Is this a trial and error thing, or is there some type of science involved with matching a pipe to certain types of tobaccos.

I've found that I like Frog Morton best in my GBD Bent Apple. Why I don't know, but know I'm hesistant to put other types of tobacco in it.

However, my favorite pipe is a Savinelli Carved Billiard, but would it be wrong to put both English blends and VA/P in this?

Should you stay with one type of tobacco in a pipe to prevent any cross over of taste, or will the fade away over a few days.

Its been a long time and I forgot most of what I knew...

you'll get better answers from other more experienced guys, but i feel chatty at the moment...

right now i only have two pipes, so i don't have much of a choice. (although i don't smoke aros in either one.) but i've read many of the BoB guys do dedicate a pipe to VaPers, Balkans, etc for that very reason, to cut down on cross over flavors. i would imagine, if you had a collection of pipes that some of these guys do, you could dedicate a pipe to a specific blend and be even more 'scientific' about it. my tastebuds are not that refined yet. but one day!

i have noticed, between my two pipes, that one handles wet better than the other, and so in that realm, i do discriminate.

Swapping between heavily scented tobaccos (like Lat blends & aromatics) & unscented (Like Va's & most Vapers), you will become aware of some ghosting of the flavours. Best to keep them apart, IMHO.

I'd say trial and error. If you get a new pipe and you load an English blend and it just doesn't work out for some reason, I think you will be okay switching. By the time you build a cake of whatever you intend to smoke the ghost would be gone I would think. Just my opinion though and I could be completely wrong.

yeah,

just try smoking a latakia through something thats only had capt. black in it! thats fun

camo

I can comment on pairings I've found that seem to be truths to me.

Group 3 pipes and Lakeland stuff. Small straight chambers with round bottoms, roughly group 3 - about .75" or smaller and about 1.5" deep or less. These are perfect for Lakeland flakes and curlies. I have quite a few of these: a little Castello Liverpool, a little Castello Bulldog, a few small Stanwells including HCA and featherweights, these are fabulous with my favorite Lakeland, Conniston Cut Plug unscented, and with another fav, G.H. & co Curly Cut Regular.

Flake pipes - briars with roughly .75" conical chambers and lots of wood around them, like rhodesians.

Ribbon cuts and briars with 13/16" X 2" chambers, I smoke a lot of SG Medium Virginia solely in these pipes.

English mixtures in pipes with 7/8" X 1 1/4" chambers, like a prince or pot.

Burlies in a 13/16" X 1 1/2" chamber, I have some Stanwells that are perfect for this.


As to other idiosyncracies with the wood, Italian pipes seem to have a brighter taste to them, especially Castello pipes. GL Pease wrote a very good article on this, it's somewhere on his website. Peterson pipes seem to love American Burleyweed like Uhle's and Peretti's, must be the wood. Meers really do seem to mute the taste of tobacco to me whereas different briars from different parts of the world seem to give accent to the tobacco.


FWIW.

thanks puffdaddy. that's pretty well worked out. experimenting is not my strong suit, i forget what i smoked in what.

Echoing PeeDee here that GLP has written a lot on the idepsyncracies of matches made in heaven between a specific pipe and a specific tobacco. Well worth reading through his Briar & Leaf Chronicles (and other stuff), IMO.

Bottom line : when it happens, you KNOW.

I'd also echo PeeDee's observations except to note that the old, little traditional shape Petersons I'm fond of (apples, bent bulldogs, bulldogs & billiards) just love deep Virginias like FVF, and that no pipe I've ever had that's less than 30-40 years old has ever equalled one that is.

Not that everything old is good, period (NOT true). But that the age and use itself are a key element. They needn't be famous names, by any means -- many of the second tier pipes like Bewlays, Drury Lanes and the rest were made by outfits like Barling and Comoy. Name doesn't matter much.

FWIW

Usually I start a pipe out with blends less likely to leave a strong taste, like VA's. If, after a few bowls, I can tell It isn't going to cut it, I move on to the heaver stuff.

I think it is important to experiment. Otherwise you may have a whole house full of pipes without a single one being smoked to it's full potential!

Great info guys. Thanks. Puff Daddy, I have a whole new outlook about pipes now. I use to pick them based on how attractive I found them to be.

Well off to GL Pease's site for more reading