Ruminations on Extra Large Pipes

[Briar Lee]

No king was ever blessed more than I am with so many beautiful pipes, I could smoke one a single time and then smoke another, all day long, and it might be a month before I came around again to the first one.

And when I die my kids can have all the fun of selling them. I wish I could be there for the sale, and I’d buy every one back.

Some pipe smokers are going to find every one of my pipes carefully cleaned, lovingly maintained, and perfectly ready to smoke.

But of all my pipes, the overwhelming majority are medium and smaller shapes. A select few only are extra large pipes, ones that hold at least four slices of Luxury Navy Flake.



Not all, but nearly all my medium or smaller pipes cost from $20 to $40 used.

And an extra large pipe is more than $40 and just about $100 is my personal limit on what I’ll pay for a huge pipe.

I’m headed to the farm today, which means I’ll grab several extra large pipes.

In my office I rarely smoke a huge pipe, and outdoors, I prefer the big ones.

I cannot explain just why, but larger pipes smoke cooler, and taste just a little better than smaller ones. With over twice, sometimes three times the tobacco you’d think they’d have a bigger ember and more heat, but I find the opposite true.

Every pipe smoker ought to have a few great big pipes, for lazy days.

 

[SBC]

What is that dark sandblasted freehand in the middle of the bottom picture?
Third down from the top, third up from the bottom.
I like it.

 

[alaskanpiper]

What is that dark sandblasted freehand in the middle of the bottom picture?
Third down from the top, third up from the bottom.
I like it.

The powers of zoom reveal it to be a Nording.

 

[5star]

One of my favorite tobaccos is Tabac Manil semois. I definitely like smoking that in a larger size pipe. The subtle flavors come through much better for me than when I smoke it in a smaller pipe. That tobacco comes very dry & is shag cut, so the bigger bowl also provides a longer smoke for me.

Mac

 

[cigrmaster]

All of my pipes except 2 are group 4-5. The other 2 are group 6's and offer a pretty long smoke. My 4-5's are perfect for my flakes which I smoke almost all the time. Usually they fit one flake and I can smoke them for 1-1.5 hours. My 6's last a good 2 hours plus.

 

[mso489]

I have an extra large MM cob freehand and a Johs slightly bent semi-rusticated apple that my wife gave me one Christmas about twelve years ago. They're perfect for long meditative sessions or can be smoked intermittently through the day or evening. For hauling around outdoors, I like smaller lighter weight pipes.

 

[Hillcrest]

No king was ever blessed more than I am with so many beautiful pipes, I could smoke one a single time and then smoke another, all day long, and it might be a month before I came around again to the first one.

And when I die my kids can have all the fun of selling them. I wish I could be there for the sale, and I’d buy every one back.

Some pipe smokers are going to find every one of my pipes carefully cleaned, lovingly maintained, and perfectly ready to smoke.

But of all my pipes, the overwhelming majority are medium and smaller shapes. A select few only are extra large pipes, ones that hold at least four slices of Luxury Navy Flake.

View attachment 179297View attachment 179298

Not all, but nearly all my medium or smaller pipes cost from $20 to $40 used.

And an extra large pipe is more than $40 and just about $100 is my personal limit on what I’ll pay for a huge pipe.

I’m headed to the farm today, which means I’ll grab several extra large pipes.

In my office I rarely smoke a huge pipe, and outdoors, I prefer the big ones.

I cannot explain just why, but larger pipes smoke cooler, and taste just a little better than smaller ones. With over twice, sometimes three times the tobacco you’d think they’d have a bigger ember and more heat, but I find the opposite true.

Every pipe smoker ought to have a few great big pipes, for lazy days.

Many times, larger pipes do smoke better for varied reasons. Can you measure one or two of those pipe chambers so I can have an idea of what you consider large ? My own idea is that anything around 20mmx40mm chamber is a medium. Larger chamber than that in either measurement is a large and anything over 45mm deep is an extra large. My largest chamber and best smoker is 20mmx55mm. Others are 18x45;20x45;20x46;22x52. The 18x45 is borderline medium/large to me. (Your knowledge may vary: This is my limited opinion only and may not reflect reality in the pipe world.) I am aware that pipe chambers were smaller a long time ago and recent trends are returning to those sizes.

Just curious what the chamber sizes are on your pipes.