Pipe material smoking characteristics

[Ponycarman]

Do y'all have blend types you prefer out of pipes made with specific materials? You know how specific blend types seem to shine out of pipes of different materials. How about olivewood pipe owners specifically? Just ordered my first and am curious what blend category to start with?

I know me personally I tend to smoke English/ latakia stuff out of morta and meerschaum. Virginia/ vaper/and burley usually goes in a briar. Cobs usually get aromatics/burley/and the occasional Virginia/vaper. I don't have enough smoking time with a hardwood pipe or gourd calabash to have much of a preference yet.

What blends types do y'all prefer out of different pipe making material?

 

[Mike H]

I find it hard to believe, that all of the great minds here, no one has an opinion on this subject?

My personal experience is that chamber shape affect the smoke more than the material, but I do not have a refined taste.

That said, when I smoke English (rarely) it is in a morta. Virginia goes in a briar. I've not smoked in Olive, but I have tried Pear and Cherry. IMO, after the first couple of bowls, the wood type does not seem to modify the taste.

 

[Multum in parvo]

I understood ghosting is a non issue for meerschaum therefore they are a safe bet for Lakelands if you don’t want to reserve a pipe for them. Resting periods are also more relaxed on meers.

Other than that I just split my pipes in „with“ or „without“ Latakia and 1-2 pipes for aromatics regardless of material (briar or cob).

 

[Ponycarman]

I find it hard to believe, that all of the great minds here, no one has an opinion on this subject?

My personal experience is that chamber shape affect the smoke more than the material, but I do not have a refined taste.

That said, when I smoke English (rarely) it is in a morta. Virginia goes in a briar. I've not smoked in Olive, but I have tried Pear and Cherry. IMO, after the first couple of bowls, the wood type does not seem to modify the taste.

I haven't had that much experience with different chambers. Although larger diameters do tend to smoke english blends well. Meerschaum is kinda an enigma for me. Great pipes for sure. But everytime I smoke a really grassy Virginia in one it seems to reduce that grassy taste and dull the flavors. With cobs I can definitely taste a bit if a corn flavor. Kinda depends on the blend smoked too. Sometime I taste the material and sometimes not.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

I have briar, cob, and pearwood. While I don't tend to limit the cobs to specific blend types, I do with the pear and briar to avoid ghosting. However, there's no blend type that I'll smoke in a pipe of one material, but not another.

 

[ChefJohnBoy-ardee]

Best Brown Flake tastes the best to me from a Cob over a briar. Bowl shape plays a part in the taste to me. I have a conical bowled Peterson Calabash that is an english smoking champ!

My meers and mortas see more aromatics but the morta sees a @Hirsute Shuffle with Pembroke every now and again.

 

[Benzadmiral]

I've only had briars and one hardwood. (Years ago I had a meerschaum, and I enjoyed smoking it, but I don't know what happened to it. Perhaps it was broken in one of my many moves.) So far the hardwood has been difficult to smoke, and I only get about 15 minutes out of it at the best. So briars have always been my usual thing.

 

[Borderdog]

Morta and Meerschaum are champs for latakia. There's something different about the flavor out of those. I've noticed that most VA/VAPer blends seem ho hum out of meers. Could just be my taste buds, but it's pretty consistent for me. The ghost of Lakeland can be strong in meers. A member here had a meer dedicated to Lakelands, and said he could find out what any blend would taste like if it was a Lakeland by smoking it in that pipe.

It's mainly bowl dimensions for me. The more complex the blend, the more it benefits from a larger bowl.

 

[8 Track]

Generally speaking, Lat in meer, Va/VaPer in briar and burley in cobs. Kitchen sink blends may be outliers.

 

[Ponycarman]

Best Brown Flake tastes the best to me from a Cob over a briar. Bowl shape plays a part in the taste to me. I have a conical bowled Peterson Calabash that is an english smoking champ!

My meers and mortas see more aromatics but the morta sees a @Hirsute Shuffle with Pembroke every now and again.

