Filter or not to filter

[Sober-Slap]

Hi guys,
As my first post stated a few weeks back I'm new to pipe smoking. I've just bought my first missori meerscaum corn cob and it came with a massive filter. My question is, do I have to use a filter? Thanks chaps.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Hi guys,
As my first post stated a few weeks back I'm new to pipe smoking. I've just bought my first missori meerscaum corn cob and it came with a massive filter. My question is, do I have to use a filter? Thanks chaps.

Is it a filter, or a cardboard placeholder for a filter?

No, you don't have to use them, many smokers here don't.

 

[coming to_falling too]

I usually just throw the paper filters away.

 

[Sober-Slap]

Is it a filter, or a cardboard placeholder for a filter?

No, you don't have to use them, many smokers here don't.

Ah.... you may well be right CE. It says filter on the side of the tube but definitely just looks like a rolled up bit of card. I will chuck away and use without

 

[Sober-Slap]

I usually just throw the paper filters away.

Think I'll do the same. I would assume filters remove flavour

 

[OverMountain]

Experiences vary. I like filters because it makes the smoke cooler and dryer. I almost never have a gurgle issue while using filters unless the tobacco is wet.

One selling point for me is looking at the fore and aft ends of a charcoal filter after use. The front in is brown and the end nearest your mouth is not. Having filtered smoke for me is desirable.

Good luck and welcome! Glad to hear a UK member is enjoying cobs.

 

[Briar Lee]

Experiences vary. I like filters because it makes the smoke cooler and dryer. I almost never have a gurgle issue while using filters unless the tobacco is wet.

One selling point for me is looking at the fore and aft ends of a charcoal filter after use. The front in is brown and the end nearest your mouth is not. Having filtered smoke for me is desirable.

Good luck and welcome! Glad to hear a UK member is enjoying cobs.

My first Missouri Meerschaum fifty years ago had a filter, and it worked as advertised. Filters do make the smoke milder, they trap water, and minimize tongue bite and mouth burn.

A half a century has passed now, and I hardly ever use the filters. They work too well, for my tastes today.

Of all the ways to smoke tobacco using a pipe requires the most skill, or maybe a better word is experience.

Filters help a man gain experience in the art of pipe smoking.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I have always removed them before using.

 

[telescopes]

If a pipe uses a filter, a filter I then use. I have never found them to impede my enjoyment and has been stated, when you remove them you wonder why you you would smoke without one to begin with.

Are they necessary?

No.

 

[Piping Rooster]

When I first started all the pipes I purchased were filtered. Being a novice they did help a bit with tongue bite and moisture. After almost a decade of smoking they are no longer used as now I have slowed down and learned to sip and enjoy the tobacco and at the same time not burning a raging hot bon-fire in my pipes. Having come from the cigar world, I used to think having billowing clouds of smoke was the way to enjoy the smoke. Boy was I ever wrong! Filters are just a waste of money and flavour that is un-neccessary. Take the time to slow down and practice sipping the smoke and barely keeping the pipe lit. It makes for a wonderful experience.

 

[El Capitán]

I don't use them. I feel you get the full flavor and aroma without them. Then again it just might be a placebo effect for me.

 

[Christos D. Tsatsaronis]

I use filters, mostly balsa wood. As said by others, smoking with them is cooler and dryer.

 

[geoffs]

I prefer filters but I can't be fussed with them, so I smoke without.

 

[anotherbob]

try it with and without. It's a matter of taste. Think of it like different types of tires on a bike. Depends on how you ride and what kind of ride you want. Check it out. I hate filters personally. But some small percentage of pipe smokers prefer them. And you can smoke with or without them. Basically all they do really is trap moisture and smoke. Some people say they clean up the smoke, but as far as tar and nicotine that junk that's left in them is basically all of the smoke not selected parts of it. But that can make a difference between how much you enjoy or don't enjoy the pipe. Cobs however already just kind of do a similar thing anyways.

 

[Coreios]

I don't use them either. More flavor without and cheaper.

 

[bullet08]

You don't have to use filter. Some do, and some don't. Your choice.

 

[marconi]

I use charcoal filters in all of my pipes because thats what I prefer having tried pipes with and without filters.

 

[Akoni808]

I started with using filters. Later realized I don’t need them. Try without them first, and go from there.