Trend to Smaller Pipe Sizes?

[Hillcrest]

The question is why make a smaller pipe?

I wondered the same thing ... I started buying pipes in the 80's and you could easily find bowl depths of 35mm -- 55.. today everything seems to end at 30-32mm for rhodesian and 37mm for billiards --- at least on the online sites. I am not saying larger pipes are not entirely available but you have to carefully look for them. Also all the pipes seems to be black and sandblasted now ... in the lower price ranges ...
Maybe people have less time to smoke because they are so busy and that's what sells now.
Or the other possibility is that all the others have already sold and the smaller pipes are what's left over...
Or they are trying to attract another modern group of smokers with the mini pipes ...

 

[AppalachianPipe92]

Smaller pipe is simply more comfortable to me. 5-5.75 inches is my sweet spot. I don't clench much, but occasionally do and couldn't imagine clinching anything over 6 inches. It's also more comfortable in my hand .

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

Compact but proportional, nice gentle pace, warm to the touch . . . what are we talking about?

 

[coys]

I've been considering that I need to get a shorter one, not in terms of the length but the depth of the bowl. I'd rather a bowl just be an enjoyable 5-10 minutes and allow me to clean up instead of needing to half pack or dump the ash etc. But the short ones are easier to carry and fit into things.

 

[danish]

When pipe smoking was more common, several decades ago, I had the impression that English, French and Danish pipe smokers preferred smaller to medium sized pipes, whereas eg Germans and Americans usually bought the bigger ones, as eg reported then by our Danish pipe factories and carvers. Germans also usually preferred filtered pipes, whereas eg Danes didn't. Would be nice with some knowledgeable input from those involved with the business then and now but I am sure there are some studies about this somewhere on the 'interweb' or in older pipe books/magazines. I shall see if I can find any, due course.

 

[didimauw]

I was kind of thinking the opposite. Pipes seem huge these days. I have a harder time finding the smaller ones I like.

But I know very little about anything.

 

[bluegrassbrian]

I

I just started collecting pipes and have been pleased with my purchases on the Web. However, a recent purchase shocked me. It was a beautiful straight-grain pipe, the proportions were all in scale, but the booger was less than 5" inches long. Now, I have learned to always check the pipe length before making an on-line purchase. I have become adept at converting mm and cm to inches, too.

The question is why make a smaller pipe?

It wasn't a Musico by chance was it?

 

[bullet08]

There you go. i didn't get the memo on this trend.

 

[sleepy57]

Maybe as Tobacco prices rise the pipe's get smaller?

 

[woodsroad]

We are prisoners of fashion.

You may be a prisoner of fashion, but don't assume to speak for everyone.
My look hasn't shifted much since 1985.

 

[kcghost]

I can't believe you didn't check the length of a pipe when you first got into the hobby.

 

[mso489]

Historically, I think pipes have tended to get larger. Today, I think artisans like to make bigger pipes to sell for more money per pipe, for financial reasons. However, small pipes are still made and have their uses. They are compact and portable. Though they are good for short smokes and sampling blends, you can get a leisurely smoke out of a fairly small pipe with cuts like flake, coin, plug and rope, that just smoke slower.

Small pipes are easy to clench, and some pipes that are small in length and dimensions can have unexpectedly large chambers, which is the best of both worlds for some purposes.

French pipes overall strike me as having slightly smaller chambers, on an average, but have much to recommend them in design and quality.

The classic clay pipes smoked in the 17 and 18 hundreds had mostly small bowls because tobacco was expensive, a once-a-day treat for most working people.

 

[ThermionicScott]

I just started collecting pipes and have been pleased with my purchases on the Web. However, a recent purchase shocked me. It was a beautiful straight-grain pipe, the proportions were all in scale, but the booger was less than 5" inches long. Now, I have learned to always check the pipe length before making an on-line purchase. I have become adept at converting mm and cm to inches, too.

The question is why make a smaller pipe?

I made that mistake in the other direction when buying some of my first pipes. Bowls that were much too big for my needs at the time. You'll find a use for it.

 

[clynch]

Perhaps its just me but I feel my lighter tobaccos smoke better in a small poker pipe. In actuality My poker is a good 9 inches long but the bowl is a poker. Small bowl, shorter smoke. I'm just starting to reserve bowl types for tobacco types. My spark plug tobacco goes into a big bowl for its big flavor.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Perhaps its just me but I feel my lighter tobaccos smoke better in a small poker pipe. In actuality My poker is a good 9 inches long but the bowl is a poker. Small bowl, shorter smoke. I'm just starting to reserve bowl types for tobacco types. My spark plug tobacco goes into a big bowl for its big flavor.

Not all pokers have small chambers.

 

[mso489]

I have a LaRocca poker with a chamber that gets into the Group 5 category, I believe.

 

[cigrmaster]

I have not noticed pipes getting smaller. Depending on country and mfg and artisan sizes seem pretty constant.

I have learned through the years that I enjoy medium sized pipes, mostly group 4-5. I can get an hour to two hours smoking flakes in them and that is my sweet spot. I am never in a hurry when I light a pipe. When I look at pipes anything with an inside bowl depth of 1.4" or smaller I pass buy. Anything less than 5 inches I ignore. I have many other dimensions I use before buying a pipe. I found the sizes that work best for me.

I have 2 group 6 pipes and the rest group 4-5. No pipes smaller than a group 4 and nothing bigger than a group 6 or ODA. It took years to come up with my perfect dimensions but the journey was worth it.

I smoke only flakes and a few plugs and I have found the sizes of my pipes smokes these blends perfectly for me.

 

[Hillcrest]

I was kind of thinking the opposite. Pipes seem huge these days. I have a harder time finding the smaller ones I like.

But I know very little about anything.

Rossi has the Piccolos and Savinelli has a mini line as well.

 

[Hillcrest]

I read somewhere on one of the big online pipes sites that the most sold pipe shapes are straight billiards and bent billiards and the most sold bowl sizes are, what I consider small but they consider medium, 15-20mmx35-40mm range. For example the Sav 614 is avg. 18mmx40mm. The Sav 128 is avg. 17.5mm x 37.5mm.
I'm guessing demand drives the size and the price.

 

[TN Jed]

You may be a prisoner of fashion, but don't assume to speak for everyone.
My look hasn't shifted much since 1985.