Wood at the Bottom of Missouri Meerschaum Bowls
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So many posts are wrong in this thread...
Where's banjo when you need him!
So this is what I do. Everyone pay attention and listen very carefully. If you want a perfectly smokeable corn cob pipe you MUST follow these steps.
1. Do nothing.
2. Smoke.
3. Enjoy.
Where's banjo when you need him!
So this is what I do. Everyone pay attention and listen very carefully. If you want a perfectly smokeable corn cob pipe you MUST follow these steps.
1. Do nothing.
2. Smoke.
3. Enjoy.
That shank in the bottom is much softer wood than the hardwood plug. As has been said, it's more responsible for the wood taste you get at first. If you want to hurry the process of getting the bottom of the bowl to look like the pic above, after a bowl or three to char, put a little honey on both sides of the shank. Regardless, for the first 10 or so bowls when you first taste wood or otherwise know you are at the bottom, set the pipe down to smolder a bit. When you pick it back up, put your thumb over the bowl and shake the ash in there before dumping it.
All totally not necessary, though. It'll get there by just smoking it. That's all I do anymore.
All totally not necessary, though. It'll get there by just smoking it. That's all I do anymore.
astralogic, I hope you got your answer by now and hoping you'd be enjoying your cobs like you did years back.. see according to my knowledge.. (I might be wrong here so pardon me if I do and correct me..) these woodplugs keeps the pipes stable.. Cobs are soft in nature.. and by completing your tobacco smoke break till the bottom if no hardwood is present then the lit ambers can scorch up bottom of the bowl which eventually can damage the cob.. so to avoid this kinda damage.. MM inserts wood plugs in their most of the cob pipes to avoid scorching bottom of the bowl.
Happy Piping!
I used to worry about the shank of the stem intruding at the bottom of the bowl. But, after smoking cobs for a while, I realized there were other things I could put my mind to that were more interesting.
I doubled up a fluffy pipe cleaner in hole and then applied fireplace mortar repair mix, applied carefully then slowly eased pipe cleaner out, let it dry and viola no wood, or ash trap.
Sonorisis, though I never smoked and still waiting for my first ever cobs to arrive my place. But I do completely understand the situation you might faced initially! That extra bit of shank protruding inside bowl do seems odd but with time it gets burn out pretty well with tobacco.. so I did heard from established cob pipers it's fairly a natural process. And yes.. cobs do got great other amazing positives to appreciate about!
Happy Piping!
I just looked at my MM and realized I must have burned away the wooden shank within my first month of smoking, because there's nary a trace of it there now. Still very much enjoyed it, too.
astralogic, I hope you got your answer by now and hoping you'd be enjoying your cobs like you did years back.. see according to my knowledge.. (I might be wrong here so pardon me if I do and correct me..) these woodplugs keeps the pipes stable.. Cobs are soft in nature.. and by completing your tobacco smoke break till the bottom if no hardwood is present then the lit ambers can scorch up bottom of the bowl which eventually can damage the cob.. so to avoid this kinda damage.. MM inserts wood plugs in their most of the cob pipes to avoid scorching bottom of the bowl.
Happy Piping!
So you necro'd a 3-year-old post to comment on something you have no actual experience with...?
Those MM cob have a pretty beefy shank through the bowl, I'd be very concerned if you smoked the whole thing!
Sharing is caring friend.. And regarding experience.. I am gaining enough from here even without smoking.. god knows what would happen there after!
Enjoy your cobs and blends
Happy Piping!
The most common response I've gotten sums up to "Be a man and smoke it", I'm not sure about this though. I for one don't enjoy smoking cheap wood(or glue, as sometimes happens with cobs alas), it ruins the end of the bowl I wish to enjoy, and there's no need to torture myself. I share your frustration with this wood, and I think it's the only thing standing in the way from total cob enjoyment. Dry smoke, cool smoke, can be smoked frequently, light weight, excellent drilling(wide and open), just a great pipe and unbeatable for the money... just that damn wood insert.
My solution has been to hack away at that wooden insert until i've picked the entire sides off, and some of the bottom. When I'm done, the bottom of the bowl is no longer flush but somewhat lower than before with the draft hole. At this point, I fill the cob with pipe mud(fine ash from a cigar with a few drops of water, less is more). A recipe can be found on youtube, there are lots of videos and tutorials for it. What I do is tightly pack this cement-like substance into the bottom until the bowl is flush. I add some to the sides, which naturally occurs since I'm using the back of a drumstick, so it's rounded like a finger(You could also use a finger if you have nothing else and your fingers fit in the bowl). It helps to press as hard as possible, and you should have covered the wood completely. I rest it for a few days to completely dry the pipe mud. Now, you'll only get the tiniest hint of something off, and this will disappear with time. I've only done this to one of my cobs so far but I've been so happy with the results that this will be my go-to procedure with any cob I get. I highly recommend trying it with a new cob if the wood bothers you.
The taste of the wood spoils the end of a good smoke so this is what I do;
When I first taste the wood, I add a few pinches of dry tobacco and really fire her up to get the wood smouldering.
Gently blow down the stem to encourage the wood to burn.
Do this at the end of 2 or 3 bowls and it's burnt back to the chamber wall.
When I first taste the wood, I add a few pinches of dry tobacco and really fire her up to get the wood smouldering.
Gently blow down the stem to encourage the wood to burn.
Do this at the end of 2 or 3 bowls and it's burnt back to the chamber wall.
The shank protruding into the bowl always seemed to me inferior production. Why MM continues this I don't know. When I complained they were not concerned. If you want to get rid of it apply heat to the joint. The glue loosens and the protrusion can be cut off. As jvnshr's great pictures show, the wooden plug at the bottom of the bowl should not be confused with the protruding shank. Be grateful for the plug as without it the bottom of the bowl is prime for burnout, and those pipes MM doesn't plug used to be plugged by some non-hardening, inflammable goop. Complaints made them upgrade production.
Answering my own question, MM didn't, for instance, plug their pipes until the market demanded it, because, as I understand, they see themselves as making quality pipes for the lowest possible price. On their end they don't get much per pipe, so they are judicious about costs.
Cobs always run small of chamber. When I asked them about this they said making them bigger would require them to get a new drilling bit, which was expensive and therefore beyond consideration.
Cobs always run small of chamber. When I asked them about this they said making them bigger would require them to get a new drilling bit, which was expensive and therefore beyond consideration.
That was the last I heard from MM. They were phasing out the hardwoods.
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