The Ugly Truth
- Thread starter popeofpiping
- Start date
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
Site Sponsors
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
- Status
Maybe, but not necessarily more accurate. Else, why do higher end makers polish the shank airway, polish the mortise chamfer and the stem airway? Why be concerned with the way the internals fit together? Why did Comoy's craftsmen bother to insert a steel tube in the shank for strengthening, as did so many French carvers in the early 20th century? Why did it matter? Why would an artisan carver like Scottie Persel choose to run a surgical steel tube the length of the shank on her Scottie pipes, with the tube emerging as a reverse tenon and creating an unbroken airway from the chamber to the slot?
Why would Barling decide not only to make all of their own bowls, but to set up their own harvesting operations in Algeria? They could have bought briar on the open market like their competitors. Why would they choose to air cure their burl for years before cutting and shaping? Why would they dump the vast majority of it rather than make pipes with it? And when they lost their harvesting works after the Algerian War for Independence in 1954, why buy from everywhere, rather than only specific regions? Why would Dunhill have set up oil curing, or Sasieni oven curing? Why cure at all? Why use vulcanite? Why use "para rubber" grade vulcanite?
Why do some artisans experiment with various tapered airways rather than a just stick with an accepted constant? Why go from an orific to a semi-orific slot and then to a wide slot? Why experiment with different methods of joinery? Why use albatross bone for a joining screw and then abandon it for a friction tenon? Why use an amber tenon and then switch to a vulcanite tenon for attaching the stem? Why devise a wide variety of stingers or other filters? Why develop a way to drill a curved airway? Why design a variety of buttons for various orthodontic conditions? Why develop thin flat stems at the button? Why experiment with different airway designs. Why bother to come up with a "bite proof" dual hole design? Why add a carburetor to the base of the bowl? Why create a space for oils and liquids to gather out of the path of the airway? Because there is no engineering involved?
At it's most basic, a pipe is a tube. People used to sit around a pile of burning leaves and use reeds to sip the smoke. The tobacco pipe is therefore a bit of a step up, since it is portable. At it's most basic, it's a chamber for packing in the weed, with a tube attached for drawing the smoke into one's mouth. Consider it a portable leaf mound.
And at its most basic, food is a mixture of fats, carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, and other nutrients. Suppose that prep doesn't matter, texture doesn't matter, flavor doesn't matter, color doesn't matter, appearance doesn't matter. Imagine a lifetime of a daily ration of "plop" called food. The basic definition may be clear, but it's by no means the whole of it.
An earthquake roused me from me bed.
If a smoker is satisfied with a simple wisp of smoke in the mouth, more power to them. For me, the full enjoyment of a pipe is multi-faceted. The more of the facets met, the better the smoke. A PB and J provides sustenance. A well prepared and presented meal is however, a repast! Again, it all depends on what the smoker requires. I require certain tactile, visual, and taste sensations in order to enjoy a good smoke. An adequate smoke/pipe simply delivers the nicotine and taste. I can get this with nearly any pipe under any circumstances. A good smoke requires more.
If a smoker is satisfied with a simple wisp of smoke in the mouth, more power to them. For me, the full enjoyment of a pipe is multi-faceted. The more of the facets met, the better the smoke. A PB and J provides sustenance. A well prepared and presented meal is however, a repast! Again, it all depends on what the smoker requires. I require certain tactile, visual, and taste sensations in order to enjoy a good smoke. An adequate smoke/pipe simply delivers the nicotine and taste. I can get this with nearly any pipe under any circumstances. A good smoke requires more.
Nonsense. You can step on one and crush it, a hammer will smash one quite nicely. You could use a mallet, drop a suspended grand piano on it, toss it off the top of the Eiffel Tower. Really there are many many ways to beat a cob.
I tried to keep my initial post congenial. I get a headache when these posts go sideways.
I hate it when a corncob toy pipe smoking jent, comes on a post where we are discussing real pipes and says, "get a corn cob, it smokes the best."
Thus, I tried to avoid telling the toy pipe guys that their pipes aren't as good as mine. Then, of course, I should have expected it, a pipe bully comes on and challenges my statement as not being tough enough against the toy pipe guys. Errrrrrk, sideways!
Basically, if you enjoy the heck out out of your pipe made of country boy toilet paper, enjoy it.
If you like real pipes and can't understand the toy pipes, then we can just let them live in their own little reality. No one benefits from being awakened from a dream.
If I didn't piss someone off, be sure to let me know, and I'll give it another shot. :
:
I hate it when a corncob toy pipe smoking jent, comes on a post where we are discussing real pipes and says, "get a corn cob, it smokes the best."
