For years, I have smoked a small rotation of cob pipes, and though I know many here love cobs, I have always had mixed feelings about them. For one thing, it takes me forever to "break in" a cob. By this I mean I will smoke many dozens or even hundreds of bowls before it begins to seem *right*-- or as close to right as it's going to get. Until then I taste wood, glue, varnish, maybe the paste used in so many of them, and most of all--cob. I have also long suspected that up until this point and even after, the cob somehow absorbs the flavors of tobacco.
I may feel this way because I smoke almost exclusively unadorned burley and burley-Turkish blends. if I smoked more aros, lat bombs, or perique heavy blends, I believe the cob taste would be less noticeable.
Anyway, the other day a cob split on me, and for the reasons I've just given, this was more than the loss of a six dollar pipe. I'd been waiting on that cob to be "right" for a year, suffering to greater or lesser degrees through the bowls.
So, when I made my last tobacco order, I decided to get a clay instead--a Markus Fohr billiard, and I am so glad I did. It has allowed me to see that with the cobs I had been missing so many flavors in both burleys and Turkish tobaccos. I had been missing for instance many, almost all, of the chocolate coco notes burley is famous for. I had been missing so much of izmir's wild funkiness.
I'm so impressed I may give up cobs forever.
Make no mistake, the clay is awkward and difficult in most of the ways clays are said to be. The stem is oddly shaped, and takes some getting used to. If I don't lick the stem, it'll stick to my lips (and I feel a bit creepy, licking a pipe stem every time I put it into my mouth). If I drop it, which I've almost done already, it'll break. And it's not the easiest thing to clean even with a skinny pipe cleaner.
That said, it's difficult to clean because it has a narrow draw, and I'm beginning to think I may prefer a narrow draw. I like the flow better than the wide-open cob. Also: although the bowl certainly gets warm, it rarely gets truly hot. It has yet to burn my fingers and the bowl feels no warmer than my cobs, most of the time.
So, I'm entering the world of clays. I may be looking into those clay pipes with horn or vulcanite stems in the near future.
I may feel this way because I smoke almost exclusively unadorned burley and burley-Turkish blends. if I smoked more aros, lat bombs, or perique heavy blends, I believe the cob taste would be less noticeable.
Anyway, the other day a cob split on me, and for the reasons I've just given, this was more than the loss of a six dollar pipe. I'd been waiting on that cob to be "right" for a year, suffering to greater or lesser degrees through the bowls.
So, when I made my last tobacco order, I decided to get a clay instead--a Markus Fohr billiard, and I am so glad I did. It has allowed me to see that with the cobs I had been missing so many flavors in both burleys and Turkish tobaccos. I had been missing for instance many, almost all, of the chocolate coco notes burley is famous for. I had been missing so much of izmir's wild funkiness.
I'm so impressed I may give up cobs forever.
Make no mistake, the clay is awkward and difficult in most of the ways clays are said to be. The stem is oddly shaped, and takes some getting used to. If I don't lick the stem, it'll stick to my lips (and I feel a bit creepy, licking a pipe stem every time I put it into my mouth). If I drop it, which I've almost done already, it'll break. And it's not the easiest thing to clean even with a skinny pipe cleaner.
That said, it's difficult to clean because it has a narrow draw, and I'm beginning to think I may prefer a narrow draw. I like the flow better than the wide-open cob. Also: although the bowl certainly gets warm, it rarely gets truly hot. It has yet to burn my fingers and the bowl feels no warmer than my cobs, most of the time.
So, I'm entering the world of clays. I may be looking into those clay pipes with horn or vulcanite stems in the near future.
