bowl shape/size

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Boxerbuddy

Boxerbuddy

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I've noticed something...when I smoke VA's or VaPers out of a pipe with a wider shallower bowl it takes some of the bite out of them and makes it a more pleasurable smoking experience. Is this something you other pipers have noticed or maybe its just that the pipes I have with bowls like this just happen to be better VA smokers...lol since I only have 2 pipes with wide shallow bowls.

Also, whats the consensus, is it that wider bowls are good for englishes and tall narrower ones are good for flakes? I think I read that somewhere.

Is there a bowl size/shape that is good for VA's or burlies?

Still new to piping so any input is appreciated.
 
Without question. Though in my experience, I simply got more flavor out of my Virginias in a short but wide, tiny GBD Prehistoric I use JUST for Virginias. It has a pretty open draw, so it really allows the "breath technique" to be used quite well. Incidentally, my flake VAs go in that one.

English mixes I like a middle-of-the-road bowl, but that's not a hard and fast rule for me.

I prefer taller, narrower bowls for Orientals and Aros, because I can control how much flavor (and how hot it can get) a little easier, just by packing it a little looser.

From what I read, I'm doing this somewhat the opposite way. Yet I'm yielding positive results.

To each their own, eh?
 
There's no hard or fast rule but I find smaller, narrower bowls (perhaps shorter in some cases) seem to like flakes better. Doesn't really matter so much what the components of the tobacco are. Perhaps it's that flakes are denser and being in a more contained area helps it burn more evenly.

There are lots of articles on bowl geometry that can shed more "light on the matter". :geek:
 
Boxerbuddy":d7fsuf0e said:
I've noticed something...when I smoke VA's or VaPers out of a pipe with a wider shallower bowl it takes some of the bite out of them and makes it a more pleasurable smoking experience. Is this something you other pipers have noticed or maybe its just that the pipes I have with bowls like this just happen to be better VA smokers...lol since I only have 2 pipes with wide shallow bowls.

Also, whats the consensus, is it that wider bowls are good for englishes and tall narrower ones are good for flakes? I think I read that somewhere.

Is there a bowl size/shape that is good for VA's or burlies?

Still new to piping so any input is appreciated.
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Conventional wisdom is that narrower bowls are better for VAs, but my experience, for the most part, is similar to yours. When I first filled a wide bowl with a VA flake, I thought I'd found heaven. Every smoker and every pipe is different. You'll find preferences that work for you that are opposite to what someone else will advocate. Many people like heavy Latakia mixtures in large bowls. I prefer them in smaller ones, again, the opposite of the conventional wisdom. Different courses for different horses.

There are simply no rules, no matter who says so, that apply 100% of the time to 100% of all pipe smokers. The little discoveries along the way are part of the pleasure of pipe smoking.
 
Well most of the VA/Per I smoke are flakes, and just about all of the flakes I smoke are VA/VAPer - so I tend to smoke them in taller pipes, so that the flake fits better. I haven't given much thought to the difference in flavor between the different shapes, though.

And IMHO burley smokes well in anything and everything.
 
Amazingly I've accidentally set up my pipes this way. two pipes with wider and shorter bowls I use for VAs, 1 for VaPers, and then my two tall and skinny I use for lat blends. (then i just steal my wife's churchwardens if I want an aro).
 
MisterE":q0uqend7 said:
There's no hard or fast rule but I find smaller, narrower bowls (perhaps shorter in some cases) seem to like flakes better. Doesn't really matter so much what the components of the tobacco are. Perhaps it's that flakes are denser and being in a more contained area helps it burn more evenly.

There are lots of articles on bowl geometry that can shed more "light on the matter". :geek:
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I'm with E on this one. Shorter narrower chambers work well with flakes, for me. And lately, I'm leaning towards wider bowls for most lat blends.
 
The consensus so far in this thread is interesting and not what I would have expected to see. I was always told that taller, narrower bowls are best for Va flakes. Like the majority so far in this thread I prefer the opposite. I think my Va's really sing in my shorter, wider bowled pipes; especially my two pots. For me, my narrow bowled pipes seem to do best with burley and cavendish blends and they also do pretty well with ribbon cut blends including Va's. I prefer a short medium width bowl for latakia blends and orientals. Smoke what you like in what you like I suppose. Half the fun is finding out what works best for you and your preferences.
 
I hadn't heard of the different bowl size for different tobaccos until a couple days ago when I got a message from someone looking for a pipe with a 1/2" tobacco hole for VA flake. Does anyone have experience with a bowl that small? I have a hard time keeping my "Virginia Slices" lit. It got me thinking that maybe the narrow hole would help. I think I'm going to make one and try it.

Eric
 
ericpaulson":3gq71j60 said:
I hadn't heard of the different bowl size for different tobaccos until a couple days ago when I got a message from someone looking for a pipe with a 1/2" tobacco hole for VA flake. Does anyone have experience with a bowl that small? I have a hard time keeping my "Virginia Slices" lit. It got me thinking that maybe the narrow hole would help. I think I'm going to make one and try it.

Eric
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I have a couple pipes with really narrow bowls, though not quite that small. Easy to light, quick smoking, and somewhat hot is how I'd describe them. As with narrow cigars, you need to mind your smoking to keep them from overheating the tobacco and ruining the flavours. The real problem, though, is finding a tamper small enough to fit the bowl. ;) (I've used anything from a nail head to a pencil.)
 
