What Are the Benefits to a Bulldog Shape?

[mso489]

This may be a fantasy I picked up somewhere, but I don't think it originated with me, though I like to think it did: Any pipe with a broader bowl seems to me to better show off complex blends with (approximately) four or more different tobaccos, on the theory that a broader chamber allows greater quantities of the various tobaccos to burn at once. If I hadn't latched onto this idea, and someone else posted it, I would roll my eyes. But since I've repeated it several times, I take it as subtle pipe wisdom. As a separate point, bulldogs, even those that don't have broad chambers, and if they are not too long or too heavy at the bowl, have a nifty balanced feel in the hand, and often have sturdy relatively thicker shanks and stems for durability. Many make good pocket and/or car and travel pipes. It's a compact, streamlined, and handsome shape.

 

[crashthegrey]

If by wider bowl you mean the actual tobacco chamber is wider diameter, then yes, the burn surface is good for English blends and other blends with many components. You'll get more of the flavor more consistently, in my humble opinion. However, if you just mean that the wood itself is wide and thick, it results in a nice cool outside of the bowl whilst smoking. Many bulldogs combine the two elements, and are one of the reasons people love them. Thick walls for a cool pipe in the hand, wide, shallow bowl great for complex tobaccos. I personally love that style of pipe.

 

[workman]

My bulldogs do not have wide, shallow bowls. They have bowls like dublins, ca twice as tall as they are wide at the top and narrowing towards the bottom. And they are very good smokers, esp. with flake cut tobacco. I have one rhodesian, a Peterson 999 which is as you describe, wide and shallow, and it is very good with ribbon cut tobacco.

 

[crashthegrey]

That is the issue here, workman. Without further description, this is a hard question to answer. The chamber definitely has more impact, and a bulldog can have many chamber dimensions. Those pipes sound like wonderful flake pipes.

 

[cortezattic]

It's my favorite shape, but the diamond shank doesn't sit well in most cradles and pipe rests.

 

[sablebrush52]

There are lots of theories about chamber sizes and shapes. For example, you frequently hear that tall narrow chambers are best for Virginias and wide shorter chambers are better for more complex blends like Orientals. I personally haven't found that to be universally true. Get your moisture sufficiently low and your packing sufficiently open and pretty much anything will smoke pretty well, pretty much anywhere. Still, there are blends that I like to smoke that offer greater flavor in larger chambers.
I have a couple of bulldogs, but am not a fan of the shape. My gripe with the ones that I have is that the uneven wall thicknesses cause the bowls to get hot near the base. This is because these very old bowls were drilled with a cylindrical, rather than a conical, bit. So the walls are like tissue paper thin at points. Shouldn't be an issue if the chambers are conical.

 

[workman]

I wrote bowl where I should have written chamber. Sorry.

It is true that bulldogs tend to get warm towards the end of the bowl, but not alarmingly so, at least not with a conical chamber. For some reason, my bulldogs are also very lightweight, making them easy clenchers. One is an old Orlik de Luxe with a vulcanite stem, beat up and ugly, but a good smoker, and the other is a new Chacom of the Comfort series with an acrylic semi-saddle stem. Wonderful pipes and I will definitely recommend them.

 

[mso489]

sable', interesting. I've always found the thick waist on my 'dogs good insulation, and the other portions of the bowl no problem, easily cool enough to handle. But the shape has been done a lot, and I'm sorry to hear some versions are not so good. My Dr. Grabow Royalton, Johs, Stanwell 32's, and Peterson Around the World bulldog all have good cool bowls to handle. Likewise, my several Rhodesians with similarly shaped bowls are okay in this regard.

 

[PaulTheScandinavian]

I like smaller chambered Bulldog shapes,(You know those older French&English models of yesterday)I do find them especially suitable for those shorter smokes loaded with ribbon or shag cut, or when I'm smoking some very bold Kentucky fired tobacco.

 

[yuda]

been wanting to either get one of those or a Rhodesian, largely for aesthetics, plus I could always use another briar.

 

[alexnc]

if you get that Jocono hot you're huffing an puffing!

 

[bnichols23]

WARNING -- PURE UNADULTERATED AND INTRANSIGENTLY CHAUVINISTIC OPINION FOLLOWS. IF YOU DISAGREE, I PROBABLY WON'T CARE.
"Are there any benefits to this shape?" -- Yes. They are by definition & nature high-class, being associated with me.
"Are there any [practical] benefits to this shape?" -- Don't know. Also don't care, so, there, nyah.
Bulldogs have always, ALWAYS, been a favorite of mine, bent ones twice so. But I'm picky about it -- Stretched aspect ratio, either high or wide, just doesn't have the right "look." A bent needs to be slightly squat to look good, & a straight not squat at all, OR stretched vertically. Violations of those commandments are cardinal sins.
There's just something about a "right" bulldog, either straight or bent, that just HOWLS class & high-tone. They must be good clenchers, either straight or bent, & the shank MUST be diamond, never round (although poor-cousin Rhodesians are allowed if their behavior/demeanor is courteous & they speak only if spoken to). A proper bulldog is like the billiard or the Lovat -- God's own shape, & perfection not to be messed with. The prosecution rests. ::

 

[bnichols23]

"especially suitable for those shorter smokes loaded with ribbon or shag cut, or [...] some very bold Kentucky fired tobacco. " - You done said a mouthful, Paul. Perfect choice for those chambers; coarse cut just doesn't make it; not fine enough for a good pack on those shapes.

 

[briarbuck]

Bulldog shape? Sounds like my first wife.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Folanator, bah ha ha!
What is the benefit of any pipe shape?

I mean, Being a fanboy of the bulldog, ai could go on and on, about how, why, and the reasoning behind the shape, but... benefits? What is the benefit of a billiard? ...besides being... average. I like the classic French bulldog because it has a tough guy aesthetic to it. A 5” straight bully clenched between the molars with some schmuck’s neck in my grip while I throttle them into paying their gambling debts, just comes across better than a dainty bent Dublin bobbing about in my clench.

 

[bnichols23]

So how you feel about Yachts, Cos'? [Ever stirring up trouble with Embers]

 

[bnichols23]

Wyfbane, when did you hijack folanator's account?! :rofl:

 

[snagstangl]

I thought that bulldogs, maybe the taller early brit ones, were popular in england because of the smaller bowl size with the higher price of tobacco there. They look like a normal sized pipe but usually had a smaller chamber. I have no idea where I may have read this or got the impression about this shape.

 

[nitemair13]

Benefit of the bulldog shape? You get to growl and bark at people between puffs.

 

[workman]

I like the bulldog shape. To me, that's a benefit.