Pipe Bowls vs. Tobacco

drac2485

As I am still learning and not able to experiment as much as I would like, are there certain tobaccos that do better in certain pipe bowls?  I have found that Virginia seem to do there best in a narrow bowl.  Does anyone have advice for other tobaccos like Black Cav, VaPer, heavy Lat blends?

LostMason

Use a wide pot shape for black cavs and really moist aros

PipeProfessor

I don't know the answer @drac2485, but I do find that some blends and cuts smoke waaaay better in some pipes than others. That is why I use multiple pipes with a blend before I tag it as great or awful. 

judandhispipe

Like @pipeprofessor, I find that  certain blends work better in pipes than others. When I returned to the pipe, early in the last decade, and found on-line pipe groups to talk to, the consensus was that smaller bowls are best for Virginias, while larger bowls work better for latakia and aromatic blends.  Explore and see what works best for you.

PappyJoe

I also find that narrow bowls work best for flakes also. When it comes to virginias, I haven't really noticed a problem in a larger bowl. 

drac2485

@pappyjoe. I've definitely heard of that with flakes but I seem to burn the tar out of my mouth with Straight Virginias in a larger bowl. Is there something your doing differently when you smoke them versus flake?

PappyJoe

@drac2485 Let me clarify. I only have two pipes with gigantic bowls and I don't smoke Virginias in them. I do smoke Virginias in standard bowls sizes

drac2485

@pappyjoe thanks for clarifying. I picked up an estate pipe online and it ended up being the widest bowl I had seen at the time. The bowl was wider than it was deep. It's from the Savinelli line shape 316KS, the bowl is normally about an inch wide and an inch deep, and that wide of a bowl is what I was picturing as my mouth was remembering the burn

tomatobodhi

A narrow bowl that tapers toward the bottom has worked best for me when smoking cube cut burleys.

drac2485

@tomatobodhi I've heard others talk about a tapered bowl, I've never seen on myself. Is it an obvious taper or not? What pipes do you have that are tapered?

PipeProfessor

@drac2485 I have one from vincent_pipe_co on IG that has a tapered bowl. It was the 2nd or 3rd pipe he ever made and it is fantastic. If you want a tapered bowl, check him out. He's a super nice guy and makes very unique pipes. 

tomatobodhi

I haven't had any trouble finding tapered bowls in the Dublin variations. Most of the 'triangle' shaped freehand a have a pretty sharp taper to the draft. I will post a quick pic of my cube cut pipe if I can get it to work. For some reason, all the buttons are greyed out on my tablet.

tomatobodhi

http://imgur.com/rL67f1t

There are two I have with tapered or conical bowls. The top one is the one I have best luck with cube cuts smoking.

(It never would let me post a pic directly in the thread.)

crapgame

I made the mistake of christmas cher in a very wide bowl..turned me of Va for the longest time..just starting to get into the VA scene again..slowly but i am trying them again

drac2485

@crapgame I had a very similar experience the first time I tried flake, it was primarily virginia and I put in a tall wide bowl and wanted to cry by the time I was done.  I ended up not wanting to waste it so I would light it and take a puff or two and let it go out and when I wanted it again I'd light it...  It took me a while to finish the bowl, I enjoyed the flavor but was scared of virginias until recently.

crapgame

@drac2485 I have aged va tobacco and have found that it really mellows after time so i plan on buying more just age and then enjoy in a few years..still cant do fresh va

drac2485

@crapgame I just canned all my VA after that experience and I've slowly been getting more and loving it now.  When in the right bowl its much better than a LAT bomb in the middle of a Texas summer, outside.

PipeProfessor

I have some VAs aging as I am not currently their biggest fan, but I suspect that someday I will really appriciate them in a small, short bowl.