Does a Wider Bowl Smoke Hotter?

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Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
5,009
14,474
Humansville Missouri
That's interesting. With pipes, however, I reckon this observation suggests that you don't need to draw as much in a pipe with less diameter to get the same burning effect (the same flare). Because in a pipe what matters is the burning effect you produce by the draw. So, not sure if this observation would imply that you can use less draw to keep a wider bowl lit. Does it not actually suggest the opposite? The stronger flare on smaller diameter cigarette means that the draw gives more burning effect, hence you would need to draw more to get the same effect on a wider cigarr. However, perhaps you have a point if we consider the ratio of burning effect in relation to amount of smoke produced. The cigarr produces more smoke with less flare, because there is more tobacco. But I'm (over)thinking that that in a wider pipe there is a point where too little draw makes the pipe go out, while in a smaller pipe less draw is sufficient to keep the tobacco lit. But well, I could be wrong.
So very much about pipe smoking is psychological,,,,even the act.

I can’t even remember how many pioes I’ve smoked today. It was every time I had a chance.

I don’t remember filling them, tamping them, or relighting them. I surely don’t recall how many pulls I took.

I might as well try and count my steps or the number of times I breathed.

I did smoke this little B Grade James Upshall further down than I normally would to break it in.

E8DE515E-9AAA-459C-A2DE-A4132C28A9A9.jpeg
Some kid who’d never smoked a pipe might burn that Upshall up before it caked just enough to stop tasting like briar.

This little pipe is the size of a Lee Small Pear, that I have over a half dozen of and enjoy immensely.

I never smoke English in nice little pipes.

And I automatically keep the temperature down in a small pipe, so that I can hold it.

I have large pipes that hold maybe four times or more tobacco, and I think they smoke even cooler.

But maybe it’s me, sitting on my deck with English tobacco in a big armchair sized pipe relaxing.

It’s hard to say.
 

pipesolitude

Starting to Get Obsessed
Sep 2, 2016
100
132
Sweden
So very much about pipe smoking is psychological,,,,even the act.

I can’t even remember how many pioes I’ve smoked today. It was every time I had a chance.

I don’t remember filling them, tamping them, or relighting them. I surely don’t recall how many pulls I took.

I might as well try and count my steps or the number of times I breathed.

I did smoke this little B Grade James Upshall further down than I normally would to break it in.

View attachment 169054
Some kid who’d never smoked a pipe might burn that Upshall up before it caked just enough to stop tasting like briar.

This little pipe is the size of a Lee Small Pear, that I have over a half dozen of and enjoy immensely.

I never smoke English in nice little pipes.

And I automatically keep the temperature down in a small pipe, so that I can hold it.

I have large pipes that hold maybe four times or more tobacco, and I think they smoke even cooler.

But maybe it’s me, sitting on my deck with English tobacco in a big armchair sized pipe relaxing.

It’s hard to say.
That's a beautiful pipe, I really like the long stem with a little curve to it. And I fully agree, it is all a habit, an aquired art of doing, as life in general. And the secret of habits is that they hide all the efforts made in life, it is a forgetting, just like the breathing of the soul is hidden deep in the body, as some philosopher would say. In Swedish "to breathe" is a verb that is both active and passive (a deponent verb): "andas". Maybe that is why we enjoy pipe smoking, it poetically brings us in contact with the forgotten, the humble enjoyment of an activity that is our own passivity, life itself.
 

Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
5,009
14,474
Humansville Missouri
Someone needs two different sized pipes, an automatic smoking machine like Dr. Grabow, and a thermometer.
I just considered that an amateur operator of Linkman’s machine could burn up a bunch of pipes if he set it to puff too fast.

However, somewhere I have a couple or three laser thermometers.

I wonder if those gadgets might measure up to a thousand degrees?

Let me try and find one, to see.

A household with kids that borrow things needs three of everything like laser thermometers. One to use, one to lose, and one to hide so when you need it the kids aren’t borrowing it.:)
 

jpmcwjr

Lifer
May 12, 2015
26,264
30,360
Carmel Valley, CA
O.P.: As you've seen there's nothing close to a consensus here, and it's really a matter of personal perception and druthers.

Personally, I don't like wide bowls unless they are also deep. But: So what? :)

This thread dies in two days unless there's new or interesting information...or even data (Like that's going to happen.!)
 
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mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,211
60,649
A broader chamber likely creates a broader ember, but it also dissipates the heat faster, so no.

