Pipe Styles Paired With Different Tobaccos?

[badbriar]

Apologies for the sorry subject line! That said, what I'm looking to find is what style / shape pipes pair best with different types of tobacco blends? For instance, which pipes tend to offer a better smoking experience with Virginias, etc.
Until recently, I have been strictly an English, Oriental, Balkan, Scottish enthusiast. Only in this past year have I looked into VaPers and discovered they can be amazing blends.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Some strong opinions will be voiced soon. I pick my pipe for the moment based on what strikes my fancy, and at times, size of chamber. I smoke regular chambers and stacks. (i.e., no pots) I don't subscribe to the notion that VA's or English blends smoke better in a given shape. Others will strongly disagree.

 

[python]

I don't tend to go by shape and type of tobacco either. But with that being said, I do know that different blends taste differently in different pipes. I have had blends not really taste that great in one pipe and then blow my socks off in another pipe.

This is why when I try a new blend, I will smoke it in a few different pipes before deciding that if I don't like it.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Chamber and bowl shape affects nothing for me. One blend tastes the same in any pipe I smoke it in.

 

[craig61a]

I will generally smoke straight Virginia’s in a narrower chambered pipe... but that’s not a hard and fast rule.

It’s a matter of personal taste for every individual.

A rigid set of rules for what pipes go with whatever tobaccos is in my opinion pointless. Kind of like saying ice cream can only be correctly served on a waffle cone...

 

[alexnc]

Ice cream CAN only be served in a waffle cone! But my tobacco doesn’t seem too picky about what shape I use. Chamber diameter might make a difference to me, but I don’t pair specifically. I usually go by mood, do I want 2 hours of the same thing or to change it up a bit over the course of the smoke.

 

[shikano53]

chasingembers, truer words have never been spoken.

 

[mso489]

Though I have heard a few suggestions on pairing pipes with blends, and ascribe to a few, I would try any blend in any pipe, since pipes are highly individual, even factory pipes. One that doesn't match the usual suggestion maybe be wonderful with a particular blend. I won't run through the usual prejudices, since I've done that before. I'd just designate pipes for Lakeland aromatics, if I smoked them.

 

[bullet08]

read tall narrow chamber works for va. wide chamber works for english. i agree with what i read, but don't really look for specific pipe for specific blends.

 

[jpmcwjr]

read tall narrow chamber works for va. wide chamber works for english. i agree with what i read, but don't really look for specific pipe for specific blends.

The obverse is true as well.

 

[Bowie]

Although I recognize and do not doubt the wisdom of general pairings (e.g., tall narrow chamber for VAs), I'm still discovering new blends and pipe shapes, so for me it's a bit random at this point. But I embrace the randomness. Maybe my tastes will drive me to a pairing that is not "typical." I'm having fun, regardless.

But I should take notes or journal what I smoked, in case I do not prefer a tobacco. I can come back to it later in a different pipe.

 

[badbriar]

Good information here, gents. One thing I have noticed is how amazing some nice English & Orientals do in an affordable MM pipe. Bought one of the Cobbits and felt a little foolish with the name, so it sat for about a year. Finally got it out and broke it in (very easy, too) with dome of the Dunhill. Unbelievably smooth and cool-smoking.

 

[mso489]

Also, the usual proscriptions don't apply to all individual tastes. You might like a different delivery system for a particular generic blends. Some like a Virginia in a broad chamber, and so on. Try it. And pipes different, as noted above.

 

[UncleRasta]

I will generally smoke straight Virginia’s in a narrower chambered pipe... but that’s not a hard and fast rule.

It’s a matter of personal taste for every individual.

A rigid set of rules for what pipes go with whatever tobaccos is in my opinion pointless. Kind of like saying ice cream can only be correctly served on a waffle cone...

I don't disagree though all my pleasant Virginia smokes have been in narrower and taller bowls.

 

[recoilrob]

Yeah, the only thing that ever seemed at all plausible to me was Virginia flake in a tall, narrow bowl.

 

[cigrmaster]

I smoke almost exclusively some type of Va, Vaper or Vabur flake. I use mostly group 4-5 sized pipes with most being a classic shape(Billiard,Dublin,Apple,Rhodesian,Brandy,Lovat). I get great smokes no matter what the shape of the bowl is.
My inside bowl widths are mostly .75-.82 and a few that are 7/8.

I have heard for years that larger bowl diameters are better for English style blends that have multiple components and stack pipes for Virginia's. I honestly don't know if those things are true as I no longer smoke any English blends(stopped over a decade ago) and I have never owned a stack.

 

[recoilrob]

I've taken whole flakes, and without rubbing them out, rolled them up long ways, and stuffed them down into a long narrow bowl, like a tall cylindrical poker or "chimney". Works well...