FWIW the balsa filters can be switched with the regular round cardboard 6mm filters. They will keep the moisture down much better.
New to Balsa. Tips?
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I smoke pipes both with and without filters, and I think folks who say filters reduce the flavor of a tobacco are absolutely full of crap beans. You can cut cardboard filters to any length. Just sayin'.
I probably should've just started a new thread. I was just curious about the care and cleaning of the filterless adapter tube. I certainly didn't mean to rehash the Great Filter Debate. Sorry about that.
Just run a pipe cleaner through it after every smoke. You'll probably have to remove the stem to do it. You can wait a few smokes before you pull the adapter out and wipe it down but it will get grungy fast if you leave it in there very long and become hard to remove. I recommend wiping it down every time. Not really that much hassle.
Great thread. Just bought my first balsa filtered pipe - Aldo Velani. So far so good. I do see a disadvantage to not being able to run a pipe cleaning from stem to bowl while smoking. My other pipes are either filterless, or use Medico/Grabow paper filters. In either case I can push a pipe cleaner through those filters should the pipe develop too much moisture.
It's true that you can't run a cleaner all the way through with a balsa piece installed but since it absorbs moisture so well it's rarely needful. With the balsa in place I've never had a single gurgle in any of the five filtered Savs I have. If needed I've dressed the tenon just enough to be able to safely remove the stem after a pipe has cooled for about five or ten minutes so I can pitch the gunky balsa and use a cleaner.
To be completely fair I don't smoke goopy aros so that could be what is making some of the difference.
To be completely fair I don't smoke goopy aros so that could be what is making some of the difference.
Everytime I buy a new Sav with the 6mm balsa filter, I intend to do a serious comparison of smoking the pipe filtered versus sans filter. Since the filter is usually pre-loaded in the tenon, my first couple of bowls will be filtered. I then pull the filter and smoke it with open airway. And that's the end of it. I simply forget to go back and load a filter. The Savs smoke, to my taste, just as well or better without it.
I've used the converter and honestly couldn't detect an appreciable difference using it or smoking it straight.
Darwin, I'm curious as to where you buy your filters at 4 bucks per hundred. SP sells a package for $4.00 but you get just 15 filters. 100 count box is 9.60. You can get 300 for $28.00. They're even more expensive on Amazon. I might consider using them if I could get 100 count at $4.00.
I've used the converter and honestly couldn't detect an appreciable difference using it or smoking it straight.
Darwin, I'm curious as to where you buy your filters at 4 bucks per hundred. SP sells a package for $4.00 but you get just 15 filters. 100 count box is 9.60. You can get 300 for $28.00. They're even more expensive on Amazon. I might consider using them if I could get 100 count at $4.00.
I like the balsa system and it is the only filter system that I do like. Having said that I agree it is not really a filter.
I only have 1 Savinelli and it is the very definitely full bent. Shape 614. When using the balsa filter I have never once needed to pass a cleaner through. It has never ever gurgled on me with the filter. It has with the adapter but never with the filter so I have to say that it does its job very well. If yours did gurgle then perhaps you are correct in thinking that there was moisture in there before you put the knew filter in. I always clean mine after each smoke. Who knows though. I have learned that pipes can be funny things.
I do reuse them but I won't leave them in the pipe. They just make it smelly and damp in there so I take them out to dry and I clean my pipe. Once dry I will use them again. I do this perhaps 3 times then chuck them. I never notice them change the flavour with this practice neither do I taste balsa when I insert a new one as some have mentioned.
Of course this is just my use and experience with them and perhaps I don't notice a bad taste from them on the second or third use of the filter because I have a mouth like a rubbish skip. I can tell you this though. I hate a sour pipe. I like them clean and I tend to notice right away if something is slightly askew with my pipes flavour. At lease I think I do :wink:
I would not hesitate to buy another Sav filter pipe. I like the choice they give you and if my one and only Sav is anything to go by, the standard of engineering and smoking qualities of them for the price is excellent. It smokes just as well as some of my more expensive pipes and even better in some cases if I am to be honest. Now I think about it I don't know why I don't have more.