Thus, I tried to avoid telling the toy pipe guys that their pipes aren't as good as mine. Then, of course, I should have expected it, a pipe bully comes on and challenges my statement as not being tough enough against the toy pipe guys. Errrrrrk, sideways!
Basically, if you enjoy the heck out out of your pipe made of country boy toilet paper, enjoy it.
If you like real pipes and can't understand the toy pipes, then we can just let them live in their own little reality. No one benefits from being awakened from a dream.
If I didn't piss someone off, be sure to let me know, and I'll give it another shot. :
:
There is the real Cosmic. Haha. I'm sorry, but I will always disagree that a cob smokes better than briar. It doesn't, and if you can't tell the difference then you are far different from me. Cobs are awesome for what they are, a piece of corn which smokes well enough to make a good shop or work pipe.
Cobs have no soul... and I've personally found just one that rated any higher than a 6 on the Smoker's 1-10 scale. And, I've smoked a lot of 'em. Guess I've been buying the wrong cobs. 
It's an interesting thread to read.
There are connoisseur pipes, there are grass roots pipes - and they are not equal in many ways.
It's not that smokers cannot get a good smoke in a grass roots pipe, and it's not that a beginner will not have the possibility to get a bad smoke from a connoisseur pipe. There is something more to it.
To understand, let's think the most hyped beef in the world - Kobe beef. From the breeding lineage records down to the exact identified cows, from the meals and massage every week, to the mature time for the optimal marble patterns, these are all monitored by highly trained individuals. And then there is the years of apprenticeship for another individual that enables him to divide the cow into different parts for specialized ways of consumption. Finally, there is another long ladder of strict apprenticeship that the chief has climbed up so he is now responsible to select and cook the Kobe beef in front of the customers. This is one kind of enjoyment.
One may say, the street wok fried beef he enjoyed in a random country during his SE Asia holiday tasted really good to him. Those are his taste buds, I just have to agree. It could be that the street food seller had been selling street food for 10 or 20+ years and he instead of his standby workers was working that day. But it's still a different kind of enjoyment.
For a pipe manufacturer, such as Barling, that was responsible for creating smoking pipes for generations of reigns of the royal family, do you think they allowed workers who were not trained to their standard to produce pipes for the market? How about the sons or daughters of some artisan pipe makers, what amount of training they have gone through before their fathers agreed that was about time to have their debut pipe sales? Of course, the renowned MM cobs also have standards and quality control, but I believe their standard is different from say, Barling, or Dunhill. This is just my opinion.
That being said, I have always been thankful to pipe manufacturers who create affordable pipes, so that beginners can try out pipe smoking more easily. I usually gift younger fellows to whom I introduced pipe smoking a MM cob with a pouch of tobacco - MM makes these present more affordable and I don't have to worry what they do to the cobs.
One kind of pipes similar to MM cobs that are also affordable have been dying out. There used to be quite some people making pipes from cherry tree in Austria, but I have not (yet) heard of any maker exists as of today. They are the cherry wood pipes. They can smoke really good, if not better than a MM cob.
For the "cherrywood" or cob looking Dunhill above, I own one example. That shape is actually called 'Don', a variant Dunhill created after the shape 'Duke' that Dunhill designed for Prince Edward, Prince of Wales.
Perhaps he gave up his throne also because of his love of pipe smoking:
I own no 'Duke'. This shape has no shank, resembles exactly the traditional cherry wood pipes and corn cobs. One may say, a pipe made like a grass roots cherry root, but with selected briar and by Dunhill's craftsmen - Voilà, then it becomes a prince's pipe, his favorite shape indeed according to some legend. Older models have usually the stems made of bone. Perhaps I may get one in the future, if I get into PAD again.
There are connoisseur pipes, there are grass roots pipes - and they are not equal in many ways.
It's not that smokers cannot get a good smoke in a grass roots pipe, and it's not that a beginner will not have the possibility to get a bad smoke from a connoisseur pipe. There is something more to it.
To understand, let's think the most hyped beef in the world - Kobe beef. From the breeding lineage records down to the exact identified cows, from the meals and massage every week, to the mature time for the optimal marble patterns, these are all monitored by highly trained individuals. And then there is the years of apprenticeship for another individual that enables him to divide the cow into different parts for specialized ways of consumption. Finally, there is another long ladder of strict apprenticeship that the chief has climbed up so he is now responsible to select and cook the Kobe beef in front of the customers. This is one kind of enjoyment.
One may say, the street wok fried beef he enjoyed in a random country during his SE Asia holiday tasted really good to him. Those are his taste buds, I just have to agree. It could be that the street food seller had been selling street food for 10 or 20+ years and he instead of his standby workers was working that day. But it's still a different kind of enjoyment.
