Do different pipes affect taste?

[Hawker]

I only have one personal experience with a cheap chinese pipe I bought off of ebay. It was a shape that I really liked and for 10 bucks fiqured it would make a great clencher/tractor pipe.

I believe it was listed as being made out of Red Wood. It didn't matter how many different ways I packed and lit that pipe it would take one of my favorite tobacco's Boswell's PDT and make it taste like crap.

I got to the point were I thought my tobacco was worth more than the pipe and it's been a dust collector ever since.

Someday when I have some spare time I'd like to cut off the shank and see if it can be salvaged with a country gentleman bowl then see how it smokes.

 

[Deleted member 2386]

Well, as a point of fact it's not "all about preferences," otherwise there would be little purpose in forums such as this. Personal taste is obviously important, but I certainly don't think Greg ever alleged that it wasn't. He was making a case for experience and experimentation providing objective data that can then be applied in a range of circumstances. This is exactly the sort of information I come to the BoB for: expertise. Not "expertise," mind, but the real thing, which is what Greg offers.

Take whisky. You say "it's all about preferences," and allege a twenty dollar bottle of scotch tastes as good as a $100 a bottle example. It's your personal preference, and truly, the one doesn't taste any better to you than the other. You also think they both taste best mixed with equal parts diet coke. It's all about preferences...but the fact is, these two whiskies are radically different, even if you can't personally tell them apart. One is made using X grains and waters, the other Y, one is from an entirely different part of the country, one is aged nine years longer than the other, in a different sort of barrel, etc.. And whether you try them neat, with a little water, or a mixer will also have an objective impact, regardless of whether or not you experience it.

My point? Good for you if your palate is such that the cheap stuff tastes as good as the pricier options. Good for you if you've found something that works well for you, period. But don't mistake personal preference for objective facts; that's not just apples and oranges, that's apples and bananas.

Furthermore, rudely dismissing the generously-offered experience of someone who has spent much of his life studying his field? And implying that he only chimed in to shill? Don't do that. Please. You may have made up your mind to ignore the experience of everyone else, but there are many of us who appreciate the counsel of genuine experts (as opposed to the far more common armchair variety).

 

[rothnh]

Hell, I read most of Mr. Pease's articles and all of his posts that I find. I enjoy his writing and I respect his vast knowledge of everything pipes and tobacco. I didn't quote him -- I just wanted to point out that IMHO, what works best for one puffer may not work nearly as well for someone else. It saddens me that Greg quoted my post and took it personally. FWIW, Grandpa, I totally agree with your take on preferences.

 

[Deleted member 2386]

Hell, I read most of Mr. Pease's articles and all of his posts that I find.  I enjoy his writing and I respect his vast knowledge of everything pipes and tobacco.  I didn't quote him -- I just wanted to point out that IMHO, what works best for one puffer may not work nearly as well for someone else.  It saddens me that Greg quoted my post and took it personally.  FWIW, Grandpa, I totally agree with your take on preferences.

Ah, gotcha--sorry to have assumed, as Greg evidently did, that you were talking about him specifically. My apologies, sir, and happy puffing--would that we could have these discussions in person, with briar in hand and tobacco to spare, I doubt there'd be half as much confusion over intent, etc. Cheers!

 

[gravel]

Well crap. More power to Mr. Pease. He's top notch in my book.

 

[SpeedyPete]

I own pipes which can only be enjoyed with the tobacco the pipe prefers. And this is a fact.

I don't care what others say, I KNOW what I KNOW

 

[Hawker]

"Never Read Between The Lines". :evil: 

You won't like what you find and no good ever comes of it. JMOH.

 

[DrumsAndBeer]

Well crap. More power to Mr. Pease. He's top notch in my book.

Ditto.

And I will reiterate with an example. I have a Freehand pipe from Boswell that I use to smoke Silver Flake in exclusively. This pipe focuses the sweetness of the tobacco to the point where it's sweet to taste on the tongue, rather than just aroma. I have sampled Silver Flake in almost every pipe I own at one point or another. This pipe absolutely sets this flake off to the point where the sugary sweetness and honey like tone of the VA and spice of the Kentucky are in perfect harmony. It's divine really. I won't smoke SF in anything else, the difference is that substantial. What differentiates this pipe from my others? Conical shaped bowl. Interestingly enough, my other conical shaped bowl Dublin smokes the beejeezus out of Embarcadero. Nuances galore. In my other pipes that I have set aside for VA's not so much. Yeah, I am a believer. Experience trumps here.