I will not however buy any other type of filter pipe. I just don't like them.
I only have 1 Savinelli and it is the very definitely full bent. Shape 614. When using the balsa filter I have never once needed to pass a cleaner through. It has never ever gurgled on me with the filter. It has with the adapter but never with the filter so I have to say that it does its job very well. If yours did gurgle then perhaps you are correct in thinking that there was moisture in there before you put the knew filter in. I always clean mine after each smoke. Who knows though. I have learned that pipes can be funny things.
To that I have to say cobblers. Sure it must suck up some but not anywhere close to that figure. I simply don't believe it. I never notice my blends weaker in either departments when using the filter. The only thing it does for me is suck up that annoying moisture. If it was sucking up all my nicotine I would not be a happy chappy and that is for sure.
I do reuse them but I won't leave them in the pipe. They just make it smelly and damp in there so I take them out to dry and I clean my pipe. Once dry I will use them again. I do this perhaps 3 times then chuck them. I never notice them change the flavour with this practice neither do I taste balsa when I insert a new one as some have mentioned.
Of course this is just my use and experience with them and perhaps I don't notice a bad taste from them on the second or third use of the filter because I have a mouth like a rubbish skip. I can tell you this though. I hate a sour pipe. I like them clean and I tend to notice right away if something is slightly askew with my pipes flavour. At lease I think I do :wink:
I would not hesitate to buy another Sav filter pipe. I like the choice they give you and if my one and only Sav is anything to go by, the standard of engineering and smoking qualities of them for the price is excellent. It smokes just as well as some of my more expensive pipes and even better in some cases if I am to be honest. Now I think about it I don't know why I don't have more.
I will not however buy any other type of filter pipe. I just don't like them.
Hear you, Jazz. Honestly, my Savs smoke dry, with our without the filter. I do like to run a pipe cleaner through after every smoke. It is just habit.
I would advise removing the balsa after no more than a few smokes for other than sanitary reasons. The balsa will break down, e.g., disintegrate, if it is left in the tenon for two many smokes. I've had to pick out the splinters and pieces more than once. That wasn't a Savinelli design problem. It was caused by user neglect.
I will occasionally use one of them in my cobs. I have absolutely no use for Medico or other paper filters. They're just gross. Looking at a used Medico is all it takes to convince me that smoking can cause cancer.
I would advise removing the balsa after no more than a few smokes for other than sanitary reasons. The balsa will break down, e.g., disintegrate, if it is left in the tenon for two many smokes. I've had to pick out the splinters and pieces more than once. That wasn't a Savinelli design problem. It was caused by user neglect.
I will occasionally use one of them in my cobs. I have absolutely no use for Medico or other paper filters. They're just gross. Looking at a used Medico is all it takes to convince me that smoking can cause cancer.
"Darwin, I'm curious as to where you buy your filters at 4 bucks per hundred. SP sells a package for $4.00 but you get just 15 filters. 100 count box is 9.60. You can get 300 for $28.00. They're even more expensive on Amazon. I might consider using them if I could get 100 count at $4.00."
You are correct about the 100 count six mm filters. My mistake but that still makes them less than 10 cents each. I might go through a buck's worth in a month. I suppose if I were smoking half a dozen bowls a day only with my Savs it could add up but it would still not be an onerous expense and it would not be, for me, particularly conducive to cutting my own out of triangle stock. The 4 bucks for 15 filters actually refers to nine mm filters not six. I only have one pack of the nine mm because I only have two pipes that use them and I don't often smoke those. The current SP price for the smallest 20 count six mm filters is $2.72.
You are correct about the 100 count six mm filters. My mistake but that still makes them less than 10 cents each. I might go through a buck's worth in a month. I suppose if I were smoking half a dozen bowls a day only with my Savs it could add up but it would still not be an onerous expense and it would not be, for me, particularly conducive to cutting my own out of triangle stock. The 4 bucks for 15 filters actually refers to nine mm filters not six. I only have one pack of the nine mm because I only have two pipes that use them and I don't often smoke those. The current SP price for the smallest 20 count six mm filters is $2.72.