Gonna have to try best brown in cob. Thats a combinationI haven't tried.

Morta and Meerschaum are champs for latakia. There's something different about the flavor out of those. I've noticed that most VA/VAPer blends seem ho hum out of meers. Could just be my taste buds, but it's pretty consistent for me. The ghost of Lakeland can be strong in meers. A member here had a meer dedicated to Lakelands, and said he could find out what any blend would taste like if it was a Lakeland by smoking it in that pipe.

It's mainly bowl dimensions for me. The more complex the blend, the more it benefits from a larger bowl.

I'm right there with you on the meerschaum. Maybe its the obsorbent nature of the meerschaum? Latakia blends seem smoother. Like it knocks off the rough edges. But a Virginia or vaper blend that are usually a bit lighter it seems to dull the flavors. My gourd calabash softens sharp blends even more than meerschaum. Pretty amazing how different pipes behave totally different and changes blends.

 

[Salty O'Rourke]

Whatever you do, stay away from Brylon.

The "Space Age" was supposed to give me flying cars and jet packs. Instead I got a pipe made of resin and sawdust.

 

[Ponycarman]

Whatever you do, stay away from Brylon.

View attachment 1321133



The "Space Age" was supposed to give me flying cars and jet packs. Instead I got a pipe made of resin and sawdust.

Haha I've never tried one of those and I don't plan on it . I might actually have one. Came in a lot of estates I purchases. It looks like some sort of plastic and it is velvet lined haha. Never have smoked it and never will.

 

[RookieGuy]

The only hard and fast rule for me is Latakia has no place in a cob. I've tried a few different blends in a few different cobs. None has worked out well for me. Of course, my experience is limited to briar and cobs. Oh, and a couple meerschaum lined pipes.

 

[Ponycarman]

The only hard and fast rule for me is Latakia has no place in a cob. I've tried a few different blends in a few different cobs. None has worked out well for me. Of course, my experience is limited to briar and cobs. Oh, and a couple meerschaum lined pipes.

Don't think I've ever tried a latakia in a cob. Might have too now hahahaha

 

[Multum in parvo]

Don't think I've ever tried a latakia in a cob. Might have too now hahahaha

I have one dedicated to Lats, once there is some char the sweetness of the cob is gone and it smokes fine.

 

[RookieGuy]

Maybe it was because the cob was fresh. But I loaded up some Stokkebye Proper English into a brand new cob, a stubby little Eaton. Ruined that pipe. Tasted a tire fire in that pipe, with hints of burning popcorn.

Now, I'll be the first to admit most of the bad experience may have been my own fault, it was within the first 9 days since picking up my first pipe that I smoked it like that. But still, for me, nothing heavier in Latakia than EGR in a cob for this Rookie.

 

[karacha]

From my experience: Cob is slightly sweet, meerschaum is fairly neutral, clay very neutral - great for trying new blends! - and briar starts tasting similar to the blend you tend to smoke in that pipe the most relatively quickly. Never tried morta, olive, pear, cherry and similar woods. I tend to smoke English blends in briar pipes. I have some dedicated to Lakeland scented flakes. Corncobs are primarily for aromatics, although I don't smoke very many of those.

Meer calabash & clay are for trying new blends.

 

[Ponycarman]

Clay is one I haven't tried yet. Hope too some time. They have always fascinated me.

 

[Ponycarman]

A little update I forgot to add. First bowl in my olivewood went well. Peter Stokabye navy flake was the blend. I'll need more bowls to continue experimenting but I definitely detected a light olive oil scent and flavor behind the tobacco. It was pleasent. Wondering if it will dissapear after a cake is formed. It was a fairly warm smoke too. Might have been me though... the tobacco was fairly moist and I was excited to try the pipe. Probably puffed a bit too quickly lol.

 

[Columbo]

I would imagine the most neutral chamber material possible would be a Pyrex or similar flame-proof glass one. However, the thermal behavior of the chamber material does have an impact on things, and glass behaves very differently than other materials in that regard. Perhaps a durable Pyrex lining would be a nice compromise.