Certain pipes for certain tobaccos? Really?

I don’t know, that’s kind of like saying that if you like steak, you’ll like it just as much if it’s boiled instead of grilled. Personally, I pick specific pipes to enhance the qualities of tobaccos that I like.

I only have one pipe dedicated and that's for condor as that stuff can ghost real bad.

As I smoke some GH Dark Aromatic Flake in a BC Origine, (a tobacco that smokes wildly different for me based on which pipe I use, and also drying and preparation) This thread had me thinking about why different pipes produce different smoking experiences for me. I realized that it’s become automatic for me to change and pair pipes to tobacco without thinking of the mechanics of it anymore.

I have seen people who may have 20 commercially produced briar pipes with variations in bowl sizes and depths that for the sake of discussion say all smoke reasonably well in general. In that situation, in my mind I would expect no notable differences in any of them in the way different tobacco smokes. I don’t think that the differences are great enough between common pipes, unless there is a stack in the mix.

For me, taking the Dark Aromatic Flake I’m smoking now, this is a tobacco that produces drastically different results for me based on which pipe I’m using. I picked the BC Origine because it concentrates the toppings and smokes sweeter in it, which I wanted when I decided to smoke it. In a meerschaum, the toppings play less of a role and can be a little sharp, while the tobacco comes forward more. In a calabash, I find it washes out the tobacco a bit, it becomes more one note. I never smoke it in a calabash. In a clay, it’s almost unrecognizable from other pipes, the tobacco comes forward rather robustly and the toppings are far more subtle.

I could list many examples, but the other thing that changes the flavor most commonly is bowl depth, deep bowls clearly show the result of the tobacco lower in the bowl being affected by the heat and smoke passing over from smoking the earlier part. A more common depth bowl will likely not create this effect to the same level, if at all. Truly large bowls on some of my antique pipes, say 1 1/2” diameter and 2-3” in depth really changes things up.

As with most of my posts, just some thoughts and not directed at jeffd or anyone else, just general discussion.

Funny, a chimney pipe is one kind of pipe that I don't have. I'm not a fan of the shape, but if the benefits outweigh the shape, I should consider adding one to the collection.

I think this topic is somewhat of two main categories; different tobaccos certainly smoke quite differently in different pipe mediums; cob, briar, meer, etc. The second category being whether or not you want to or discern differences in dedicating pipes to one tobacco or mixture, or even genre type.

In terms of for example category one, what smokes best in a briar or for example, a corn cob. I think those of us longterm cob smokers know, good burley based blends smoke night and day different in the cob compared to the briar pipe. I think when smoking Haunted Bookshop in any cob, one gets the softer and expanded flavors and a much cooler smoke. You can taste the two burley components, you can taste the VA, and you can taste the Perique. In a briar, Haunted Bookshop smokes like it’s an entirely different tobacco. It becomes more muddied, amalgamated, hotter, more bitter, and more monotoned.

But in terms of category two here, I think ghosting of a pipe for whichever blend one wants to smoke next is severely overhyped. I have Virginia pipes where I can smoke ten bowls of Ennerdale Flake in the pipe, then two bowls of something like HH Pure Virginia, and there will be no ghosting of Ennerdale flavorings midway through the second bowl of that Pure Virginia. So many folks claim Ennerdale is so strong, and will ghost a pipe forever, or for tens of bowls. I claim that is nonsense altogether. I smoke pure VAs through my dedicated Ennerdale pipes, because I do have a couple pipes primarily dedicated to Ennerdale, which most will agree is one of the heaviest casings of aromatics out there, and I could smoke 150 bowls of Ennerdale Flake through a pipe and still taste only Pure Virginia by the 2nd or 3rd bowl witht only the faintest hint of Ennerdale by that 3rd bowl. In many of my cobs, I will genre hop altogether and smoke cigar, burley, English mixtures, VA flake and not care about what it smokes next. That being said, I will usually keep a couple briars and cobs dedicated to English blends for a year or two, and after thoroughly cleaning them with Everclear, change them to a Virginia pipe. I tend to believe that meerschaum pipes mute tobaccos rather than concentrate their flavors, as I believe that briar tends to do. To an extent, fresh cob mutes flavors and filters a bit more the first 50 bowls or so until it’s broken in. C&D burleys belong in cobs and I primarily only smoke those mixtures in cobs.

Sort of a third category being talked about is bowl size and depth affecting flavor. I believe it certainly does, and for similar reasons, that is why each cigar is made in different ring gauges and lengths. The same tobacco blend tastes different the bigger the cherry smoldering, and the concentration of the tobacco oils and tars. 

Everything depends on everything else. I have one pipe that had only ever smoked Frog Morton Cellar. I have tried the FMC in other pipes and it was always missing something. I tried Penzance in a dozen pipes before I found one that worked. I don't really worry anything else. I will try a new tobacco in several pipes to see if one works best. My favorites, like Wilke #191, #515, Rumkake and Best Make are all good in any pipe. Same with my fallback, Captain Black Royal. If this isn't an answer to the question asked, sorry.

I always look forward to Zach’s and Turbocat’s analysis posts. Informative and entertaining.

I like a deep pipe myself. My Houses and Pubs are all around 2-1/4”.