| Author | Message | ||
     redlabel Member Username: Redlabel Post Number: 5 Registered: 11-2006 |
I've been smoking a pipe for about a year and have stuck with a peaches and cream mixture and a maple blend that I've run out of and don't know what it was. So now I want to branch out and have ordered some samples to try. Frog Morton, Frog Morton on the town, on the bayou, and across the pond. Dunhill 965, Lane Limited Captain Black, Peter Stokkebye English Luxury and Optimum and Samuel Gawaith Perfection. I also have 5 Aromatics coming from Abenaki Tobacco. Now the questions: I have 8 new pipes with three cheapos and 3 Savinelli naturals, 1 Savinelli Rock Briar, and 1 Medium Montana or Holland. Plus the Savinelli natural that I smoke the peaches and cream in. So how does one go about trying the tobacco with the new pipes? I read where a new pipe might not taste very good for a while so how does one judge new tobacco? Any suggestions or advice will be greatly appreciated. I figure this is the place to get answers so hopefully they'll show up. Or should I just buy a few cobs and try the new tobacco with them? | ||
| Felix Ungar Member Username: Felix Post Number: 48 Registered: 09-2006 |
I think there are a couple recent threads which may give you some opinions on the question: Under General Questions: "The Tobacco System" and "Dividing pipes by tobacco types" Probably best to read those threads first and post any follow-on questions right in the existing thread since they are both relatively recent. | ||
| redlabel Member Username: Redlabel Post Number: 6 Registered: 11-2006 |
I've been reading a lot of the posts here since finding the site but didn't think any had addressed the specific questions I had. I had read the two threads you mentioned but rather than clearing up the issue it made it more muddy for me. My concerns are how to try out and test new tobaccos when you also have new pipes. I listed the specific tobaccos hoping someone would recognize them and be able to give some advice on a method of testing them. | ||
| Michael Schulz Member Username: Bond815 Post Number: 393 Registered: 01-2005 |
I have read in the posts to try tobaccos in a clay pipe. A clay pipe does not retain a previous tobaccos flavour. If you try a blend in an unsmoked pipe you may have to smoke several bowls to get the true flavour. I hope this helps. | ||
| Russ Wilbar Member Username: Rusty Post Number: 28 Registered: 02-2006 |
Cheap corncob pipes are always good to try new tobaccos, especially aromatics, because so many aromatics leave a footprint of the aromatic topping in the bowl that you may not want there when you're trying, say, a Virginia flake. Corncobs are easily broken in, and if you sample a truly horrible mixture you never want to hear about again, you can just discard the cheap cob rather than try and rescue the bowl of a good Savinelli. I divide my pipes up to reserve most of them for my non-aromatics, which are my staples. Your Frog blends could go in this category. Then I have two that are dedicated to pure Virginia flakes. Finally, my cheaper pipes, a few of them, I keep for when I want to smoke an aromatic blend for a change. | ||
| Marc Bloom Member Username: Red Post Number: 7 Registered: 12-2006 |
Redlabel 2 comments to add to Michael's post since I smoke clays. 1: Don't hold the bowl, it gets much hotter than a briar. You want to hold the stem. 2: You don't want a cake to form in a clay so do all the cleaning to a bowl you wouldn't normally do to a briar. This may be one of the reasons clays don't hold flavors. I'd be careful buying a clay on EBay, I've seen them go there for more than I paid to a re-enactor's supply shop. Also, a clay can be returned to new condition by baking it in a fire or in charcoal. (well, you can't reattach a stem but you can get rid of unwanted flavors.) Red | ||
| Felix Member Username: Felix Post Number: 54 Registered: 09-2006 |
Marc, could you or anyone else, point me to a well-stocked online source for clays (other than eBay I mean)? I've never smoked a clay but wouldn't mind trying one out. | ||
| Marc Bloom Member Username: Red Post Number: 8 Registered: 12-2006 |
Felix At the risk of highjacking this thread.. http://vegassmokes.com/index.html has a nice selection from Pollock's in England. If you Google around you might find some slightly better prices but these are fine. http://www.bytor.com/pipes/pipes.htm has some very nice looking pipes and I'm going to order one after the hollidays when money is better. The Williamsburg pipes are ok but they're slipcast and my tavern pipe/churchwarden of a little off in shape, it smoke well though. The best prices I found for them were on the pottery page here http://www.smoke-fire.com/Default.htm These are very nice people. Red | ||
| Melvin S. Schwartz Board Administrator Username: Admin Post Number: 3713 Registered: 02-2002 |
Felix, I suggest you start a new thread in General Questions with your inquiry into Clay pipes. I would like to keep this conversation to the question that started the thread  | ||
| redlabel Member Username: Redlabel Post Number: 7 Registered: 11-2006 |
I've fired up a new pipe a couple of time with Dunhill 965 and must say that it's terrible. To me it tastes like if I went out into the woods and picked up some old damp dirty leaves and started chewing on them. Frog Morton and Frog Morton on the Town weren't much better. Maybe it's the combination with the new pipes. I've got several cobs to try as well but if it doesn't improve I'll just stick with the peaches and cream that I've been smoking for about a year. If I should try it a different way or do something different I'm open to any suggestions. | ||
| Russell Galloway Member Username: Rudge Post Number: 2 Registered: 11-2006 |
Redlabel, Sometimes a new pipe will not smoke anything very well. Other times, they will smoke like a dream right out of the box. Here are some other complications: -An aromatic will leave taste in a pipe for quite some time. This will affect the taste of anything else smoked in that pipe. -Some pipes are just picky about which tobbacos will smoke well in them. -Sometimes, it takes several bowls of a "new" blend, without switching, before you begin to truly taste it. -I don't like 965 or Frog Morton, so I don't smoke them. hehe Don't give up! If you prefer the peaches and cream, then smoke it! Its all good. |