Corn cob variety or seeds for pipe making

[Jcone1025]

Hello.

Picked up a couple of pipes last year from MM and started smoking here and there. Having a nice time relaxing on the porch smoking has been great. Been daydreaming of making some pipes in the future for gifts for my brothers. I’ve read some previous forums on MM seed and it looks like it’s tough to get if at all. Anybody have some MM seed left or know a great variety that will yield some larger, more woody cobs? Thank you everyone

 

[growfood]

Looks like MM uses a white dent variety. This looks pretty good, large ears.

Boone County White Dent

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I had a friend who brought back some seeds from MM (he wanted to make his own corn cob pipe too), and asked me to grow a row for him. This was before I sold the fields. So, I did as he asked, just planted a partial row. It got all of the same fertilization and irrigation as the rest of the field. All he got were a few ears with few kernels on them and a skinny little cob. The rest of my field gave me a great product. He was very disappointed.

 

[Jcone1025]

Interesting. Was the rest of the field planted with a different variety? Cross pollination can be a real problem if they are planted too close to another variety.

 

[Sigmund]

My grandfather who grew awesome corn always told me you needed 4 rows of corn for proper pollination.

I would think that if you could make a corn cob pipe you could just use wood and make a poker barrel pipe.

 

[El Capitán]

My Opa used to make cobs out of left over corn cobs from dinner. He dried them for a year after cleaning them and then drilled the holes.

 

[Jcone1025]

Agreed. Corn needs to be planted in clusters or minimum 4 rows for the wind to have a chance at correct pollination.

 

[Jcone1025]

So does anyone have any other varieties they would recommend or have a handful of MM seeds I could try this next growing season?

 

[captaincalabash]

My son-in-law and I decided to give this a try a few years ago, using corn cobs from dinner. I chopped 'em to length, scraped 'em again on the outside, the put 'em in the oven on low temperature for about an hour or so. Next, I got a drill bit that appeared to fit (3/4", I think) and a 3/8" bit that looked to fit a couple of leftover pipe stems we had and drilled carefully. It worked! He and I enjoyed several decent smokes in them before they finished drying out and would no longer seal around the stems. Criticism: the end result smokes OK, but is a small bowl and accepts a limited amount of tobacco. Oh, and there is a "popcorn" taste and aroma present in the first 1-2 bowls. Overall, a fun experiment!

 

[didimauw]

MM seeds? That to me is like asking for Dunhill seeds! Much faster with corn tho!

 

[anotherbob]

MM seeds? That to me is like asking for Dunhill seeds! Much faster with corn tho!

what as in it's only the first step in the process. And the bigger part is how they make it into a pipe beyond just putting the right sized holes in the cob?
That said home grown cobs do make a nice pipe just a very disposable pipe that won't last very long.

 

[growfood]

Any large white dent variety that is fully dried should work fine

 

[pantsBoots]

So does anyone have any other varieties they would recommend or have a handful of MM seeds I could try this next growing season?

Tennessee Red Cob

 

[Dave760]

If you just want to make a cob and don't care about actually growing the corn, Vermont Free and sells blanks:

https://vermontfreehand.com/product/corncobs/