Pipes Fall out of Favor

[cosmicfolklore]

How many places let us light up on the premises any more?

Where I live, there are still smoking areas in most (non-chain) restaurants, coffee shops, cigar bars, bars, and if you tell them that you aren't going to be smoking those nasty, annoying cigarettes, most places with non-smoking signs will let you smoke your pipe, as long as you don't smoke something with latakia. But, you have to ask beforehand... nicely.

 

[eddiegrob]

I find that if I clean a pipe well (no major treatment, just rubbing and cleaning) right after a smoke, and the more time between smoking with it, the better that it will smoke. Also, some blends/cuts will shine in a specific pipe, others will be either meh or downright horrible, or burn too hot while other blends will burn much cooler in that same pipe. Aside from that there are the changes in your body chemistry, either short range (something you ate or drank), or more long term. The solution for me has been to give that pipe a rest for a long time and then make a note to try in it a blend and/or cut that are different from the offending one(s). The point is that we're talking here about pipes that have smoked well in the past before the downward change. If a pipe has never smoked well with any blend that you've put in it, then that pipe definitely sucks.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

The point is that we're talking here about pipes that have smoked well in the past before the downward change.

I got the impression that it was good one day, bad the next, but then it smoke well again... which to me sounds more like the variable is the smoker. But, I am often wrong. ::

 

[bullet08]

none of mine falls out of favor. right now i have 10 that i rotate, 5 that i use for short smoke, and two i haven't smoked. they all work like dogs and full fill their duty like it all not.

 

[oldbaccy]

I had the same problem with a couple of my pipes. After opening up the draw hole with a drill bit and cleaning them after every use with q-tip and pipe cleaner the problem is gone. Tongue bite and wet smoke were both substantially reduced buy enlarging the draw hole. Another note, after enlarging the draw hole the pipe almost smokes itself. I've been reading about this quite a bit lately. My cob has a huge draw hole and just about smokes itself, smoke is dry, tongue bite is not noticeable unless smoking a virginia or burley hard.

 

[bnichols23]

Basically +2 on 'bug's comment for me, trout! I never "coordinate" as such -- when it comes to what I want to smoke, the pipe is the pipe & the leaf is the leaf. OK, yeah, I know that sounds flip, but it really is how I do it -- just by feel. I might spend .5 seconds at my racks, or I might look at them for as much as 10-15 seconds to figure out which one I feel like at the moment. The tins/pouches usually get less than a second unless I'm thinking good hearty flavor. Then I might stand there & think Frigate or Frog Morton, 3 Nuns or Presbyterian [yea, still working it, Mike! ], etc. If I just want a good aro or other sort it might be Chimney Smoke BCA or or McB Navy Flake or whatever, & that'll take less than a second. Basically it's just that -- "whatever" my tongue wants at the moment.
I do, though, occasionally have pipes fall out of favor, usually just because I've smoked them consistently to the point that they temporarily bore me. My little Bones apple is a good example. For a while I smoked it at least 2-3 times a week for a month or more, & after a while it'd get "Oh, I don't feel like smoking that one again now," & that put-off might continue for as much as a couple of months. Like 'bug said, it's just me that changed.
B

 

[trouttimes]

Bill, you hit it on the head I guess. A pipe just bores me after a while. I love my falcons for months, then I just don't feel like smoking them for months. Maybe they still smoke the same, it's just. That they don't interest me like they did. I'm on a Comoy kick right now, I had a meer kick during Christmas, I had a cob kick last fall. I guess it is just me.

 

[bnichols23]

I guess it is just me.

Hey, like I say a lot, it's all subjective, right? There'll be times when I hit the racks to just deliberately pull out one of the Sorens, Brebbias, Jobeys, or Hilsons, just because none of them are ever my binge-smokes. You could call itg falling *into* favor, I guess??
B

 

[cortezattic]

What I'm about to suggest is way too much work for me, but maybe it's possible to correlate the blends' moisture and the pipes' type of wood grain: straight, flame, birdseye, cross grain, bald wood.
Somewhere, I read that a grainless pipe will smoke well, but will need a lot of rest between smokes, whereas birdseye-heavy pipes can keep cookin' for extended periods. Of course, most common grade pipes have mixed graining.
Lacquer coated bowls may be another issue.

 

[mso489]

It's pleasing to rediscover a pipe after a long time and find it's a good smoker, just eclipsed by others for a while, sort of like actors or musicians making a comeback.

 

[gatorlope]

It’s odd, maybe, that I’ve been a non smoker for most of the fifty odd years that I’ve been collecting pipes, just occasionally smoking a couple of favorites - a huge old freehand and a couple of meerschaums...

I’m not a septagenarian yet, but as it gets close, I’m like, “wotthehell, archie, wotthehell!”

So now I’m on a kick of my own! :puffpipe:

 

[gatorlope]

It’s odd, maybe, that I’ve been a non smoker for most of the fifty odd years that I’ve been collecting pipes, just occasionally smoking a couple of favorites - a huge old freehand and a couple of meerschaums...

I’m not a septagenarian yet, but as it gets close, I’m like, “wotthehell, archie, wotthehell!”

So now I’m on a kick of my own! :puffpipe: