Thinking on dedicating pipes

LostMason · September 2016

I now have a enough pipes that I would feel comfortable dedicating them to

specific tobacco types.I have an idea how I would like to proceed but would

like a bit of input from more expierienced pipers.I would like to classify the types

by moistness.In other words,I want my 3/4 bent pipes for the driest,and then

seperate my straight pipes among the others.So which type English.VaPer,or VaBur

would you consider the driest?

tomatobodhi · September 2016

I think it depends as much on the cut as on the content.

I regularly smoke three VaBurs, but one is a crumble cake, one is a plug, and one is cross cut. Each one smokes very differently (cake is the most moist, then plug, then driest is the cut).

Bowl shape, width, depth is also important to consider. I smoke the plug in the narrowest bowl for even burn, then the crumble, then the cut. But everyone's smoking "style" is a little different.

I think your idea of saving bent stems for dryer tobaccos is a good one, especially if you clench your pipes.

LostMason · September 2016

@tomatobodhi , I often clench my bent pipes.Well not the BBK it's a little
heavy ended. I hadn't considered different cuts,but that makes sense.
So it seems the idea will require more investigative work than I originally
thought.I don't want to dedicate to a specific blend,I don't have that many
pipes.But was hoping to at least seperate out the dryer type to savor in my
bent pipes.I would rather enjoy the taste and moment than deal with gurgle.

judandhispipe · September 2016

What sort of blends do you smoke, @lostmason? The traditional wisdom is that larger bowls are best for aros and latakia blends,and smaller bowls are best for Virginias. That's tended to work for me.

PappyJoe · September 2016

I have a couple of pipes with narrower bowls that I have dedicated to flakes because the flakes seem to smoke better in them. Other than that I don't separate them out between aros, english and other blends.

Haven't smoked anything that ghosted a pipe bad enough where I needed to.

Mangoandy · September 2016

I do this and recently had a conversation with my local tobacconist. As it turns out, I'm not alone.

Superstitiously I've committed my Dunhills to my favorite english blends - keep the english together (I don't know why, but those pipes have given me a consistently good smoke with english tobaccos).

I have a few Savinelli Dry System pipes that I use with my aromatics.

I have dedicated one pipe to my fave Frog Morton Bayou because the taste is so unique and it's consistently a good smoke.

The rest of my pipes share my VaPers and other Virginia blends.

idbowman · September 2016

I don't worry too much about stem and tobacco type, although I certainly see the wisdom in trying to keep dryer blends in bendier pipes...I never thought of that before but I really like the idea.

For me, some blends just like certain pipes. So while I do have my "Latakia pipes," my "VA/VaPer/Burley pipes," a few "Lakeland pipes," and fewer "Aromatic pipes," there's no real rhyme or reason as to why something lands where it does.

pipeman83 · September 2016

I don't worry about dedicating certain pipes to certain blends, whatever pipe and whatever blend I decide to smoke that particular day I do it, the only

exception is that I only smoke one aromatic, that's Autumn Evening, so I have 4 pipes in my collection dedicated to that one blend, otherwise I smoke only VA, VAPER blends so my other pipes are for those blends only.

judandhispipe · September 2016

I have a latakia rotation, a Virginia rotation, and one pipe for the one aro I smoke - which isn't often. I do have some pipes dedicated to certain blends,simply because I happened to discover a combination that blew me away. I'm about to start the day with one of those - Murdock's Pipe in a Stanwell egg.

Inderbib · September 2016

To me, dedicating a pipe to a specific tobacco is about not altering the tobacco's flavor. I have many pipes that smoke better with certain cuts of tobacco but I only dedicate pipes to tobacco types. I smoke straight Virginias in certain pipes, perique blends in certain pipes and latikia in others... But that's the extent of separation, or dedication for me.

Subtilis87 · September 2016

My dedicated pipes:

1. Meerschaum straight Dublin (Only Apricots and Cream from C&D)

2. Straight Savinelli billiard (Straight Virginias)

3. Bent Rocky Patel/ Nording collaboration pipe (Latakia Blends)

4. Full bent Britannica sandblast (Only Christmas Morning from Georgetown Tobacco [Which is probably Raspberries and Cream from McClelland]

LostMason · September 2016

@Subtillis87 , that Britannica sounds Sweet ! Can you post a pic?

thebadgerpiper · September 2016

I have enough pipes that I devote one or two blends to each pipe depending on their shape. I have a few bent Dublins that I use only for flake blends. My billiard family pipes will have Virginia and Burley blends. Pipes with wider diameter bowls I reserve for English/Latakia blends, such as Frog Morton or Squadron Leader. I also have two pipes I have set aside for Lakeland mixture blends, as those are more notorious for ghosting.

If you have enough pipes to work with, I highly suggest it. I've yet to deal with a ghosting problem in any of my pipes because of it.

Thinking on dedicating pipes

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