Instead of churchwardens I picked upa few longer pipes that would still be consdidered normal. Its comfortable smoking a longer stem pipe if you are pretty much doing nothing else. Variety is nice but I didnt want to fuss with different cleaners. I know I have a curchwarden in some box in the basement from long ago but I havent been able to locate it. Someday it might pop up.
Pipe Types and Why I Lean Towards Longstems
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Sigmund was saying "I didnt want to fuss with different cleaners."
Understandable. It can be a pain having to keep too much stuff handy to clean pipes. Since I almost always smoke long pipes though, I only buy long pipe cleaners. After running a bristled one and a soft one down the stem, I cut 'em in half to clean the shaft and bowl. (I also keep a box of Q tips handy to use wherever they'll fit. Cheap and effective.)
Understandable. It can be a pain having to keep too much stuff handy to clean pipes. Since I almost always smoke long pipes though, I only buy long pipe cleaners. After running a bristled one and a soft one down the stem, I cut 'em in half to clean the shaft and bowl. (I also keep a box of Q tips handy to use wherever they'll fit. Cheap and effective.)
Here's another "on the spot" photo, this time a workshop wall. Gonna have to do a proper setup soon cuz I'm getting hand crampsl
All pipes are McQueens, wooden stems. Top is one of their miniatures, in Briar. Smokes very well, like a regular pipe except very small capacity, conical bore. I can usually get 20-25 minutes now if I work at it, with a well prepared tobacco. As much as I'd ever want in the morning.
Second is an 12" stem, Cherrywood with rusticated bowl. Small capacity, about double the mini, but smokes very nicely and noticeably cooler with slow smoking techniques than the mini, with the same fodder in the bowl. Get about 40 - 45 minutes with slow smoking techniques. Enough for an afternoon delight.
The third is a 9" stem, about the smallest you'd go if you really wanted to experience the cooling factor of the stem away from the furnace. Medium size bowl, and with the same fodder as the above two pipes, 60 minutes out of this one with slow smoking techniques. This is a well broken-in, gorgeous piece of ashwood. Have two more ashwood McQueens, a seafarer style and a prospector style, both 12" stems. Ruined 2 ashwoods breaking them in badly. A tough pipewood to break in. Burns very hot and will scorch with the wrong tobacco. Learned from experience.
If you've never tried one of these long-stemmed beauties, I suggest you get one. They are a different world and smoke very different than regular pipes. I got into them not because of Lord of the Rings, but because i got a bunch of them at bargoon basement prices when a trading company in Vancouver got out of the pipe business, and put them up for sale. That's when the return to "The Disease" started.
I have a nice collection of regular pipes, and enjoy smoking them just as much. I didn't try to compare my Pathfinder to my light pickup to my Mustang. I drove and liked each of them for their different uses and qualites. I like regular pipes, especially straight ones. mostly in the afternoon when I'm neither fish nor fowl, don't want a quick smoke but don't want anything too leisurely, either.
Cheers. I'm onto next topic
All pipes are McQueens, wooden stems. Top is one of their miniatures, in Briar. Smokes very well, like a regular pipe except very small capacity, conical bore. I can usually get 20-25 minutes now if I work at it, with a well prepared tobacco. As much as I'd ever want in the morning.
Second is an 12" stem, Cherrywood with rusticated bowl. Small capacity, about double the mini, but smokes very nicely and noticeably cooler with slow smoking techniques than the mini, with the same fodder in the bowl. Get about 40 - 45 minutes with slow smoking techniques. Enough for an afternoon delight.
The third is a 9" stem, about the smallest you'd go if you really wanted to experience the cooling factor of the stem away from the furnace. Medium size bowl, and with the same fodder as the above two pipes, 60 minutes out of this one with slow smoking techniques. This is a well broken-in, gorgeous piece of ashwood. Have two more ashwood McQueens, a seafarer style and a prospector style, both 12" stems. Ruined 2 ashwoods breaking them in badly. A tough pipewood to break in. Burns very hot and will scorch with the wrong tobacco. Learned from experience.
I have a nice collection of regular pipes, and enjoy smoking them just as much. I didn't try to compare my Pathfinder to my light pickup to my Mustang. I drove and liked each of them for their different uses and qualites. I like regular pipes, especially straight ones. mostly in the afternoon when I'm neither fish nor fowl, don't want a quick smoke but don't want anything too leisurely, either.
Cheers. I'm onto next topic
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In my case, I got a bunch of them at a closeout sale real cheap. Began my pipesmoking Renaissance with them, and don't really consider them a novelty. They been around for a long time lol.
No, raided a company that went out of business. Got about a dozen or fourteen for the price of maybe two premium pipes.
Your principal about the temp dropping more the further you get from the fire is sound.
Problem is that the heat shouldnt be much on the pipe itself. The heat is in the chamber and if you smoke slowly it should stay in there.
You dont learn how to smoke a pipe instantly, but when you do you produce small amounts of smoke, heat, and moisture.
If you don't learn to smoke correctly you'll be putting charcoal and stuff down into your pipe, having to take a break for a few days after youve gurgled the skin off of your tounge... You'll be thinking strange thoughts about 15ft churchwardens to ease the burning pain in your mouth.
I say a wooden stemmed wizard's pipe isn't helpful to someone learning to smoke a pipe.
Problem is that the heat shouldnt be much on the pipe itself. The heat is in the chamber and if you smoke slowly it should stay in there.
You dont learn how to smoke a pipe instantly, but when you do you produce small amounts of smoke, heat, and moisture.
If you don't learn to smoke correctly you'll be putting charcoal and stuff down into your pipe, having to take a break for a few days after youve gurgled the skin off of your tounge... You'll be thinking strange thoughts about 15ft churchwardens to ease the burning pain in your mouth.
I say a wooden stemmed wizard's pipe isn't helpful to someone learning to smoke a pipe.
Yup, if the pipe is broken in . . . . until then "hot bowls" happen, and some pipes I've had by the nature of their design, (ie thin wood) get fairly hot on the outside. Cherry, Pear, Ash and other hardwoods are particularly nasty. That's why I've become convinced that briar is the best wood for pipes, and at this point in time, I'll not buy anything else, except in the fall, a couple of meerschaums.
I started off this round (I smoked a pipe for a couple of years in university) as an "intermediate", and am currently working on all of those things you mention.
You're also right about a longstem not being for beginners. Especially wood. Too hard to take care of, clean and maintain. Stems split, crack . . . I've had to learn some basic woodworking skills for maintenance of this stuff. But, to me, they're worth the effort for that long evening smoke.
Right now I'm on a straight pipe kick, breaking in two Falcons, (three bowls) and my new Brigham . . . and the two new Brigs on the way.
Google breathe smoking and add pipeamagazine to the end of the search. There are a few old threads that are good. Hopefully you can find Cosmic explaining that way of smoking. There used to be a video of Chasingembers "breathe smoking.. I wouldnt know how to find it.
Once you get the breathe smoking down, the rest of the shit is just personal preference... I mean, I guess it's all personal preference, a burnt tounge aint my idea of a good time though. Ive surely have burnt mine to the point of not wanting to smoke, but not since the begining.
Once you get the breathe smoking down, the rest of the shit is just personal preference... I mean, I guess it's all personal preference, a burnt tounge aint my idea of a good time though. Ive surely have burnt mine to the point of not wanting to smoke, but not since the begining.
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