They smoke damn well as a matter of fact. Just starting to really get broken in a little bit now. Nice carbon on the walls, starting to really bring out the flavor of their chosen blends quite well. With the bulldog I was torn a bit at first betwen GH Kendall Kentucky and John Patton's Storm Front. Both blends seem to smoke well in it, and I went back and forth a couple of bowls each before settling on the Storm Front, which makes for a reliably fantastic smoke in this bulldog.
The lovat I had initially used for John Pattons Va Squire, but after deciding that Va Squire really does do best in cobs (although it was quite good in Yuriy's pipe also), I now use the Lovat for slowly working my way through a couple ounces of Stonehaven that I was lucky enough to come across. This seems to be the perfect pairing so far. Hopefully I'll be able to replenish my supply of Stonehaven before what I have runs out, but if not I'll figure out something else I'm sure.
I've never had an issue with either pipe getting hot, but I smoke pretty slowly most of the time. Both always provide a cool smoke and excellent flavor, and the draw is perfect on both. The bits comfortable. Both are very light & well balanced, the lovat extremely so. Both on the small side compared to alot of what you see these days, but they are perfectly sized for my tastes.