What is the chimney shape pipe good for?!?
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In my experience a tall bowl with that inner diameter makes for a nice smoker, but a pain when time comes to trim cake.
I've had one or two chimneys down the line, I think they're good for the longer smoke, to me a bit more pleasing on the eye than a wider bowl too.
I have a Butz Choquin Calabash. It may not be a chimney, but it does have the long narrow chamber like a chimney.
It smokes very cool, and I use it only for McClelland Christmas Cheer during the holidays.
It smokes very cool, and I use it only for McClelland Christmas Cheer during the holidays.
I've had this Gabrieli, by Bethlehem, Pa maker Dan Chlebove, double stack for 2 years now and it is one of favorite pipes along with my 3 other Gabrieli's. It handles everything superbly.
Griffinonwing, the calabash has a v-shaped cavity, where as the chimney has straight walls. Some claim shape affects the flavor but the opinions are wildly inconsistent.
Heres is something Greg Pease has to say on the issue:
Wider bowls tend to provide more flavor intensity, with the wood playing somewhat less of a role in the smoke. This makes perfect sense, of course. There’s more tobacco smoldering, and the surface area of the ember increases with the square of the chamber’s radius, while the amount of briar in contact with the ember increases only linearly. Taller bowls result in an increase of the “filtering” action of the tobacco, softening the taste in the beginning of the bowl, and gradually building up greater and greater intensity as the tobacco is consumed. Tapered bowls exhibit somewhat less of this tendency, though if not packed very carefully, they can become so moist at the bottom as to be difficult to keep lit. Shallow bowls seem to hold a purity of the tobacco’s taste longer, if not as intensely.
There seem to be limits, though. A full flavored tobacco in a very tall bowl can build up too much intensity toward the end of the smoke, and can become tiring, or even acrid if everything isn’t just right. Too wide a bowl can yield too much of a tobacco’s nicotine content, if it is high to start with, especially to someone sensitive to its effects.
http://glpease.com/BriarAndLeaf/?p=7
Heres is something Greg Pease has to say on the issue:
Wider bowls tend to provide more flavor intensity, with the wood playing somewhat less of a role in the smoke. This makes perfect sense, of course. There’s more tobacco smoldering, and the surface area of the ember increases with the square of the chamber’s radius, while the amount of briar in contact with the ember increases only linearly. Taller bowls result in an increase of the “filtering” action of the tobacco, softening the taste in the beginning of the bowl, and gradually building up greater and greater intensity as the tobacco is consumed. Tapered bowls exhibit somewhat less of this tendency, though if not packed very carefully, they can become so moist at the bottom as to be difficult to keep lit. Shallow bowls seem to hold a purity of the tobacco’s taste longer, if not as intensely.
There seem to be limits, though. A full flavored tobacco in a very tall bowl can build up too much intensity toward the end of the smoke, and can become tiring, or even acrid if everything isn’t just right. Too wide a bowl can yield too much of a tobacco’s nicotine content, if it is high to start with, especially to someone sensitive to its effects.
http://glpease.com/BriarAndLeaf/?p=7
Hrmm. I will have to check when I get home. I didnt think there was a taper on the interior chamber, at least not enough of one to matter. I do know that its as deep as a chimney, taking in my whole thumb.
I'm getting curious about how a chimney would perform well.
For the forum members who favor a chimney on certain tobaccos, what are the cuts of those tobacco (loose cut, broken flakes, cube cut? or folded flake, etc?)
I heard VA, VA aromatics, Burley, cake, but would like to know the cut.
Even for normal bigger size pipe, I also feel sometimes it tastes foul towards the bottom of the bowl. Some kind of subtle engineering is there, or it may be the effect of certain kind of tobacco.
:puffpipe:
For the forum members who favor a chimney on certain tobaccos, what are the cuts of those tobacco (loose cut, broken flakes, cube cut? or folded flake, etc?)
I heard VA, VA aromatics, Burley, cake, but would like to know the cut.
Even for normal bigger size pipe, I also feel sometimes it tastes foul towards the bottom of the bowl. Some kind of subtle engineering is there, or it may be the effect of certain kind of tobacco.
:puffpipe:
If you find tobaccos that you enjoy taste foul at the bottom. This might not be a pipe that you would enjoy.
I don't find the cut of the tobacco to matter. I smoke everything through my chimneys in the Virginia VaPer range; flake, broken flake, shag, ribbon, etc...
I don't find the cut of the tobacco to matter. I smoke everything through my chimneys in the Virginia VaPer range; flake, broken flake, shag, ribbon, etc...
Good afternoon and good evening to all chimney lovers.
