Do You Really Like to Smoke a Pipe With Filter

[piperRowan]

Don't want to start a debate here. Just wondering what is your opinion of filter charcoal, wood or paper.

Never smoke with a filter, but I tried adsorba charcoal filter today with HH old dark fired. Feel flavor restricted by the filter. Is my feeling normal?

 

[alaskanpiper]

I don’t mind the filters, just gotta make sure they are placed correctly so they don’t hamper the draw. Never noticed a big flavor difference, if anything less tongue bite when I first started smoking. As for today, sometimes I use them, sometimes I don’t. Basically depends on whether I have time to fuck with it prior to getting my “kit” ready, haha. Sometimes when I’m bored I’ll go to my cellar and smell tobacco while I replace the filters in all my pipes that take them. As I use them I trash them, then smoke unfiltered until I’m bored and fuck around in the cellar again. Tell you what though, with the breath method, those savinelli balsa filters are one and done. They are like soggy french fries by the end of one smoke.

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

Take a bunch of pipe cleaners and curl them around a thin rod to make a bunch of fluffy pigtail filters, those are just about perfect for stopping tobacco bits from getting to my mouth without significantly inhibiting the draw.

I would love to comment on the effectiveness of a Reverse Calabash in keeping your smoke clean but I haven’t actually bought one yet (normally Reverse Calabash pipes are very limited production or only made by high end carvers).

 

[alexnc]

When I first started I found balsa filters compensated for poor technique. Moisture problems promptly went away. At some point, buying a non filtered pipe, I realized my technique had improved to the point I didn’t need them anymore. So I dropped them, but I decided to go back to them. In a back and forth debate I could definitely tell a difference in the nic hit. Taste seemed about the same. If they did only even a fraction of what they claim, and the difference in the nic hit and moisture they collect seems to suggest they do, they may have a health benefit over a long term. Wouldn’t the moisture discarded be a great carrier for the tars and such? You either discard it or vaporize it into your smoke it seemed. I pretty much hated other filters feeling the taste was compromised significantly.

 

[samuelgawith01]

My opinion only.......

From experience I can say that the 9mm charcoal filters restrict the draw noticeably,and as they get saturated,the draw weakens further.When you reach the point where you want to run a pipe cleaner down the shank,you can’t.
Same thing can be said for the Savinelli 9mm balsa inserts.Their 6mm inserts at least allow some air flow.The Brigham inserts allow a pipe cleaner,but still restrict the draw.

The medico / Dr. Grabow style of absorbents have worked best for me,though they still restrict the draw somewhat.

I acknowledge the fact that tobacco humidity and smoking techniques all play a part in the service life of a filter or absorbent.

To wrap this up,I will say that I have sold all but one of my 6mm and 9mm pipes.

 

[bigpond]

I don’t but you can’t find a pipe in Germany without one, Can that many pipe smokers be wrong? If so, who’s to tell them that a group that loves pipes and pipesmoking as much as they are doing it wrong?
Try it, see if you dig it.

 

[dcon]

Decades ago I used the Savinelli balsa filters and dabbled with the Medico filters in some pipes. I still have packages hanging around. For me, they absorbed moisture but, I also, felt that this inhibited the flavor. It also required frequent replacement. My preference has long been no filters.

 

[husky]

I'll jump in here but I am a noob so these are thoughts/questions rather than opinionated statements.

The pipe I had in my twenties had 9mm charcoal filters and I used them until

they were all soggy, brown and smelly because I didn't know any better.

Now that I have taken up pipes again I deliberately looked only at filtered because I am still health conscious.

They do prevent me from pushing a pipe cleaner down the stem but I never feel the need

because the filter absorbs the moisture coming from both directions.

I only use the charcoal because of the chemical properties in binding aromatic hydrocarbons

which I imagine are the harmful compounds and looking at a filter used for several bowls it is

evident that it does prevent a lot of nasty stuff from reaching my mucous.

