight Virginia and while there was an essence of Burley, the Latakia ghost has been exorcised.

 

[Buckaroo-piper]

I like cobs but the wood at the bottom of the bowl on some seems excessive and annoys me until burned down. Anybody trim theirs back?

I fill mine in around the wood with pipe mud if needed and leave it at that. My gripe with cobs is not the wood, but the big puddles of glue I find at the bottom of some of them. Definitely not going to smoke through that. Otherwise, they are great.

 

[monty55]

Cobs are easy. Don't overthink it my friend, just load it and smoke it.

 

[mso489]

I have always ignored the "wood in the bottom of the bowl" of my MM cobs, and it has never caused me a moments problem. There are dozens of things to consider and even worry about in pipe smoking, but most of them matter little if at all. For me, pipe smoking is akin to a zen exercise, a slightly altered mental state, in which complications are set aside. Banish all ado.

 

[Briar Lee]

In the late 1990s I visited the MM factory and spent all afternoon touring the factory and gandering about in the museum.

MM makes better cob pipes than anybody possibly could at home.

The net cost of raw materials after MM sells the corn back to local farmers might be zero. The raw materials used are cheap enough to burn in stoves for heat, if you count the first cost.

They had a huge box of seconds, and I bought all the good ones for $1 each.

I’ve not abused any, but I must have a dozen or more laying around yet.



The quality control at the factory is high.

None of the seconds I bought made it to the plastering stage.

Other than a chip on a bowl or something minor I can’t see why they are seconds.

At the factory I was told the average life of a MM cob was six months in heavy daily use as the only pipe a smoker owned.

Rotated and rested, and they last many times longer.

But if you aren’t careful they’ll burn up like a corn cob in a stove.

 

[Scott58]

How to break in a corn cob pipe

Learn how to break in a corn cob pipe and what makes cobs different from briar. A quick guide to help you get the most out of your Missouri Meerschaum pipe!

www.tobaccopipes.com

I found this to be helpful when I bought my first MM.

Thanks for the link, I also found it very helpful.
Thanks,
Scott

 

[Rossi320]

Does this change the tobacco flavor. Never smoked a corn cob?

 

[proteus]

I have the CTC, BWC 10 and Emerald. I use for VaOr/Or, VaPer, VA respectively when I smoke cobs. I smoke these tobaccos in meers and briars as well so I have my pick. Newm 400 is a straight VA and my favorite but not for the new pipe. To break in those pipes, any material, I use Capstan Blue or Sutliff 507C. Packing is important to limit airflow to keep burn temp low smoulder. It's a feel and differs by pipe depending on draw hole size. I ream my pipes to 11/64.