Some cobs I just finished playing with. 
Show off Your Corn Cobs Here!
- Thread starter smokeybear
- Start date
These are absolutely fantastic!
Great Dane with a forever stem
Louis bent
Emerald straight
Emerald bent (only smoked once)
Funny story: The first pipe I ever got was a straight Emerald cob as a gift from my wife when I was trying to make the switch from cigs. I knew absolutely nothing about pipes and smoked it without really cleaning it at all for probably close to a year. I’m talking I rarely even ran a pipe cleaner through the stem kinda barely cleaning. It eventually started to taste sour and had codger level cake so I bought a few more pipes and ended up tossing it. My research on how to ‘unsour a pipe’ was probably the first time I started lurking on this forum. In hindsight I more than likely could’ve easily cleaned it out but at the time I figured hey it’s just a $20 pipe. It appears that the straight Emerald has since been discontinued by MM so this one pictured is now the only one I have. I plan on picking up a few more from various online sources before they’re all gone as the straight emerald is definitely my favorite cob shape.
Those are freakin awesome.Some cobs I just finished playing with. View attachment 187400
Not a pipe, but this is my corn cob tamper. Made out of stabilized cob, it has a briar tip that unscrews to reveal a ss pick. It was made by a guy named Ed James in Poplar Bluff, Mo who is sadly no longer with us.
Pipe is a Mincer era CustomBilt saddle bit pot.
Pipe is a Mincer era CustomBilt saddle bit pot.
My latest cobs. A Peterson and no name. 
There are two grades of Missouri Meerschaum pipes.
I paid about $6 for the Legend with a bent yellow plastic stem and about $12 for the larger stained Country Gentleman.
The most obvious difference is size, the more expensive line uses larger cobs.
The cheaper pipes use cheaper plastic amber stems, the better line uses an acrylic black stem, and in the case of the top of the line Freehand, an even better lucite type with a tenon that does NOT accept filters.
The base models have a cob bottom. The top line uses a wooden dowel glued in the bottom. This extends the life of the pipe and helps prevent burn out at the bottom.
The cheaper pipes have a red and white paper sticker and the best have a Mylar yellow sticker on the bottom.
All pipes are made on the same line using the same locally raised hybrid cob supply that’s been aged for at least two years in the attic of the ancient 150 year old factory. Bigger cobs get made into bigger pipes. The very biggest cobs are given to one workman who makes all the Freehands at one station, mostly by hand.
After being shaped into pipes by century or more older machines, the cobs are plastered and polished. This strengthens the pipe and helps from chunks of cob falling off.
Life is short. Go first class and buy the better ones. You’d just blow the money anyway, you know?.
More top grade pipes.
The filter stems interchange between top and lower grade pipes.
I paid about $6 for the Legend with a bent yellow plastic stem and about $12 for the larger stained Country Gentleman.
The most obvious difference is size, the more expensive line uses larger cobs.The cheaper pipes use cheaper plastic amber stems, the better line uses an acrylic black stem, and in the case of the top of the line Freehand, an even better lucite type with a tenon that does NOT accept filters.
The base models have a cob bottom. The top line uses a wooden dowel glued in the bottom. This extends the life of the pipe and helps prevent burn out at the bottom.
The cheaper pipes have a red and white paper sticker and the best have a Mylar yellow sticker on the bottom.
All pipes are made on the same line using the same locally raised hybrid cob supply that’s been aged for at least two years in the attic of the ancient 150 year old factory. Bigger cobs get made into bigger pipes. The very biggest cobs are given to one workman who makes all the Freehands at one station, mostly by hand.
After being shaped into pipes by century or more older machines, the cobs are plastered and polished. This strengthens the pipe and helps from chunks of cob falling off.
Life is short. Go first class and buy the better ones. You’d just blow the money anyway, you know?.
More top grade pipes.
The filter stems interchange between top and lower grade pipes.
Last edited:
The Legend is actually one of my preferred ones. I also have never broken one of the yellow transparent stems, while I have broken several black ones. Sometime the tenon just gives in without apparent reason. Never happened with the Legend.
I've acquired a few more since my last post, so here's an updated pic.
Many of remember Ed fondly here. RIP
Great idea for carrying your pipe accessories.
F
fMf Piper
Guest
Everybody's cobs are just beautiful.
I just started smoking a pipe about two weeks ago and got a Missouri Meershaum Diplomat 5th Avenue. I thought it would be a good starter pipe, but I love it so much I have a Mark Twain and a Country Gentleman arriving tomorrow. Maybe someday I will get a briar pipe, and then again, maybe I won't.
I love that cobs are works of art, inexpensive, smoke cool and dry, and make use of something that is usually considered a waste product. That checks all of the boxes for me. I am becoming quite a cob snob!
I just started smoking a pipe about two weeks ago and got a Missouri Meershaum Diplomat 5th Avenue. I thought it would be a good starter pipe, but I love it so much I have a Mark Twain and a Country Gentleman arriving tomorrow. Maybe someday I will get a briar pipe, and then again, maybe I won't.
I love that cobs are works of art, inexpensive, smoke cool and dry, and make use of something that is usually considered a waste product. That checks all of the boxes for me. I am becoming quite a cob snob!
F
fMf Piper
Guest
Experimenting with bending stems with hot water. I never cared for the heavily bent bits, so I bent some straight bits until they were about level with the bowls. I'm very pleased with how they turned out and this mod was virtually free.
I'm with you about the sharp bends on the bent cobs. Yours turned out excellently! I've always thought about trying this but ended up switching to forever stems.
F
fMf Piper
Guest
My cob collection so far. The Mark Twain and Country Gentleman pipes just came in the mail today, and the Diplomat 5th Avenue is the first pipe I bought. I originally thought I would prefer the bent stems, and while I really like my diplomat, I decided to go with straigth stems this time.
Before I started smoking my pipe, I read a few articles (not on this site - I hadn't discovered this wealth of information yet) suggesting to start with a cob, specifically a Legend. They all made the point that because cobs are cheap, if you didn't like pipe smoking, you weren't out much money. While I may still get a Ledend to add to my collection, I figured it was better to spend a little more for the quality.
As Briar Lee said "Life is short. Go first class and buy the better ones."
Before I started smoking my pipe, I read a few articles (not on this site - I hadn't discovered this wealth of information yet) suggesting to start with a cob, specifically a Legend. They all made the point that because cobs are cheap, if you didn't like pipe smoking, you weren't out much money. While I may still get a Ledend to add to my collection, I figured it was better to spend a little more for the quality.
As Briar Lee said "Life is short. Go first class and buy the better ones."