The Burley Blesser, MM Freehand

[mso489]

It's not news that Missouri Meerschaum corncob pipes have a way with old time burley blends and newer versions of the same. The MM freehand, with a bowl 2 3/4" deep is an extension of this truism worth noting. It swallows a gracious amount of tobacco, keeps it lit for a good long smoke with just a few relights (or maybe none), and delivers back little dottle, keeping the smoke abundant and dry. A recent bowl of PC's newly introduced heritage burley smoke Log Cabin illustrated the point, but so have other burley blends including the Belgium burley variant Semois (not really a blend, but a great burley) thick cut or medium. If you enjoy burley tobacco or burley forward blends, this is a tool you will enjoy, with all of the pleasures of a fine corncob pipe, with an acrylic stem to add to the durability. Highly recommended.

 

[Chasing Embers]

My freehand came with a vulcanite stem, but I agree. Absolutely magic with burley.

 

[newbroom]

I haven't had my Freehand in the rotation lately. I've kept cobs in line but not that one. I like using it, but it is a pipe in hand sort of tool for me and just rather large.

I have had some nice results using my MM Maplewood Pot, an older model with a 7/8" bore, but only about 1.375" height inside dimensions.

I crashed one of my favorite smokers awhile back and found it to be an organ donor, lending it's nice vulcanite saddle stem to the pot. My Swiss Dry Smoker is dead. I got a lot of nice smokes with it, and only ONCE tried to remove its stem before I'd chilled it. That's all it took to reveal an almost paper thin mortise wall, in several pieces. No, I won't bother trying to fix it. It might have cost me $2 or $3, not much more and I've got lots of good smokers. I've got the memories. ::