Why do Pipes Taste Different?

[Sigmund]

Part of me thinks I am insane but part of me thinks I am simply noticing what other piper experience. In one pipe Tobacco Blend A is, wow, just amazing. In another pipe the same blend is good but just ok.

I know experienced smokers say they pick a pipe for a blend after experimentation so I presume this is the reason.

My question is why?

I realize there may be no clear answer due to the infinite variables of shape, briar, and draw.

However, I still ask...Is there any logic to this? Is one pipe likely superior to the next with a specific blend.

My example: HU Louisana Broken Flake....a Vaper. In my Becker almost billiard is sweet, complex and amazing. In my Svendenborg which is a little more bent its good but the experience is nothing special. The Svendenborg is a good smoker but the experience is different. In this case not as good (for me). The experience may be better for someone else but its not as sweet.

Why?

Keep in mind Im open to the possiblity that there is not a clear answer.

 

[PipeMarc]

I have pondered this question myself. I have found there is two distinctions that change the smoking experience blend to blend. The first is more drastic than the other. I find that chamber width and stem length are the biggest contributors to experience. Something about chamber width and how much surface area the tobacco has creates a more fuller bodied richer experience. Stem length less consequential but does affect warmth of smoke which changes the experience for me. Interested to see others thoughts as well.

 

[TheIronMonkey]

Part of me thinks I am insane but part of me thinks I am simply noticing what other piper experience. In one pipe Tobacco Blend A is, wow, just amazing. In another pipe the same blend is good but just ok.

I know experienced smokers say they pick a pipe for a blend after experimentation so I presume this is the reason.

My question is why?

I realize there may be no clear answer due to the infinite variables of shape, briar, and draw.

However, I still ask...Is there any logic to this? Is one pipe likely superior to the next with a specific blend.

My example: HU Louisana Broken Flake....a Vaper. In my Becker almost billiard is sweet, complex and amazing. In my Svendenborg which is a little more bent its good but the experience is nothing special. The Svendenborg is a good smoker but the experience is different. In this case not as good (for me). The experience may be better for someone else but its not as sweet.

Why?

Keep in mind Im open to the possiblity that there is not a clear answer.

I believe the variables are going to affect the smoking experience too much for a clear answer. How the pipe is packed, the chamber width and height, relative humidity, how you’re drawing on the pipe, are all factors that are going to potentially change how the tobacco is burning and ultimately how it tastes. What you ate and drank might affect your perception of these things.

I would find it a bit more interesting for you to cut down on the variables and try smoking the same tobacco (packed as close to the same way you normally do if possible) in two pipes of the same model (the two pipes might have slight variations that could affect things, but hopefully being from the same company will be close to identical) and smoke them to see if you get the same experience (“wow” or “okay”). Again, this may be futile and bound to be different because smoking them at different times will alter the scenario. You might the biggest variable. More nicotine in your system, palate fatigue. Alternating pipes and smoking at the same time might not be close enough to being the same. Maybe the answer in unknowable. This reminds me of an Oblique Strategy card (Oblique Strategies are a set of over 100 cards with various aphorisms printed on them to use as advice in the creative process to help get past creative blocks—there are at least five editions with slight variations of the number of cards and what they say) by musician Brian Eno and artist Peter Schmidt that says, “Repetition is a form of change.”

 

[verporchting]

Just the way it is. Don’t waste too much time trying to figure it out. Unless you enjoy doing so while smoking a pipe of course!

 

[Old Smokey]

Just the way it is. Don’t waste too much time trying to figure it out. Unless you enjoy doing so while smoking a pipe of course!

Pondering pipes while smoking a pipe. Talk about meta.

 

[kcghost]

This question is like thinking about your navel. You have a man-made object burning a man created substance and sometimes (read often) things turn out differently.

 

[Sigmund]

Im thinking of the difference between two different types of pipes, not two similiar. I guess I will just keep track of what seems to smoke best in which pipe. Meanwhile I will contemplate my navel.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Never noticed it. If smoked in unghosted pipes, tobacco tastes the same to me regardless of which pipe I smoke it out of.

 

[cshubhra]

I am cooking today. Whatever I cook tends to taste in the same ball park of where I want it to be. That is technique.

Having said that there are too many variables to make it taste exactly the same. I am sure there will be some people who will like it or dislike it based on those tiny differences. I am not one of them.

 

[TheIronMonkey]

Im thinking of the difference between two different types of pipes, not two similiar. I guess I will just keep track of what seems to smoke best in which pipe. Meanwhile I will contemplate my navel.

I understand that, but would be curious if you experienced differences with the same tobacco in two ”identical” pipes.

 

[verporchting]

I have occasionally had a pipe that for some completely unknown reason seems to absolutely make a certain blend seem magical and consistently taste better than any other pipe with that same blend.

No idea, I just go with it. It’s happened several times so I guess those pipes are “dedicated” to those blends although the pipes seemed to choose more than anything on my part. I’m okay with that.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Bowl size, bowl depth, wall thickness, drill size and quality to name a few. A blend will taste significant different between a.75" bowl ID vs 1" bowl ID. Each piece of briar will be somewhat unique. Smoke a bowl in A Ruthenberg with a 5 mm drill and one in A Danish pipe with around a 3 mm drill. Night and day difference.

Those differences would be with a fresh pipe. Now throw in pipes that smoke all blend types. Smoke a bowl of Virginia in a pipe that previously had latakia blends smoked in it vs one that had straight Virginia blends smoked in it. You won't think it is the same blend.

