Amigo #51: Just received this super expensive pipe -- $25 including shipping!! It's my 3rd Mr. Brog, and like the others, not bad at all. This one is a clunky looking thing, weighing 62 grams. The stem is a bit thick but not out of proportion -- it really is a bit heavy for clenching though it's not uncomfortable. The walls are very thick and it stays cool while smoking.
The pipe, made of pear wood, is shipped with a 9mm filter - some sort of brown paper thing which collapsed on the first smoke and choked it off completely. Once I got that out it was fine. The drilling is a tad high in the bowl, and considerably high in the stem end but given the size of the hole in the stem (it fits 9mm, remember) it doesn't seem to be a problem. I can pass a cleaner right into the bowl (with the filter out, of course).
The bowl is coated with something and as a result the overwhelming taste of pearwood is missing from the first smokes - can't say I'm unhappy about that! Overall impressions are that it's a BIG pipe, but the chamber isn't actually that big.
I've just had a couple of bowls through it so far, and I'm finding that while it's a great smoke, with no hint of pear flavour (it's a coated bowl which my other 2 Brogs weren't) it seems to block up very easily (using Lane 1Q). I'll have to experiment with different filling methods, I think. I also found that the filter (both the original and the Petersons I switched to) seem to get very wet, swell, and then collapse in the middle. Again, too early to know whether to blame me, the tobacco, or the pipe!
Like my other Mr. Brogs (an Army and a Scoot) they are a very affordable and quite satisfactory addition to my stable!
