Effects and Properties of Pipe Bowl Shape
- Thread starter Effortlessdepths
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It’s all clear now. IMP = Impressive Macaroni Pipe.
Makes sense, right? The macaroni and cheese are getting cooked in the bowl while you're eating it. Right? You're analogy would be the same as putting burnt tobacco ash in a pipe.
Nah, just the lack of effect of the container on the flavor of the macaroni like the effect or lack thereof of a pipe type on the tobacco being smoked. The blend is the same regardless of the pipe.
Off topic... maybe on topic.
(The woman makes a killer mac n cheese in the instant pot with a touch of smoked gouda that i cover with hatch green chili powder.)
But the pipe. I'm eyeing that exact pipe. How do you like it?
It has a great feel to it in my hand, very ergonomic despite it's looks, also despite it's look it hangs in my teeth really well. Smokes like a dream, beautiful, and somehow has a quality that's ineffable to me. I build historically accurate hickory martial arts swords with weights inside them to make sure their point of balance is the correct distance from your hand, and the best way I can describe this pipe is that it's "well balanced".
I've found the wide chambered pipes with little to no taper go best with the finer shag and ribbon cuts.Actually these cuts burn well in the deeper, tapered chambers, too.Rubbed out flake goes better in a tapered chamber.Straight flake goes best for me in medium to small chambers.Just my opinion. ?
G.L.Pease did a great article a while back about his preference for pairing shapes to tobaccos that I thought was very informative.
For me I smoke my virginias generally in a smaller cutty or billiard, perique blends sing best to me in a mid sized volcano or billiard, and when I'm feeling like an aromatic then I reach for my big boys.... Cobs or large bent billiards. I think everyone is different and will enjoy a blend in a shape that most suits them so don't get to hung up on the shape and enjoy the bowl.
For me I smoke my virginias generally in a smaller cutty or billiard, perique blends sing best to me in a mid sized volcano or billiard, and when I'm feeling like an aromatic then I reach for my big boys.... Cobs or large bent billiards. I think everyone is different and will enjoy a blend in a shape that most suits them so don't get to hung up on the shape and enjoy the bowl.
Ahhh... I am late to the battle, but this here is also another great hill to die on.
If you don't think that there is any significance between smoking a small cone shaped bowl and a large wide U-shaped bowl, then please just stop talking about any tastes at all. You obviously aren't tasting.
This is absurd. Why would they even have tiny .5" wide bowls and 1" wide bowls? It has been posted many times over the years that you can smoke a small bowl just just as long as a wide bowl, the differences in amount of time needed is the Hight X Width dimensions, not just the overall volumetric size of how much tobacco it holds.
Think about small diameter cigars verses wide ones. The volume of smoke, the amount of surrounding tobacco that contributes oils to the smoke, and how much of each type of leaf in the blend is contributing at any given time.
If you are talking about the differences between a .8" and a .9" wide bowl, then get out of here. You don't even have a good range to compare.
But, with a tall narrow cone shaped bowl, I can focus in more on the flavor of a single leaf blend. A wide shaped bowl (at about .9-1" wide, the shape becomes less important) I get a more full amount of smoke that absorbs less into my system with each sip.
I have to say, if you can't tell a difference in the smoke coming from a .6" wide by 2" tall cone shape and a 1" wide pipe, then you're not tasting. Why the hell are you here? Stop arguing with the big boys, set down and learn something.
The two diametrically size and shaped bowls will not give you such a difference that you will think that you are smoking latakia in one and a straight Virginia in the other. But in a wide bowl a Virginia can become more mellow, but the delicate nuances of flavor get lost in the volume. Like tasting honey before making a mead, you only put a drop on your tongue. If you stick the whole spoon in your mouth you'll never be able to tell an Orange Blossom honey from a ragweed. Sipping delicately from a tall narrow pipe, is more bitey and acidic, but it allows you to pull the more delicate hays and citruses, etc...
But, for my everyday smoking of Virginias, I do tend to go for a medium .8" sized bowl. It seems to give me less bite with still some of those delicate flavors.
