I Get More Dottle With Briars

[Lumbridge]

I've been smoking cobs for five years and have recently branched out into briars. I find that I get more unsmokable wet dottle smoking my briars, whereas the cobs smoke dry to the bottom. Cobs seem to be more tobacco-efficient for me, wheareas when I smoke a briar, I end up tossing about an eighth of the tobacco at the bottom of the bowl which is soaked with moisture. I believe it's because the cobs are more absorbent and the moisture collects at the bottom below the stem shank. Anyone else experience this?

 

[Honkytonk Man]

I can smoke a briar pipe all the way to the end of the smoke and have nothing but ash. Not always, mind, I guess it all depends on my smoking technique at the time. But saying that, the times I've smoked my Tom Eltang, always down to ash.
Of course as I say, it doesn't always work out that I smoke to ash in a briar. As for comparing the scenario to cobbs, well I haven't got the first idea.
I keep the dang things away to people who want to try pipe smoking and that's the last I here of them!
Think I'm gonna start charging for the cobbs & tobacco samples. Working on the principle that if said persons have invested something, they might be more encouraged to continue and keep in touch.
@Lumbridge, apologies for going of topic at the end.

 

[Lumbridge]

I can smoke a briar pipe all the way to the end of the smoke and have nothing but ash. Not always, mind, I guess it all depends on my smoking technique at the time. But saying that, the times I've smoked my Tom Eltang, always down to ash.
Of course as I say, it doesn't always work out that I smoke to ash in a briar. As for comparing the scenario to cobbs, well I haven't got the first idea.
I keep the dang things away to people who want to try pipe smoking and that's the last I here of them!
Think I'm gonna start charging for the cobbs & tobacco samples. Working on the principle that if said persons have invested something, they might be more encouraged to continue and keep in touch.
@Lumbridge, apologies for going of topic at the end.

I have been known to digress quite a bit myself, haha.
I myself keep a few extra cobs to give away in case a guest expresses an interest in getting into pipes. I'm convinced that there really isn't a better way to get started than with a cob and a little Prince Albert or Carter Hall.

 

[didimauw]

I don't have any problems with briars. But I will say that I understand what you are saying. Cobs, like meerschaum are more absorbent, and will handle more moisture throughout the smoke. I like briars, but they CAN be more finicky.

 

[captpat]

Most of my briars will smoke right to the bottom no problem. Some (and some meers) will leave a fair amount of dottle, I attribute this more to the geometry of the bowl and the drilling. I find that with MM cobs a bit of unsmoked tobacco gets bound up around and under the wooden thingy they put in the bottom of the bowl. Regardless little wasted tobacco to get overly concerned about, in many cases the taste in that last little bit degrades and I don't smoke it anyway.

 

[blackpowderpiper]

I can't say that I've noticed a huge difference between the two. It kind of depends on the individual pipe, cut of tobacco, moisture level, how it's packed, bowl geometry, etc. For me, a little dottle left over at the end of the smoke is just the price of admission and I don't worry about it too much. But then again, where I live tobacco is still relatively affordable.

 

[RustiePyles CPG]

It can be caused by a couple of different things.

First off, you could have pipes that didn't get broken in properly. If there is no cake in the heel of the bowl there is nothing to absorb the moisture so it just makes a soaking wet dottle plug.

You could just be smoking too hot and fast creating to much moisture.

You could have pipes that are poorly drilled.

You might need to dry your tobacco out a bit more.

Cobs and meers are very absorbent right out of the box and offer the easiest smoking experience needing no breaking in. Briars need a to broken in.

I break in all my new briars by only filling 1/3 of the bowl and smoking it all the way to the bottom until the entire heel and bottom third of the pipe are caked to my liking. This takes about 15-20 smokes. Then I start filling them to the 1/2 way point and smoke them all the way to the bottom for another 15-20 smokes. once the whole bottom half of the pipe is caked I will smoke it normally. I doo all of this with VA as I find it to be the hardest cake. Burley builds cakes faster but it can be soft and crumbly. I do not clean the bowl AT ALL until I've achieved my desired cake build up.

 

[metalheadycigarguy]

Can't say I've noticed a difference between my meers, my cobs or my briars. For me it really depends on the tobacco. I've noticed that some tobaccos smoke all the way down to ash whereas others leave dottle.

 

[bullet08]

Dry more. Drier the tobacco, more it will burn to the bottom. Adaptation is a good thing.