Dedicated Pipe for Latakia?

[heissa]

Hello pipers, new piper here. I’m waiting for a new pipe to arrive and wanted to smoke gaslight (for the first time) in it. Does that mean I have to dedicate this pipe to Latakia blends? I read in many posts here people suggesting that one should. And my second question, what is the way to thoroughly clean a pipe so there is no ghosting from other blends?

Thank you.

 

[Sigmund]

Ideally you probably should but I dont. I hve a lot of pipes and for me there are two groups. Pipes for Vapers and virginias and those for everything else. Some pipers dedicate one pipe to a blend. It really depends on what you want to do and how sensitive you are to flavors. I dont find that sporatic latakia ghosts pipes used in other strong blends. If I smoked really delicate blends like straight virginias I dont think Id mix. You can deghost pipes but its not normal daily cleaning. Not something you want to do repeatedly. If you decide to try lakeland blends most definitely dedicate a pipe. Same with some of the stronger aromatics.

That said, If you are going to smoke a lot of lat and only have a very few pipes...yeah, its probably a good idea to dedicate one. I dont because its spread around a lot of pipes. You will get a lot of different answers so dont take what I do as the gospel (except the bit about lakelands)

To see how to deghost a pipe google it and look at pipesreborn. There are numerous methods.

EDIT: check out this current thread.

Ghosting Paranoia :: Pipe Smoking Basics & Beginner Questions

I just got my first Peterson pipe! 🥳🎉. It’s the first pipe I’ve spent over $100 on, but now I’m met with what I was not anticipating - ghosting paranoia. Well, that’s exaggerating a bit, but I couldn’t wait to get this thing and smoke it, and then once I got it the thought came “Now what do I...

pipesmagazine.com

 

[proteus]

I do. My dedicated Latakia pipes build up nice cakes and smoke Latakia blends richer than when I mixed them among other types. To me the cake layer has elements of the tobacco in it so as it builds layers of flavor each layer contains the flavor elements of the smoked tobacco before it. If every layer is Latakia blends you get the most richness. Some more so than others. If you mix lighter flavor layers in between Latakia layers or add an aro layer it alters the taste. The alteration may be what you want or may not be depending on your taste. There isn't anything inherently wrong with ghosted pipes. They are not broken. It just depends on your own perspective and preference. To completely unghost a pipe you must remove all cake, and then a fine layer of briar to get down to unflavored wood. And then clean the air inlets and stems. You can sand out the holes using fine play sand and a pipe cleaner with alcohol to make a type of paste. Then lap the inside.

 

[heissa]

Thanks guys. I was hoping to dedicate a pipe for every occasion (Saturday formal outing with the wife vs a walk outside midweek), but sounds like it’ll have to be per occasion per blend type. I appreciate your input guys.

 

[kcghost]

You have Latakia (and English) pipes, and you have your Virginia/VaPer pipes. If you want to smoke aromatics have one for them, too.

 

[johnnyflake]

Other than Corn Cob and Meerschaum pipe, I believe that one should dedicate a briar pipe or a few pipes to Latakia blends and others to Va Blends and still others to Aromatic Blends. If your really heavy into Aromatic Blends, you may want to dedicate a pipe to Cherry Blends & Rum Blends. In the end you will enhance the flavors of those blends as the pipe ages and the cake builds.

 

[heissa]

You have Latakia (and English) pipes, and you have your Virginia/VaPer pipes. If you want to smoke aromatics have one for them, too.

Speaking of Latakia and English, do I need to dedicate a pipe for English blends that are not heavy on Latakia and another pipe for the heavy Latakia blends?

 

[heissa]

Other than Corn Cob and Meerschaum pipe, I believe that one should dedicate a briar pipe or a few pipes to Latakia blends and others to Va Blends and still others to Aromatic Blends. If your really heavy into Aromatic Blends, you may want to dedicate a pipe to Cherry Blends & Rum Blends. In the end you will enhance the flavors of those blends as the pipe ages and the cake builds.

Got it. So far I haven’t smoked aromatics. I don’t think aromatics will be my thing. Been smoking cigarettes for some 20+ years and don’t think I’m really into flavouring.

 

[kcghost]

Speaking of Latakia and English, do I need to dedicate a pipe for English blends that are not heavy on Latakia and another pipe for the heavy Latakia blends?

No, you don't.

 

[AroEnglish]

I wouldn't say you need to but I think you could. It does sound like those chasing very pure tastes will do that or go further and dedicate pipes to specific blends.

For me though, all my pipes are dedicated to latakia but I will smoke other blends in them

 

[ThermionicScott]

You'll figure out how important this stuff is to you with experience. And you don't have to commit to one mindset, either. A couple of my pipes are strictly dedicated to Virginias or English blends, but I have others that I am happy to smoke anything in.

 

[bullet08]

Depends on how sensitive your palate is. Mine isn't sensitive enough to notice the Latakia ghost. But I do have pipes I only smoke Lat blends in. Just because I think they work better for the Lat blends.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I smoke all manner of English and Balkan blends in many dozens of pipes, no dedication to strength at all. But my palate isn't very finely tuned.

 

[heissa]

Thanks all for chiming in. Got a reason to buy more pipes now

 

[PaulTheScandinavian]

I don't smoke anymore anything with latakia in it

 

[Butter Side Down]

Thanks all for chiming in. Got a reason to buy more pipes now

Given time, you'll be amazed at the variety and quantity of reasons you'll find yourself coming up with.

 

[heissa]

Given time, you'll be amazed at the variety and quantity of reasons you'll find yourself coming up with.

My wife is gonna divorce me. Already pissed I got 3 pipes in the last two weeks.

 

[tobakenist]

I have been a Pipe Smoker for over 50yrs and have never dedicated one pipe for one type of tobacco, as long as you clean a pipe properly it makes no difference, in my early day's we only had one pipe until we had two pipes, now I have over two hundred pipes, so which pipe do I pick up for a for a particular Tobacco ? just the nearest one that I can get my hands on, just enjoy your smoking habit and don't worry about what pipe, what tobacco, just enjoy.

 

[Servant King]

Plenty of good advice in this thread. The thread @Sigmund referenced is also of value--I posted something of a novel in it the other day, so I'll refrain from repeating myself! When it comes to dedicating pipes, you can be as nitpicky as you want, or be on the complete opposite end of the spectrum. No right or wrong here, as with many things we all discuss on the forum. If you plan on accruing more than one or two pipes, I say there's no reason not to dedicate pipes to specific blend types. Of course, you then assume the risk presented by the Wife Irritation Factor Equation (WIFE), but we're all quite familiar with that one!

 

[heissa]

Plenty of good advice in this thread. The thread @Sigmund referenced is also of value--I posted something of a novel in it the other day, so I'll refrain from repeating myself! When it comes to dedicating pipes, you can be as nitpicky as you want, or be on the complete opposite end of the spectrum. No right or wrong here, as with many things we all discuss on the forum. If you plan on accruing more than one or two pipes, I say there's no reason not to dedicate pipes to specific blend types. Of course, you then assume the risk presented by the Wife Irritation Factor Equation (WIFE), but we're all quite familiar with that one!

Hahaha love that. When I found this forum online, I told my wife who was sitting next to me “I found them! I found the pipe nerds!”. She looked at me and calmly said “You ARE a nerd”.

She knows me to get into weird hobbies, scour the internet for all information about them and spend a ton of money on them.