I was able to talk with a very busy Phil this morning, and have more information for those of us who enjoy our cobs. Phil said this year’s crop looks promising, and the early ears he has seen are larger than average. Harvesting could begin as early as mid-September, and continue through the end of October. It looks as if their expanded crop will give them enough material for two years worth of pipes.
While much of the harvest will be dried for two years, some of it will go through a special drying process, which will make the cobs ready to be made into pipes in just 4-6 weeks. Normally, all of the corn is harvested before the kernels are removed. But this year they will remove the kernels as the corn is harvested, which should speed up the process.
As for the stems on the new-style Freehands, which now have ferules on the shank to reduce splitting, they’re still made of vulcanite, although Phil is looking at switching to one made of Lucite from the same supplier. If the harvest is as successful as it looks like it might, maybe we’ll see a few new or retro models before too long. And hopefully more natural cobs will be able to be made.
While much of the harvest will be dried for two years, some of it will go through a special drying process, which will make the cobs ready to be made into pipes in just 4-6 weeks. Normally, all of the corn is harvested before the kernels are removed. But this year they will remove the kernels as the corn is harvested, which should speed up the process.
As for the stems on the new-style Freehands, which now have ferules on the shank to reduce splitting, they’re still made of vulcanite, although Phil is looking at switching to one made of Lucite from the same supplier. If the harvest is as successful as it looks like it might, maybe we’ll see a few new or retro models before too long. And hopefully more natural cobs will be able to be made.
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