Are there any other companies besides MM making cobs. The last half dozen I bought were not good smokers, compared to my earlier purchases.
'Other' cobs
- Thread starter SunriseBoy
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I believe Old Dominion is now owned by MM Cobs
You can look at some of the custom cob guys.
Strange. I what way(s) are they not "good" smokers? Are your "other" pipes briar?
Fine. But in what ways are the good pipes different in smoking from the "bad" pipes? Draw? Taste? Other?
I don’t utilize cobs, so I only know what I see around on Instagram. I have no experience with any of their products but many people seem to like them:
JWK2366
Michigan_northern_piper
Emc_custom_cobs
Blueridgepipes
There’s certainly more but again, it’s not my category I follow.
I consider mm cobs—especially the cheaper ones—a low stakes gamble with potentially high pay off.
In my experience lately, it’s not a matter doesn’t smoke well it’s a matter quality control. Been buying and smoking MM cobs for 10 yrs but for some reason post pandemic, construction quality has gone to crap. I even bought some of the high dollar (for a cob) MM SP special edition collab pipes a few months back. All of them required extensive tinkering to be smokable. All had issues like the acrylic stems could not draw through due to being packed full of partially cut plastic from drilling. The shanks were so full of partially cut wood splinters blocking it that you couldn’t push a pipe cleaner through without bending the hell out of it. Granted, all issues were easily taken care of but hell, almost $30 for a cob and you can’t smoke it ???
I bought an MM Dagner Poker earlier this year and had to sand it just to get the stem to go in and out of the shank for cleaning. It for sure would have broken after a few cleaning attempts. Actually, i did chip a portion of the stem attempting to remove it for the first cleaning. RIDICULOUSLY tight.
I just ordered my first corn cob pipe (10€ MM) and all these posts have me kinda worried.
I've read lots of texts about them before, from haters and lovers alike. Globs of leftover glue, the use of glue in general and what not. But this sounds even worse.
I guess I can only hope that the shop sends me a good one that was made before this whole covid mess,
or just a well made one in general. Or at least one I can fix without having too much trouble.
I also hope that I'll like them, I always thought they were neat. Made for poor church rats like me.
I've read lots of texts about them before, from haters and lovers alike. Globs of leftover glue, the use of glue in general and what not. But this sounds even worse.
I guess I can only hope that the shop sends me a good one that was made before this whole covid mess,
or just a well made one in general. Or at least one I can fix without having too much trouble.
I also hope that I'll like them, I always thought they were neat. Made for poor church rats like me.
I buy them because they are, in general, good smokers and so inexpensive that I consider them as "disposables." If one floats away while fishing or, gets pulverized under a tractor wheel ... no great loss!. Looks are, obviously, immaterial for me with regard to cobs. Purely utilitarian! Although, I do have a very old "General" I hardly ever smoke but, I like seeing it on the shelf.
What you get may be iffy. I'm not trying to fear monger, but it is just a 10 euro pipe vs a much more expensive briar. I have a MM legend that was bored to far on the initial drilling. All this does is make it so that a bit more dottle will end up each bowl than otherwise, though I never use it anyway because of that mishap.I just ordered my first corn cob pipe (10€ MM) and all these posts have me kinda worried.
I've read lots of texts about them before, from haters and lovers alike. Globs of leftover glue, the use of glue in general and what not. But this sounds even worse.
I guess I can only hope that the shop sends me a good one that was made before this whole covid mess,
or just a well made one in general. Or at least one I can fix without having too much trouble.
I also hope that I'll like them, I always thought they were neat. Made for poor church rats like me.
And as Warren said, they are great smokers. You won't lose much if there is a defect, and most issues can be solved with common glue. Worst thing that might happen to you is you clench too hard and ruin a plastic stem, which one can find a replacement for at a cheap price. You'll be fine. If I didn't convince you, there are plenty here who will do it on a moment's notice.
I was aware that it's pretty much a gamble and that a corn cob, to me, won't be able to outclass clay pipes.
I'm sure I'll find a way to make it work for me if there should be anything wrong. I hope.
Even if not, they still offer a nice visual contrast in any pipe collection.
Yeah, the shop offers replacements. But clenching too hard on a cob pipe? I imagine they'll feel like a feather with their light weight. And I recently bit off a piece of stem from my 7.8in clay pipe while moving heavy stuff around, which taught me not to do that with long or brittle pipes.
The cob will be 5in short and honestly I'm more worried about an insufficiently sized chamber. I like 'em big.
I'm convinced enough, otherwise I wouldn't have bought it. Even if it turns out to be garbage I'll buy at least two more. One of those big ones that General MacArthur had and a small Popeye/sailor one.
Gotta have those classics.
For me, the key to cobs is patience, and loyalty. If there is excessive glue, or varnish, or putty, keep smoking it, and the taste will improve. If there is a taste of cob, or hardwood (there always is, for me), keep smoking it, and it will mellow. If there is a hole in the bottom (there often is, beneath the sticker, if it's not a hardwood insert model), use some pipe mud, and keep smoking it. When the stem wears out, buy some replacements (I'm fine with the standard plastic ones), and keep smoking it. And when I say keep smoking it, I mean I smoke it multiple times a week for months, years. I've had a couple of cobs crack--these I don't bother to try to fix--but most have turned out to be great smokers, so long as I keep smoking them enough time. My best smokers have been clays, but second best are cheap MM cobs--eatons, pony express, morgan, etc. that have been smoked regularly for years.I just ordered my first corn cob pipe (10€ MM) and all these posts have me kinda worried.
I've read lots of texts about them before, from haters and lovers alike. Globs of leftover glue, the use of glue in general and what not. But this sounds even worse.
I guess I can only hope that the shop sends me a good one that was made before this whole covid mess,
or just a well made one in general. Or at least one I can fix without having too much trouble.
I also hope that I'll like them, I always thought they were neat. Made for poor church rats like me.
Yep...that's where I'm coming from. Leaf won't burn evenly. Draw is difficult. I'm smoking an 'el cheapo' Chinese job ($7AUD), and it out-performs the MM items. Bad news as far as MM is concerned!
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@OzPiper Good that they still make clays; I've got a couple of Jamestown pipes. I like how they're based on archaeological finds!