New Criteria for my Pipes.

[dog_park_piper]

I've been thinking about how to dial in on what kind of pipe criteria my favorite pipes have in common. It can help when the PAD kicks in because it limits my buying ability, and it' fun to think about.

Title edited for caps and brevity. -jpm

New Rules:
Rule 1 [shape]: straight apple shape (a rule I almost follow 100%, I have a Shape 55 that follows rule #2.
Rule 2 [weight proportions]: has to be able to stand upside down on it's bowl so the whole stem stays elevated off the ground. Most my pipes do a pretty good job of keeping this rule) The Poker shape would do this well - I don't own one.

rule #2 means the weight is considerably greater where my fingers hold the pipe when I smoke. It makes pivoting the stem up or down in my mouth really easy actually.

What are you thoughts on this?

What kind of specific and measurable criteria would match the pipes you are enjoying a lot these days?

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Your money, your choices, your criteria. My criteria :

Must pass a pipe cleaner easily.
Weigh 2 Oz or less (I clinch)
Bowl ID of .75 to .80
Wide, thin mouthpiece with a decent button for clinching.

If it doesn't meet those criteria, everything else is irrelevant. With respect to aesthetics, it's whatever fits my eye. I may see a shape I normally dislike but the carver put everything together in such a way I love it.

 

[dog_park_piper]

Your money, your choices, your criteria. My criteria :

Must pass a pipe cleaner easily.
Weigh 2 Oz or less (I clinch)
Bowl ID of .75 to .80
Wide, thin mouthpiece with a decent button for clinching.

If it doesn't meet those criteria, everything else is irrelevant. With respect to aesthetics, it's whatever fits my eye. I may see a shape I normally dislike but the carver put everything together in such a way I love it.

you reminded me -

Rule #3: no deeper than 1.33in
Rule #4: diameter no wider than .78in

 

[dog_park_piper]

you reminded me -

Rule #3: no deeper than 1.33in
Rule #4: diameter no wider than .78in

Rule #5: no longer than 4.6in

 

[DanWil84]

I'm still kinda new to this game, but for now I buy pipes based on the tobacco I smoke. I smoke about 10 bowls a week of which 50% is English mixtures and 50% other tobacco. I do understand there is a different science behind this, but I intend not to smoke a pipe more than once a week. I also intend to, when the time is right, smoke a dedicated pipe to a tobacco. 10 different tobaccos for me will be enough to keep it interesting and otherwise I can resort to my meerschaum of corn cobs.

I'll keep on buying larger bowled (.75/1 by 1.7/2.0 inches) briar pipes I like for my English blends and keep my meerschaum and corn cobs for the tobacco's until I have my week set of English pipes. For the larger pipes I have until now always resorted to smooth bent pipes, but that was not intentional, pipes just spoke to me. After that I really don't know yet what my buying criteria would be for other tobacco which are mostly rubbed flakes or ready rubbed.

 

[solideogloria86]

 

[dog_park_piper]

View attachment 106950

haha I thought this was an advertisement.

But in response, sparking joy is good. If I just went off that criteria I'd have more pipes that days left to live.

 

[Chasing Embers]

What kind of specific and measurable criteria would match the pipes you are enjoying a lot these days?

Commission pipes and must pass a pipe cleaner or are IMP or artisan meerschaums that also pass a pipe cleaner excluding my giant meers. Weight is not an issue as I've yet to run into an unclenchable pipe. My meer collection is however complete.

 

[OzPiper]

But in response, sparking joy is good. If I just went off that criteria I'd have more pipes that days left to live.

So where is the problem in that ? ?

 

[macaroni]

Your money, your choices, your criteria. My criteria :

Must pass a pipe cleaner easily.
Weigh 2 Oz or less (I clinch)
Bowl ID of .75 to .80
Wide, thin mouthpiece with a decent button for clinching.

If it doesn't meet those criteria, everything else is irrelevant. With respect to aesthetics, it's whatever fits my eye. I may see a shape I normally dislike but the carver put everything together in such a way I love it.

Same for me, just slightly smaller. Pipes larger than my limits make my jaws ache
As the weight of a pipe gets close to my 51 gram limit, it's got to be short, otherwise I don't give it a second thought.

Only smoke a pipe that feels right or good and causes no discomfort--why waste time with anything else

Great post, Mark. Thanks

I read somewhere, "Why smoke anything that isn't comfortable?" And a light bulb went off in my brain! Hours of smoking and finding sore jaw muscles taught me these limits. Pain can teach.

And too small a bowl (inner dimensions) makes for a pain in my ass with more frequent refills, even sipping the smoke slowly LOL

To each their own.
kindly
mike

 

[Morrison Jeremiah]

So far I've never come across a Dunhill that I didn't absolutely love, or one that didn't smoke perfectly, and had no issues whatsoever,
and bear in mind that I'm talking about Dunhill seconds, that I bought for absolute peanuts.
This has become my criteria - has to be a Dunhill.
I have fifteen already, and thinking of adding a few more.

 

[Merton]

Your money, your choices, your criteria. My criteria :

Must pass a pipe cleaner easily.
Weigh 2 Oz or less (I clinch)
Bowl ID of .75 to .80
Wide, thin mouthpiece with a decent button for clinching.

If it doesn't meet those criteria, everything else is irrelevant. With respect to aesthetics, it's whatever fits my eye. I may see a shape I normally dislike but the carver put everything together in such a way I love it.

Perfect criteria. Really all you need.

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

So far it's been what looks good to my eye. Out of a baker's dozen (I actually counted this morning, including two that are en route - my wife, "I told you you had more than 8 or 9", haha, she was in that bottom sweater drawer!), I only have one that when I received it I kind of just knew it wasn't right for me even though it is gorgeous, so we'll see where it ends up.

Now I've had a chance to smoke my pipes once and most more than that I find I'm leaning towards picking up certain pipes. I think it's more feel than "performance", but I have three for sure that seem to smoke great, for lack of a better term (but so many variables right now for me in packing/smoking that could just be getting lucky with a few bowls vs. the pipe). God forbid I give myself credit for doing it right.

For now, I know I like a chamber with some capacity and definitely 3/4" but a little bigger has proved to be really nice. I like more compact pipes and a nice little round chunk or a Dublin or stack or billiard. I'm definitely not a clencher, so there's that, so heavier is out for me. I want to love the Bing style and, lol, another one on the way from a different maker, but I'm not sure I'm sold on the long and thin so we'll see about that. Might be another lesson learned.

We'll see what I think of this post in a few months!

 

[cosmicfolklore]

It's great to know what you love in a pipe. For the longest I have only collected Dublins and Bulldogs, but lately I've branched out a bit more to explore other shapes. As for bowl sizes, I tend to do the opposite of looking for an exact size. I look for both the largest and smallest diameters and others in between. I've found that I really like variety.

 

[Pipeoff]

you reminded me -

Rule #3: no deeper than 1.33in
Rule #4: diameter no wider than .78in

Your money, your choices, your criteria. My criteria :

Must pass a pipe cleaner easily.
Weigh 2 Oz or less (I clinch)
Bowl ID of .75 to .80
Wide, thin mouthpiece with a decent button for clinching.

If it doesn't meet those criteria, everything else is irrelevant. With respect to aesthetics, it's whatever fits my eye. I may see a shape I normally dislike but the carver put everything together in such a way I love it.

Ref. your criteria. I. have never observed a buyer at a B@M shop apply the cleaner, weight, measure test before purchase. Carrying around a digital scale, caliper is not practical.

 

[crashthegrey]

Rule #1 - I have to like it. Sure, I have some preferred shapes and sizes, but some pipes just speak to me, and I have to listen. Sometimes it's a line, an angle, the particular ring shape on a blast. It doesn't matter, if there's a thing that stands out to me, it's mine, finances allowing.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Ref. your criteria. I. have never observed a buyer at a B@M shop apply the cleaner, weight, measure test before purchase. Carrying around a digital scale, caliper is not practical.

You've never seen me by a pipe then. I primarily by commissioned Artisan pipes and the carver knows the pipe must pass a cleaner easily or don't bother shipping it to me. The Artisan also is aware of my other parameters.

 

[Scottishgaucho]

Only pipe I'll buy new now is a Falcon so no real problem there as I've been using them for years. Estate pipes is a different story. The equivalent of Ebay here is 'Buy' only, there's no bidding. So with me being tight-fisted I err on the side of caution and refuse to go over a set budget. That means 50% of the pipes on offer are off limits. 30% of the remainder are usually a load of crap so there isn't much left for me to look at closely. I'm not keen on bent pipes so that narrows it down even further.
I do prefer English made briar pipes and have to be attracted to a pipe shape straight away which usually means on the small side with traditional bowl shapes only. They must be in a decent state as I'm buying it to smoke not restore and sell on. it's all down to instinct I suppose and I've not done badly so far with the seven estate pipes I've bought. The dearest cost me the equivalent of £16 the cheapest was around £7.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Ref. your criteria. I. have never observed a buyer at a B@M shop apply the cleaner, weight, measure test before purchase. Carrying around a digital scale, caliper is not practical.

Ha ha, I have seen some weird things happen at The Briary. I've even seen one guy even brings in a plastic thing so he can judge the "hang" of a pipe while protecting the stem from his cooties. He spent an unusual amount of time looking into a mirror with it also.

 

[mso489]

I favor a wide variety of shapes. The variety is part of the pleasure. So, apple shape, yes, but not exclusively. I like some chamber size, but I sure don't demand weight in the bowl, as long as the pipe insulates well, doesn't get too hot to hold. With bent pipes, pipe cleaner passing is a big plus, but not an absolute. I don't expect pipe cleaner wire to make a U-turn in an Oom-Paul, for example, or in many other fully bent pipes. Light weight for size is a plus, as is pleasing balance, good tactile dimensions whether smooth or textured, and dynamic flow in design. Fit and finish, as they say in automobiles, means a lot, so the pipe feels solid and durable. Uncoated bowls win extra points with me in new pipes; I like being trusted as an experienced pipe smoker to smoke it sensibly. Taste in pipes is always individual, so I don't expect anyone to react to a specific pipe the same way I do; that is also a pleasing aspect of pipes.