Does Bowl Shape and Size Affect Taste/Burn of Tobacco?

[kola]

Does soup taste better in a cup or a bowl ?

As for tobacco ? I tend to think heat/temperatures within the bowl chamber have more to do with altering flavors than anything. And heat/temp depends on the individual pipe and the smoking cadence.

"individual pipe" = shape, briar quality, chamber height and depth, wall thickness, draught, etc

OTOH I have pipes that are non-dependant on the blend. Every blend smokes good in a few of my pipes.

 

[Akousticplyr]

Not if I puff like a lunatic having a seizure- then it tastes equally nasty.

 

[PipeIT]

I always assumed a thicker bowl, more wood, would mean a cooler smoke...

But depending on the quality of the density, it could also hold more heat, and be a hotter smoke, rather then dissipating more hear...

hmm ?

 

[Ahi Ka]

I always assumed a thicker bowl, more wood, would mean a cooler smoke... hmm ?

And yet my coolest smoking comes from a clay. Of course through learning I don’t like burning my hands

 

[PipeIT]

And yet my coolest smoking comes from a clay. Of course through learning I don’t like burning my hands

I edited my post as you replied, adding into the equation ‘Density’ as a factor too...

 

[Ahi Ka]

I edited my post as you replied, adding into the equation ‘Density’ as a factor too...

The shank length/material would no doubt impact here too. But getting away from original question

 

[bullet08]

Yes, no.. Maybe. Take your pick.

 

[sablebrush52]

Everything effects the taste.

^^^^ This! ^^^^

 

[Chasing Embers]

No and no. Moisture and cadence are the biggest factors for both.

 

[saltedplug]

No and no. Moisture and cadence are the biggest factors for both.

Yes and yes!

 

[tschiraldi]

I feel it does. For me, smaller bowls tend to strengthen or intensify mellow flavors, like Virginia leaf. Bigger bowls seem to allow identifying individual tastes of different leaves in a more complex blend, like certain English blends with Virginia, Latakia, and various Oriental leaves.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I don't even understand anyone who thinks that tobacco ever smokes the same way twice. I mean, what you had for dinner, your mood, your body chemistry, the weather, all in some way affect the way we taste. I don't think I've ever tasted the same tobacco in exactly the same way, even from the same pipe. But yet, when the question comes up, there's always that one that says, "Nope tastes the same no matter what pipe." I say everything affects the taste.
The adage that you can never step twice into the same river, goes for tobaccos also. I've had some pretty awesome smokes, and yet when I try to recreate those smokes, they always fall short or just different.

This is why we tell newbies to jar up a blend that they don't like early on, because tastes change. And, they never stop changing.

 

[kola]

Food/meals that are made following a recipe taste pretty much the same, if not identically the same to me. But OTOH I may not have a 6th sense to detect the subtle differences.

No matter what the pipe it's in, a specific blend of tobacco tastes pretty much the same to me, enough to where I could pick out some blends when subjected to a blindfold test of some sorts. Is it "identical" every time? I highly doubt it, but good enough to be recognizable and more importantly - enjoyable.

On forums In the past, I've already brought up the idea to have a somewhat controlled blind taste-test to see if pipe smokers could detect certain blends. And I'd bet 95% would fail. But a lot would depend on the blend (i.e Gaslight, FVF) It'd be great to see it done at a pipe show but I don't think it would ever happen as it would upset and embarrass too many smokers. Especially if they couldn't differentiate Penzance from Granger.

 

[Brew&Briar]

For me it comes down to bowl size and blend/cut. Narrow for a flake, mostly because it burns on the slower side. For an English blend, I grab a wider, shorter bowl. I get more gurgle from an English blend if its in a narrow bowl. This is just my experience however.

 

[anotherbob]

1. A new pipe usually lacks flavor. It requires a few smokes to break in a new pipe.
2. In my experience filters also kill flavor. Some disagree

Different bowl shapes and sizes can effect flavor though. Exactly which shape does what is also highly debated. I've found large wide bowls work well for mixtures. Gl Pease likes them for flakes.

it makes sense that for a blend with many parts a wider bowl would change the flavor. The reason is if it's got five types of leaf in different percentages a wide bowl is more likely to effect all of them at the same time and is statistically more likely that each puff will have all the types of leaf. Kind of like how if you eat a bowl of cereal like lucky charms with a tiny spoon you'll get some bites that don't have enough marshmallows. That's my theory. Where if it's a pretty simple blend that's half and half or something like that you'll get the same percentage of leaf in every sip.

 

[jpmcwjr]

When the smoke of seventeen tobaccos in a wide or narrow bowl is drawn, it draws from all the tobacco that's burning, so the effect is the same. Unless the tobacco is unevenly blended, the smoke is a blend of everything, regardless of shape or size of the chamber.