I promised a review and here it is. I got both of these for Christmas and only got to try them out today. Was going to try one out last night but it just didn't happen.
The pipes: 2 Stanwell Harlekins. They break down easily and are quite easy to clean. The bowl is Briar and the stem is acrylic. The body seems to be turned from a piece of lucite and is quite solid and light. They are 9mm filter pipes and I smoked one with the filter and one without. Both bowls are coated and I left the coatings in to give a try to the pipes as they would come new.
The specs are similar so I will give the measurements for the brown one. Length 4-4/5", bowl height 1-1.2" not including the threads, depth 3/4". Bowl outer diameter is 1-1/2" while the inside is a tiny 3/5". Both weighed about 37 grams. I was a bit surprised at the difference in depth from outside to inside the bowl but it did not turn out to be a bad thing.
The tobacco: a new tin of Pelican because I am familiar with its characteristics and tastes in a variety of pipes.
The smoke: Both pipes yielded a 15 minute smoke that was dry as a bone. The pipes burned a tiny bit hot (the smoke, not the briar) but not unpleasant and certainly better than some other pipes I have had before break-in. The one without the filter burned a touch hotter but yielded a bit of a more flavorful smoke. The one with the filter tamed the smoke a bit and still delivered most of the flavor I am used to from this tobacco. Given the choice, I would use the filter for some of my stronger aromatics but would skip it for blends like this one. The only hiccup to report is that one of them had a clogged up draft hole (it's at the bottom of the bowl and goes straight down similar to a Kirsten) midway through the smoke when I was tamping but that was easily remedied by unscrewing the bowl and dislodging it with a pipe cleaner.
The bottom line: These are a couple of great smoke-break pipes that will serve me well with ultra-strong tobaccos or just for a quick smoke. When compared with my Tsuge metal blowfish, they fall short in both the taste and temperature tests but for the difference in price, $15 vs $110-ish, they are absolutely worth looking at.
Lest you think I forgot...pics. Top is the pipes broken down and bottom is the whole Christmas group.
The pipes: 2 Stanwell Harlekins. They break down easily and are quite easy to clean. The bowl is Briar and the stem is acrylic. The body seems to be turned from a piece of lucite and is quite solid and light. They are 9mm filter pipes and I smoked one with the filter and one without. Both bowls are coated and I left the coatings in to give a try to the pipes as they would come new.
The specs are similar so I will give the measurements for the brown one. Length 4-4/5", bowl height 1-1.2" not including the threads, depth 3/4". Bowl outer diameter is 1-1/2" while the inside is a tiny 3/5". Both weighed about 37 grams. I was a bit surprised at the difference in depth from outside to inside the bowl but it did not turn out to be a bad thing.
The tobacco: a new tin of Pelican because I am familiar with its characteristics and tastes in a variety of pipes.
The smoke: Both pipes yielded a 15 minute smoke that was dry as a bone. The pipes burned a tiny bit hot (the smoke, not the briar) but not unpleasant and certainly better than some other pipes I have had before break-in. The one without the filter burned a touch hotter but yielded a bit of a more flavorful smoke. The one with the filter tamed the smoke a bit and still delivered most of the flavor I am used to from this tobacco. Given the choice, I would use the filter for some of my stronger aromatics but would skip it for blends like this one. The only hiccup to report is that one of them had a clogged up draft hole (it's at the bottom of the bowl and goes straight down similar to a Kirsten) midway through the smoke when I was tamping but that was easily remedied by unscrewing the bowl and dislodging it with a pipe cleaner.
The bottom line: These are a couple of great smoke-break pipes that will serve me well with ultra-strong tobaccos or just for a quick smoke. When compared with my Tsuge metal blowfish, they fall short in both the taste and temperature tests but for the difference in price, $15 vs $110-ish, they are absolutely worth looking at.
Lest you think I forgot...pics. Top is the pipes broken down and bottom is the whole Christmas group.