As a matter of personal experience, I've never noticed any such thing. Yesterday I was smoking a Sav prince with a broad chamber and it smoked nice and cool.
 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
21,181
51,259
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
Pardon me english: I'm speaking of the chamber.

I'm not very invested in my theory, not sure I'm convinced myself, just curious. Of course it is a number of factors at play here (the quality or mechanics of the pipe can probably be added to the list), I was just curious if wider chamber could be singled out as a factor in its own right. But perhaps not. But I'm thinking that in a wider bowl packing can probably be a bit tighter (again depending on the tobacco).

But if we consider a thought experiment... just to keep up the noble art of overthinking 😂, or perhaps illustrate the point a little. There must be a point where the width of chamber is too large for the pipe to work at all, right?, hence no pipes are manufactured that way. But say you had a pipe chamber with a diameter of 2 inches. It does not matter how well you tender to all factors at play, you would probably have to draw a lot to kep the tobacco burning, and you would get tounge bite from doing so. If you are not convinced, add another inch or two to the width. You get the point. So... perhaps there is some logic to the theory, but we do not notice this problem because all pipes are manufactured within a mesure that does not lead to this problem, or at least within a mesure that can easily be compensated for with the art of packing, tamping etc..
Anything is possible, just not probable. As you just pointed out, wide chambers aren't made so wide as to create a hypothetical problem. Therefore you answered your question. Wide chambers do not smoke hotter.

Chamber geometry does matter, though not in the way most people envision that it will. Hopefully the articles on this that were a part of the now extinct A Passion For Pipes site will resurface.
 
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Briar Lee

Lifer
Sep 4, 2021
5,009
14,474
Humansville Missouri
Anything is possible, just not probable. As you just pointed out, wide chambers aren't made so wide as to create a hypothetical problem. Therefore you answered your question. Wide chambers do not smoke hotter.

Chamber geometry does matter, though not in the way most people envision that it will. Hopefully the articles on this that were a part of the now extinct A Passion For Pipes site will resurface.
Smoking pipes have no national security implications and the government has no incentives to grant and hammers over the head of the makers of bad pipes. We are passionate about the art, not science of pipe smoking.

I grew up with a modern box type wood stove as auxiliary heat. My parents often remarked how much better it was than the stoves they grew up with.

After my mother died in 2010 there were new government regulations on wood stoves.

If I bought a brand new wood stove with something called an Engergy Star rating, I’d get some small tax credit.

I bought two new Energy Star certified wood heating stoves for the two rental homes I’d inherited on the farm. I forget now how much, less than a thousand each.

One of my tenants called to complain her house was too hot. I suggested she keep a lower fire, or open the windows.

Those new stoves are just miraculously better than the old stoves they replaced. They hardly make any smoke from the chimney. They use a lot less wood. The chimneys don’t need constant cleaning. The firebricks are generic and replaceable. They draft perfectly, and never smoke up the house.

Yet the new ones look just like the old ones they replaced.

The only difference is how they were designed, probably with computers.

If there was sufficient money and incentives, pipes would be scientifically improved, I’d reckon.
 

pipesolitude

Starting to Get Obsessed
Sep 2, 2016
100
132
Sweden
A broader chamber likely creates a broader ember, but it also dissipates the heat faster, so no.
Perhaps so. But granted that the answer to the question is no, based on experience, the explanation is perhaps less straight forward. It seems to me that a broader ember dissipates the heat faster out from the bowl, or at least more heat (not sure about the faster aspect). But does this has anything to do with the ariflow/smoke that is drawn into the pipe? If there is more heat on a broader ember, it would seem that more heat would also go into the smoke that is drawn into the mouth. But production of heat probably has to do mainly with the reaction of quantity of air (or oxygen) with the burning tobacco (how much you need to draw), so a broader ember perhaps does not necessarily imply that the heat of the smoke would increase, I think not, I guess it depends on how much air is drawn into the pipe (in combination with the factors of tobacco, packing etc). I was more thinking along the lines that on a wider/broader chamber/ember more airflow would be needed in order not for the pipe to go out.

But I admit I don't have much clue really, just thought it was inteesting to see if anyone had a good explanation for why the answer is no.
 

HawkeyeLinus

Lifer
Oct 16, 2020
5,939
42,480
Iowa
This thread dies in two days unless there's new or interesting information...or even data (Like that's going to happen.!)

Challenge accepted!

Sheldon Leonard, the main and original executive producer of "The Andy Griffith Show" was the bartender in "It's A Wonderful Life" ---- one of many of the great lines delivered in the movie!
 
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