Yeah, cobs are really amazing. I didn't like the look too at first, and I only bought briar pipes at first. Until I saw some comments here about cob pipes, then i decided to get one to try. Now i have 3 cob pipes ?
Is a Basket Pipe Better than a Cob?
- Thread starter Flatfish
- Start date
I have never had a "basket pipe" or a seconds, but when buying a cob I would consider to buy a "special edition" like a Carolina Gent with a proper stem. The cheap plastic stems on other cobs don't work for me.
For value for money I would recommend cobs and Falcons.
Basket pipes usually have poor painting quality, many fillings, not good contact between stem & shank and you have to check the draw (I have some of them but I noticed these things afterwards, I still smoke them though).
Basket pipes usually have poor painting quality, many fillings, not good contact between stem & shank and you have to check the draw (I have some of them but I noticed these things afterwards, I still smoke them though).
I appear to have committed a rule infringement. But I'm not 100% sure what.
Was it the capital "B" in the word "better"? Or just too many capital letters.
PM me if you prefer.
Title edited for caps of critical words. Please see Rule 9.
Was it the capital "B" in the word "better"? Or just too many capital letters.
PM me if you prefer.
Title edited for caps of critical words. Please see Rule 9.
I'm in the UK. So new to cobs. But I sometimes think why buy anything other than a cob. They are such good smokers. They also require very little breaking in.
But the aesthetics can be a problem.
But the aesthetics can be a problem.
The cobbits look nice in my opinion. I also like the ones that have a dark stain added.
They look less like a piece of corn on a stick.
They look less like a piece of corn on a stick.
The topic of the thread should be appeared like a book title. These can be in small letter "Not important are articles, prepositions and pronouns. (a, the, an; in, over, about; you, her, they)". You can refer to this thread posted by the moderator some time ago
Those Pesky Titles! :: General Discussion - https://pipesmagazine.com/forums/threads/those-pesky-titles.88940/
A great place to start is with ?s. It’s cheap, you can beat them up without worrying too much, wide open draw so that you can learn to properly control your cadence. And as I smoke no other than MMs, it’s a bit of Americana if that interests you. You’ll save ? that could otherwise be used for ?. And on and on and on…??
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I am a novice. Over the past year I have bought four cobs and 4-5 briar off ebay that I enjoy. I find they are nice in the hand and I love the acrylic stems. However, the Peterson Derry Rustic is my favorite to look at, hold, and smoke.
I have a few basket pipes that are outstanding. A few that are not. ALL of my cobs smoke well. YMMV. But, the odds seem to favor the cobs. Most basket pipes by me are in the $25 to $35 apiece range. I get one pipe for that or 4 cobs. I like the odds of getting a good smoker from cobs better. (Aside from obviously inspecting said pipes before purchase)
Generally speaking Missouri Meerschaum makes some of the best pipes on the market bar none, basically no-one makes a Briar pipe that I'm happy with out of the box but the most basic Cob will be practically perfect.
And it actually has very little to do with the Corncob, the Hardwoods from Missouri Meerschaum are just as good (if you have any reservations about the Cob then go ahead and get a Hardwood instead), reason being the basic 80 cent plastic stem from Missouri Meerschaum is one of the best designed pipe stems ever and there's almost nothing a person could do to improve upon that design, whereas 99% of Briar pipes use old fashioned stems with a very restrictive draw.
If you don't mind the smaller draft of Briar pipes then most basket pipes are still going to be function as well as almost any pipe you'll find, the reason basket pipes are discounted is for fills in the briar or misaligned drilling, but neither of those things make it smoke worse.
Considering that nothing smokes better than a cob, I’d skip the basket pipe. ?
The one reservation I do have about factory Briars is you'll sometimes find the draft hole partway obstructed with bowl coating, but this applies to $100 pipes as much as $30 pipes, so with nearly any factory made pipe it's good to find a correctly sized drill bit (4mm or 9/64") and make sure the draft hole in the shank is clear.
These folks have covered this pretty well. I will only add that I once got a lot of 10 cob pipes from Missouri Meerschaum that were their “seconds”, essentially a bag of cob basket pipes for $20 or $30. Their flaws were cosmetic: small nicks or chips. They all smoked great and I still have at least three of them. Although I’m not sure if they still sell them through their site, you could keep an eye out.
IME there's little risk in purchasing a cob -- it will be a smoker, every time. Basket pipes are riskier, you may get lucky, or not.
Couldn't agree more with the majority of the replies here. A MM cob is a pipe with a reputation and you know what your getting. You could even go a step up and get one of the cobs with upgraded stems, like the Kingston Judge or Emerald - both are incredible cobs that I keep multiples of.
A basket pipe is a gamble. Like someone else said, the biggest factor is are you able to inspect it in person, and is the shop a quality pipe shop or a vape shop that sells pipes.
Personally, I'd buy a MM cob with the upgraded stem and if I had the spare change, I'd get on ebay and buy a factory pipe or estate pipe. You can find Medico, Grabow and the like for 15 bucks or so on ebay and again, you know what your getting.
A basket pipe is a gamble. Like someone else said, the biggest factor is are you able to inspect it in person, and is the shop a quality pipe shop or a vape shop that sells pipes.
Personally, I'd buy a MM cob with the upgraded stem and if I had the spare change, I'd get on ebay and buy a factory pipe or estate pipe. You can find Medico, Grabow and the like for 15 bucks or so on ebay and again, you know what your getting.
I was going to say this, but I'm too aware of the scarcity of real tobacconists operating a real brick and mortar nowadays, at least in my area. My one retained basket pipe (literally plucked from a basket on the counter) was an exact duplicate, minus the nomenclature, of a first-line Charatan, from the marque's "good" era. I owned both the real Charatan and the dupe, so they were easy to compare. No idea where the shop owner got them, but my point is that he wouldn't have been caught dead selling junk. Call it integrity, class, or whatever you want. I think those days are gone.
Doesn't really matter. I have a strong bias for cobs, especially the higher-end ones. Average basket pipes can be nasty chunks of green wood that will never smoke right. My worst one ended up being held outside my car's window as I gently drove around, the ember eventually burning a deep concavity in the wall of the bowl. When the outside started to darken, I heaved it off an Erie Canal bridge. Think I saw it on ebay a couple of years ago, but I could have been hallucinating.