I've preferred moderately shallow but exceptionally wide chambers for almost all my flakes and Va blends for years. Sometimes I'll even play a game of trying to get just one little "chunk" of flake glowing, and just as it dies, get the one next to it going.

I know, I need to get a life (I hear they have them on special this week at Wall-Mart!).

Natch
 
This is going to sound sacrilegious to many here I am afraid, but I do not smoke a particular type of tobacco in a particular type of pipe. Honestly it never even occurred to me that it would make a difference. So my question is, Is there a big enough difference in the enjoyment of the tobacco to warrant smoking a particular type blend in a particular type bowl/pipe? Or can I just go willy-nilly smoking as I do now?
 
"Sacrilegious" notions are nonsense. :lol: Everyone ought to be just enjoying their tobacco the way they see fit! 8)

I just revisited my little GBD with the 3/4" deep AND wide bowl for my Union Square... I stuff it in there a little chunky but a little roughed up... two lights... that was it. Took me an hour to get through that one, and it was divine, with some sipping vodka on the side.

Funny how conventional wisdom works...it's only conventional when the convention says it is. :lol:
 
murfman":x8mmqi9u said:
This is going to sound sacrilegious to many here I am afraid, but I do not smoke a particular type of tobacco in a particular type of pipe.
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Honestly I'm really the same. Some of my pipes have sort of dedicated themselves to a particular type of tobacco. Like I said earlier in the thread, I like taller bowls for flakes, so my taller piper are mostly VA, but that wasn't really a conscious decision. The only think I keep strictly segregated is aros. Everything else if fair game.
 
I'd like to put forward an alternate theory. It's not the pipe but the palate.

Although I dedicate pipes to genres, and some of them to a particular tobacco, I've never taken seriously the proposition that a particular bowl shape favors genres or tobaccos. To me it's rather simple: put the tobacco in a bowl, set it on fire and smoke.

On the other hand I almost never fail to prepare my palate, almost never eat and smoke without such preparation. I don't know how pipers can expect to taste the tobacco through food residue. Ugg! Think of the bacteria invading your mouth, feeding on residue. My palate preparation involves brushing my teeth followed by a hydrogen peroxide rinse, and then I suck on stick cinnamon anywhere from five minutes to a half hour; this can be overdone and impact the smoke but in general cinnamon sucks errant flavor from the palate. Sometimes, about 15% of the time, none of this works and I get a smoke that is either flat or has reduced flavor. But I get many more full flavor smokes doing palate cleansing than I used to get without it.

For instance right now I'm smoking Dark Flake in an old Jobey, and I've smoked a ton of this tobacco in it. But I've also smoked this tobacco in a group 4 Ferndown REO Canadian, a group 3 Stanwell Billiard, a group 5 Cavicchi Billiard and several other pipes. Although this smoke has been somewhat flat, other smokes don't vary across these pipes despite the fact that these are different makers and types of bowls, and why should it? Again, the tobacco is placed in a bowl, flame is applied, and the smoke is drawn; it's just that simple.

I only have experienced one pipe/tobacco pairing that seems to be injudicious, an ODA 3/4 bent by an unknown maker, the tobacco, Haddos. I've smoked this combination 3 or 4 times without any success. I've remembered the comments such as "this pipe really doesn't like this tobacco." But I'm loathe to give up trying.



 
Good observations, Mike. Yet another variable to consider. 8)

A bit of an overkill for me, personally, however, having a clean palette can yield different results than, say, shortly after a big meal.

I consider the pipe itself to be a palette cleanser of sorts. For example, going back and forth between pipe and a good espresso is one of my favorite things--it's like an unspoken, well-played debate of flavors that never turns into an argument...at least that's the goal. 8)

Marrying flavors is also fun once you've had time to sit down with JUST that tobacco. Sometimes, though, you just want to simplify and go for something direct. In that case, water is all I need as a partner with a smoke, and palette cleansing is as simple as a few sips and about five minutes of "neutral flavor."
 
I do rinse my mouth after eating if I am going to immediately smoke. Food and drink on the palate have an enormous impact on the tobacco being smoked, but I never imagined the same for bowl shape.
 
I would have said the same thing as a couple of you guys have said in this thread...how would a 13/16 bowl differ from a 7/8 bowl when smoking a certain blend. Doesn't make much sense when it's presented like that.

All I can go on is the experience...and mine is that VA's smoke better in a wide shallow bowl...for me. Seeing as pipe smoking is such an individual experience...what with the difference in body chemistry and such...I think I can see how different airflow and mixture of air with smoke would affect people's palates differently.

I suspect this is why the chamber width/depth makes a difference for some people.

Lol there are so many friggin variables that make pipe smoking such a personal experience....I suspect I'll be learning for a long time
 
Yep. Provided you can manage it, FVF in a group 6 size billiard can be a revelation. One that lasts 2.5 to 3 hours. Provoking recognition that, as with alcohol, "too much of a good thing" is not necessarily an idle phrase with no substantive basis.

The gist of the matter is that the difficulty of keeping flakes going evenly increases as the diameter of the chamber does. 3/4" or 13/16" is about ideal. Or at least generations past settled on it.

:face:
 
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