Try these yourself, in most cases, quite easy to reproduce the differences for comparisons sake.

 

[Christos D. Tsatsaronis]

Bowl size, bowl depth, wall thickness, drill size and quality to name a few. A blend will taste significant different between a.75" bowl ID vs 1" bowl ID. Each piece of briar will be somewhat unique. Smoke a bowl in A Ruthenberg with a 5 mm drill and one in A Danish pipe with around a 3 mm drill. Night and day difference.

Those differences would be with a fresh pipe. Now throw in pipes that smoke all blend types. Smoke a bowl of Virginia in a pipe that previously had latakia blends smoked in it vs one that had straight Virginia blends smoked in it. You won't think it is the same blend.

Try these yourself, in most cases, quite easy to reproduce the differences for comparisons sake.

Exactly like that!

 

[Chasing Embers]

Just out of curiosity, for those that find big differences between pipes, did you think so before or after you heard someone else say it? Suggestion can have a big influence on perception. I hadn't talked to another pipe smoker for the first 20+ years of smoking and only heard about the idea of differences here for the first time in 2014.

 

[sablebrush52]

Fore the most part, pipes smoke equally well for me. Flavors do very slightly and there are pipes that do seem to favor a blend better than others.
While there are a great many factors involved in the simple act of smoking a pipe, there are a couple of "hardware" based factors that affect results. First is chamber geometry, quite literally the parabolic effect of the chamber's shaping that focuses how tobacco burns and the dispersion of gases. There was a very good article on the subject, explaining the physics involved, that was on the former A Passion For Pipes site. Another contributor is the design of the transition from the airway through the funnel to the slot, and how that delivers the smoke to your taste sensors.
But, aside from all of that, there are so many factors beyond the pipe's construction and design, or the condition and processing of the blend for smoking. There are significant variations in the keenness of peoples' senses, in this case there ability to perceive nuances of flavor.

 

[LeafErikson]

Smoke a bowl in A Ruthenberg with a 5 mm drill and one in A Danish pipe with around a 3 mm drill. Night and day difference.

In my experience, this is the biggest difference.

 

[sablebrush52]

In my experience, this is the biggest difference.

Doesn't really make much of a difference for me, though my 1906 Barling bent with an estimated 7mm bore, does an amazing job with Dunbar. Big pipe with a big airway all the way through.

 

[verporchting]

Just out of curiosity, for those that find big differences between pipes, did you think so before or after you heard someone else say it? Suggestion can have a big influence on perception. I hadn't talked to another pipe smoker for the first 20+ years of smoking and only heard about the idea of differences here for the first time in 2014.

My experience is about the same duration as yours, including the forum experience.

I didn’t notice much difference for the first twenty years because I only had six pipes and they all smoked great. Only after I acquired a few dozen did I really notice a difference in smoking qualities and properties, mostly due to the draw, heat, wetness - and much of that was down to technique and the particular pipe. However, I had a few where it just slapped me in the face and I really noticed a difference between pipes and the taste of the same blend, so I started paying more attention and confirmed it wasn’t my imagination playing tricks on me. On a few the difference was amazing and on others it was more subtle but definitely there. I don’t believe it was the result of any suggestion. For the most part I think the tobacco tastes the same in most of my pipes though and the differences are apparent to me in a small minority of my pipes.

I once thought that a church warden pipe smoked noticeably cooler but later came to the conclusion that it was the small bowl size and the fact that it just never got hot the way I smoked it based on smoking a dozen similar pipes with shorter stems - in that particular case I think the chatter about longer stems equals cooler smoking may well have created an association in my mind but after a lot more smoking I’m no longer convinced that was true. Just my two cents worth.

 

[LeafErikson]

Doesn't really make much of a difference for me, though my 1906 Barling bent with an estimated 7mm bore, does an amazing job with Dunbar. Big pipe with a big airway all the way through.

It’s surprising that such an old pipe has a wide open draw like that. Isn’t that somewhat abnormal or am I mistaken?

I have certainly smoked fewer pipes than you and have only just now started trying briars with truly wide open draws with two Morettis.

I have an easier time smoking my Savinelli tres & Ropps, which are drilled to 3mm, but that’s purely because of my smoking and packing style. My meers all have the briar-style permanent tenon/mortise and are around 3-4mm.

I’m just not so sure I’m willing to adjust my pack and cadence to the wide open draws when I have something that works perfectly well every time I smoke my 3mm-4mm pipes. I’m still experimenting

 

[OverMountain]

Part of me thinks I am insane but part of me thinks I am simply noticing what other piper experience. In one pipe Tobacco Blend A is, wow, just amazing. In another pipe the same blend is good but just ok.

I know experienced smokers say they pick a pipe for a blend after experimentation so I presume this is the reason.

My question is why?

I realize there may be no clear answer due to the infinite variables of shape, briar, and draw.

However, I still ask...Is there any logic to this? Is one pipe likely superior to the next with a specific blend.

My example: HU Louisana Broken Flake....a Vaper. In my Becker almost billiard is sweet, complex and amazing. In my Svendenborg which is a little more bent its good but the experience is nothing special. The Svendenborg is a good smoker but the experience is different. In this case not as good (for me). The experience may be better for someone else but its not as sweet.

Why?

Keep in mind Im open to the possiblity that there is not a clear answer.

Your perception is valid IMO. My saddle bit Grabow a has better taste qualities than my other more costly pipes. I don’t think I’m imagining it.