They do restrict the draw but I think that could be lessened by opening the channel

through the stem? I have a feeling that most pipes restrict the flow more than optimal?

I do not know if they affect the flavour. Many americans think so but no one in Europe seem to agree.

I think a main thing is one filter - one bowl. If you use them for several, consecutive bowls

then I am sure they will ghost something terrible?

I figure that if I want to use filters I will use them when finding what tobacco I like

because that is the flavour I will get. If you have found a favorite blend without filter

then it may well taste different when you smoke it with a filter.

 

[alexnc]

I did feel the 9mm balsa seemed to smoke better than the 6mm to me. It seems I must, I've sold all of the 6mm pipes except a trusty 320 that has nostalgic value. One sitting - one filter, maybe 2 or 3 bowls at most in a sitting for me. I don't feel it restricts the draw whereas a charcoal did seem to bother me regarding draw and reduction of taste.

 

[deckpiper]

I use a Vauen with a charcoal filter. I like it. I go without sometimes, but it seems a smoother smoke with it.
Caveat: I've been smoking for a year, and I don't smoke a lot. I'm still figuring out what I like.

 

[mso489]

Since I smoke only a bowl or two a day, sometimes with days off, I don't generally use filters. However, repeating myself from other posts -- I think they are good for tamping down a strong tobacco if you want it a little milder, or for pipe shows or pipe clubs where you plan to smoke more than usual, to dampen the nicotine dose. Many or most filter pipes smoke fine without the filter, with or without an adaptor. The adaptor just focuses the airway and flavor a little more.

 

[unkleyoda]

When I started smoking pipe, I used filters to compensate for my poor smoking technic. Now that I've gotten a lot better, I don't care for filters.

 

[kylef]

I only smoke a couple bowls a week, and don't use filters.
When I first started I used the ones that came with my MM cobs, and bought an extra pack as well. But reading on this forum that they weren't really necessary, it just seemed like not using them meant one less thing to worry about. Also, unless you put a new one in with every smoke, it seems a little unpleasant to me to have a used filter in there.

 

[olkofri]

If the pipe is drilled for a filter I'll use one, as the draught would be way too open without it. NO difference in taste when using balsa or maple or Medico filters. The only filters I've had a bad experience with were Dr Perl's: they quickly got moist and started imparting a plasticky taste to the smoke: the flavours were gone: all I could taste was filter. Thus, my Vauen apple is the only filtered pipe that I smoke with an adapter.
You can also buy 9mm balsa filters, but they're not cheap this side of the Atlantic, or easy to find.

 

[mso489]

It's an individual matter, but for some, filters might prompt them to smoke much more, especially if they strongly crave nicotine. At some point, it defeats the purpose of the filter.

 

[crazyhog]

Yes! I personally love filtered pipes. I palate can not handle any stronger blends (tobacco and nicotine). I feel the 9mm charcoal filters ( dr Perl, Vauen) and sometimes 9mm Balsa filters. I've tried other charcoal filters (Peterson, Stanwell, Blitz) and Vauens are my favorites. I smoke mostly aros, but a few "crossover" blends. I find they smoke dry without having to dry them out ahead of time, have no tongue bite, seems to smoke cleaner in my mouth and I personally enjoy the subtly subdued tobacco taste. I will tell you that my tongue is very sensitive to spices, heat, etc. My other pipes are a meerschaum and a gourd calabash meerschaum. So all my pipes are filtered in one way or another.

 

[hauntedmyst]

Tried them early on, hated them and never tried them again.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I don't use filters nor adaptors in my pipes which can take a filter, 4-7 bowls a day.

 

[redglow]

I discovered a filter in one of my Savinelli’s. Didn’t know it had one until the draw was plugged up. I took the pipe apart and voila, soggy filter. Instantly discarded and after a good cleaning, fired her back up.
I don’t knowingly use filters.

 

[husky]

I've tried other charcoal filters (Peterson, Stanwell, Blitz) and Vauens are my favorites

What differences do you find in the different brands?