I don't usually enjoy a latakia in a tall narrow bowl. It's not absurd to me, but it just doesn't give me as much enjoyment as large volumes of smoke as a larger pipe bowl does. However, when I smoke a new to me tobacco, I will try different pipes, shapes and sizes.
If you don't think that there is any significance between smoking a small cone shaped bowl and a large wide U-shaped bowl, then please just stop talking about any tastes at all. You obviously aren't tasting.
This is absurd. Why would they even have tiny .5" wide bowls and 1" wide bowls? It has been posted many times over the years that you can smoke a small bowl just just as long as a wide bowl, the differences in amount of time needed is the Hight X Width dimensions, not just the overall volumetric size of how much tobacco it holds.
Think about small diameter cigars verses wide ones. The volume of smoke, the amount of surrounding tobacco that contributes oils to the smoke, and how much of each type of leaf in the blend is contributing at any given time.
If you are talking about the differences between a .8" and a .9" wide bowl, then get out of here. You don't even have a good range to compare.
But, with a tall narrow cone shaped bowl, I can focus in more on the flavor of a single leaf blend. A wide shaped bowl (at about .9-1" wide, the shape becomes less important) I get a more full amount of smoke that absorbs less into my system with each sip.
I have to say, if you can't tell a difference in the smoke coming from a .6" wide by 2" tall cone shape and a 1" wide pipe, then you're not tasting. Why the hell are you here? Stop arguing with the big boys, set down and learn something.
The two diametrically size and shaped bowls will not give you such a difference that you will think that you are smoking latakia in one and a straight Virginia in the other. But in a wide bowl a Virginia can become more mellow, but the delicate nuances of flavor get lost in the volume. Like tasting honey before making a mead, you only put a drop on your tongue. If you stick the whole spoon in your mouth you'll never be able to tell an Orange Blossom honey from a ragweed. Sipping delicately from a tall narrow pipe, is more bitey and acidic, but it allows you to pull the more delicate hays and citruses, etc...
But, for my everyday smoking of Virginias, I do tend to go for a medium .8" sized bowl. It seems to give me less bite with still some of those delicate flavors.
I don't usually enjoy a latakia in a tall narrow bowl. It's not absurd to me, but it just doesn't give me as much enjoyment as large volumes of smoke as a larger pipe bowl does. However, when I smoke a new to me tobacco, I will try different pipes, shapes and sizes.
cos, I am sensing some frustration coming from you. Are they getting to you? lol Everyone knows that to properly smoke an English blend, you need an inside bowl diameter 1.45 inches. Anything less will not allow the components to fulfill their destiny.
My only criteria is the cut of the tobacco itself. Some that are a very long or rough cut I use a larger bowl just to keep from having to jam it in too much in a narrower bowl.
My observation with different bowl sizes and shapes is how they affect my packing. For one reason or another, some of my pipes are just easier to pack than others. I think that the ease of packing affects the quality of the pack. And the quality of the pack directly affects the flavor of the smoke.
So, some pipes give a better smoke than others for certain blends, or more accurately, for certain cuts of tobacco.
IMO, the classic pipe shapes handle all cuts of tobacco well relatively equally.
So, some pipes give a better smoke than others for certain blends, or more accurately, for certain cuts of tobacco.
IMO, the classic pipe shapes handle all cuts of tobacco well relatively equally.
I guess mine aren’t varied enough to make a big impact. ?
I don’t own a pipe with less than 0.75” diameter chamber.
I think this is more subjective. Some may have their reasons for preferring the exact opposite of me in how I dedicate my pipes. We are all in this for different reasons.
Yeh, a 1% x 1.5% ratio sized U-shape pipe is going to be general workhorse compromise, IMO.
Well, there ya go. I have a few Nordings and even Savinellis that are below the .75" range. I also had a custom stack made for me by Dan Chlebove that is about .7"
I thought most MM cobs were in the .6" range. I think I have a few cobs almost .5" Pony Express maybe? Not sure.
Savinelli made a tiny pipe series as seconds called Piumas. I have a few of them also. They are about .5"
I like small pipes for different reasons. Aromatics, because really it doesn't matter what pipe size I smoke those in. Also, for tasting I like a small pipe.
I didn’t think about cobs. Yeah, they may be smaller.