Cheapy Pipes

[MartinH]

So, I have what might be a silly question, but do any of you gravitate towards your cheap pipes, rather than smoke your "nice ones?"

I always smoke outside, and lately I've been smoking a lot while doing yard work. You know, planting, preasure washing, mowing, etc. Needless to day, I'm not willing to take my more expensive pipes out where they'll get messed up.

But I have to say, this $20 Carolina Briar, has been amazing. To be fair, I have to be honest and say that I found that latakia blends smoke the best, no matter what pipe I use, but man, I haven't had a smoke in this thing that I thought was horrible yet. I've had a few wind induced situations where the pipe smoked itself within sheer minutes, but this pipe takes a beating and keeps on ticking, if you get my drift.

I have enjoyed this pipe so much, that I am sorely tempted to go to another drug store today and purchase a second carolina briar pipe. I do have a more expensive carolina briar, that I also really like, but it's too nice to get dirty.

Anyone else have this kind of exerience. This pipe is my go to pipe, every time I smoke now.

Later dudes!

 

[flytyer]

I have two pipes that get used as my work pipes. One is a small Italian basket pipe that was only around 9 bucks on ebay, and the other is an old 60's Kaywoodie lovat that I bought on ebay for around $20. Both these pipes were unsmoked and ounce they were broken in they have become favorites of mine. They are easy to clench if i need my hands free , and they smoke great.

 

[Anonymous]

With the exception that yours are new and mine are old ones, same here. The only "name" pipe in use is a Castello Collection that was a Christmas bomb from PeeDee, and maybe the old Charatan Special. The rest range from Parker, Loewe and Petersons on down through basket pipes. (Billiards, BBDs & apples)

The only problem these had is that the airways in their original stems were constricted and that, after a while, old vulcanite stems taste like stem.

The solution has been to send them up to LL in Hoth for airway-optomised lucite replacement stems. This is anything but a "cheap fix" (the stems cost far, far more than the pipes did), but the results are so far superior to spending the same amount (or more) for an equally old "name" pipe or an equivalent new one that, on this end, it's a no-brainer. [Ballpark : Pipe + Stem = ca. $100].

In my experience and opinion, there is just no substitute for well-seasoned, aged briar. Fancy shapes aside, much of the difference in cost between a "maker-with-a-name" pipe and a decent off-the-production-line one is that the briar it's made from has been well seasoned, and doesn't require being coated with something to avoid tasting like green briar while it breaks in (months or years, depending on use).

The kicker is that, in broader-based and more keenly-honed opinions than mine, a pipe with a bowl coating hits a limit beyond which is the interaction of the briar with the tobacco possible with an un-coated bowl, given enough careful use (years). Which is why, IMHO, if having a really great pipe down the road is your ambition, you want it to be a new one, and you have the self-discipline to allocate your resources accordingly, you're well advised to get, say, one Castello or Rad Davis (examples of any number of worthy names) rather than three or four (good out of the gate though they legendarily are) Stanwells. Like with aging tobacco, the difference in taste is cumulative.

The late and greatly lamented Capo di tutti Capi, TeeJay, kept his billiards reamed down to wood. Which was maybe a little extreme, but instructive. He knew what was "in there" to get, went for it, and got it. From long experience, he ran no risk of over-smoking them.

Such, at any rate, has been my experience (which, with English pipes & tobaccos, began in 1974).

FWIW

:face:

 

[Carlos]

I find that I almost always smoke my better pipes. They take the abuse better than the less expensive ones.

 

[RealtorFrank]

I smoke a couple cheap ones that I have more often, so that I won't "damage" my good pipes! Or at least that's how I think in my head.

 

[Rob_In_MO]

Yes, that's what my Cobs are for...

 

[MartinH]

Hey Guys,
Thanks for you feedback. I picked up a cheapo, Dr. Grabow and for $40 it smoked rather well on its first go. The draw seems bit harder than on any of my other pipes but I wonder if that's because of the filter system.

At any rate I'm going to work on breaking it innand see where I get.

Take care.

 

[MisterE]

They all get equal play generally. My beaters are "anything pipes" so Casper and all his cousins reside unchallenged in them. I rarely will try a new blend that I'm getting familiar with in these.
My nicer ones are dedicated to genres: Va and Vapers, Lats and Balkans etc. The more tins I have open, the more pipes I'll have out.

The nice thing is that almost all my pipes smoke pretty well. 8)

 

[Anonymous]

Free, gratuitous advice that's worth what it cost :

Smoking VaPers in Va pipes turns them into VaPer pipes pretty quickly, and it takes a surprisingly l . . o . . n . . g time to smoke it back out of them.

Or, so I've found, anyhow.

YMMV

:face:

 

[MisterE]

Free, gratuitous advice that's worth what it cost :

Smoking VaPers in Va pipes turns them into VaPer pipes pretty quickly, and it takes a surprisingly l . . o . . n . . g time to smoke it back out of them.

Or, so I've found, anyhow.

YMMV

:face:

True. The Per ghosting is quite apparent with stronger Vapers, but I generally don´t mind the crossover effect. It´s actually quite nice in some cases. It´s a little like a fond memory when you perceive it. It eventually does go away if I avoid that tobacco in that particular pipe long enough.

Last month I was sampling a whopping array of Lakelands and some of those have left their print in a couple of my pipes. It´s kind of a "deja-vu" experience when all of a sudden a hint of another blend jumps out at me- and then it´s gone as quickly as it came. It´s okay because I liked them. It´s only problematic if the ghost is from a tobacco you really hated! In that case is´s like a stone inside your shoe.

One ghost that just wont go to heaven is from some GH Black Irish X I tried last summer in an old Savinelli. That is potent stuff. I can´t say I really enjoyed it that much either.