Pipes, Maturity & Flavours

[BingBong]

I have been burning in my new Peterson Bulldog, destined to become #1 favorite if I'm any judge. My tobacco has been exclusively Germain's Gold Leaf until today, tried some Cabbies in it.

This caused me to reflect that, while this pipe has all the potential to become my favorite, when it comes to the full flavor of a blend, none has yet equalled my codger pipe, the Sarome Cambridge, which cost me less than thirty quid.

I have now smoked some of this Gold Leaf batch in my Sarome and suddenly, it has become everything I expected it to be, as I remember it, whereas in the 80S, it was very good but missing that last touch of magic.

I've kind of been through this with my Dracula 221 and would say that only now, over a year down the line, is that starting to approach the integration of flavour which keeps me smoking pipes.

It's not down to particular blends - the Sarome has been a maid of all work, sometimes blend switching while it was still warm from the last, still full flavour - so is it the briar? But I also now have well used estate pipes in my collection and can't say they match my codger.

There's a formula here but I can't say what it is. Yes, my newish Peterson Cara is a brilliant flake pipe from day one, but even then I expect the flavours to improve. Do we sometimes dismiss blends because we've simply smoked them in the Wrong Pipe? I have more questions than answers.

 

[bullet08]

My experience has been, wider the chamber, more things get picked up. And longer a pipe is used over time, better it becomes at expressing tobacco. Might have to do with things getting stable in the stummel.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Once fully broken in there's not much difference from pipe to pipe. Just sound like the new Peterson needs more smoking time. I no longer notice any difference between my four figure pipes versus those under $100.

 

[kcghost]

This is one of the joys of pipe smoking. Different blends can mean different things at different time of your life.

 

[BingBong]

Once fully broken in there's not much difference from pipe to pipe. Just sound like the new Peterson needs more smoking time. I no longer notice any difference between my four figure pipes versus those under $100.

The new one is picking up quickly; had a smoke of St James Flake in the Cara and that was great too. The Dracula has been a slow mover, where the component flavors were just out of sync with eachother - but it has been a champ with Orlik flakes and preferred pipe for those.

 

[BingBong]

This is still tugging my chain.

I have acquired more pipes in the interim and am, I suppose, somewhat discontent. The problem is with descriptions; simply stating chamber width just won't do, depth and shape of chamber are crucial factors and I've bought more in hope than expectation.

What I've principally tried and failed to avoid are chambers that are too big, too deep. They smoke superbly, don't get me wrong, but the flavours never arrive in the way I wish. I've almost given up on finding narrower, tapered chambered pipes which are so good for flakes. Ribbons smoke fine in bigger chambers, but I have a couple of pipes now where the last quarter is dead, too far down to relight - I tip this out and enjoy it in a smaller bowl.

So what to do? In the coming week, I will buy a bag of mesh screens simply to try to reduce these chamber depths. But the whole issue could be avoided with the right information about chamber size in the first place.

 

[Joe H]

It would be helpful if pipe-sellers included a chamber profile silhouette along with the chamber measurements. I wonder if the breaking-in period, which unquestionably makes a briar pipe smoke nicer, might also be a period in which we subconsciously learn to adapt to the pipe. I have one Zulu shaped pipe with a narrow, tapered chamber and I believe that Zulus are often smaller pipes. Best of luck on the quest.

 

[BingBong]

It would be helpful if pipe-sellers included a chamber profile silhouette along with the chamber measurements. I wonder if the breaking-in period, which unquestionably makes a briar pipe smoke nicer, might also be a period in which we subconsciously learn to adapt to the pipe. I have one Zulu shaped pipe with a narrow, tapered chamber and I believe that Zulus are often smaller pipes. Best of luck on the quest.

Thanks for the Zulu tip, I'll check them out. What I find irritating is that often, chamber diameter is as much info as one can get - how I wish for a great local B&M to actually see for myself. The perils of online shopping writ large.

My order of mesh screens has arrived and I've started to test - so far, so good! Perhaps this is the workaround I need.