Thanks for clarifying. One of these days I'll get around to getting the 300 count box. I'm in no hurry as I haven't used the freebies that come with Sav pipes.
Your point with the 9mm vs 6mm illustrates another point. Filters add an extra bit of complication, fiddling, and expense I just don't need to deal with. Especially considering that when I smoke my Savs without filters, it never occurs to me that it is missing.
BTW, I've never had a Sav smoke wet without or without filters.
Your point with the 9mm vs 6mm illustrates another point. Filters add an extra bit of complication, fiddling, and expense I just don't need to deal with. Especially considering that when I smoke my Savs without filters, it never occurs to me that it is missing.
BTW, I've never had a Sav smoke wet without or without filters.
I used my balsa filter once and decided against it...don't feel it is really needed. Fellow at the pipe store was really trying to sell me extra with my new Sav....to my mind pipes seem to work well on their own so why add extra stuff.
Just had my first bowl with the filter in, forgot it was there until I read this thread. Dunno if I will follow up with more or not.
No gurgle, virtually never on any pipe, and my theory on that is it's caused chiefly by moist tobacco smoked too fast. Unless you soak the bowl in water!
Or I suppose one could drool back into the stem! Ugh, what a thought.
No gurgle, virtually never on any pipe, and my theory on that is it's caused chiefly by moist tobacco smoked too fast. Unless you soak the bowl in water!
Or I suppose one could drool back into the stem! Ugh, what a thought.
I use filters of all kinds and depending on the blend none at all. I use filters when smoking most aromatic tobacco.
I like my Savs and the are good smokers. As someone else mentioned I am not sure balsa actually filters the smoke that much. They do function as a moisture trap. This can be a double edged sword. At times I have removed a carbon filter while smoking an aromatic that was very moist, which had began to bite, to find the smoke returning to cool without the filter, this is not a frequent experience however.
It just does not make since to me that balsa filters or any of the wood filters actually "filter" the smoke. In all such designs smoke flows freely around or through the apparatus. In such cases I believe they serve as sponges.
When I have smoked using these wood filters they are always damp if not wet when I remove them. With carbon filters, depending on the tobacco, they may or may not be. But with a carbon filter smoke is forced, by design, to flow through the filter.
It has been interesting to see what various blends have done to the filters. I do not believe I am a "wet" smoker. At least of any unusual amount more than the average pipe smoker. I believe it is for the most part a product of the tobacco moisture content and the additives that the tobacco contains.
I use a carbon filter on any new tobacco I am trying, whether it is an aromatic or not. I smoke several bowls with a filter and then if it is not an aromatic I discontinue the filters. It is interesting however what comes out of various "non aromatic" tobacco when they are smoked. Some "non aro" blends are as dirty as certain of the aromatic blends, just an interesting observation.
I like my Savs and the are good smokers. As someone else mentioned I am not sure balsa actually filters the smoke that much. They do function as a moisture trap. This can be a double edged sword. At times I have removed a carbon filter while smoking an aromatic that was very moist, which had began to bite, to find the smoke returning to cool without the filter, this is not a frequent experience however.
It just does not make since to me that balsa filters or any of the wood filters actually "filter" the smoke. In all such designs smoke flows freely around or through the apparatus. In such cases I believe they serve as sponges.
When I have smoked using these wood filters they are always damp if not wet when I remove them. With carbon filters, depending on the tobacco, they may or may not be. But with a carbon filter smoke is forced, by design, to flow through the filter.
It has been interesting to see what various blends have done to the filters. I do not believe I am a "wet" smoker. At least of any unusual amount more than the average pipe smoker. I believe it is for the most part a product of the tobacco moisture content and the additives that the tobacco contains.
I use a carbon filter on any new tobacco I am trying, whether it is an aromatic or not. I smoke several bowls with a filter and then if it is not an aromatic I discontinue the filters. It is interesting however what comes out of various "non aromatic" tobacco when they are smoked. Some "non aro" blends are as dirty as certain of the aromatic blends, just an interesting observation.
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