 

[Fr_Tom]

Interestingly enough, my other conical shaped bowl Dublin smokes the beejeezus out of Embarcadero. Nuances galore. In my other pipes that I have set aside for VA's not so much. Yeah, I am a believer. Experience trumps here.

I tried Embarcadero and was not all that impressed. It was ok and all, but nothing too special. Then I tried it in a Kirsten - truncated cone for a bowl shape. It rocked, and every bowl seemed to get better until it was gone.

 

[DrumsAndBeer]

I tried Embarcadero and was not all that impressed. It was ok and all, but nothing too special. Then I tried it in a Kirsten - truncated cone for a bowl shape. It rocked, and every bowl seemed to get better until it was gone.

Very interesting Tom.

My favorite Balkan is Margate. It's simple, complex, wonderfully fragrant, almost incense like. It was love at first smoke. The pipe that I was happening to use to enjoy it was a prince with a fairly square shaped bowl. Months later I read this and I thought "Well I'll be damned" -

http://www.apassionforpipes.com/neills-blog/2010/10/28/finding-that-magic-fit-between-pipe-and-tobacco.html

I immediately put this to experiment. You see I enjoy Margate in that Sav Prince so much that it became my Margate/oriental pipe. I was blown away by how different it tasted in my billiards. Still fragrant, still tasty but the tone was not the same and the balance was altered dramatically compared to what I was used to tasting. Aromas, and flavors and memories of those things are tricky. Some think pipes are just tools, but I think they play a major roll in how we perceive what we burn in them.

 

[Dramatwist]

Thanks Oce - this makes sense.   I guess I didnt know there were different types of Briar but now that I think of it, their age, density, etc could affect the taste.  About 3 months ago, I started keeping track of which tobacco I am smoking in my 31 pipes.  I have to admit that I do have a few misses that I need to adjust.  I also have a few that are really perfect.  

31 pipes? Judas Priest man! I hate to clean the 10-11 I have in rotation, can't imagine at the end of the month doing a thorough clean to 31 pipes. I took me two hours today doing 12 plus one restoration and I was glad to be done.

...what he said!

Best,

 

[AJ]

Do different pipes affect taste? Absolutely!!!  

AJ

 

[Brewdude]

Do different pipes affect taste? Absolutely!!!  

AJ

What AJ said!

And I don't over-analyse it. Just use what works.

 :joker: 



Cheers,

RR

 

[KevinM]

Late entry -- You have neatly IDed the value of a smoker's diary. No need for lengthy entries. Just enter the tobacco, the pipe and your brief reaction. A number or letter grade system would probably be sufficient. Time passes, and you can quickly ID which pipes and blends hit it off. You'll also see that some pipes are betters with aros, others with Vas, others with English. Yes, at first the thought sounds kinda OCD. But the entries need be no longer than you care to make them. You can even skip days when the entry might read, "MM, burley, B+."

 

[cigrmaster]

I own a number of pipes that do much better with a certain blend than wiith another type. For example SG Full Virginia Flake sings in my group 4 Dublins but does lousy in a group 5 Lovat. I have a number of combinations that I dedicate a certain pipe to a certain blend and only after extensive experimenting did I find these combos.

I think Greg is absolutely right when he stated.

" Finding those special combinations that just "work" better than all the others is part of the mystery and joy of pipe smoking."




I am always looking for those magical combos and when I find them, I stick to them exclusively. Yes many of my pipes smoke many of my flakes very nicely and many of my pipes are so good that they can smoke a plethora of different blends equally as well, but when those magical combo's hit, I pay strict attention to that fact and never stray when that combo hits. Part of the fun of pipe smoking is finding those magical pipe and blend combo's so I am always on the lookout for them.

Recently I found that my Peterson Irish Flake smokes incredibly well in my Stephen Downie Apple, so that is the pipe I will be reaching for when I am in the mood for Irish Flake.

