Corncobs - maybe not always a good idea

[visualmemory]

Corncobs are always recomended to new smokers as a cheap alternative to "proper" pipes. They are convinient, cheap, good enough so why not. I must say I've got a "proper" briar but it's bulky, cheap pipe made by local pipemaker, maybe notch above basket pipes. It's not a good smoker (or maybe I am not one), the drawhole is drilled obliquely not parallel to bottom not as an error but as a way to make bottom thicker. Maybe because of that engineering "improvement", maybe because I don't know why pipe gets really wet at the bottom even when tobacco is bone dry and forms sizeable dottle. Ok, enough about my big boy. So I bought several corncobs and I'm stoked.

So I was smoking Gawitth's Happy Bogie. I was expecting more. It was tasting just like a strong tobacco, little harsh, little cigarish, little molasses, nothing outstating, tasting little cheap and flat. Okay, maybe it's just "that" simple tobacco I can't appreciate.

Today I decided to load for the first time my briar with that baccy because why not. And it's like smoking two different tobaccos, one cheap (cob), one luxurious. Smoke from briar was creamy, much more mellow, dry, stout, no harshness, with spicy and floral undertones. It was pretty sublime, no relights. Until I started slurping condensate and got to dump a pretty sizeable dottle.

 

[Andriko]

How many smokes have you had in the cob? My first goes were similarly disappointing, but once it had been worn in it started to smoke pretty good. Briars also need some wearing in. I find no pipe, no matter what it's made of, needs a dozen or so goes round the block before you really know what they are capable of.

 

[Servant King]

I like cobs for when I'm out lunting in the woods with my wife and our horse. He's a good boy, but even the best trained horses spook from time to time, and if I'm holding the halter when that happens, my main focus is getting him under control quickly, and keeping us safe in the process. In this scenario, a pipe dropping out of my hand or mouth is a very likely possibility. If I lose a cob out there, that's a $10 loss. No big deal. But if a briar or meer got destroyed, that would obviously be a problem. So it's just a matter of simple math.

Also, yes, sometimes a blend smoked in a briar pipe is a superior experience to the same blend smoked out of a cob, but I have found that, just occasionally, it's the other way around. The first time I smoked C&D Anthology, I did so out of a filterless beechwood pipe. Tasted ashy, flavorless, and largely without any redeeming qualities, IMHO. So I tried it in my MM Country Gentleman, in which I had a 6mm Savinelli charcoal filter. Much better. I still have to try it in a briar, but the point is, if you have a rough first go at a blend, best to try it in something else. You just never know what will work out...it's all different for everyone. Plus, @Andriko is correct, cobs need a little break-in time just as much as anything else does.

 

[makhorkasmoker]

I feel that cobs need a lot of smoking before they taste right. But once they do, they taste great, and they smoke drier than my briars (I smoke dry ribbon cut but outdoors in a high humidity environment). You might also try clays. They are as cheap as cobs. The flavor is fantastic and they smoke very dry . I never wind up with damp tobacco in the bottom of mine

 

[visualmemory]

Cob I was smoking was pretty well seasoned, briar I was talking about was pretty beaten up too, so we are talking about two pipes smoked many times before. Before that I wasn't even aware that they taste different (and I'm not talking about first couple of smokes tasting of corn). This time I was fresh comparing the same tobacco in cob and in briar one day apart and it was like night and day, not like two different pipes - two different tobaccos. The other thing that may influence that maybe different dimensions - briar is deeper and wider.

 

[kcghost]

It takes a lot of nerve to come on this forum and make any criticism of cobs. The cobbers are a nasty bunch.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I don't know why pipe gets really wet at the bottom even when tobacco is bone dry and forms sizeable dottle.

tasting little cheap and flat.

Until I started slurping condensate and got to dump a pretty sizeable dottle

You're smoking too fast.

 

[visualmemory]

Probably you are right I still can't get my cadence right and pipe well lit at the same time, and when I get "that" taste I'm trying to chase it, but I didn't change that in this case, still flavor in briar was more robust, full. From harsh and empty to mellow and deep, from slightly sweet to dry I didn't change my way of smoking only pipe from cob to briar. I don't hate on cobs. Yep, there are more factors involved like possible ghosting it's possible to treat it more scientifically but at this very time I was 5 years again and looking at magic trick happening.

 

[anotherbob]

Corncobs are always recomended to new smokers as a cheap alternative to "proper" pipes. They are convinient, cheap, good enough so why not. I must say I've got a "proper" briar but it's bulky, cheap pipe made by local pipemaker, maybe notch above basket pipes. It's not a good smoker (or maybe I am not one), the drawhole is drilled obliquely not parallel to bottom not as an error but as a way to make bottom thicker. Maybe because of that engineering "improvement", maybe because I don't know why pipe gets really wet at the bottom even when tobacco is bone dry and forms sizeable dottle. Ok, enough about my big boy. So I bought several corncobs and I'm stoked.

So I was smoking Gawitth's Happy Bogie. I was expecting more. It was tasting just like a strong tobacco, little harsh, little cigarish, little molasses, nothing outstating, tasting little cheap and flat. Okay, maybe it's just "that" simple tobacco I can't appreciate.

