***What Are You Smoking, February 2025?***

[Cigar City Piper]

This one is for BurleyVonPuffington, again with many thanks. I'm going to repeat the post he put up on tobacco ph et al, and suggest that if you skipped it, have a look at it again . . . . explanation under link.

How a tobacco can be differant with each smoke :: Pipe Tobacco Discussion - https://pipesmagazine.com/forums/threads/how-a-tobacco-can-be-differant-with-each-smoke.51825/post-35566367

Being of a suicidal experimental bent, I read and pdf'd the article, and immediately began to test it. I'm "redoing" all of my pipes, smoking my brains out, and was doing a bit of suffering, until (and as all of you have heard my whining before about tongue bite, I'll give you the whine with some cheese.)

The ph suggestions in this article WORK!! They are science based and effective!

I took some apple cider vinegar, 1 tablespoon, and put it in a cup of filtered water, added a pinhead of stevia to it, and alternated this as a beverage with my usual cold coffee. After SEVEN consecutive pipes, (I almost never smoke consecutive pipes), resetting them with Smokers' Pride Whiskey Tobacco, my usual and effective fodder for breaking in pipes, drinking the tart and tasty apple cider vinegar beverage, sleeping soundly and having 4 more pipes this morning, I had no trace of tongue bite, my lips felt great, and I felt that I should pass this on, as I know many of you suffer from the same recreational hazard.

I will pass on also that hypochlorus spray instantly relieves the pain of tongue bite, and biotin helps as well. Going back to finishing up my pipe cleanse. Interesting stuff to report here as well, probably tomorrow.

I guess that explains all the vinegar they spray on some of this stuff. Well looks like now I can smoke 10 pipes of Virginia No.1 in a row and not have to run to the ER.

 

[Chieftiabo]

My first KBV

 

[gord]

Thank ye kindly badger friend! I'll be the first to admit that Falcons aren't the most aesthetically spectacular pipes in the world, but I do really like how clean and dry they smoke, never gurgle or need pipe-cleanering mid smoke, how you can smoke the same pipe all day long with different blend types just by switching bowls, and how the Falcon system plus a Dr. Grabow filter can smooth out the rough edges of even the harshest blends.

Speaking of which, I'm currently breaking in an aromatics dedicated Hunter Billiard bowl on my Falcon International stem with some Cornell & Diehl Autumn Evening.

View attachment 372637I dedicate the bowls as well.

I have three Falcons, and the International that you posted is the one I prefer for aromatics. I dedicate the bowls as well.

They are great pipes, and I second your comments. Dunno why but the International seems to have a more 'open' draw. I've tried the filter (a medico cut to size) but didn't notice much difference. I'll give others a try when I go down to Sheffields for some pipe supplies.

 

[BCF]

Time for a beer and some GH Kendal Kentucky in this Boswell.

 

[98now]

MB Dark Twist Cake in the Sav.

 

[Fralphog]

Happy Friday Afternoon all!

Peterson 301 System with ‘23 KBV, Mr. C’s Brown Flek. A mug of Pu’erh tea.

 

[JoeW]

I have three Falcons, and the International that you posted is the one I prefer for aromatics. I dedicate the bowls as well.

They are great pipes, and I second your comments. Dunno why but the International seems to have a more 'open' draw. I've tried the filter (a medico cut to size) but didn't notice much difference. I'll give others a try when I go down to Sheffields for some pipe supplies.

Interesting: I have the International bent stem, and it feels like a tighter draw than the non-International. Maybe I'm mistaken: I'll have to do a side-by-side comparison, for science.

 

[shikano53]

LNF in A MM

 

[Skippy Piper]

I have three Falcons, and the International that you posted is the one I prefer for aromatics. I dedicate the bowls as well.

They are great pipes, and I second your comments. Dunno why but the International seems to have a more 'open' draw. I've tried the filter (a medico cut to size) but didn't notice much difference. I'll give others a try when I go down to Sheffields for some pipe supplies.

When I first tried a Falcon I thought the idea seemed a little gimmicky, but I'll be darned if they aren't the coolest, dryest, and most flavorful smoking pipes I own! I do like having different bowls for different blend styles too, and different stems to play around with, though for most people I think I'd recommend just getting a Falcon International stem with a block meerschaum bowl and have one jack of all trades Swiss army knife sort of pipe that you can smoke all day long using any blend types you want with minimal risk of ghosting and no need to rest the pipe. I do like the way a briar bowl smokes better than meerschaum, but it's hard to beat the practicality of meerschaum if you want to smoke a pipe with the same bowl more than once a day.

As far as the filters go, I think filters are very much a "try it and see what works for you" sort of thing. Most people who like using filters seem to use them to reduce the moisture content in the smoke from aromatics and to prevent tongue bite, though I don't have either of those issues and just like using them to smooth out the rough edges of blends that normally give me a sore throat. For that purpose Dr. Grabow's paper tube filters work best for me, though I think every pipe smoker should try Savinelli balsa wood filters, activated charcoal filters like Vauen's Dr. Perl Junior, and the Dr. Grabow and Medico paper tube filters and see what works best for them.

 

[gord]

Interesting: I have the International bent stem, and it feels like a tighter draw than the non-International. Maybe I'm mistaken: I'll have to do a side-by-side comparison, for science.

I didn't know that the International came in a bent stem . . . . I'll have to get one! And as far as I know, only the International takes a filter.

 

[das3353]

Nørding Pointer in a Stanwell Hand Cut

 

[BlueRidge]

ODF in a Peterson 312

 

[JoeW]

I didn't know that the International came in a bent stem . . . . I'll have to get one! And as far as I know, only the International takes a filter.

I tried the draw of both my regular and international bent stems without bowls or filters, and the International has a distinctly tighter draw. Here’s the International (with the rusticated Dublin bowl):



I’ve never tried it with a filter, but will do that maybe this weekend.

 

[tschiraldi]

Enjoying a glass of Barolo and sipping Brown Flake A in another Jones.

 

[ClassicKehler]

First time smoking Skiff Mixture

 

[JimInks]

Now smoking Peretti Royal in a black sandblasted medium bend 2013 Mark Tinsky Coral 5 cherrywood with a smooth dark brown shank and bottom with a tapered black briar accented acrylic stem.

 

[tmc]

St. James Flake in a Ligne Bretagne prince.

 

[98now]

The Prince. The morta.

 

[alwayslit]

Cigar and G&T for Friday evening

 

[Bbailey324]

Prince Albert in a Falcon.