Greg, I hope you stick around as your advice in my opinion is irreplaceable. You have been at this so much longer than most of us, plus you come at if from the side of blender and a person who has been collecting some pretty high quality pipes for decades. That kind of knowledge does not grow on trees and anyone who does not understand what you bring to the table is really missing out on learning a ton of great stuff. People should understand how blessed we are that that you take the time to answer our questions and to make statements of your own that bring your knowledge to the party. I sincerely hope the people at this site understand how lucky they are that Greg even gives us the time of day. There are so many in the industry who could not be bothered with us as they are generally to busy to post on sites like this.

I had been around a cigar site for over 11 years and when Carlos Fuente Jr, or Johnny Oliva or any of the true legends of the industry imparted their wisdom, we all appreciated the time they would spend with us and were grateful at the knowledge they would share with us.

 

[MisterE]

Yes.

 

[zonomo]

Out of curiosity, what do you do to clean the pipes?  I tend to find a pipecleaner down the stem after a smoke does most of the trick and then a more thorough cleaning whenever it needs it, which isn't too often...

I essentially do the same thing every time. I remove the step and run it through, bit side first. Then I re-run it through heel side. With that same pipe cleaner, I run it through the heal, usually folded in 1/2. I re-fold it in 1/2 so its now 4ths and clean the bowl. I probably clean it after every 2-4 smokes. Don't know if this is right nor not but thats what Ive been doing.

 

[zonomo]

I tried Embarcadero and was not all that impressed. It was ok and all, but nothing too special. Then I tried it in a Kirsten - truncated cone for a bowl shape. It rocked, and every bowl seemed to get better until it was gone.

So this is exactly why I asked this question. I wanted to know everyone's experience in doing this. I have a particular pipe that its a pure joy when I smoke McClellands Tropical but it doesnt seems to smoke as well in my Savi Bumble Bee. I chalked it up to me just being a newbie.

 

[zonomo]

Late entry -- You have neatly IDed the value of a smoker's diary. No need for lengthy entries. Just enter the tobacco, the pipe and your brief reaction. A number or letter grade system would probably be sufficient. Time passes, and you can quickly ID which pipes and blends hit it off. You'll also see that some pipes are betters with aros, others with Vas, others with English. Yes, at first the thought sounds kinda OCD. But the entries need be no longer than you care to make them. You can even skip days when the entry might read, "MM, burley, B+."

I like this idea. I keep a journal of what pipe goes with what tobacco but I havent really "rated them". This is a good idea. Thanks.

 

[cigrmaster]

Keeping your pipe clean is a real must if you are going to get the most out of your blends.

Here is my procedure that I never deviate from.

After I have smoked a bowl, I let the pipe cool over night. I then break down the pipe, and take two fluffy cleaners, double them and then run them along the inside of the bowl getting any ash or left over tobacco. I then, blow through the shank and also getting anything loose.

I then take a bristled cleaner, double it and then run it through the shank twisting it around a few times and them going back and forth a few times. I will do this until the pipe cleaner comes out clean. Some of my pipes have a large enough shank that I need two pipe cleaners doubled so that they get enough friction to get the dirt out. My Ruthernbergs, my lone Butera and my lone Castello are the only ones that need two cleaners doubled over as the shank dimensions are around 4.3-4.7 mm. Now onto cleaning my stems. I will take two bristled cleaners side by side and run them through the stem, and then take 2 fluffy cleaners and do the same thing. Only my Rad Davis and Brian Ruthenberg stems can take the two cleaners through the stem. This is my procedure after every smoke, then around the 10th-15th bowl smoked I do a deep cleaning with Everclear, shank brushes, bristled and fluffy pipe cleaners along with my Obidisian stem oil which keeps my stems looking great. I then use my Dunhill polishing cloth to shine the pipe up. Im used to use Denicare pipe polish but took Roths recommendation that the Dunhill polishing cloth did a great job and was much more economical thaan the Denicare polish. He was absolutely right about the Dunhill cloth.

Some people may feel that I am a bit over the top in my use of pipe cleaners and cleaning like I do after every smoke but I have found that my tobacco always tastes really good and I have never had a pipe sour on me ever. Yes it takes a bit of work, but I would much rather do this than have a lousy tasting pipe. It is very easy for your tobacco to taste like crap due to a dirty pipe so I make sure my pipe is never dirty. I also believe that by letting my pipe cool over night, the cake has time to harden and I get a really nice hard cake on all my pipes. I never break apart a pipe that is still warm or that has not cooled overnight. I began doing this since the beginning and have found it works well for me so I stick with it.