So I have a MM Washington banded cob with an 8 inch churchwarden stem both from walkerbriarworks.com. Every time I smoke this pipe the cob heats up to the point that it is uncomfortable to hold, I have tried different moisture levels of my bacy, different lighting techniques and even resting it till it cools but upon relight and a couple of puff it right back to almost burn you hot. The smoke with some exceptions is nice and cool with no bite and if I hold the cob by the stem or the base it doesn't burn me. I have also tried the cheek test and apparently my cheek can get hotter than my fingers, anyways is this just par for the course, will it go away as cake builds? Any info would be great, thanks!
Hot Cob
- Thread starter seanusa
- Start date
Are you smoking too fast? Other than that, it doesn't sound like you are doing anything wrong. Maybe you have sensitive fingers 
I'd venture to say that you're smoking it way, way too fast. Slow down with your cadence and take small sips off the pipe. Cobs have a huge open draw on them as compared to most any other pipe regardless of using a filter, a different stem or whatever so it can be pretty easy to get them to smoke hot because you can get a big pull off of them effortlessly. Also cobs just frankly smoke a bit hotter than briar pipes because the density of the material is much less.
That said, once you do begin to build a bit of cake it will help matters a bit unless you burn it through before that cake forms.
That said, once you do begin to build a bit of cake it will help matters a bit unless you burn it through before that cake forms.
Packing too tight will cause you to puff harder than you should, leading to a smoke that is too hot.
- Thread starter
- #5
I have tried to sip slowly and it seems I get a few puffs then it goes out and whether its packed tight or loose, it changes my draw but doesn't affect the heat I feel from the pipe. I feel that heat within 30 seconds from lighting it.
Cobs can run hot, just in their nature. Mine tend to stay lit pretty well so I'm guessing you're packing it too tight. Load it, don't pack it.
Try this, don't overthink loading the pipe. If you're smoking a shag/ribbon cut type of tobacco use the "codger scoop" just plow that cob into your tin or pouch, loading it to overflowing (think bucket scooping dirt) then just use your finger to stuff it down a bit, gently. If you didn't fill it on the first scoop just scoop again.
You can drive yourself insane with all the variations of how to load your pipe, 3 step, Frank method, on and on... Honestly except for flakes which are a different beast altogether I load all my pipes by loading it full, loosely, then giving that a light tamp then I'll top it off with a firmer tamp then put the flame to it.
Try this, don't overthink loading the pipe. If you're smoking a shag/ribbon cut type of tobacco use the "codger scoop" just plow that cob into your tin or pouch, loading it to overflowing (think bucket scooping dirt) then just use your finger to stuff it down a bit, gently. If you didn't fill it on the first scoop just scoop again.
You can drive yourself insane with all the variations of how to load your pipe, 3 step, Frank method, on and on... Honestly except for flakes which are a different beast altogether I load all my pipes by loading it full, loosely, then giving that a light tamp then I'll top it off with a firmer tamp then put the flame to it.
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