Filters....

[jpmcwjr]

I do like filters but they seem wasteful and make me feel like I'm adding some big contraption to such a simple thing as a pipe. I have a couple boxes of the savinelli filters and I still can't seem to gather enough ambition to use them. Not to mention the fact that when I do use one, my immediate thought is 'well now I have one less filter'. But I'm an odd duck so...

Not so odd.....

Nice to see you back!

 

[mso489]

One aspect of filters I don't like is that they involve removing the stem quite regularly to replace the filter. While that is fine, a pipe without a filter needn't have the stem removed nearly as often, and that's less wear on the stem/shank joint. Not a big issue, but not entirely insignificant either. Stems have to be removed for cleaning, but not so often.

 

[alexnc]

I started using balsa filters in my early days as training wheels to control moisture. I didn’t like pass through filters for the draw and a sense they muted the taste. After a few years I noticed I didn’t really need training wheels any longer. But I did come to think that the balsa filters do reduce nicotine when experimenting with and without. I also noticed that to me, smoking a few bowls in a row, filterless gave me a sense that I was collecting a residue in the back of my throat that was unpleasant and I wasn’t used to. So I went back to 9mm balsa. I think in the end I came to think maybe Savinelli’s claims on their effectiveness had some merit. I doubt the numbers they claim and expect that their claims are overblown. But even if they are 30% as effective as they claim it’s a significant difference I would choose.

 

[woodsroad]

FWIW, balsa "filters" are not really filters, but absorbents. Nothing much passes through them.
Here's a post from 2017 that explores the issue.

 

[shikano53]

I use filters in all my cobs that take them. I don't find they terribly affect the draw and don't alter the taste.
That's just IMHO and subjective experience.
I think - do as you wish. Try them without, try them with.
Don't base your decision on feeling guilty about using them or thinking that they in someway make you an inferior pipe smoker.

 

[anotherbob]

I use filters in all my cobs that take them. I don't find they terribly affect the draw and don't alter the taste.
That's just IMHO and subjective experience.
I think - do as you wish. Try them without, try them with.
Don't base your decision on feeling guilty about using them or thinking that they in someway make you an inferior pipe smoker.

but they do make you an inferior pipe smoker, in the same way that smoking any blend that isn't the same one I'am smoking at the moment does so. Oh sorry just have to make fun of some of the pipe smokers I've met. You know the aro smokers aren't really smokers, you are an amateur if you don't smoke only English or Va. You've met that type and they need to be made fun of semi regularly to keep them from ruining things for everyone (that's the only way they can get any joy).

 

[shikano53]

lol Awesome! ?

 

[jamesc]

I can't speak on behalf of 9mm filters but I use 6mm Savinelli filters on all my Savinellis that can accept them and have no draw issues.

 

[alexnc]

I can't speak on behalf of 9mm filters but I use 6mm Savinelli filters on all my Savinellis that can accept them and have no draw issues.

Absorption filters are pretty effective imo with no impact on draw or taste. 6mm savs do the same thing as the 9s

 

[Mr.Mike]

I use the grabow filters in all my cobs and any other pipe that excepts them. I've always been more of a non filtered guy, but have been warming up to their benefits lately. I haven't noticed any drop in flavor. In fact, the more restricted draw allows me to pack even looser which seems to give me even more flavor. Not having to worry about moisture is cool too. I don't see them as training wheels. Smoke smarter not harder.

 

[coming to_falling too]

I don't use filters, and so avoid pipes that do, because the draw on them tends to rely on there being a filter present. For example, the MM Country Gentleman is a cob that takes a filter. If I smoke a Country Gentleman without a filter, I find the draw way too "loose". It comes down to preference I guess. You find the draw a little tight with a filter, but that's the draw I like _without_ a filter.

I have both a straight and bent country gentleman that I smoke without a filter. Whenever I first got them and started smoking them without the filter I thought the draw was too loose, now I don't notice it much at all. I also tend to pack my cobs a bit tighter than I would my briars. One of the things I like most about cobs is that they're forgiving if you're a little heavy fingered on the packing