I got some problem with my corn cob

[mushjoon]

So, I heard that corn cob can only smoke to its full potential after the hardwood (shank part.. is that how you call it?) is burnt away.
But my corn cob still has its charred hardwood sticking out. And I have a feeling that my Frog Morton on the Bayou is not smoking to its best in my cob...
How can I fix this problem?

 

[nsfisher]

i never actually noticed a difference mate.

 

[kf5eqv]

I've never heard that about cobs. Mine smoke just fine, the wood part inside isn't burnt away, but a nice buildup of cake has smoothed out the bottom of the pipe a bit.
All I can tell you is to keep smoking it. Try your tabac in a different pipe if your not satisfied and see if you get better flavor from other pipes.

 

[pentangle]

Why don't you cut it away? Guess it is possible.Anyway i don't like corn cobs they're cheap i know but briar estates are also, and do better work

 

[olderthandirt]

corn cob can only smoke to its full potential

About all that happens once that bit of shank burns back is a slight increase in bowl capacity and less unburnt tobacco in the bottom of the bowl. Actual quality of the smoke is not affected to my mind.
In the past I have:

Left it as is and smoked it. Seemed to take forever for the thing to burn back but it eventually did.

Cut the exposed bit of shank inside the chamber away with a Dremel using an acorn shaped grinding burr.

Filled in the sides of the exposed bit of shank inside the chamber with pipe mud to get away from unburnt tobacco in that space.
I personally like the pipe mud routine the best.

 

[baronsamedi]

Mine's burned back a bit and the only thing I noticed is it doesn't try to throw a burning ember down my throat if I tamp down to the draft hole. It is a better smoke in that respect, but quality wise, there's no difference in aroma or taste since I broke it in. New there was a corn overtone, but that went a way in a couple of smokes.

 

[tiltjlp]

After 3-5 smokes, the inner shank will be charred, and then there won't be any difference in taste. You can learn more about cobs from my Primer.
http://pipedia.org/index.php?title=The_Complete_Corncob_primer

 

[wildcat]

I first read about this on THE COMPLETE CORNCOB PRIMER
http://pipedia.org/index.php?title=The_Complete_Corncob_primer
Breaking In Cobs *
Advice offered by SmokeyTheWerewolf was so good I asked his permission to include it in the Corncob Primer. Thanks very much Smokey.
People say that cobs require no break-in. Compared to a briar pipe, I suppose that's nearly true, but there is a bit of a break-in period.
With the first few bowls in a new cob, when you get near the bottom, that wood from the shank inside the bowl will start to burn. When it starts to taste bad, I stick with it just a few puffs more to help char that wood out of there. Then I sit the pipe down and let it smolder completely out before emptying the bowl or trying to clean it. I figure while it's sitting there a bit more of the wood may burn, and I don't want to stop it from doing so. After 2 bowls, and then again after 4 bowls I hit that shank with a reamer with very little pressure. I'm only trying to whittle away the charred wood and expose more unburned shank so it will burn out more easily next time. After 6 bowls, your cob should be good and broken in.
In that process, most of the the wood shank will have been burned away. The little spaces to the side and under that shank will have filled with ash and just a bit of moisture making a natural pipe mud that will help round out the bottom of your bowl and provide for better smoke draught mechanics and will help protect the bottom of your cob from burnout.

 

[shawn]

Mine is slowly burning away. The pipe is a great smoker and my baccy tastes fine.

 

[jchaplick]

If its charred that what they meant by burnt away, it never actually goes away, you just stop burning wood once its charred.
Personally I think MM pipes have one bad smoke, then they are perfect

 

[dimm]

I just smoke it as is. After the first couple bowls I fill in the sides around the shank (in the chamber) with mud and its set for long service. I suppose you could cut it away but I don't see the pros of going to the effort of doing this.

 

[mushjoon]

By the way, does the "General" model have a hardwood bottom or not?

 

[matchstickman]

By the way, does the "General" model have a hardwood bottom or not?

I had originally written a response to this, but Johns post made me feel rather foolish in my answer. I read "General" and a completely different pipe popped in my head. My advice? Listen to John. He's our resident corn cob guru, you know :mrgreen:

 

[tiltjlp]

No, the General doesn't hand a hard wood plug. All the other full-size cobs do.

 

[wildcat]

No, the General doesn't hand a hard wood plug. All the other full-size cobs do.
Both my bent and straight MM generals have the hard wood plug in them. Both have the MM stamp, no sticker. Plug clearly visible.
The straight is well broken in being smoked for about a year. I just tried the pipe mud trick for the my first time on the bent. We'll see how it goes.
Just picked up a MM Pony Express (straight, no filter, long shank/small bowl) this morning. Walked out of the store, packed 'er, lit 'er, smoked 'er! Nice!

 

[brewshooter]

Yeah, my General appears to have a wooden plug also.

 

[tiltjlp]

Boy do I have egg on my facr. As several folks have pointed out, the General does indeed have a hard wood plug, and I know that. It's the Country Gentleman that doesn't have a hard wood plug. As far as I know, the Country Gentleman is the only larger size MM cob without a hard wood plug. Sorry for the goof up.

 

[brewshooter]

Yeah, definitely no plug in the Country Gentleman, because I have one of those too!! :D