Ozark Mountain Cherrywood

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davek

Part of the Furniture Now
Mar 20, 2014
685
952
Been smoking my Missouri Meerschaum hardwood pipe a lot lately. What I've learned is that cobs have spoiled me!
Now that it has seen some moderate use, I am getting clogging and gurgling. I guess that the Missouri Meerschaum hardwoods require the same maintenance that a briar would, or more. Cobs' ability to absorb moisture makes cleaning a periodic instead of regular chore. I have 8-10 cobs and usually give them a lot of rest, smoking one all day and then not at all for a week or three.
I usually just remove the bit and poke the stem out with a stick (bark whittled off) occasionally, then smoke the pipe and use a pipe cleaner while it's warm. "Reaming" is as needed with another stick so as to avoid gouging. (not a country boy, am I)
I give my briars much more maintenance, running a pipe cleaner through every few smokes and wiping the bowl out.
The hardwood is a nice enough pipe so... live and learn. It'll be worth the maintenance. I just found out the bent is supposed to be cherrywood. I've added a longer reed stem so I can smoke it when I'm in a disputatious mood.
"You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a disputatious rather than a meditative mood --"
Sherlock Holmes - The Adventure Of The Copper Beeches

 

michiganlover

Can't Leave
May 10, 2014
336
3
I thought both of those pipes were made of birch, with the "maple" and "cherry" designation referring more to the finish.
The larger hardwood pipes (with the Diplomat, Country Gentleman, and Great Dane shapes) are made of maple.

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
Thanks for the report on you hardwood pipe. I'd wondered about those, but the cobs are so good, I'd never bothered with them. I'm one of many members who has more pipes than I "need," but if I bought another from my favorite carver, I might buy one of his maple wood pipes, which he makes along with briar, Mountain Laurel, and the occasional Cocobolo. I'm afraid an MM hardwood would lose out to the cobs.

 

davek

Part of the Furniture Now
Mar 20, 2014
685
952
I thought both of those pipes were made of birch, with the "maple" and "cherry" designation referring more to the finish.
The larger hardwood pipes (with the Diplomat, Country Gentleman, and Great Dane shapes) are made of maple.
Darned if you aren't right. From the MM site...
It comes in 2 colors and shapes: Maple Oval straight and Cherry Rob Roy bent.
So much for the Holmes fantasy. Did a little Googling and Birch it is.
Read somewhere that Cherry was considered a very good wood for a pipe, flame resistant like Briar but not absorbent. What about Birch? How is it rated?

 

johnsteam86

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jan 1, 2018
271
0
I have two of the four of the Ozarks that they make and found that most of the time when I do get a little bit of gurgling it ended up being a bowl of tobacco that was a little bit to moist than the other bowls that I had smoked. This of course just may have been just my case but it does not happen every time. The newest one I have actually associated with the breather being a little to high causing moisture to be settling below the hole. You may try putting a little pipe mud evenly around the air hole to see if it fixes the problem. I know I will have to do it with my straight. I love those little pipes though, you can't beat the price for a good working pipe.

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
Being a thrifty lad, I buy economic pipes from time to time, having been given some high-end pipes and bought a few myself. I've always been intrigued by the low-price market because you can get shabby and mediocre pipes by the score, but for the same price you can get some terrific ones. It's a matter of learning and experiencing. I can still make the occasional mistake, but I am often amazed at how much pipe you can find for various low-price set points.

 

olkofri

Lifer
Sep 9, 2017
8,033
14,644
The Arm of Orion
Do the Ozarks smoke too hot? I read on some site that a "varnished pipe will smoke like an inferno". I ordered two Ozarks from MM in January (a bent one and a straight one) and haven't touched either for fear of barbecueing my tongue with them.

 

davek

Part of the Furniture Now
Mar 20, 2014
685
952
They're alright, just alright. All pipes add some flavor. To me the birch adds enough to notice, and it's not a great flavor.
Also, a MM Ozark is the only pipe where I've burnt cracks into the inside of the bowl. With the caveats that I smoke hot, it was windy outside, and it was a Virginia blend.
I'll smoke the two I have carefully, and they're not too bad, but I'll buy no more. Now cobs... seems like I always come back to them.

 

btp79

Can't Leave
Jan 27, 2018
436
711
Sugar Land, TX
Birch seems to me an odd choice. We burn a lot of it in Finland when we visit the in-laws, either in the sauna or in the fire place. I wouldn't call it resistant to flame at all, but I'm not a pipe maker and clearly MM sells a good number of them.

 

davek

Part of the Furniture Now
Mar 20, 2014
685
952
Birch seems to me an odd choice. We burn a lot of it in Finland when we visit the in-laws, either in the sauna or in the fire place. I wouldn't call it resistant to flame at all, but I'm not a pipe maker and clearly MM sells a good number of them.
This

 
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