Stacks
- Thread starter tobefrank
- Start date
- Status
I have several stacks, which are defined as being twice as tall as wide. Most of mine are in the .8" x 2" category. I also have a couple of chimneys which may be what you were meaning. Mine are just around 3" tall. I just pack them lighter than I would other pipes and tamp as I go. They are great for windy days. They also make a Virginia sweeter as it stoves the tobacco as I smoke, but you don't really notice it till the last little bit.
I am not in the business of convincing folks into things. I like mine, but the one thing one will have to get over is having to stick a flame down them to light them. This is pure ignorance of how flames work. You will have to learn to hold a lighter about half an inch over the pipe (flame sideways) and just draw the heat down... otherwise you're just going to destroy the pipe, while never getting a good light on your tobacco.
most folks that don't have a grasp on how to light a pipe will avoid these pipes.
But, like I said, I could care less if anyone else likes these pipes... less competition for me in getting more.
I am not in the business of convincing folks into things. I like mine, but the one thing one will have to get over is having to stick a flame down them to light them. This is pure ignorance of how flames work. You will have to learn to hold a lighter about half an inch over the pipe (flame sideways) and just draw the heat down... otherwise you're just going to destroy the pipe, while never getting a good light on your tobacco.
most folks that don't have a grasp on how to light a pipe will avoid these pipes.
But, like I said, I could care less if anyone else likes these pipes... less competition for me in getting more.
Not as far as I can discern. Perhaps they render you more attractive to the opposite sex in that Douglas McArthur sort of way. They're are a couple of things about stacks that trouble me. The first is the depth of the bowl. They must be frightfully difficult for relights if you are halfway through a bowl of your favorite blend without one of those torch lighters. The second is the dynamics, if you consider the weight of the bowl to the length of the shank they are not to my mind what I would call a pipe that could be gripped in the jaw easily. That being said they do have their fans.
I guess I meant chimney. One of these monstrously tall pipes. I was wondering about the ability to relight as well as the tobacco at the bottom getting soggy towards the end.
+1. Stacked, narrow chamber pipes are my favorite for straight Virginia Flake.
Yes, the last bit of dottle does get a little soggy sometimes. if that's a problem for someone, you may not want one.
As far as relights go, as I said above, the way I light any pipe is to hold the lighter sideways above the rim by about half an inch, and then draw the heat down (not the flame). Anyone who works with flames, like welders, jewelers, etc... will be able to tell you that drawing the actual flame down is going to work against yourself. The center of the flame is the coldest part. I usually demonstrate this to other jewelers by holding a torch to a soldering brick to show that where the flame hits the brick, it is as cool as the rest of the brick, but surrounding the flame is where the heat is and the brick lights up with heat. You want heat, not flame on your tobacco, otherwise you are fighting against what you are trying to achieve, but as I have watched thousands of pipesmokers stick the damned flam down into the chamber, I realized that ignorance of this is just drenched in smoker culture.
It's like when I watch a moron try to start a fire by holding the flame on something. No matter how many times you tell someone who is completely ignorant of flames, they still stick the damned flame on something trying to light it, whereas I can just walk up and hold the lighter further away and presto faster fire.
I don't have any of these, but I am curious about more narrow bowls and it sounds like you all would be good to ask. Most of mine are wide pots.
I do have one Savinelli with a narrower taller bowl but it tends to smoke hotter for me and I have often assumed it is my packing or lighting technique.
Cosmic, it sounds like you intentionally pack them lighter to avoid extra heat?
I do have one Savinelli with a narrower taller bowl but it tends to smoke hotter for me and I have often assumed it is my packing or lighting technique.
Cosmic, it sounds like you intentionally pack them lighter to avoid extra heat?
I have several pipes with notably tall bowls, though none are chimneys or stacks per se. The use I make of them, among others, is to smoke some of the faster burning tobaccos like Five Brothers and Manil. The more narrow chamber slows the burn a little, and the tall aspect gives a somewhat longer smoke. There are likely other benefits. You do have to acquire or make longer pipe tools to clean out the bowls, and a taller reamer if you use one. I wouldn't choose these to smoke more complex blends with five or six tobaccos, where I'd rather have a broad chamber to get more different tobaccos burning at once. The pokers and MM freehand I have fill this niche for me, and I'm not in the market for additional tall-bowl pipes.
Stacks, shmacks... whatever, those are two beautiful pipes! Love that type of grain.
Don't much care for them. If something is going to smoke an extra long time I get rather bored with it.
I just find that as the tobacco expands with heat, if I am not careful, the draw will close up. But, in a way yes. The draw, heat, and to allow the heat to stove the underlying tobacco as I smoke. It's always easier to tighten up the draw with a tamper, than to loosen up a tight draw.
Maybe if I packed them really tight, but I don't find that it takes any longer to smoke a chimney than a regular stack. It's just a different way to smoke.
yeah the irony thing with taller pipes is you pack them looser so they smoke well and it means it's not the many hours smoke people think they're going to get. And yes nose warmers work the other way you can pack those really tightly and still get a great smoke and it last longer then people think it will. Or at least that's what I've experienced.
Ive always wanted a stack, just haven’t gotten around to it. For some reason, I have it in my head that St. Bruno would smoke wonderful in a stack. Once I get a stack, I plan on dedicating it to the Bruno.
Some swear by the passing-a-pipe-cleaner test. I have my own standard: if it fails the finger passing test, it's out!
I can't clean a pipe if I can't reach the heel with my finger wrapped in paper towel. Yeah, yeah, I'm sure somebody will come up with a contraption or method, but just as they have their standards, I have mine.
I can't clean a pipe if I can't reach the heel with my finger wrapped in paper towel. Yeah, yeah, I'm sure somebody will come up with a contraption or method, but just as they have their standards, I have mine.
As far as dottle goes you should be able to avoid almost all of that by packing with an air pocket.
Even if you don't get as long a smoke as the height of the stack might indicate, you do get the advantage of being able to easily load different blends in distinct layers.
Even if you don't get as long a smoke as the height of the stack might indicate, you do get the advantage of being able to easily load different blends in distinct layers.
- Status