Do Expensive Pipes Really Smoke Better?

[cosmicfolklore]

Interesting, Salted, you really don't hear (read) any company talking about their "drilling" or "engineering" or anything really about what might make their pipe special in the ways of how it might smoke. It seems more like something left up to the fans, based on... just opinions. You'd think that more pipemakers or companies would talk about the detail to their stemwork or the button design. This is of course just my observations sparked by your post, Salted.
I wonder how close to some of the top end pipe companies a Grabow or Brog would measure up in terms of drilling diameters and reductions at the button, or dispersal? I don't have either of those two brands laying about.

 

[pappymac]

I've found inexpensive pipes that smoke good and will pass a pipe cleaner with ease. They also smoke cool and seldom gurgle.

I have a pipe that retailed for $495 (that's what the price sticker on the box said) which didn't easily pass a pipe cleaner because the drilling of the draft hole was just a a couple of hairs higher than the airway in the stem was. It smoked okay but would occasionally gurgle until I sent it off and had a professional work on it. Now its a good smoker and doesn't gurgle.

 

[mikefu]

I had one Grabow and a Yello-Bole and both smoked like absolute garbage, which is where they ended up. One of em had a stinger, and maybe that’s why it was so lousy, but in the case of these two I would say there is definitely a difference in smokability between VERY cheap pipes and entry-level quality briars, but I also notice no appreciable difference between my higher end pipes and lower priced old Stanwells (15-20yo), Petersons and Nordings. I don’t have any over $200 or so, but one of my best smokers is a Czech basket pipe with really nice grain that I bought for $30 in 2001.

 

[sablebrush52]

Using the term "engineering" may be a bit high fallutin, and as the son of an aeronautic/aerospace engineer whose career ranged from designing systems for the B17 to designing life support for the Apollo program and on to designing a nuclear powered pacemaker, I'm aware that an airway is a relatively simple application. But it's what most of us use, so I use it as well.
There's more to a pipe than an airway. There's what surrounds that airway, and specifically I'm referring to the stem and bit, which can involve more work than the bowl and shank. A comfortable bit is a great asset, as is a harmonious design, just in different ways. The shape and quality of the bit certainly affects some folk's enjoyment of pipesmoking. Bowl shaping and nice grain don't improve the basic mechanics of a pipe. Paying more for esthetics is a personal choice, but doesn't affect the basic mechanics of a pipe. Chamber shape, smoothness of the airway, and fit do affect the mechanics. For all that, smoking technique, packing, moisture content, cadence, etc, is going to have more of an effect on what a pipe can deliver than fancy grain or a high end stamp.

 

[saltedplug]

An allied question is what makes a pipe your favorite. I think the answer is simple: shape/shape/shape and finish. The price ought be neither too low nor high. Most importantly, when seized by that irrational moment of pipe lust, one has to be available to be visited by it. So we spend money better saved for our dotage because "we just gotta have it." Suffice it to say that on arrival it has to measure up to our list of flourishes that separate the mediocre from a pipe we deem high-end. But then comes the smoking, and in it, hopefully the fruition of the promise that flashed within us. I've bought pipes whose attraction is never fulfilled.
Meanwhile I have pipes that I've smoked 1000s of times, and it is those that I reach for first.

 

[ashdigger]

I like the engineering usage. In reality Environmental Engineers aren't supposed to exist, but mine shows up every Wednesday morning and hauls away my consumer engineering remains.

 

[3rdguy]

I think Missouri Meerschaum has already answered this question ages ago.. a few bucks and one of the best smokers ever created.

 

[aldecaker]

Ash, did you mean "sanitation engineer"? I thought environmental engineers remediate industrial pollution and work with hazmat disposal, stuff like that.

 

[ashdigger]

Oh yes, silly me. I know too many engineers that aren't classical engineers but do a shit ton of engineering. Very important stuff too.
Makes me wonder how I'm civilized enough to smoke a pipe.

 

[aldecaker]

Don't feel bad. This forum is nothing if not proof that pipe smokers don't have to be civilized!

 

[lordofthepiperings]

For me personally the more I've spent on pipes the better they've been. They've been lighter, better drilled, better draw. Much better aesthetically. That's not to say you can't get some solid pipes at a lower price point, but for me personally I've found the higher price point the better the pipe.

 

[lasttango]

Every time I buy a $200-$300+ pipe, I have to remind myself that it won't necessarily smoke better than my "well engineered" $9 cob.
As mentioned, the quality of my smoke has mostly to do with what tobacco I choose and what I'm doing.
With that said, I am better at smoking straighter, lighter pipes.
When I spend a lot of money on a pipe it has mostly to do with my love of the pipe, not the smoking experience.
+1 As mentioned, humidity is big.

+1 Packing the tobacco is key and is tied to humidity.

+1 Do I really have time, or am I going to rush this?

 

[9mmpuffer]

The answer is NO. That is not just my opinion... that is 100% fact

 

[Chasing Embers]

smoking technique, packing, moisture content, cadence, etc, is going to have more of an effect on what a pipe can deliver than fancy grain or a high end stamp

Absolutely

 

[coyja]

1. aldecaker nailed it

2. I feel like there is some kind of “golden ratio” to bowl diameter/width, that probably works differently for different tobaccos, but is a real thing.

I’ve discovered that I have a couple of MMs that smoke my preferred blends very well, but others that are duds.

Also found the same thing amongst briars 5x or more the price, but the most obvious contributing factor to the equation is the ratio of the bowl size.
I’m no expert, so I guess I need to buy more pipes until I am...

 

[theloniousmonkfish]

smoking technique, packing, moisture content, cadence, etc, is going to have more of an effect on what a pipe can deliver than fancy grain or a high end stamp

Agreed. I think the stem has more influence than the pipe sometimes.

 

[saltedplug]

I found this thread drifting off the main page, and had it done so it would have been remarkable in oblivion by the entirely restrained manner of its discussion. Given that its subject is pipesmoking's most hotly debated, I then ask you, where is the heat? Can't we do better than this? Thus I bring the thread again to the fore for your most churlish opinion, your ill-developed insights and unfounded accusation.

 

[aldecaker]

Oh, now you're talkin' my language! :rofl:

 

[ashdigger]

My expensive pipes smoke better than cheap pipes simply because I sacrificed 2 midgets and a thespian to obtain them.

 

[Civil War]

Pipes are functional ART. A useful thing made beautify. A high end pipe is like a Payne bamboo fly rod, it won't necessarily catch more fish, but it is a pleasure to use while you are fishing.