Tame the briar

[Dandy Pipesmoker]

In many years of smoking and various experiments, I have not yet come to a conclusion: can a pipe be forced to smoke the type of tobacco we want or is it she (in italian the pipe is feminine) who chooses which spouse she wants to marry? (It is not always a relationship of total fidelity...)

Sometimes a new pipe, just looking at it, seems to me that it "calls" a certain type of tobacco. I happened to break it in with a specific genre and over time the pipe has adapted, but I'm not sure if they were just accidents.

Do you think that the country of production also has some influence on the taste of certain pipes or does it vary from piece to piece?
(Do you happen to have several pipes from the same country / manufacturer dedicated to the same genre?)

I know that there are many possible factors at play and that there can be different opinions about it.

I'm just curious about your experiences ...

 

[gamzultovah]

Subjective, but I like complex, full body blends in a wide bore pipe and flake Virginia in a tall conical pipe. Especially if I cube cut the flake.

 

[TheWhale13]

I don't have much to say about this, but it is an interesting question.

 

[FLDRD]

I can only comment on part of the pondering.

While I haven't paid attention to the country of origin in my exploration, I think that the pipe has the final say on whom it plays with.

While I feel that both bring some boundaries to the experience, the tobacco seems to be a little more promiscuous than the pipe. Perhaps that is also because each pipe naturally brings various subtleties to how it will interact with me, more than what a leaf blend will do.

I'll readily acknowledge that another might feel quite the opposite.

And while we're pondering pipe / leaf marriages and infidelities, I suppose that each of them is actually involved in a "menage a trois" once I force myself upon them with the flame of desire...

 

[mso489]

Just from experience, I somewhat subscribe to the wide diameter chamber for complex blends, those having roughly four or more varieties of leaf. But superseding that, I think it is more a pipe-by-pipe basis determined through trial and error. A wider chamber allows more different varieties of leaf to burn at once, melding the flavors better than a narrow bowl.

 

[blackpowderpiper]

For no apparent reason, I have pipes that seem to prefer certain blends. These discoveries are often happy accidents. While a certain pipe may smoke well with several different blends, sometimes a pipe seems to really take things to another level with a certain tobacco. I have a Savinelli lumberman that smokes most blends generally well, but for some reason it makes University Flake taste awesome. Because of this, I now mostly dedicate that pipe to UF. The same thing has happened with some of my other pipes. When I find a great combination that has proven itself over multiple bowls, I sometimes just dedicate the pipe to that blend. Again, there is no rhyme or reason for this, at least none that I'm aware of. Sometimes it's easier to observe and experience something than it is to explain why. When I get a new pipe I may have an idea for what I want to smoke in it but over time the pipe seems to tell me what it likes best. I hope some of this may have been helpful.

 

[Donb1972]

I am not an expert on briar and, in fact, I avoid briar pipes whenever possible, so take this for what it's worth, LOL

A larger diameter chamber might well give complex blends more room to fully develop and meld, but I think that is probably largely due to our own expectations ~ I don't seem to lose the complexity of a blend when I smoke a clay pipe, which almost always have narrow chambers.

There are also the myths about smoking a certain type of tobacco in mortas, but I have found those to be baseless.

My Dogs like to eat whatever I am eating...my pipes are like this. LOL

 

[sablebrush52]

With matters like this, I rely upon my Ouija board.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I notice no difference from pipe to pipe. Blends smoke and taste the same no matter which pipe I smoke them in.

 

[leonardbill1]

Just based on personal experience/preference, I like straight Virginias and VA/Per blends better in oil cured briar and I like Oriental and Balkan blends better in air cured briar.

 

[warren]

I'm just curious about your experiences ...

I firmly support a smoker's right to make the experience as complicated, simple, fantastical and/or imaginative as one wishes. Enjoy your pipe(s)! Me? I stuff, light and enjoy. I keep the entire experience as simple as possible.

 

[Hovannes]

Some pipes have marked preferences when it comes to tobacco.
Others don't.
I've had pipes with dimensions that scream "Virginia" as loudly as Ralph Kramden can yell "Alice" but are actually better suited to Burleys.
Pipes are funny that way.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Carvers from all over the world buy their briar from the same sources . Country itself is highly irrelevant in the quality of a pipe.

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

I really can't tell the difference but I do have some pipes that get certain specific blends or types - with a couple it's more cautionary, otherwise it's just plain something else like Wilke No. 515 in a particular 4AB because that was Basil Rathbone's favorite blend.

 

[Casual]

De gustibus non disputandum est.

 

[Chasing Embers]

De gustibus non disputandum est.

It's in the OP.

"Do you think that the country of production also has some influence on the taste of certain pipes or does it vary from piece to piece?"

 

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Humans are able to convince themselves of anything they want to think. While with smoking it doesn't really matter, but with other topics it can be dangerous.

 

[lukasstrifeson]

In many years of smoking and various experiments, I have not yet come to a conclusion: can a pipe be forced to smoke the type of tobacco we want or is it she (in italian the pipe is feminine) who chooses which spouse she wants to marry? (It is not always a relationship of total fidelity...)

Sometimes a new pipe, just looking at it, seems to me that it "calls" a certain type of tobacco. I happened to break it in with a specific genre and over time the pipe has adapted, but I'm not sure if they were just accidents.

Do you think that the country of production also has some influence on the taste of certain pipes or does it vary from piece to piece?
(Do you happen to have several pipes from the same country / manufacturer dedicated to the same genre?)

I know that there are many possible factors at play and that there can be different opinions about it.

I'm just curious about your experiences ...

Country? No... But how a pipe is constructed does affect which blends best suit it, so yes, in a way, 'she' picks the blend.

It's fun to get poetic and dream of 'her' promiscuously trying out new blends but what's really happening is that the particular internal aerodynamic of the pipe is more suited for some cuts over others.

But then again how you pack your pipe and what your cadence is also has a huge affect on the internal aerodynamics, so who's really picking here? My money's on the sentient being and not the lump of wood.

 

[Grangerous]

When I get a new pipe, I know what’s going in it. Perhaps being primarily a single blend smoker, I can offer something.

There are good smokes, flavorless smokes and outstandingly flavorful smokes of the same repeated blend.

There are good smokes, hey-where-did-my ability-to-taste-go- smokes and outstandingly tasty smokes in pipes of all makes, materials, shapes and sizes.

So many variables are in play that I have personally come to the conclusion that the pipe is irrelevant, so long as it is engineered properly. Even if not, we can learn to adapt to its tighter or more open draw.

I will concede that some pipes burn hotter and that’s never a desirable quality. I also agree with MSO in his essentially saying what Bob Runowski had suggested for Pegasus, a blend with multiple leaf interplay does well in a wider bowl. And perhaps VA does well in narrower bowls.

My personal observation is cleanliness. A fresh, clean pipe is my best shot at having one of those. outstanding smokes. Almost all have occurred with a fresh pipe.

I’ve experimented with building a cake in my cobs and they smoke longer than briar would before turning me off and I rinse them. Yes, I even water rinse my cobs.

 

[bullet08]

Wider, bigger chamber for all blends. I do enjoy medium size pipes also, but personally, enjoy wider bigger chambers for all blends.