To filter or not to filter...?

[sagepipe]

Surly this question arises often and from newbies like me... However, I must ask.
To filter or not to filter: that is the the question.
I am looking for a nice pipe to recommend for my wife to buy me for my 5th year anniversary (the "wooden" year!). I am quite enjoying the process of looking at all the pipes and pipe makers and learning new things. I see all kinds of pipes and have all kinds of questions. However, in this post I am only concerned with filtering systems...
I see many of the high end pipes use no filters and yet some do. I currently use filtered pipes and probably as a sense of assurance that some of the moisture is being caught in the filter rather than inching closer to my lips. Are filters useful or helpful? If so, there are several systems out there. Which are the best? I see drinkless systems, balsa wood, paper, etc. Are one of these filtration systems superior? If no filter is superior, I would like to reason with my psyche as to why that is! Any advice?

 

[papipeguy]

Filters are strictly a matter of personal choice. I, for one, never use them. The use of filters is more popular in Europe and that is why you'll see pipes made to accept filters but will also come with an adapter if the smoker chooses not to use one.

I find filters to be obstructive and just a pain to use. Brigham has a maple tube filter system where you can actually wash the filters. I have chosen not to use them as my usual practice is to insert a pipe cleaner as soon as I'm done smoking a pipe. Filters don't allow for this.

So, in the end it is whatever your preference is. I say try with and without and decide which works for you better.

 

[warren]

As above, your choice.

 

[phil67]

Hmmm, now that subject has never come up BEFORE, BEFORE, BEFORE, BEFORE, or BEFORE!
Now that should keep you busy with a lot of opinions!
P.S. Welcome to the forum... :wink:

 

[warren]

Good on you, Phil!

 

[sagepipe]

Thanks, Phil. This will indeed keep my busy.

 

[mso489]

My experience has been that using filters mutes flavors quite a bit. Adaptors sometimes impart a

plastic flavor for me. So all but two or three of my pipes are designed to be smoked without filters.

Sometimes I use the filters if I want a milder version of a strong tobacco, or if I am getting serious

bite, usually with aromatics that are too moist. (I mostly smoke non-aros.) Savenelli does make

some pipes without filters such as the 601 churchwarden and the Oscar Lucite series. As with filter

cigarettes, a filter pipe might prompt you to smoke more, so the benefit is to some degree lost.

But as mention by someone else in an earlier post, segments of the European pipe market are almost

exclusively 9 mm filtered pipes, apparently primarily for health concerns.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I never use them, nor stingers. Makes running a pipe cleaner through them after a smoke too difficult, and removing the stem too often to change the filter causes too much wear on the tenon IMHO.

 

[dottiewarden]

Never used a filter.

 

[boilermakerandy]

No filters on my pipes.

 

[smeigs]

I never use them. It would kind of be like drinking non alcoholic scotch to me. If your worried about the "bad stuff" being filtered out, I just wouldn't smoke.

 

[blueeyedogre]

I use 9mm filters in my pipes as I tend to be a heavy puffer and get pretty good tongue-bite without them. Personal choice but I like them.

 

[corncobguy]

I have a few Savinelli pipe's with the balsa filter's and they seem to work good,it keeps the moisture level down and I have not noticed any change in the tobacco's flavor,but normally I don't use filter's outside of these pipes.

 

[7ach]

I like 9mm filters. Only about 5-8% of my pipes are filtered. Some blends taste better with a filter. Some dont bite. Most taste about the same. Some taste worse. id say get one and see what you think

 

[weezell]

Cobs/Grabows I'm a filter guy...

 

[krizzose]

There's a qualitative difference between a paper or charcoal filter, which are designed for the smoke to pass through the filter medium, and (for lack of a better of a better word) inserts, which are designed for the smoke to pass around or over them.
Common inserts are the Savinelli balsa wood system, which are just triangular pieces of balsa wood. There is open space between the three straight sides of the balsa insert and the inside of the stem. The smoke goes around the insert, which wicks off excess moisture. The Brigham maple insert works on the same idea, except that it's a hollow tube and the smokes just goes through middle like a straw, again with the wood wicking moisture. The Savinelli balsa insert prevents the use of a pipe cleaner during a smoke, the Brigham does not.
I like the inserts, and can't stand paper or charcoal filters, but YMMV.

 

[brudnod]

My advice to newbies (and I might still include myself in that category since I have only been on this forum for 1.5 years, although smoking for 45) is to spend some times with the archives. MANY of the questions have been asked before have been addressed ad nauseum in past posts. You often find not only the answer the answers to questions you are currently asking but even answers to questions you find out that you should have asked!

 

[nhpro]

I prefer stingers over filters myself, for a cooler smoke.

Personal choice as stated, no right or wrong to it.
Enjoy your pipe!

 

[mjzerby]

So, if a pipe says that it should be filtered on the description of the pipe, it is merely a suggestion? There is no such thing as a pipe that "needs" a filter?

 

[frank13]

Many of my pipes have stingers, but I have mixed feelings about them... I never use filters. Too much of a PITA, and when changing them, they are a gooey, goopy mess. Ick...