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Jan 28, 2018
12,952
134,571
66
Sarasota, FL
Just got this clay in from SP. Bowl is .73” x 1.5”, ideal. Loaded it up with Vauen No 14, a tobacco I smoke frequently and am familiar with.

First, the pipe. Extremely light, a little bit pretty. Certainly not ugly. Very cheap acrylic stem with a barely functional width. I think the stem is glued in, tried to twist it and it wouldn’t move to the point I was afraid I’d break it.
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Applied fire and off we go. It’s definitely a different smoking experience. More neutral? How would I really know, I’m no jiminks. I suppose so. Seems like I can detect the tobacco nuances better, definitely the sweetness. Aside from being a bit of a PITA to clinch, the pipe smokes marvelous! I mean really, really good. I will undoubtedly smoke it often. In fact, I will smoke a bowl of McCranie’s Red Flake later, one of my absolute favs.

I wish they’d put a better stem in, I’d definitely buy more and be happy to pay a few more dollars. I’m going to buy a couple more anyway. I think I’ll buy one with the bare clay shank and put the friction tape on it to see how that works.

If you enjoy smoking a pipe, you owe it to yourself to buy one to try. Cheap experiment and worth it either way.
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The Clay King

(Formerly HalfDan)
Oct 2, 2018
5,651
51,186
41
Chesterfield, UK
www.youtube.com
Just got this clay in from SP. Bowl is .73” x 1.5”, ideal. Loaded it up with Vauen No 14, a tobacco I smoke frequently and am familiar with.

First, the pipe. Extremely light, a little bit pretty. Certainly not ugly. Very cheap acrylic stem with a barely functional width. I think the stem is glued in, tried to twist it and it wouldn’t move to the point I was afraid I’d break it.
View attachment 181905

View attachment 181906

Applied fire and off we go. It’s definitely a different smoking experience. More neutral? How would I really know, I’m no jiminks. I suppose so. Seems like I can detect the tobacco nuances better, definitely the sweetness. Aside from being a bit of a PITA to clinch, the pipe smokes marvelous! I mean really, really good. I will undoubtedly smoke it often. In fact, I will smoke a bowl of McCranie’s Red Flake later, one of my absolute favs.

I wish they’d put a better stem in, I’d definitely buy more and be happy to pay a few more dollars. I’m going to buy a couple more anyway. I think I’ll buy one with the bare clay shank and put the friction tape on it to see how that works.

If you enjoy smoking a pipe, you owe it to yourself to buy one to try. Cheap experiment and worth it either way.
View attachment 181908
@hoosierpipeguy Welcome to the Fellowship of the Clay, my brother!
The cheap plastic stem would DEFINITELY not suit the Clay King 👑:)
 
Jan 28, 2018
12,952
134,571
66
Sarasota, FL
@hoosierpipeguy Not sure if pipe stems are interchangeable between pipes of different manufacturers. If I was getting one with a separate stem I'd choose a horn or amber stem but they cost a bit more.
I guess I'm going to have to drag this out of the Clay King one nasty detail at a time. Where would I find these fine clay smoking devices with nicer stems?
 
Jan 28, 2018
12,952
134,571
66
Sarasota, FL
Order from Lepeltier is what you need to do to get a nicer stem on a clay pipe.
Just bought this one. Found out their regular line has a bowl ID of almost an inch, the slim line more like .8". That is tolerable. The one I bought is a darker Ochre color than what is shown.

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Jan 28, 2018
12,952
134,571
66
Sarasota, FL
Another positive I've noticed with the clay. The tobacco seems to stay lit better while smoking more slowly. Smoking this bowl of McClelland Anniversary more than 1 1/2 hours with just a couple of relights. And I've managed to avoid the bowl getting so hot that I couldn't hold it. Now it gets warm, no question. But smoking slow enough seems to keep that reasonable.

Another positive. The tobacco seems to more easily burn down to a fine ash with minimal or no dottle.
 

Ebarber

Can't Leave
Mar 11, 2020
377
1,248
Newark, Ohio
I just ordered 2 clays myself!
I have an old Scottish clay I got in Maine years ago at an antique shop included with a pipe stand.
I didn't smoke it for a long time and just kept it for display mostly.
I believe It's really old.
One day I decided to smoke it and I enjoyed it a lot.
I've been smoking it quite a bit lately and decided to order a couple of newer (non antique) clays because I'm scared to death I'll drop this one.
They do give a cleaner more neutral smoke.