For a pipe manufacturer, such as Barling, that was responsible for creating smoking pipes for generations of reigns of the royal family, do you think they allowed workers who were not trained to their standard to produce pipes for the market? How about the sons or daughters of some artisan pipe makers, what amount of training they have gone through before their fathers agreed that was about time to have their debut pipe sales? Of course, the renowned MM cobs also have standards and quality control, but I believe their standard is different from say, Barling, or Dunhill. This is just my opinion.
That being said, I have always been thankful to pipe manufacturers who create affordable pipes, so that beginners can try out pipe smoking more easily. I usually gift younger fellows to whom I introduced pipe smoking a MM cob with a pouch of tobacco - MM makes these present more affordable and I don't have to worry what they do to the cobs.
One kind of pipes similar to MM cobs that are also affordable have been dying out. There used to be quite some people making pipes from cherry tree in Austria, but I have not (yet) heard of any maker exists as of today. They are the cherry wood pipes. They can smoke really good, if not better than a MM cob.
For the "cherrywood" or cob looking Dunhill above, I own one example. That shape is actually called 'Don', a variant Dunhill created after the shape 'Duke' that Dunhill designed for Prince Edward, Prince of Wales.
Perhaps he gave up his throne also because of his love of pipe smoking:
I own no 'Duke'. This shape has no shank, resembles exactly the traditional cherry wood pipes and corn cobs. One may say, a pipe made like a grass roots cherry root, but with selected briar and by Dunhill's craftsmen - Voilà, then it becomes a prince's pipe, his favorite shape indeed according to some legend. Older models have usually the stems made of bone. Perhaps I may get one in the future, if I get into PAD again.
Menuhin, excellent!! This needs it's own thread. You should have just started a new thread. Great article.
Menuhin, very reflective. I agree that affordable pipes are necessary to get new smokers into the hobby, for lack of a better term. There is no need to glorify these affordable pipes, and you presented a very cool historical aspect instead.
I'll have you know I'm quite devoted to my ashtrays. My ashtrays have been very, very, good to me!
adlecaker
[/quote]Anyone who is not getting a better smoke out of their cobs than anything else is smoking them wrong.
[/quote]Anyone who is not getting a better smoke out of their cobs than anything else is smoking them wrong.
A pair of flip flops work trouble free without any upkeep nor skill in laces or knots. A ballpoint pen is trouble free, either it works or it doesn't, no skills in anything needed. A Ford Fiesta can get me to work and back with bare minimal skills in driving required.
However, a nice pair of Italian leather shoes will last much longer, with class, but they require skills. Or a pair of cowboy boots. A nice calligrapher's pen offers much more options to the mark making, but do require skills. A Ford Platinum Fusion has paddle shifters, and requires much more skills but allows for much more aggressive driving and offers more options.
A corncob is the flip flop, the ballpoint pen of pipes. No real skills needed. However, with a little more skill you can have a lot more options and aesthetics.
It's the baby pacifier of pipes. It's idiot free. Load it and fire it up, and with all of the leaky seams, super absorbent shank, any moron can get a mediocre smoke out of it.
Turn this around, and if you are getting a much better smoke out of your corncob, maybe you just suck at smoking pipes in general, so the mediocre idiot proof cobs do give you excellent results. So, flip flops, ballpoint pens, etc... Jus' sayin'
However, a nice pair of Italian leather shoes will last much longer, with class, but they require skills. Or a pair of cowboy boots. A nice calligrapher's pen offers much more options to the mark making, but do require skills. A Ford Platinum Fusion has paddle shifters, and requires much more skills but allows for much more aggressive driving and offers more options.
A corncob is the flip flop, the ballpoint pen of pipes. No real skills needed. However, with a little more skill you can have a lot more options and aesthetics.
It's the baby pacifier of pipes. It's idiot free. Load it and fire it up, and with all of the leaky seams, super absorbent shank, any moron can get a mediocre smoke out of it.
Turn this around, and if you are getting a much better smoke out of your corncob, maybe you just suck at smoking pipes in general, so the mediocre idiot proof cobs do give you excellent results. So, flip flops, ballpoint pens, etc... Jus' sayin'
Of course, everything tastes crappy in a corncob. Didn't MM and C&D have develop a special series of corncob tobacco, one that didn't suck? Ha ha.
Carter Hall is about the only thing that doesn't smell like the inside of a rancid corn silo to me, when smoked in a CC. And, I only smoke them when I am in a situation where I wouldn't want to risk harming one of my real pipes.
- Status