First of all, thanks to @cshubhra for posting a coloring progression thread of his meerschaum and @didimauw for the inspiration doing a 1 pipe challenge for a year. This sparked my interest on doing something similar. While I have always claimed that I want pipes to be designated to tobacco I decided on doing something different, this shows how perspectives can change with the flick of a switch.
For the past month I've been smoking my meerschaums almost exclusively. I like the flavor they deliver, the way they smoke and allthough this might be debunked a few times I don't get any flavor difference when smoking different tobaccos. But what i'm most obsessed with is coloring of a meerschaum. I'm not a big smoker (maybe 10 bowls a week), but in the past month smoking about 50 bowls in my meerschaum I definitely see a change of color on the pipe itself. Somehow that change in color makes me smoking the pipe even more, next to it delivers just the right flavors for me.
Based on my experience (which might be scarce) the past month and shopping around I pulled the trigger to do a 1 year pipe challenge on a meerschaum. While it isn't as challenging as what Kevin did with a cheap basket pipe, this challenge is all about how it colors and if it changes anything in flavor during the year. Also this challenge will put me on the right path to buying more tobacco in 2023, where it might becoming harder or impossible to buy it online in 2024 in the EU. I have a bunch of cigars in storage which will be untouched for a year which is also a bonus aging them a little bit. So for now I only see plus sides on this challenge.
Like you might know I love my Altinay pipes so there could not be any other pipe for this challenge than a Altinay. Yesterday I ordered this pipe;
Why this particular pipe? I like rusticated meerschaum, I like the rusticated end of the shank and the rusticated top of the bowl, the bent is right for me and the dimensions makes it versatile enough to smoke different cuts of tobacco. I have smoked back to back bowls in my other meerschaums without a problem, so for a longer smoke I just pack a second bowl. I'm not really partial to a case with a meerschaum (the Altinay pouches are really good quality IMO, not your average pipesock), but as i'm carrying this pipe around I wanted a case with it.
I'm going to do a update of the pipe every month (which is about 40 to 50 bowls a month) with photo's and the number of bowls in it. Being a numbers guy I also will keep track which style of tobacco I smoked, while it might not be important for the coloring, I'm still curious if it has any effect on it at all. I'm not a seasonal tobacco smoker and I presently don't actively buy aromatics I tend to gravitate a bit more to different tobaccos in each season.
I hope you all can enjoy my voyage in this endeavor.
For the past month I've been smoking my meerschaums almost exclusively. I like the flavor they deliver, the way they smoke and allthough this might be debunked a few times I don't get any flavor difference when smoking different tobaccos. But what i'm most obsessed with is coloring of a meerschaum. I'm not a big smoker (maybe 10 bowls a week), but in the past month smoking about 50 bowls in my meerschaum I definitely see a change of color on the pipe itself. Somehow that change in color makes me smoking the pipe even more, next to it delivers just the right flavors for me.
Based on my experience (which might be scarce) the past month and shopping around I pulled the trigger to do a 1 year pipe challenge on a meerschaum. While it isn't as challenging as what Kevin did with a cheap basket pipe, this challenge is all about how it colors and if it changes anything in flavor during the year. Also this challenge will put me on the right path to buying more tobacco in 2023, where it might becoming harder or impossible to buy it online in 2024 in the EU. I have a bunch of cigars in storage which will be untouched for a year which is also a bonus aging them a little bit. So for now I only see plus sides on this challenge.
Like you might know I love my Altinay pipes so there could not be any other pipe for this challenge than a Altinay. Yesterday I ordered this pipe;
Why this particular pipe? I like rusticated meerschaum, I like the rusticated end of the shank and the rusticated top of the bowl, the bent is right for me and the dimensions makes it versatile enough to smoke different cuts of tobacco. I have smoked back to back bowls in my other meerschaums without a problem, so for a longer smoke I just pack a second bowl. I'm not really partial to a case with a meerschaum (the Altinay pouches are really good quality IMO, not your average pipesock), but as i'm carrying this pipe around I wanted a case with it.
I'm going to do a update of the pipe every month (which is about 40 to 50 bowls a month) with photo's and the number of bowls in it. Being a numbers guy I also will keep track which style of tobacco I smoked, while it might not be important for the coloring, I'm still curious if it has any effect on it at all. I'm not a seasonal tobacco smoker and I presently don't actively buy aromatics I tend to gravitate a bit more to different tobaccos in each season.
I hope you all can enjoy my voyage in this endeavor.
maybe it was just a joke, but he seemed serious about it. He said the smoke from the bowl is coloring the bowl also, but I think it's way more effective to get the fluids down instead the leave via the top uhhh bottom of the bowl.
