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Whats your favorite pipe maker and Type?
Looking for some general info. Do some pipes produce better flavor than others? What are some of your experiences? I started with a billiard straight basket pipe. It had a very small bowl and i dont recall the name of the maker but i purchased it at Low Land Tobacco in South Carolina AKA smokingpipes.com outlet store. I since then upgraded to a bent billiard #69 Peterson. I feel in love with my Peterson but for some reason i go back to my basket pipe and some tobacco taste better in it. I dont know maybe its because the bowl is smaller or it was just my first. Browsing for some more pipes any advice? I was thinking about a Peterson standard system 302 which is basically a XL02 with the standard system design.
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Selecting a Tobacco Pipe Based on How You Smoke https://thispipelife.com/tpl-article/29/
When selecting a pipe, generally the first criterion will be whether you like the appearance or not. If the shape appeals to you but the finish isn’t what you’re looking for, the shape becomes immaterial. If the staining, the grain, the sandblasting or rustication aren’t your cup of tea, the quality of the pipe, who made it or how good a bargain it is doesn’t matter; in your mind’s eye, it’s a piece of junk. But let’s assume that we have a table full of pipes that all appeal to you. Now you have to consider how you smoke to help you make a good selection.
Conquer Tongue Bite and Hot Smoke
As an example: let’s say that you tend to smoke hot and burn your tongue frequently. What’s going to help? One good bet is a churchwarden, as the long stem gives the smoke more time to cool. A thick-walled meerschaum may be a good choice as the material will pull the heat away, and the thick walls can absorb it better. You can also look at pipes like the Peterson systems, which keep you from getting too much steam in your smoke because of the reservoir, but can also save your tongue due to the “steck” or “p-lip” bit which channels the smoke toward the roof of your mouth. Also, a gourd calabash will yield a cool, dry smoke.
Protect Your Hands from Hot Pipes
Suppose that you don’t burn your tongue, but your pipe tends to get uncomfortably hot in your hand. One thing to look for is a bowl that gets wide in outside diameter at a point. A good example is the bulldog or Rhodesian shape which has a spot in the top half of the bowl where the wall is quite thick and easy to handle. Other shapes that should also give you a safe area to grab are theDublin (wide at top), egg (wide in the middle) and volcano (wide at the bottom).
Banish Gurgling
Wet smokers will tend to do well with reservoir pipes like the Peterson System or Wellington, gourd calabashes and filtered pipes. Rolando Negoita recently developed some new pipes called Conducta which use an oversized reservoir for a nice dry smoke.
The Need to See Past Your Pipe
People who smoke while reading or working on a computer will probably be happiest with a bent pipe, as it gets the bowl out of the line of sight. Those who lean toward straight pipes tend to hold the pipe in their hands.
Pipe Smoking on a Budget
Of course, economics and/or practicality have an impact on pipe choice. If the budget is tight, or if the pipe is going to be smoked while doing activities that could damage the pipe, corn cobs are always a safe, decent smoking choice. Likewise, there are always some bargain briars that sell for around $30 that can deliver a solid smoke.
Tobacco Blend Preferences
My preference for Latakia blends are wider chambers, as I feel they deliver more flavor, where narrow bowls are best for Virginias, as they tend to burn at a little lower temperature, which will develop a sweeter flavor. For some reason, aromatics don’t seem to be affected quite the same way as unflavored blends, and will smoke fairly well regardless of the size or shape of the pipe.
Best Pipes for Chompers
If you’re going to “clench” the pipe (hold it in your mouth, rather than your hand), you’ll probably want to try a saddle bit which is relatively thin and flat in comparison to the tapered bit, and is a little easier to keep in your jaw. The tapered bit is a little thicker which can be a help if you tend to bite a little hard.
Hopefully, these thoughts may have made your next pipe selection a little easier, and your experience a little more enjoyable.
Peterson is my favorite pipe maker, but I feel like pipers either love 'em, or seem indifferent to them. I like the aesthetic of Peterson pipes, and they just have an old, antique look to them. Some people don't like Petersons because they coat the bowl of their pipes, and to some it leaves a taste that bothers them. I don't notice it, and I've never had a problem with mine. Petersons tend to feel a bit chunky, so they're not the easiest to clench. If I went on a walk with one of my Petersons, I'd probably hold onto my pipe for most of the walk.
One maker I strongly recommend is Stanwell. Stanwells are lighter pipes, and are budget friendly for most of their lines. Definitely check P&C for their Stanwell lines and try one of their Brushed Black or Vario pipes.
Morgan Bones pipes, as mentioned above, are great and easy on the wallet. Try one and see if you like it.
Most experience pipe smokers, who have smoked many different brands of pipes, will tell you that the piece of briar a pipe is carved from, can have a huge bearing on the flavor of the tobacco sampled in a particular pipe.
While some pipe carvers insist of using higher grade briar, in reality they have no way of knowing which block of briar will turn out to produce a pipe with better flavor than another. What this means, is that a higher grade pipe is usually higher grade because of engineering, not because the pipe carver can predict how a pipe will taste that has never been broken in. Common sense will tell you that in some cases, a $10 estate pipe will smoke as good or better than a $500 pipe. The question is, how many pipes do you need to collect, in order to find that gem that only cost $10.
The solution to the dilemma, is to buy as many pipes for your collection as you can reasonably afford, which will not land you in the doghouse with SWMBO. If you are single, you can run amok and make all sorts of questionable purchases until female supervision becomes available at some point down the road.
As for pipe/bowl shapes, you will find that some pipes are definitely better suited to flake tobacco, others best suited to ribbon cuts, etc. Common sense will dictate some pairings, and trial and error will help as well. If you dedicate a pipe to a particular genre of tobacco, you can sample a lot of tobacco with minimal concern for ghosting, while you search for a particular tobacco that pairs well for that pipe. Some of my pipes have been dedicated to particular blends, based on trial and error, however others remain dedicated to a particular genre for the time being, until I find an exceptional pairing.
As for pipe makers - probably my best pipe is a little Joao Ries estate dublin. I love my Stanwells; I have 3 Iwan Ries house pipes that are all good solid pipes; and I have become a big fan of Cayugas from Paul's Pipe Shop.
I really like the peterson system pipe, they are basically a reverse calabash, so they are suppose to smoke cooler and drier. The nice thing is if your not afraid of cleaning an estate pipe there are a ton on eBay for good prices.
Oh, and from my experience I look at the size of the bowl, if not listed I find the same shape on smokingpipes.com if they have it to get an idea. When I first started smoking I used that to get a variety of bowl sizes to experiment with. I found that there is no one size that I like, it basically is picked by what I want the moment I smoke. As someone suggested the Morgan Bones pipes are a great investment as you can try different shapes and sizes on the cheap and they are good looking too.
On the other hand, the material the pipe is made from does make a difference to me. Corn Cobs smoke sweeter. Meerschaums don't ghosts so you taste what your are smoking better. Pear wood smoke a little sweeter than briar until they are broken in. A good briar that isn't ghosted it just smokes better and doesn't affect the taste - IN MY OPINION - unless it has been ghosted.
I find the size and shapes of bowls have more affect on tobacco taste when it comes to briar. Over the years, I have come to like flakes that are smoked in tall, narrow bowls over flakes smoked in wider bowls for example. I tend to like aromatics in wide bowls and English Blends and Vapers in deeper bowls. Those are all personal preferences though and you may like something else.
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