From Strangers to Lovers to Strangers. A Pipe's Tale.

[Law]

Having thought of my recent pipe acquisitions and the feeling of regret over how many pipes I have purchased instead of tobacco, especially in recent corporate excellence and efficiency decisions being made which I have been told to understand that it is good for me and I should count my lucky blends it hasn't all gone off, I came to discover in this pipe searching journey is that next pipe I purchase may be better than what I have, and the one after it may be marvelous...or horrible. It may be life changing or a flowing sense of regret as you light the bowl and discover a once expensive, new pipe has been devalued not just by its monetary value upon the first light, but by your standards of a collection as you know...it just won't make the cut. Yes, sometimes it wins you over with time or with a different genre, but as you smoke the new pipe, it makes you wonder the worth beyond its looks. Something you could do better with pipes than with woman.

As you smoke the smoke you come to the question: Why? Why is this a good smoke? Why is this better? Why is this different? Can it be better with time? Does cake matter? Is briar curing that important? Can you smoke the "junk" out of it? Why does the pipe can't just be a pipe and not a complicated one?

I had this sense with each pipe I bought. It is one of the main reasons buying pipes is more of an experience than just going by its beauty. What if this pipes smokes latakias better? Sweeter? Is it just a fiction of my imagination? I go on grabbing one of my pipes and smoking an aromatic in a Latakia dedicated pipe. I am trying to find a pipe that smokes my EGR better so my small stash gives me double the satisfaction making me smoke less for more.

Can you force a pipe to be dedicated to a genre? Smoke Virginias solely on till it accepts it? Force it? Can you break its soul for it to accept its fate?

That was scrapped. It never worked in history and never in pipes. At best, it'll be an average smoker till you realize it was a bad idea along the way.

A recent one that has proved undoubtedly to me this line of thinking and that was smoking a Peterson calabash Christmas 2022 pipe estate pipe I bought. It smoked latakia's well and Virginia's horribly. Just pure hot air whenever I tried. It wasn't special, but it worked well for its designation so it lives in the collection in the meantime. One day, I found a forgotten tin of Ashton's consummate gentleman laying around. Memories flooded. This blend wasn't good in any pipe I have tried it in. I tried finding anything that worked with it, but it didn't want to cooperate with any briar. I was bored, a starting point of many great inventions and ideas, I stuffed that tobacco in my Peterson and smoked it.

I sat. I smoked. It was the single greatest smoke in a while.

I came to realize expensive pipes I had turned to be average duds. A falcon pipe, once revered for its utility, thrown in a pile of old broken corncobs and ghosted estate pipes that I couldn't exorcist. In between the pile of dead pipes sits another pipe of memory that another pipe outlived its greatness. It was once a good pipe and complimented my aromatics well enough, but I just started smoking my aromatics in my meerschaum, and at that it did very well. That was the end of aromatics in my briars. It met the fate of many others; a greater one took its place. A pile of many mixed bad smokers, dud briars, broken corncobs, and some experiments gone wrong. Now I grabbed that Romeo in search of its Juliet.

Moral of the story? I have no idea. I just can't understand why briars have to be this different to each other without clear answers. I tried sunbear, one of my favorite aromatics, In the Peterson. Absolute hot air. Not even a hint of the latakia's ghost within the walls of the pipe. I stubbornly continued smoking as I wanted to figure out why this is the way it is. I discovered: It just is, and nobody really knows the answers. On a side note, doesn't that also make artisanal pipes that much more risky? You don't know the personality you're getting with that briar and you can't really fault the maker.

Now that I accepted this line of thinking, I have a great collection of artisanal pipes going down to ones that have been repaired due to broken shanks. If a pipe smokes damn well, it damn stays. This has made me enjoy all the tobbacco's consistently and in any part of the day. I could start with latakias in the morning, go in the afternoon with a virginia, and end the day with an aromatic. All tastes great and no body chemistry gets in the way. It does a little I'll admit, especially in detecting the nuances, but it doesn't make me wish I started the day differently to enjoy the blends profile. I can have my tobacco and smoke it too.

Corncobs are only an affair with burleys. They continually disappoint when I start to believe I can fall in love with them. There is a saying that goes like this: You can't turn a corncob into a briar pipe.

Clean your pipes, don't overwork them, and respect their preference and surely they'll love you back...I believe.

 

[Sig]

Over the years I have come to believe it's a combination of things that make a pipe a good smoker....and the briar has little to do with it.
Chamber depth and width, hole placement and drilling dynamics are the keys to a good pipe. Many artisan pipe makers understand this, so MOST of their pipes turn out great.
MM corn cobs have a wide open draw, limited bend, and a hole placed perfectly on the bottom. So, they generally smoke great.
I also believe, for whatever reason, pipes made decades ago were just made better. I see this with many of the 50+ year old briars I have.
My absolute worst smokers have other issues too. From bad drilling, poorly made bend, or other defect causing turbulence.
My best tasting pipes are all straight pipes, mostly Billiards. In my opinion a well made straight Billiard is tough to beat in the flavor department.
This may all be nonsense, but it's where I stand.

 

[Waning Embers]

After nearly four decades of smoking a pipe I could never find any difference between one pipe and another other than aesthetics and smoke duration. Blends tasted exactly the same regardless of the pipe they were smoked in excluding intentionally ghosted pipes. The time and money I wasted spent on chasing the notion were time and money wasted.

 

[telescopes]

There is a saying that goes like this: You can't turn a corncob into a briar pipe.

Huh? If anything, there are many who would suggest you have that backwards.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

We all have our little nuances that we draw from this hobby (or whatever you want to call it), which we enjoy focusing on. Whether it's the fact that no two pipes are the same, or that different briars have distinct aromas, or what attracts corn cob enthusiasts to those, or the various tobaccos... There are tons of rabbit holes that you can get lured down. And, each of us goes down a different path. Those that have spent decades of time and money... well, you at least came to an understanding that could only be found by experience. Those of you just now starting your journeys, have fun, and don't get too dogmatic on anything. Be open to exploring different facets, different aspects, different pipes and tobaccos.

And, yeh, there is no objective conclusion you can find on anything that someone else won't have a debate against. Be open to debate. That's what we are all here for.

Keep it smokey!

 

[BingBong]

Chimney diameter and depth of fireplace, makes a difference in my experience. I have few true all-rounders, for my picky palate anyway.

 

[Choatecav]

Like the three most important factors for real estate......

The three most fundamentally important factors for pipe flavor are: Draw, Draw, Draw.....