My Observations on the Subject of the P'Lip

[Timbo]

Gotta agree with you Natch, a slight bend in the cleaner and there's no scraping. Took me a while to figure that one out.

 

[kingcobradude]

I had a Wellington pipe years ago. I may be wrong about this, but it seems to me that the hole on the Wellingtons comes straight out and it not canted to the top of the button like a Peterson p-lip. Of course, this is through the fog of quite a few years, so...?

You may be right about that.

 

[WaPiper]

I have a few. Smokes well either way. One thing I have noticed with a few tobacco blends that I like to smoke a little on the hot side is that I don’t get as much tongue bite when I use a P-lip. My 2cents.

 

[cigrmaster]

When I first bought a plip I smoked it once and then gave it away. I really disliked it.

 

[pistolero]

I never tried one until just a couple months ago. Really was sceptical. Now I already have 4 P-lipped Pete Systems and a Savinelli with their version of it. As far as clenching, I can clench them no problem but I don't. Mine are all bents, and they just hang on the bottom teeth effortlessly.
You do have a point about it needing to be farther past the lips to work. With a fishtail I often just hold the pipe in hand and sip with the button just inside the lips.

 

[William Ziegler]

Can't agree that p lips are supposed to smoke like fish tails, they have a completely different design. Dunno where you heard that from as I've not heard it explained that way previously, mainly heard of them as two seperate ways of doing things.

1, Even with a fish tail pipe, it is normally clenched well within my mounth unless it's a pipe for holding not clenching. You can hold a p lip up to your lips and sip it if you lke, so I don't really think that this is a problem.
2, My teeth must be arranged very differently to yours, a p lip clenches very well for me. Far better than most of my fishtails.
3, You need to learn to roll the smoke around in your mouth, similar to tasting wine or whiskey. Also exhaling the smoke through your nostrils, this will get the flavour where it needs to be.

Hint, I love a p lip pipe, it does take a bit of getting used to but as my second pipe I had to get used to it...

I only have one, my wife's grandfather's 1949 vintage that I wrote about on the History of Pipes thread. I noticed the P- lip difference, but the tobacco I was smoking tasted great. Pipe stems and mouths/lips are as individual as finger prints. When I worked in the pipe store we had to adjust bits often.

 

[Singed]

@William Ziegler I think it's more a matter of personal comfort than anything else. I think, from your comment, that you support that. I owned an Irish Bent with a Plip for years and I can't say it played a role in anything other than comfort for me, I actually found it awkward because I tend to clench..

 

[William Ziegler]

@William Ziegler I think it's more a matter of personal comfort than anything else. I think, from your comment, that you support that. I owned an Irish Bent with a Plip for years and I can't say it played a role in anything other than comfort for me, I actually found it awkward because I tend to clench..

You bet! Prrsonal comfort, from stem thickness, to human teeth - it's very personal.