@hmhaines: Cobs get sweeter and easier smoking the older and uglier they get. Hence the hose clamp repair. It took too many years to get them that way. I have five or six other cobs, but they don't get used as often as the "Three Stooges" in the photo. They don't get used every day, maybe 2-3 times a week.
@jvnshr: My oldest cob, the one with the hose clamp, is about nine years old. The shank loosened up, so the clamp took care of that. I didn't want to trash the pipe and I am too lazy to put in a new shank, so that's the result.
@okie: 40 years! I'm pretty sure that my cobs won't last that long. No matter, I don't think I'll be around for their 40th anniversary anyway.