Many thanks indeed. I'll be sure to buy ones without them as I add to my collection. Also, the pipe is made of pear wood, is it advisable to get Briar pipes in future? My Dad smoked briar and he didn't seem to be troubled by the bowl becoming too hot to hold. Is this a feature of briar pipes as my pear wood becomes intolerable to hold toward the end of a good smoke?
In my experience, which is minuscule compared to many on here considering I’ve been smoking a pipe for not much over a decade, I like my couple of Cherrywood pipes and they smoke very well. Coolness has more to do with pipe design and your smoking cadence than anything. Clay pipes tend to get very hot, and that’s why they’re designed to be held by the stem. Briar pipes just have certain qualities about them that can make your tobacco smoke sweeter, and they certainly have a higher burn point than other hardwoods. All wood pipes require a break-in point to really hit their stride usually. I and many others will recommend buying some corncob pipes from a solid maker like Missouri Meerschaum for people starting their pipe journeys. They are affordable, smoke excellent, require little break in and can be smoked repeatedly without drying like briar and other woods. And there’s many good briar pipes one can start with that won’t break the bank. Morgan Bones are as basic and solid of a briar you can get for around $50. I really like Ropp and Rossi for affordable briars that will cost a little bit more, and if you want to spend around $100, then most here will rightly steer you towards a Savinelli or Peterson. I bought a Johs for around that and it’s one of my best smoking pipes.
Yeah, definitely a stinger. They can be removed permanently if you want And welcome from PA!.
Briar is great, but pear wood is also great. Pear can get hotter, but usually that calls for smoking a little slower. Although, to be honest, every pipe, no matter the material, will behave differently. You'll have to develop a smoking style to fit the properties of the specific pie.
