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averagegent

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jan 22, 2016
127
0
So...
I've used Savinelli's 6mm Balsa System in all my pipes (all Savinelli :wink: ) since I began smoking, pretty much. Last month, I ran out of filters ( 8O ) and as an experiment, decided to fit the system adaptor, instead of buying more filters. I LOVED IT. Needless to say, I won't be using those 6mm balsa filters again!
However, the time has come to give in to my Savinelli fan-boy fuelled PAD. My conundrum is, as I no longer have interest in the 6mm filters, do I buy another 6mm Sav and simply fit the adaptor again, or buy a 9mm Sav and try the 9mm filter?
I know this seems trivial, but I'm a perfectionist! :lol:

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
Just so you know all your options, a number of Savinelli pipes do not have filters, for example, the Oscar Lucite line and some of their churchwarden pipes. Also, Rossi, their lower priced line which has many of the same shapes, makes many pipes designed to smoke without a filter (no space for it). Just make sure to read the descriptions carefully if you are shopping for a pipe that does not use a filter. Sav's unfinished pipes also do not use filters. Incidentally, those Savinelli adaptors serve nicely in other pipes that take a 6 mm filter, such as Dr. Grabows. You can buy a supply of the Sav adaptors from smokingpipes.com among others. It's something like six for five bucks. I think the Sav Hurcules line, which are big bowled pipes, is entirely no-filter.

 
Jun 27, 2016
1,273
117
Anybody else run 6mm triangle balsa filters in their 9mm pipes? Barely affects the draw (far less than the adapter insert that came with the pipe), does not change the flavor for me, grabs a lot of moisture and ash (but I can still pull an ash through if I am not careful), and I can still run a cleaner through on all of the pipes that I have tried this on.

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
As chasing' says, most pipes smoke fine without a filter. I find the airway a little open that way, but try it too.

 

jerwynn

Lifer
Dec 7, 2011
1,033
12
Just to affirm the different strokes for different folks theme regarding filters, all but 2 of my 50 pipes are 9mm filter pipes... I waaaaaay prefer using the filters to not. I try riding bareback from time to time just to see if my preferences have changed and I do enjoy the "breathability" and easier air-flow of non-filter pipes... but my filter pipes still do a lot more FOR my enjoyment of my pipes and tobacco than against it. It's all a matter of personal preference. :puffy:

 

reniaeats

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jun 4, 2014
133
0
United States
You can get both the balsa filters and the adapters for the 9mm or the 6mm. We carry both sizes for the filters and the adapters. The 9mm are more popular in the European market and the 6mm are more popular here. So you should be fine either way.

 
Jun 27, 2016
1,273
117
mso489

As chasing' says, most pipes smoke fine without a filter. I find the airway a little open that way, but try it too.
Oddly enough when I bought my first filter pipe I had no idea that it was a filter pipe, and it did not include any filters or inserts in the chamber. I smoked it for a while and then saw the same pipe listed for sale as a filter pipe, so I checked mine and sure enough it was a 9mm filter pipe.

I've since tried a 9mm composite cylinder filter once, which kills the draw and saps the flavor if it's got activated carbon in it, and you can't pass a cleaner through it obviously. The 9mm balsa filters don't kill the flavor, but you still can't pass a cleaner through it. (Too bad they don't drill a hole through the middle of those to pass a filter and add more surface area for moisture absorption.) Then I tried the 6mm balsa triangles in the 9mm pipe and they seem to offer a good compromise between moisture absorption and preserving the draw and flavor, allowing for a cleaner to pass (in one case it facilitates the shot into the draught hole), but with the chance of an occasional piece or ash flying through. It seems to help more than hurt, like jerwynn mentioned. Not trying to be "right" here by posting back, just offering what I experienced, and to add that I (unwittingly) tried it completely empty for a little while. =)

 

averagegent

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jan 22, 2016
127
0
Wow, I'd never thought of using a 6mm balsa filter in a 9mm pipe... I might give it a try!
This is a lot more subjective than I'd anticipated!

 

jerwynn

Lifer
Dec 7, 2011
1,033
12
@ balkisobrains >>> no problemo dood! I have this personal theory that pipe smokers fall more or less into two preferential categories... they be either "olfactory" or "savory" preferential smokers, or in many cases, hybrids of the two. Olfactory smokers are there for the smell/aroma/scent/"nose"... savory for the taste/flavor, etc. I am way principally an olfactory smoker... none of it really "tastes" like anything to me... mostly no difference on the tongue whatsoever. My regal roman nose is another matter entirely. I am constantly sniffing and wafting the smoke for about 5000 variations of aroma I can jolly in... I am constantly wiffing the bowl as I smoke... one of my favorite parts of smoking a pipe is what I call the "glowing ember smell"... when the cherry is lit but there's no intense smoke arising... THAT smell is the closest thing to heaven, ESPECIALLY with English latakia-containing blends and VApers. Anyways since I don't really "taste" anything per se, my filters don't change anything in that regard... what they DO do for me, is awesomely reduce that sense of dryness and sometimes burn-out that happen in my mouth... and allow me to smoke more and longer. I remember some German outfit once commenting that the activated-charcoal 9mm filters remove 97% of the nicotine (which I don't need at all) and about the same percentage of carcinogenic stuff in the smoke... I don't know if that's true or not but it's fun to think anyways. I curious as to what other pipesters experience on the olfactory/savory scale, if it is one!

 

PlanxtyPipes

Starting to Get Obsessed
Mar 6, 2013
222
2
I don't use the filters or adapters either. I've got a couple of Savinellis that are set up for filters...two of the Venere Rusticated apples and a Duca Carlo dublin. I dumped the filter in all of them because it just didn't seem to do much for me and is another piece to mess with when cleaning the pipe. The Duca Carlo didn't come with an adapter, so I never tried it out when I dumped the filter. I never bothered with the Veneres since the Duca Carlo did fine sans adapter.

 
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