I have to say I really don't know how to smoke a chimney and I hope I can get some directions from all of you. The story goes on as I am interested in the shape by this post and then went on to acquire an estate chimney pipe (of pipe bowl height of about > 5cm) in a decent shape. Not this one:
The first smoke that I attempted was with the current Erinmore Flake - I found it super neat to be able to fold the piece in half and fully tuck it in the chamber. And lighting wasn't too hard despite the bowl diameter is quite narrow, like a group 2 size. It all went well until I smoked till around halfway through and then I put down the pipe because of some work that I had to focus on. Then here came the tricky part - I tried to relight the tobacco when it was halfway deep down in this quite a narrow and tall chamber. I think I charred a tiny bit of the rim, but still remained unsuccessful with a flame, and then I had to use a torch light, which I usually avoid to use at best because if I am not careful enough it can just char the rim in a second.
I know as Pipestud said I can dump the rest, but I also read somewhere (I forgot) that a maker designed chimney pipes with custom removable pipe chamber wire screen, which effectively reduce the chamber depth and when installed turn the pipe into basically sort of a calabash system.
When you encounter a similar situation with a chimney (cold re-lighting mid-bowl), what is your strategy to deal with it?
I have to say I really don't know how to smoke a chimney and I hope I can get some directions from all of you. The story goes on as I am interested in the shape by this post and then went on to acquire an estate chimney pipe (of pipe bowl height of about > 5cm) in a decent shape. Not this one:
The first smoke that I attempted was with the current Erinmore Flake - I found it super neat to be able to fold the piece in half and fully tuck it in the chamber. And lighting wasn't too hard despite the bowl diameter is quite narrow, like a group 2 size. It all went well until I smoked till around halfway through and then I put down the pipe because of some work that I had to focus on. Then here came the tricky part - I tried to relight the tobacco when it was halfway deep down in this quite a narrow and tall chamber. I think I charred a tiny bit of the rim, but still remained unsuccessful with a flame, and then I had to use a torch light, which I usually avoid to use at best because if I am not careful enough it can just char the rim in a second.
I know as Pipestud said I can dump the rest, but I also read somewhere (I forgot) that a maker designed chimney pipes with custom removable pipe chamber wire screen, which effectively reduce the chamber depth and when installed turn the pipe into basically sort of a calabash system.
When you encounter a similar situation with a chimney (cold re-lighting mid-bowl), what is your strategy to deal with it?
Durn, I smoke Missouri Meerschaum Freehands and the General. The Freehands are tall, narrow V shaped bowls. The General is a wide stack, I would say. I also have a classic Stanwell stack.
I really don't notice any bitterness until maybe the last quarter inch or so of dottle. They all smoke great, smoke cool, and require no more relights than your conventional billard.
Admittedly, I smoke everything down to the ash, so maybe I'm not hard to please.
I am still trying to find a pattern. Which style blends smoke better in which style? Shape? Size?. Mostly, I've found that if a pipes smokes one blend well, it smokes them all well. This is just my experience. I acknowledge your mileage may vary.
Pax
I really don't notice any bitterness until maybe the last quarter inch or so of dottle. They all smoke great, smoke cool, and require no more relights than your conventional billard.
Admittedly, I smoke everything down to the ash, so maybe I'm not hard to please.
I am still trying to find a pattern. Which style blends smoke better in which style? Shape? Size?. Mostly, I've found that if a pipes smokes one blend well, it smokes them all well. This is just my experience. I acknowledge your mileage may vary.
Pax
You also don't have to fill it up. Sometimes I will just fill it half way up, especially if I am in the wind. It is also nice to have the tall stack and half way filled, when I walk into a store while out on a lunt, I just drop the lit pipe in my shirt pocket, make my purchase, and then put the pipe back in my jaw and continue. Sometimes it even stays lit the entire time I am in the store.
"Who me, smoking?" hands up to show that they're empty. Ha ha!!
"Who me, smoking?" hands up to show that they're empty. Ha ha!!
I just got a country gentleman from MM. I'm new to pipe smoking and found it quite larger than I thought it was going to be. I think i'm going to purchase a shire cobbit next because I really like its size. The Country Gentleman seems like a chimney style too me in shape on the inside. I like it and smoked an entire bowl in one sitting and it took me almost two hours! It had to be done, but what's done is done, and I think I'm going to move on to something smaller.
My top five smokes are MM Freehands, Generals and a Stanwell stacker. I smoke mine down to the bottom and never get any messy dottle. It may be the tobaccos or perhaps I'm just burning away the dottle with the last couple of relights. I do keep going until there is nothing but ash.
Pax
Pax
If you have a tobacco or blend that smokes relatively fast and dry, and doesn't deliver much dottle in other shape pipes, and doesn't require much relighting, it may go well in a chimney or other tall-bowled pipes. Blends that require a lot of attention to light and keep going, and leave some dottle in any pipe, won't work in a tall bowl. You just end up digging out half or more of what you've packed and discarding it or repacking and relighting ... not good.
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