Too Good to Smoke - Pipe Quality v Tobacco Quality

[helmhammerhand]

Hail from Helm Hammerhand,

No doubt both pipe making and creating tobacco blends are each art forms in themselves. But what's more, we get to experience the two coming together in the chief art of pipe smoking.

The more I look at the pipes and blends out there, the more I wonder if the possible quality of pipes somewhat outpaces the possible quality of blends. Some pipes are indeed beautiful smokes, but others reach a level of artwork that seems to leave the pipe-world behind. With these, I'm left thinking 'what tobacco blend could I possible smoke to keep up with that?' They seem too good to smoke.

But, I am curious if the same can be true about tobacco blends as well - are there any blends, beyond cellaring/aging, that are just too good to smoke? Or will pipes always have the upper hand as the instruments of our art?

What are your thoughts? Thanks!

--

 

[bullet08]

You are thinking too much. Pipes are tools to smoke tobacco with. As long as they are engineered properly, they will do the job. Some are more suited to certain smoker mainly due to the dimensions. Good looking pipe doesn't guarantee good smoke. Blends are there to provide what blender thinks will satisfy the smoker. Some are more popular than the others, but everyone has different taste.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

My thought on this is I load my pipes with tobacco, light and smoke. Trying to ponder much else gives me a headache.

 

[mortonbriar]

And once you have got passed that conundrum, you have to decide whether the match is worthy of striking that glorious box, or maybe the match is so perfectly crafted, the box seems inferior...it could be a while before you get to that smoke, but at least you have plenty to muse over in the meantime.

 

[sablebrush52]

A blend that's too good to smoke? That strikes me as a perfect paradox. I'll have to light up a favorite blend and ponder that. Some folks become anxious about smoking a blend that's gone extinct and has become worth its weight in gold on the secondary market. I understand the concern, and recommend popping a tin of that star blend and pondering that as well.

With a couple of exceptions, I don't buy pipes that I'm never going to smoke, but that's because my interest extends beyond the act of pipe smoking, and unsmoked vintage pieces that appeal to my interest in the history of pipe smoking satisfy me in that way. People whose interest in pipes is limited to their immediate utility as a means for immolating a measure of weed will see it differently.

 

[bbqpiper]

As I enjoy smoking with the pipe club here in Az I will open some old(some very old) tins regularly throughout the year. Sure i'll run through the tins faster than I would by myself but enjoying it with the brotherhood of the briar is exactly why I open up some unicorn blends.

 

[PipeIT]

It can be said for both, pipes and tabac;

Price doesn’t always equate to quality.

We sure hope when we pay the big bucks, we are getting something decent, but it’s not always the case.

And the quality can certainly be in the tastebud of the smoekr too, what seems great to one, isn’t to the other.

In the end, I guess we all just have to do a little bit of homework learning what’s what.

Have you read the article, ‘The Myth of Brand and Maker in Pipesmoking’, by Dr. Fred Hanna?

If not, be sure to read it.

https://www.greatnorthernpipeclub.org/_files/ugd/17b259_acdce5ca70354ca7a5f64775f95ae600.pdf

 

[Searock Fan]

Tomorrow I'll turn 78 and I've been a pipe smoker for about 60 years. I would liketo think I've learned something it all that time. One thing I can tell you from experience is the best tobacco in the world can smoke like chap in a bad pipe !

 

[helmhammerhand]

Tomorrow I'll turn 78 and I've been a pipe smoker for about 60 years. I would liketo think I've learned something it all that time. One thing I can tell you from experience is the best tobacco in the world can smoke like chap in a bad pipe !

Thanks Searock Fan! And many happy returns ?

 

[helmhammerhand]

It can be said for both, pipes and tabac;

Price doesn’t always equate to quality.

We sure hope when we pay the big bucks, we are getting something decent, but it’s not always the case.

And the quality can certainly be in the tastebud of the smoekr too, what seems great to one, isn’t to the other.

In the end, I guess we all just have to do a little bit of homework learning what’s what.

Have you read the article, ‘The Myth of Brand and Maker in Pipesmoking’, by Dr. Fred Hanna?

If not, be sure to read it.

https://www.greatnorthernpipeclub.org/_files/ugd/17b259_acdce5ca70354ca7a5f64775f95ae600.pdf

Hi there PipeIT - I have no read it, but I will do so now! Thanks very much. Always looking to learn. Cheers!

 

[anotherbob]

too subjective to say. But I can say a pipe is a tool and a piece of art. Like a chair can be. Some chairs are just for sitting and some really tie the room together.

 

[Staggerlee]

Pipes and Tobacco are of no use if not to be smoked. They simply must be smoked to have any value. You always hear about the engineering that goes in to the high end and artisan pipes. That is to make them smoke well. It’s not to make them look pretty or have some higher intrinsic value. If you have a perfectly engineered pipe and don’t smoke it, I don’t think any of it matters.

 

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Hail from Helm Hammerhand,

No doubt both pipe making and creating tobacco blends are each art forms in themselves. But what's more, we get to experience the two coming together in the chief art of pipe smoking.

The more I look at the pipes and blends out there, the more I wonder if the possible quality of pipes somewhat outpaces the possible quality of blends. Some pipes are indeed beautiful smokes, but others reach a level of artwork that seems to leave the pipe-world behind. With these, I'm left thinking 'what tobacco blend could I possible smoke to keep up with that?' They seem too good to smoke.

But, I am curious if the same can be true about tobacco blends as well - are there any blends, beyond cellaring/aging, that are just too good to smoke? Or will pipes always have the upper hand as the instruments of our art?

What are your thoughts? Thanks!

--

You die and your family either dumps or gives away......

Use it or loose it.

 

[Honkytonk Man]

I think they go hand-in-hand. A good pipe coupled with a great tobacco, fire up a bowl, sit back and contemplate that.
Many of the newer tobaccos being blended these days a so far removed from the stuff our forbears smoked, which to my mind a fully deserving of the pipes of today.

 

[dunnyboy]

Tomorrow I'll turn 78 and I've been a pipe smoker for about 60 years. I would liketo think I've learned something it all that time. One thing I can tell you from experience is the best tobacco in the world can smoke like chap in a bad pipe !

Happy birthday brother. I hope you have another sixty years of enjoyable smokes!

 

[TheIronMonkey]

It might've been my English teacher in college that said, "A book is just a title until you read it."

While the collector/archivist in me has kept pipes unsmoked to preserve them and their packaging, in most cases, I believe pipes and tobacco must be smoked to be fully appreciated. If a pipe isn't smoked, it's essentially a sculpture; if tobacco isn't smoked, it's potpourri in a tin.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Pipes are tools to smoke tobacco with.

This

 

[OzPiper]

Are you quite sure what you have in your pipe IS tobacco ?

This is meant to be an enjoyable, relaxing past time.

I am sure there are those who keep spreadsheets of their pipes and tobacco.
And which blend they have smoked in which pipe, and given that a rating.
It sounds terribly anal to me.
But if that is what floats your boat, then do it.
No right or wrong.

 

[OzPiper]

Tomorrow I'll turn 78 and I've been a pipe smoker for about 60 years.

@Searock Fan
Happy Birthday. ??
Enjoy with , or

 

[justscience]

Pipes don't care. Tobacco may be too valuable to pop open if finances are tight. I have many alternatives for both so I sleep well at night.