Corncob Conundrum

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May 2, 2020
4,664
23,786
Louisiana
Current favorite way to smoke an English is rolled up into a musketball and jammed into the top of a MM General cob.
I have a General that I smoke Englishes in, but they usually taste better in a briar pipe that I also smoke English blends in. I think because it’s just seen so much Lat. It smells like Lat even after a good cleaning.
 

Big Bear

Lurker
Aug 21, 2020
11
29
thanks for all the advice. i cleaned out the bowl with a pocket knife and chared it a bit with a torch liter and it improved it greatly. on my next tobacco order which is coming up soon, i will try a burly blend that looks promising. I will also try again to get an old dominion cob. i have tried a couple of times, but it seems that every time i am getting an order together they are sold out. I have an old dominion clay and it is one of my best smoking pipes.
 

The Clay King

(Formerly HalfDan)
Oct 2, 2018
6,373
60,747
42
Chesterfield, UK
www.youtube.com
thanks for all the advice. i cleaned out the bowl with a pocket knife and chared it a bit with a torch liter and it improved it greatly. on my next tobacco order which is coming up soon, i will try a burly blend that looks promising. I will also try again to get an old dominion cob. i have tried a couple of times, but it seems that every time i am getting an order together they are sold out. I have an old dominion clay and it is one of my best smoking pipes.
I've only smoked a non-clay pipe twice, both with Clan.
 
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chopper

Lifer
Aug 24, 2019
1,480
3,324
MM cobs have a vegetal taste the first 2-3 bowls.
Near the end of a bowl, the bit of protruding stem in the bowl gives off a hard wood taste.
To speed up burning back the bit of protruding stem, when I taste hardwood, I add a couple of pinches of really dry tobacco and fire it up to get the wood smouldering.
 

Wade H

Lurker
Jan 13, 2020
33
95
64
Glendale Arizona
I don't break my cobs in with expensive tobacco. I use OTC blends like Half and Half or Carter Hall (typically some type of Burley). They really do get better after a dozen or so smokes. I have a little MM Huck Finn, that I only load with very slow burning compressed tobaccos. It's probably my favorite! It's very small, but with the right tobacco, it can give me a full hour smoke (or more).

I've done both with the little nub at the bottom of the cob chamber, smoked them out and chisiled them out. Either way, I always raise the bottom up to the air hole with ash mud. This will have the added benefit of protecting the bottom against burning out. I have a few cobs that I've been smoking for close to thirty years, and I re-mud the bottoms every few years (as needed).
 
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anotherbob

Lifer
Mar 30, 2019
16,968
31,809
46
In the semi-rural NorthEastern USA
thanks for all the advice. i cleaned out the bowl with a pocket knife and chared it a bit with a torch liter and it improved it greatly. on my next tobacco order which is coming up soon, i will try a burly blend that looks promising. I will also try again to get an old dominion cob. i have tried a couple of times, but it seems that every time i am getting an order together they are sold out. I have an old dominion clay and it is one of my best smoking pipes.
love the old dominion cobs. I have two of them. They seem like their availability is pretty random. But I think they smoke great and actually have a strange look of rustic sophistication, give me a nice suit with a vest an old dominion cob and I'll be ready to play a country lawyer.
 
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edger

Lifer
Dec 9, 2016
3,040
22,837
75
Mayer AZ
I don't break my cobs in with expensive tobacco. I use OTC blends like Half and Half or Carter Hall (typically some type of Burley). They really do get better after a dozen or so smokes. I have a little MM Huck Finn, that I only load with very slow burning compressed tobaccos. It's probably my favorite! It's very small, but with the right tobacco, it can give me a full hour smoke (or more).

I've done both with the little nub at the bottom of the cob chamber, smoked them out and chisiled them out. Either way, I always raise the bottom up to the air hole with ash mud. This will have the added benefit of protecting the bottom against burning out. I have a few cobs that I've been smoking for close to thirty years, and I re-mud the bottoms every few years (as needed).
The Huck Finn is superb flake pipe. Yep, an hour if sipped.
 
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--dante--

Lifer
Jun 11, 2020
1,099
7,752
Pittsburgh, PA USA
love the old dominion cobs. I have two of them. They seem like their availability is pretty random. But I think they smoke great and actually have a strange look of rustic sophistication, give me a nice suit with a vest an old dominion cob and I'll be ready to play a country lawyer.
Well then, you should try Country Lawyer. Just smoked a bowl today, and it's excellent in a cob :)
 

anotherbob

Lifer
Mar 30, 2019
16,968
31,809
46
In the semi-rural NorthEastern USA
Well then, you should try Country Lawyer. Just smoked a bowl today, and it's excellent in a cob :)
that's certainly on the list of must tries. Sadly I think how disappointed I am with the other Briarworks blends I've tried. Not bad and all enjoyed but no reason to order them again. I guess part of me is thinking well maybe it will also be a ho hum offering.
 
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--dante--

Lifer
Jun 11, 2020
1,099
7,752
Pittsburgh, PA USA
that's certainly on the list of must tries. Sadly I think how disappointed I am with the other Briarworks blends I've tried. Not bad and all enjoyed but no reason to order them again. I guess part of me is thinking well maybe it will also be a ho hum offering.
I didn't care for any of the other BriarWorks blends either. Country Lawyer was the exception. Plus hey, free small mason jar!
 
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tomatamot

Part of the Furniture Now
May 26, 2020
635
6,187
EU
Cut the shank and mud. I have never had any problems, and they smoke cool. I have done this with all of my cobs (14+) and some have gone through/are going through additional mods.

Me, too!
All my cobs are vert fine smokers.:col:

p.s. I detest the glue blubs on the bottom.
 
Last edited:
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lawdawg

Lifer
Aug 25, 2016
1,792
3,812
On the subject of good cob blends, the only burley blend I've been smoking the past couple weeks is Angler's Dream, which I just added to a recent TAD order out of curiosity. It's just excellent. Some toasty, woody burley flavor, plus a dash of brown sugar (cavendish) and a dash of cinnamon. It's great stuff. I don't know if it's just the approach of the fall season (and me especially appreciating the brown sugar / cinnamon thing because of that) but I smoke quite a bit of burley, and I've not wanted to smoke any other burley blend lately, with the exception of the burley-based aromatics from Wilke I've been smoking a bit lately.

My next order of Anglers Dream will be measured in pounds rather than ounces.
 

uprightman

Might Stick Around
Aug 26, 2019
77
245
Central Pennsylvania
On the subject of good cob blends, the only burley blend I've been smoking the past couple weeks is Angler's Dream, which I just added to a recent TAD order out of curiosity. It's just excellent. Some toasty, woody burley flavor, plus a dash of brown sugar (cavendish) and a dash of cinnamon. It's great stuff. I don't know if it's just the approach of the fall season (and me especially appreciating the brown sugar / cinnamon thing because of that) but I smoke quite a bit of burley, and I've not wanted to smoke any other burley blend lately, with the exception of the burley-based aromatics from Wilke I've been smoking a bit lately.

My next order of Anglers Dream will be measured in pounds rather than ounces.

Is that from the same series as the Chatham Manor? I have been enjoying the 4oz of Chatham Manor I picked up quite a bit while breaking in my new Peterson Irish Army 101.