What's the biggest size bowl you own? (Inner diameter)

[hakchuma]

What is the largest size bowl you own and what do smoke in it? Balked, vaper, aro etc? Can you provide a measurement?
I just purchased a Savinelli 316 EX and the inner diameter of the bowl is a whopping 1.07 inches!
I haven't decided what im going to dedicate the pipe to yet and I'm even beginning to wonder if the bowl is too large!

 

[cosmicfolklore]

My Savinelli Dry-system bent pot is a tad over 1" wide. I like to smoke Nightcap or GH&co Dark Flake unscented in it. I like to smoke the stronger blends in wide pots. It really gives a lot of depth to the flavors and doesn't make me as nic-sick as a narrow bowl does.

 

[mso489]

Not quite that big ... my largest chamber diameter is my Johs semi-rusticated quarter bent Johs apple with a chamber diameter of an inch; in depth it goes well beyond the joint of my thumb, so it's a good long smoke, and unfolds most blends completely, especially the more complex ones that need the room. For its size, it isn't heavy, but it's no clencher.

 

[multuminparvo]

My BBB Tasman Pot has an inner chamber diameter of exactly 1" and I think my Savinelli Punto Oro sand 320KS isn't that far behind. I'm still having sometimes troubles getting an even cherry going in both of these but they display english mixtures really well.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Sometimes on my really wide pipes, if I forget to tamp I have noticed that the cherry will burn a hole down the center, leaving a wall of unburned tobacco around the walls of the bowl. I found this interesting. Anyone else notice this on wide pipes?

 

[aldecaker]

My biggest chamber is on my Dr. Grabow Freehand. I don't have the exact dimensions right now (will post later), but it is a ridiculously large bowl for me. The diameter is too large, and the bowl is too deep. As a consequence, it very rarely gets smoked. I have a squatty Leonessa bulldog whose diameter is about the same, but only half as deep. That one sees a lot of action with Latakia flake.
@Cosmic- I get the same effect; I am constantly herding with the tamper when that happens.

 

[aggravatedfarmer]

My Trevi 320 is a big and wide. My Ehrlich Billard is a nice group 3.

 

[derfatdutchman]

I have a Savinelli Baronet Bruyere 315EX, the chamber diameter is close to 1 inch in diameter. Its like a Churchill cigar, you need time to some it. When I do reach for it I mainly smoke lat heavy blends, they seem to shine in that wide bowl.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Funny how there are so many that have Savinellis as their largest bowl. I would have thought Ardor or Randy Wileys would have been most people's largest pipes.

 

[mso489]

In addition to long single-stretch smokes in really big pipes, they are nice for intermittent smokes throughout a day-long project, stopping between relights without having to re-pack. Or, if you don't want that much blend, you can just pack it half or 3/4 full. Big pipes can be quite adaptable.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I'd have to dissagree. My largest diameter bowls, all of them from .9-1.+ are my quickest smokes. I get through them in abou 45 minutes, where as my .7"x1.5" pipes can take way over an hour. Width doesn't have as much of an impact on time as the depth does, and depth to width ratio. So a 1"x1" wide pipe will smoke twice as fast as a .6"x1" pipe. At least that is what I have experienced.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

double post

 

[shikano53]

This pipe is made by a master craftsman named Mr. Canuck. You load it Monday morning and smoke it until the following Sunday or until the bottle of Glenfiddich is empty.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I sounded dissagreeable, ha ha. Sorry, I should have worded that better.

 

[hakchuma]

Thanks for the replies. Specially mso. Gave me the courage to go ahead and light this monster up. Been working on it for 3 hours now. I painted the garage trim and the patio flower box. Just now finishing up this bowl of ten Russians while sipping a mikes hard lemonade and browsing the forums. My soon to be wife will be proud of my efforts as I am getting married this Saturday and will have company. my Savinelli 316Ex now has a nicely blackened bowl. I can see some light spots left in there yet but I'm getting married on Saturday and the back of the house needs a few more coats of paint. Looking forward to it now

 

[aggravatedfarmer]

Congrats @hakchuma I'm sure the soon to be will be proud of your efforts!

 

[fmgee]

My widest bowl is a Rattrays billiard with is around 0.92 inches. It has a conical bowl so does thin out as it gets down the bowl. I thought I would smoke orientals and English blends in it but I find they don't taste as good as when when I smoke them in some of my other pipes. So I use this pipe for Solani aged burley and HH Acadian Perique which do well in it.

 

[rigmedic1]

I have a Randy Wiley Unique that has a chamber diameter greater than 3/4" but not quite 1" around. I call it my "coffee cup". Mostly smoke complex blends, like Margate and Pembroke in that one.

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

Most of my "large" bowls are bored out to just over 1"... and made that way by me: Cobs, Nordings, Vauens, anything with enough wall to it, and of course my Savinelli 320 actually came that way. Also my Brebbia Jumbo was nearly perfect out of the box (super awesome pipe, extremely thick walls).

I don't think I want to go any larger than that because at 1" inner bowl diameter I already have to light each side of the bowl individually.
My preferred strategy with a large bowl is to go wide and thin, I fill part of the bowl with carbon pellets and then just put what I want to smoke on top.

(The carbon pellets are of the aquarium variety that you can get for a few dollars per pound on Amazon. Fresh from the bag they're a bit dusty so I wash them off a bag at a time in a sieve. Which may be entirely unnecessary as it's surprisingly messy, regardless I think it's well worth it for an inexpensive and flavorless bowl filler. The best part may actually be that you don't have to scrape dottle out of the draft hole).

 

[mcitinner1]

This pipe's bowl is 1 1/8" x 3" deep. My entire thumb fits inside the bowl.