Today I decided to load for the first time my briar with that baccy because why not. And it's like smoking two different tobaccos, one cheap (cob), one luxurious. Smoke from briar was creamy, much more mellow, dry, stout, no harshness, with spicy and floral undertones. It was pretty sublime, no relights. Until I started slurping condensate and got to dump a pretty sizeable dottle.

yeah makes sense to me. I find that some blends smoke pretty much no different in any real way in a cob or briar. Some are either better or at least different in one or the other. And for a long time I thought it was certain types of tobacco that were better. But not really. I've found that for example some English blends are really great in a cob and some are meh not as good..just for an example. They're slightly different tools for the same job and they're still a pretty affordable way to see if it's something you'll stick with.

 

[anotherbob]

I like cobs for when I'm out lunting in the woods with my wife and our horse. He's a good boy, but even the best trained horses spook from time to time, and if I'm holding the halter when that happens, my main focus is getting him under control quickly, and keeping us safe in the process. In this scenario, a pipe dropping out of my hand or mouth is a very likely possibility. If I lose a cob out there, that's a $10 loss. No big deal. But if a briar or meer got destroyed, that would obviously be a problem. So it's just a matter of simple math.

Also, yes, sometimes a blend smoked in a briar pipe is a superior experience to the same blend smoked out of a cob, but I have found that, just occasionally, it's the other way around. The first time I smoked C&D Anthology, I did so out of a filterless beechwood pipe. Tasted ashy, flavorless, and largely without any redeeming qualities, IMHO. So I tried it in my MM Country Gentleman, in which I had a 6mm Savinelli charcoal filter. Much better. I still have to try it in a briar, but the point is, if you have a rough first go at a blend, best to try it in something else. You just never know what will work out...it's all different for everyone. Plus, @Andriko is correct, cobs need a little break-in time just as much as anything else does.

why is this the horse I imagine you to have??? THIS GOOD BOY

 

[Servant King]

why is this the horse I imagine you to have??? THIS GOOD BOY

Probably because that distinguished gentleman would be just as hard to control as a spooking horse. Once you get above about 400 or 500 lbs., they're all equally difficult. I suppose a spooking elephant would be more difficult, but that's too far above my pay grade to deal with...

 

[anotherbob]

Probably because that distinguished gentleman would be just as hard to control as a spooking horse. Once you get above about 400 or 500 lbs., they're all equally difficult. I suppose a spooking elephant would be more difficult, but that's too far above my pay grade to deal with...

you know sizes isn't everything. I got startled recently by a bear and then later by a rabbit not even an adult one. I swear the bunny actually frightened me much more. Then again it was the first time one charged at me so the element of surprise might have played a factor.

 

[bullet08]

I only smoke OTC codger blends out of cob. And it does very well. Can't say how cob will do with other types.

 

[JOHN72]

When the corn pipe is new, it gives me a bitter aftertaste, something rough, logically of those virgin walls of the corn. But once you create a thin layer of charcoal or dross, maybe not even that, just that they are browned by the heat, then you get an incredibly fresh smoke with an authentic tobacco aroma. I have only smoked and smoke the Missouri Meerschaum, and they are fantastic pipes, never missing from my rotation of pipes, briar and cobs. Try meerschaum and clay pipes as well.

 

[PipeIT]

Corncobs are always recomended to new smokers as a cheap alternative to "proper" pipes.

Oops hold on there! LOL

A good MM Cob is as proper as anything out there!

Now, I’m not the Cob or Briar pro, I do understand the many aspects of what makes a good briar. What makes a good cob, it’s not something I’ve dug into, but I do know when it comes to the looks of the quality of construction they can vary.

SO, what I can honestly tell you, is my MM Apple Diplomat with a Forever stem, smokes as nice as briar pipes I’ve paid $200-$300, and that’s no joke.

Now why does my Cob smoke so good, maybe there is a difference in Cob age, density, chamber coating, the wood shank material, age, etc, and the fact I also put a better longer stem on it, which I’m sure lends to a cooler smoke.

Anyhow, a good MM Cob is as proper as it gets, if you happen to get a decent one, and I highly recommend putting a Forever Stem on it, a little longer too, unless you’re buying one of the MM cobs with the nicer stems.

If you the haven’t read the article, ‘The Myth of Brand and Maker in Pipesmoking’, by Dr. Fred Hanna, at least for briar pipes, it’s a great read.

https://www.greatnorthernpipeclub.org/_files/ugd/17b259_acdce5ca70354ca7a5f64775f95ae600.pdf



P.S. Price doesn’t always equate to a good smoker in the pipe world.

 

[georged]

It takes a lot of nerve to come on this forum and make any criticism of cobs. The cobbers are a nasty bunch.

Yup.

Ferocious

I wouldn't want to tangle with one...

 

[mingc]

Yup.

Ferocious

I wouldn't want to tangle with one...


View attachment 170642

THE Cobbers? The manly substitute for toilet paper? No way!

 

[PipeIT]

I’m not one of the Cob Snobs, just setting the record straight is all. LOL

And to be honest, I’m truly blow away at how great mine smokes. Sheesh, I’m gonna go load a bowl in it and post it in WAYS now, got me so excited. LOL

By the way, do you know EMC Cobs?

https://m.facebook.com/EMC-Custom-Cobs-300239400924211/posts/?ref=page_internal&mt_nav=0

Eric of EMC also has a Instagram, be sure to check it out, some seriously wild Cobs.

 

[Chasing Embers]

why is this the horse I imagine you to have??? THIS GOOD BOY

Well, hippopotamus does mean water horse.

 

[anotherbob]

Well, hippopotamus does mean water horse.

I am glad someone got that.